research methods

Which of the following is a brief summary of a psychology article?

Abstract

Which of the following maximizes the likelihood of a successful research result?

a. Increase the differences between treatments and decrease the variance within treatments

Which of the following accurately describes the scores in a between-subjects experiment?

a. Only one score is obtained for each participant.

The degree to which your research results generalize beyond the specific characteristics of your study refers to

a. external validity.

A nonexperimental design

d. makes no attempt to minimize threats to validity.

What kind of reasoning uses a few specific observations to produce a general hypothesis?

Inductive reasoning

Which of the following would be a danger of relying upon a primary source

There is no danger because you can rely on primary sources for accurate information

Which of the following is a potential problem with holding a participant variable constant?

b. It threatens the external validity of the study.

In a differential research design, what term is used to identify the participant variable that is used to define the groups?

b. Quasi-independent

A researcher is intrigued by an explanation of children's problem-solving strategies found in a journal article and develops a research study to determine whether the article's ideas are correct. How would this study be classified?

basic.

d. makes no attempt to minimize threats to validity.

c. Nonequivalent group design

Which of the following is the best description of the scientific method?

A circular process that leads to a tentative answer

The first step in the research process is

Identifying a topic area and searching the literature to find a research question

What questions should you ask when reading an introduction to a research article?

Is the hypothesis related to the literature review Does the prediction logically follow the hypothesis Is the literature review up-to-date

What is typically included in the introduction section of a research article

It describes the overall purpose and rational of the research

Using a PET scan to measure brain activity while participants solve mathematics problems is an example of using what modality of measurement?

Physiological

What is meant by saying that "science is objective"?

Scientific answers are obtained without influence by the researcher's biases or beiefs

Using an anonymous questionnaire to determine how many times students send or receive text messages during class is an example of using what modality of measurement?

Self-report

Why is an artifact like experimenter bias a threat to the validity of measurement?

The measurements may be distorted by the artifact.

Which method of knowing is being used by a student who believes that his performance on tests is influenced by wearing a lucky hat?

The method of tenacity

Why is the range effect known as a "ceiling effect" a problem for researchers?

The scores are already so high that there is no chance of measuring improvement.

What additional information is obtained by measuring on an interval scale compared to a ordinal scale?

The size of the differences

Which of the following is not a good example of a research hypothesis?

There is no relationship between fatigue and reaction time.

Which of the following describes participants taking on the negativistic subject role?

They try to act so that their data are in contrast to the hypothesis.

Which of the following is usually the initial factor for determining whether a specific article is relevant to your research question?

Title

For which of the following questions would the scientific method be an appropriate method for seeking an answer?

What conditions promote student learning in an elementary classroom?

A researcher recruits a sample of 25 preschool children for a research study by posting an announcement in a local daycare center describing the study and offering a $10 payment for participation. What kind of sampling is the researcher using?

a. Convenience sampling

Which of the following accurately defines compensatory equalization?

a. One group demands the same benefits received by another group.

How do studies using the experimental research strategy differ from other types of research?

a. Only experiments can demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationships between variables.

An experiment includes a treatment condition, a no-treatment control, and a placebo control. Which two conditions should be compared to determine the size of the effect that is actually caused by the treatment?

a. Placebo versus treatment

Which of the following is the primary advantage of a pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design, in comparison to other nonequivalent group designs?

a. The pretest scores can help reduce the threat of individual differences between groups.

