Research Methods Final Exam
A researcher finds that the control group performs above its usual performance when compared with the experimental group. This effect is named the
Avis effect
The internal validity of an experimental design is concerned with what question?
Did the independent variable really produce a change in the dependent variable?
Consider the following questionnaire item (which uses a yes/no format): "Do you use objective test items or essay items?" What rule regarding item construction does it violate?
Do not use items that have two or more separate ideas in the same item.
Which of the following is not a common paradigm for socio-historical research?
Functional-Modernism
Scaled responses to questionnaire items such as strongly agree, agree, no opinion, and so on are referred to as ________ scale items.
Likert-type
Which of the following terms is used in connection with intensity of exercise and refers to the ratio of metabolic rate during exercise to the rate while resting?
MET
The only true experimental design that can specifically evaluate the reactive or interactive effects of testing is the _______ design.
Solomon four-group
Which of the following is not true about a mixed-method study?
The emphasis on quantitative and qualitative methods is based on other similar studies.
Which of the following statements about constructing tables is not true?
The table should include whatever test of significance was used.
A major weakness of observational research lies in the operational definitions. Which question is an example of an operational definition?
What behaviors characterize a good teacher or good coach?
A job analysis is primarily a form of what research technique?
case study
Splitting as an approach to socio-historical research occurs when the researcher
chips away at theory by examining how it holds together
Which of the following techniques show(s) that the qualitative researcher was concerned with trustworthiness during data analysis?
clarification of researcher bias peer debriefing
A study design uses, for example, two groups of people representing a disease-free population who are then classified as exercisers and nonexercisers. After a period of time, the mortality rates of each group are compared. This design is called a(n)
cohort study
The inclusion criteria in a meta-analysis are very much like
delimitations
In socio-historical research, technology is not used to
determine the accuracy of the material found
A basic characteristic of correlational research is that it
does not manipulate variables and hence cannot establish cause and effect
Which of the three branches of philosophy focuses on knowledge?
epistemology
Multiple-treatment interference and the interaction of selection bias and experimental treatment are threats to
external validity
A qualitative research technique involves interviews of small numbers of participants in a group setting. These groups are called
focus groups
A major difference in the purpose of a meta-analysis and a review of literature for a research paper is that the meta-analysis uses the literature
for empirical and theoretical conclusions
According to the text, the proposal should be written in
future tense
Of the surveys frequently used for measuring physical activity in epidemiological research, the shortest (one to four items) is the
global questionnaire
Just before the posttest, students in the control group were shown a film in another class that related directly to the subject matter being studied in the treatment group. This represents what kind of threat to internal validity?
history
Reasoning that moves from a limited number of specific observations to general conclusions is termed ____ reasoning.
inductive
In the results section of a research report, the author should include
information contained in tables information concerning statistical significance and meaningfulness
Interviewers may become more skilled with practice, which could cause differences between the results of participants interviewed early in the study and those of participants interviewed later. This threat to internal validity is an issue of
instrumentation
Particularizing as an approach to socio-historical research occurs when the researcher
is interested in minute detail of the past
A researcher wishes to study a group of children over a period of 10 years beginning in 2016 and ending in 2025. This is an example of a ________ study.
longitudinal
In developmental studies, when one wants to determine how individual children change rather than what is typical at each stage, one would prefer the ________ method.
longitudinal
A table of descriptive data should include what information for each group?
mean, standard deviation, and number
Which of the three branches of philosophy focuses on the nature of things?
metaphysics
The descriptive, analytical narratives that are a trademark of qualitative research are also called
narrative vignettes
A double-blind experiment is one in which
neither the researcher nor the participants know which participants receive the experimental treatment
A researcher tests the knowledge that 10,000 school children from the southwestern United States have about nutrition, and the scores are transformed into percentiles by grade level. This type of research is a ________ survey study.
normative
It is reasonable to expect volunteer participants to be similar in nature to
other volunteers from similar populations
It is common when looking at a distribution to encounter extreme or unusual scores that could have a misleading effect on the results. These extreme scores are termed
outliers
Prevalence of disease differs from incidence of disease in that prevalence refers to the number of
people who presently have a disease, whereas incidence relates to new cases
A method of philosophy that is designed to liberate people from the traditional claims of the other branches of philosophy falls under the heading of deconstructionism and is called
poetry
A fundamental goal of philosophy is to examine reality primarily through
reflective procedures
When a national poll reports that its survey has a margin of error of 3%, it is referring to error due to
sampling
The interpretation of data in qualitative research always involves some form of
sorting and categorizing
In experimental design, when comparisons are made of groups that have been selected on the basis of their extreme scores, the posttest means of the groups tend to move toward the mean of the entire population from which the extreme groups were selected. This threat to internal validity is called
statistical regression
Which of the following is not included in a proposal?
tables of results
Lumping as an approach to socio-historical research occurs when the researcher
takes disparate facts and groups them together
A pretest of knowledge about microcomputers is given to a group of students 5 minutes prior to a film on the subject. A posttest given 10 minutes after the film shows a 10-point gain from the pretest. The researcher concludes that the film produced the gain. Which of the following is likely the threat to internal validity?
testing
The fact that a meta-analysis quantifies findings from many studies is a frequently mentioned advantage. Another strong advantage of the meta-analysis over the normal review paper is
the description of the coding of study characteristics and the criteria for excluding studies
The major weakness of epidemiological studies is
the inability to experimentally establish cause and effect
In calculating ES for a treatment effect between a pretest and a posttest, the text recommends the use of which standard deviation?
the pretest standard deviation
To help ensure an acceptable return rate in a questionnaire study, the researcher should
use follow-up letters or e-mails enclose or attach another copy of the survey b and c only
In qualitative research, triangulation is the method of
using different kinds of data collection techniques in the analysis and interpretation
Mixed-methods research
was being conducted while some scholars debated whether it was possible