If a between-subjects experiment produces 50 scores in treatment 1 and 50 scores in treatment 2, then how many participants were in the entire experiment?

b. 100 participants

Dr. Near conducts an experiment on memory for individuals who are above the age of 65. Although there are millions of people above the age of 65, she selects a group of 25 to participate in the experiment. What name is given to the group of 25?

b. A sample

In order to establish an unambiguous relationship between two variables, it is necessary to eliminate the possible influence of which of the following variables?

b. Confounding variables

Which of the following is common in within-subjects experimental designs but is impossible in a pre-post design?

b. Counterbalance order of treatments

Although field studies tend to have higher external validity than traditional laboratory studies, what risk do they tend to have?

b. Lower internal validity

When comparing means in a single-factor multiple group design, which statistical analysis is most appropriate?

b. Single-factor ANOVA

A researcher would like to describe and compare the attitudes of four different ethnic groups of students at a local state college. What kind of sampling would be best to obtain participants for the study?

b. Stratified random sampling

Dr. Jones is interested in studying how indoor lighting can influence people's moods during the winder. A sample of 100 households is selected. Fifty of the homes are randomly assigned to the bright-light condition where Dr. Jones replaces all the lights with 100-watt bulbs. In the other 50 houses, all the lights are changed to 60-watt bulbs. After two months, Dr. Jones measures the level of depression for the people living in the homes. In this example, how many dependent variables are there?

c. 1

What is the appropriate statistical analysis for comparing non-numerical data for a differential design comparing samples representing two populations?

c. Chi-square test for independence

Which of the following sampling techniques is most likely to result in a biased sample?

c. Convenience sampling

If each person in a large group has an equal chance of being included in an experiment, then what kind of sampling is being used?

c. Random sampling

A researcher moves an experiment out of the laboratory and into the real world. This type of research is called

c. a field study.

Holding a variable constant is a technique for removing one threat to _______, but it can limit the _______ of an experiment.

c. internal validity, external validity

While shopping you observe the behavior of adolescents at the mall and get some ideas about what may be causing the behavior. This is an example of getting research ideas from

casual observation

A teacher obtains a sample of children from a fifth-grade classroom by randomly selecting the third, fifth, and eighth rows and taking all the students in those rows. What kind of sampling is being used?

d. Cluster sampling

Cues given to participants about how they are expected to behave define which of the following terms?

d. Demand characteristics

In an experiment comparing two treatments, the researcher assigns participants to treatment conditions so that each condition has fifteen 7-year-old children and ten 8-year-old children. For this study, what method is being used to control participant age?

d. Matching

A hypothesis is a ___________________________ statement and a prediction is a _____________________ statement.

general; specific

A research study reports that participants who scored high on a new test measuring self-esteem made eye contact during an interview, whereas participants who scored low on the test avoided eye contact. Assuming that more eye contact is associated with higher self-esteem, what kind of validity is being demonstrated?

predictive

An elementary school teacher separates students into high, medium, and low reading skill groups. What scale of measurement is being used to create the groups?

Ordinal

After measuring a set of individuals, a researcher finds that Bob's score is three times greater than Jane's score. What scale of measurement is being used?

Ratio

Which of the following is a disadvantage of using an operational definition?

The operational definition may not be an accurate reflection of the construct. The operational definition may leave out important components of the construct. The operational definition may include extra components that are not part of the construct.

Which of the following characteristics are necessary for an extraneous variable to become a confounding variable?

b. It must change systematically when the independent variable is changed.

Which of the following does not guarantee that a specific participant variable will not become a confounding variable?

b. Randomizing the variable across treatment

Which of the following is a general plan for implementing a research strategy?

d. A research design

How would research studies that are intended to answer practical problems be classifie

Applied research

Counting the number of times a third-grade student leaves his or her seat without permission during a 30-minute observation period is an example of using what modality of measurement?

Behavioral

How does the descriptive research strategy differ from the experimental or nonexperimental research strategies?

a. It does not concern relationship between variables.

How does holding a variable constant prevent the variable from becoming a confound?

a. It eliminates the possibility that the variable will be substantially different from one group to another.

If a research manuscript is printed in a journal, where does the running head appear?

b. On every page of the manuscript and on every page of the journal article

Why do single-case designs use a series of observations of the same individual under the same conditions?

b. To ensure that the observed behavior is not being influenced by outside variables

A researcher interested in the sleeping habits of students at the local state college. The average number of hours spent sleeping each night for the entire set of students enrolled at the college is an example of a ___________.

b. parameter

Single-case research studies tend to have

b. practical significance even though they do not have statistical significance.

Of the following research statistics, which one is not designed to correct problems with the calculation of split-half reliability?

c. Cohen's kappa

How can order effects be measured and evaluated?

c. Counterbalance and use a factorial design with the order of treatments as a second factor

Which of the following accurately describes a research proposal?

c. They help researchers refine their thinking.

Which of the following is an example of a nonexperimental study?

d. A study comparing self-esteem scores for children with learning disability versus scores for children without a learning disability

What kind of research was used to study the brain surgery patient H. M. who lost the ability to store new memories?

d. Case study research

Which of the following is the definition of variance?

d. The average squared distance from the mean

What term is used for a variable that cannot be observed or measured directly but is useful for describing and explaining behavior?

Construct

What is typically included in the method section of a research article?

It provides the details of the methodology used in the study

Which of the following is typical of quantitative research?

It usually involves numerical scores It uses statistical analysis to summarize and interpret results It involves measuring variables for each individual

Research results indicate that the more time individuals spend watching educational television programs as preschool children, the higher their high school grades will be. What kind of relationship exists between educational TV and high school grades?

Positive

A researcher conducts a study in which 50 college students are assigned to different treatments and tested. In the study, the students are called

Research participants

What is the goal of an operational definition?

To provide a definition and a method for measuring a hypothetical construct

Which of the following is the definition of a treatment phase?

a. A series of observations made when a treatment is being administered

Which of the following is typically examined in case study?

a. A single individual

What is the appropriate statistical analysis for evaluating the after treatment mean difference for a posttest-only nonequivalent control group design?

a. Independent-measures t test

In an experiment, what is the purpose of manipulating the independent variable?

a. It helps establish the direction of the relationship and it helps eliminate the third-variable problem.

Which of the following is a defining characteristic of the correlational research strategy?

a. The intent is to demonstrate the relationships between variables.

How are single-case designs similar to other experimental designs?

a. They are capable of determining cause-and-effect relationships.

Which of the following accurately describes the two baseline phases in a multiple-baseline design?

a. They are started simultaneously but ended at different times.

Which of the following is the proper way to cite a source with two authors in a research report, when the authors' names are in parentheses, outside the body of the sentence?

b. (Smith & Jones, 2015)

How many independent variables are there in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design?

b. 3

A factorial study measures allergy symptoms before and after taking medication for a group taking a real medication and a control group taking a placebo. What kind of design is being used?

b. Mixed design

Which research design is commonly used to help establish the reliability or validity of a measurement procedure?

b. The correlational design

Which of the following accurately describes the idiographic approach to research?

b. The intensive study of one individual

Although surveys can be used with a variety of different research strategies, which of the following is the defining characteristic of the survey research design?

b. The intent is simply to describe behaviors.

Which of the following is an advantage of single-case designs compared to traditional group designs?

b. The other three choices are all advantages of single-case designs.

Which of the following would cause a researcher who planned to use an ABAB design to switch to a more complex phase-change design?

b. The participant shows no change in behavior when the treatment is introduced.

A researcher reports a significant correlation using an alpha level of .01. Which of the following is an accurate conclusion from this result?

b. The probability that the researcher is making a Type I error is p < .01

Which of the following commonly occurs in a correlational study?

b. Two variables are measured.

Under what circumstances is a component-analysis design appropriate?

b. When a treatment consists of several distinct elements.

Research indicates the people who suffer from depression also tend to experience insomnia. However, it is unclear whether the depression causes insomnia or the lack of sleep causes depression. What problem is demonstrate by this example?

b. the directionality problem

Which of the following is a strength of the multiple-baseline design?

c. All of the above.

What is the purpose for using a control condition in an experiment?

c. It provides a baseline that can be used to evaluate the size of the treatment effect.

For scores measured on a nominal scale of measurement (e.g., job classification), which measure of central tendency is appropriate?

c. Mode

Which technique would probably be used by a researcher who wanted to observe behaviors in a private social club?

c. Participant observation

What would the scatter plot show for data that produce a Pearson correlation of r = +.88?

c. Points clustered close to a line that slopes up to the right

A researcher would like to examine the relationships between self-esteem and academic performance for high school students. Instead of a correctional study, what other kind of study could the researcher use?

d. A differential study comparing academic performance scores for a group of high self-esteem students and a group of low self-esteem students

Which method of knowing is used when you find the address and phone number of a restaurant by googling the name of the restaurant?

method of authority

How can variance be reduced in a between-subjects design?

How many separate groups of participants would be needed for a between-subjects, two-factor study with three levels of factor A and four levels of factor B?

Which of the following accurately describes the relationship between validity and reliability?

Measurement cannot be valid unless it is reliable

A restaurant chef tried replacing rice with pasta in one of her recipes to see what would happen. Which method of acquiring knowledge is she using?

Method of empiricism

Which of the following is a distinction between science and pseudoscience?

Pseudoscience tends to rely on testimonials and selected results Pseudoscience tends to dismiss or refuse to accept negative results Pseudoscience tends to treat criticism as a personal attack

What name is given to a single-case design consisting of the following four phase in the order given: baseline, treatment, baseline, treatment?

a. ABAB design

Which of the following is optional for a research proposal?

a. An abstract

A researcher measures mood for a group of participants who have listened to happy music for 20 minutes and for a second group who have listened to sad music for 20 minutes. If different mood scores are obtained for the two groups, the researcher would like to conclude that music influences mood. However, the happy music group was tested in a room painted yellow and the same music group was in a room painted dark brown and the researcher is concerned that the room color and not the music may influence mood scores. What kind of validity is being questioned?

a. Internal validity

In a between-subjects experiment, if the participants in one group have characteristics that are different from the participants in another group, then which of the following is threatened?

a. Internal validity

What aspect of a study is threatened if the participants are tested in one treatment condition at one time and then tested in a second treatment condition at a different time?

a. Internal validity

Which of the following is the primary limitation of a two-group design?

a. It may not provide a complete picture of the relationship between the variables.

The students in one gym class receive a self-esteem program as part of their sports training. To evaluate the program, a researcher measures self-esteem for the students before and after the program and compares their scores with those from another class that did not receive the program but was measured at the same two times. What kind of design is being used?

a. Mixed design

What design is being used by a researcher comparing depression scores before and after treatment in one group of clients?

a. Pre-post design

What is an advantage to administering a survey over the Internet?

a. Survey can be individualized based on responses

What name is given to the group of individuals from which researchers actually select participants for research studies?

a. The accessible population

A researcher reports a positive relationship between sugar consumption and activity level for a group of 8-year-old children. However, the researcher cannot be sure whether the extra sugar is causing the children to be more active or whether the extra activity is causing the children to eat more sugar. Which of the following is demonstrated by this example?

a. The directionality problem

A journal article reports that a new teaching strategy is very effective for first-grade students. A teacher wonders if the same strategy would be effective for a class of third-grade students. What is the teacher questioning?

a. The external validity of the report

What is typically described in the result section of an APA-style research report?

a. The results of descriptive and inferential statistics

What problem is Cohen's Kappa intended to correct?

a. The simple percentage of agreement tends to overestimate the true level of agreement between two observers

What is measured by values such as Cohen's d or r² (the percentage of variance accounted for)?

a. The size of a treatment effect or the strength of a correlation

Dr. Jones hopes to demonstrate that children who eat a more nutritious breakfast tend to have more academic success than their peers. If this result is obtained, then __________ would be the predictor variable and _________ would be the criterion variable for the study.

a. the nutrition in the breakfast; the level of success

A researcher who is examining the effects of temperature and humidity on the eating behavior or fats uses a factorial experiment comparing three different temperatures (70°, 80°, and 90°) and two humidity condition (low and high). How many factors are in the experiment?

b. 2

The following data represent the means for each treatment condition in a two-factor experiment. What pattern of results is shown in the data?

b. A main effect for factor A and an interaction but no main effect for factor B.

Which of the following is a possible use for a factorial design?

b. All of the above

When researchers use behavioral observation techniques to measure behaviors in movies, what is the measurement process called?

b. Content analysis

In an observational study of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, you record how much time each child spends playing alone during a 30-minute observation period. Which method of quantifying behavior is being used?

b. Duration

Which statement best characterizes a between-subjects experimental design?

b. Each participant is assigned to one condition of the experiment.

Which of the following accurately defines diffusion?

b. Elements of the treatment in one group have spread to another group.

The results from a two-factor ANOVA show no main effect for factor A but a significant interaction. What can you conclude based on this pattern of results?

b. Factor A may have an effect but, if so, it depends on the levels of factor B.

Which of the following is an option for limiting the variance within treatment conditions?

b. Hold a participant variable constant

When comparing means in a two-group design, which statistical analysis is most appropriate?

b. Independent-measures t-test

For a between-subjects experiment, which of the following is a possible threat to internal validity?

b. Individuals differences that exist between treatments

During a study using the behavioral research strategy, it is common to have tow observers record behavior simultaneously. What is the purpose for this procedure?

b. It is used to ensure the objectivity of the measurements.

A research study attempts to describe the relationships between self-esteem and birth order position by measuring self-esteem for each individuals in a group of first-born boys, and then comparing the results with self-esteem scores for a group of later-born boys. Which research strategy is being used?

b. Nonexperimental

Which of the following accurately defines compensatory rivalry?

b. One group works extra hard to make up for not receiving the benefits received by another group.

A researcher would like to select a sample of 50 people so that five different age groups are equally represented in the sample. Assuming that the research does not know the entire list of people in the population, which sampling technique should be used?

b. Quota sampling

The multiple-choice questions in an exam are examples of which type of survey question?

b. Restricted

A researcher reports that there is no consistent relationships between grade point average and the number of hours spend studying for college students. Which of the following is the best description for the correlation between grade point average an the number of hours studying?

c. A correlation near zero

A research study evaluates changes in behavior related to age by examining different groups of individuals with each group representing a different age. What is the name for this research design?

c. A cross-sectional developmental design

In APA style, where do page numbers appear?

c. At the upper right hand corner of the page

In a single-case design, what is the series of observations called when no treatment is being administered?

c. Baseline phase

The results from a correlational study show a positive relationship between aggressive behavior for 6-year-old children and the amount of violence they watch on television. Based on this relationship, which of the following conclusions is justified?

c. Children who watch more TV violence exhibit more aggressive behavior

One category of data is obtained by measuring one variable for each individual in a single group of participants. What kind of statistics are most commonly used for data in this category?

c. Descriptive statistics

Which research design is used by a researcher comparing self-esteem scores for children from divorced families versus scores for children from families with no divorce?

c. Differential research design

Results from a research study suggest that a stop-smoking program is very successful. However, the participants who volunteered for the study were all highly motivated to quit smoking and the research is concerned that the same results may not be obtained for smokers who are not as motivated. What kind of validity is being questioned?

c. External validity

Which of the following describes a variable that exists in a study but is not being directly examined?

c. Extraneous

Which of the following is the primary threat to internal validity for nonequivalent group designs?

c. Individual differences between treatment groups

A researcher exposes people to a stressful situation (such as public speaking) to examine the effect of stress on depressed mood. Why would the research also include a measure of stress?

c. It is a manipulation check.

Which of the following is the primary goal for randomly assigning participants to treatment conditions in an experiment?

c. Minimize the likelihood that a participant variable (such as age or gender) becomes a confounding variable

When a sample is selected from a population, the sample mean is essentially guaranteed to be different from the population mean. What is the name for the naturally occurring difference between a sample statistic and the corresponding population parameter?

c. Sampling error

A researcher conducts a survey to determine the average number of text messages that college students send or receive during a typical 1-hour class. Which research strategy is being used?

c. The descriptive research strategy

How are the results from a single-case study typically evaluated?

c. Visual inspection of a graph

A research study evaluates changes in behavior related to age by examining one group of participants who are all roughly the same age, at different times. What is the name for this research design?

d. A longitudinal developmental design

Which of the following is not a possible outcome from a 2 x 2 factorial design?

d. All of the above are all possible outcomes

One category of data is obtained by measuring two different variables for each individual in a single group or participants. What kind of statistics are most commonly used for data in this category?

d. Correlations or chi-square tests

The ages of the children in a summer camp range from 7 to 12 years old. A counselor constructs a frequency distribution graph showing the number of children for each of the six ages. What kind of graph would be appropriate for this distribution?

d. Either a histogram or a polygon

What can a researcher determine by using a series of observations before treatment?

d. If scores are influenced by some factor unrelated to the treatment.

Which general category of statistical methods is intended to answer questions about a population by using sample data?

d. Inferential statistics

Which of the following accurately describes a two-factor analysis of variance?

d. It conducts three separate hypothesis tests and produces three F-ratios.

Which of the following is a limitation of using matching rather than random assignment to form groups in a between-subjects experiment?

d. Matching requires another measurement procedure.

A cross-sectional developmental design is an example of which general category of research designs?

d. Nonequivalent group designs

Which of the following is an ethical concern for the ABAB design?

d. Removing the treatment after is has already shown to be effective

For a between-subjects study evaluating the mean differences among three treatment conditions, which of the following is the appropriate hypothesis test?

d. Single-factor analysis of variance

Which of the following is the proper way to cite a source in a research report, when the authors name appears as the subject of the sentence?

d. Smith (2015)

Because measures of split-half reliability are based on only half the items in the test, they tend to be inaccurate estimates of the true reliability of the whole test. Which of the following is an attempt to correct this problem?

d. Spearman-Brown formula

What is measured by the Pearson correlation?

d. The degree of linear relationship

The second time you cite a publication with four authors in your report, what should be included in the citation?

d. The first author's last name followed by et al. and the date

How can sensitization threaten external validity of a study?

d. The results may be limited to individuals who have experienced a pretest

A clinical psychologist measures body satisfaction for a group of clients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa each day for 1 week before and for 1 week after the psychologist begins a series of group therapy sessions. What kind of design is being used?

d. Time-series

A researcher uses a correlation to demonstrate that a new 5-minute test for intelligence produces scores that are strongly related to the scores from traditional IQ tests. What is the researcher attempting to demonstrate about the new 5-minute test?

d. Validity

A college professor reports that students who finish exams early tend to get better grades than students who hold on to exams until the last possible moment. The correlation between exam score and amount of time spent on the exam is an example of

d. a negative correlation.

A study examining the relationships between humor and memory compares memory performance scores for one group presented with humorous sentences and a second group presented with nonhumorous sentences. The participants in one group are primarily 8-year-old students and those in the second group are primarily 10-year-old students. In this study, age is potentially a(n) _________ variable.

d. confounding

Experimental research studies tend to have very _________ internal validity but often have relatively ________ external validity.

d. high; low

Researchers often use simulation experiments in an attempt to obtain the _________ of an experiment and still keep much of the __________ of research conducted in the real world.

d. internal validity, external validity

A researcher uses an anonymous survey to investigate the study habits of American college students. Based on the set of 56 surveys that were compiled and returned, the researcher finds that these students spend an average of 4.1 hours each week working on course material outside of class. For this study, the average of 4.1 hours is an example of a ________.

d. statistic

Last year Tim and his friend Jack were both too short to ride the roller coaster. Jack went to the park this year and was tall enough to ride. Tim knows that he is taller than Jack, so he knows that he will be able to ride the roller coaster as well. Which method of knowing is Tim using?

rational method