Research Methods Quizzes

Describe what elements are typically contained in an APA-style abstract for a research report.

(1) Statement of research question, (2) Brief description of subjects or participants, (3) brief description of methods and procedures, (4) report of results, and (5) statement about conclusions or implications.

Which example illustrates the proper way to cite a source with two authors in a research report when the authors' names appear outside the body of the sentence?

(Palmer & Ziser, 2017)

If people score low on one measure and score low on another measure, there is ____

A positive relationship between the two measures.

What is the most relevant question you should ask when reading a results section?

Are appropriate statistics used?

The method section of an APA-style research report ____.

Begins immediately following the Introduction, not on a new page.

The introduction section of an APA-style research report begins on page 3, ____.

Beneath the full, centered title of the paper.

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

Construct

Visual illusions, such as the vertical/horizontal illusion, provide a demonstration of one problem with the ____ method of knowing or acquiring knowledge.

Empirical

An explanation is empirical if it is based on ____.

Evidence of the senses

A problem with primary sources is that they may provide an incomplete or misinterpreted description of a research study or a research result. T/F

False

It is a good idea to start with a specific idea and then make that idea more general as you conduct your literature review. T/F

False

One difference between a scientific answer and answers gained by other methods is that the scientific answer is more likely to be an absolute or final answer. T/F

False

T/F A valid measure is one that yields highly similar results across different experimental conditions.

False

T/F To establish split-half reliability, you must administer the same measurement to the same group of people at two different times.

False

When citing a source in a research report (in APA format), the author's full first name is included. T/F

False

What kind of reasoning uses a few specific observations to produce a statement about a larger possible set of observations?

Inductive

In which section of a psychological research report should the hypothesis of the study be stated?

Introduction

A person who buys a lottery ticket because s/he just feels lucky is using the method of ____.

Intuition

Which of the following statements accurately describes the scientific method?

It is a circular process that leads to a tentative answer.

When is the abstract for a research report usually written?

Last, after the entire report is completed.

An explanation is rational if it is based on ____.

Logical Deductions

A measurement procedure is valid if it ____.

Measures what you intend it to measure.

Looking up your local weather report online is an example of using the ____.

Method of Authority

The pages of a research report are ____.

Numbered starting on the title page.

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

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

In an APA-style research report, where does the author note appear?

On the title page

According to the most recent edition of the Publication Manual, information describing the sample of humans that participated in the study would be found in which subsection of the method section?

Participants

Research results indicate that the more servings of red meat eat from age 15 to 25, the higher their cholesterol scores will be at age 60. This is an example of a ____ relationship between variables.

Positive

A student's score on a measurement of impulse control allows researchers to form an accurate expectation for how well the student will control his or her impulses in class. This test illustrates ____ validity.

Predictive

After measuring a group of individuals, a researcher finds that Jared's score is three times greater than Jasmin's score. These measurements must come from a(n) ____ scale.

Ratio

Kenji believes that food poisoning causes food aversions, so when he finds out that his friend Brielle hates seafood, he assumes that Brielle must have had food poisoning after eating seafood sometime in her past. Kenji is using the ____.

Rational Method

Which statement is the best example of a hypothesis?

Smaller class size is related to better academic performance.

Pseudoscience is based on ____.

Subjective Evidence

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

Subjects

Describe the two subsections typically contained in a methods section of an APA-style research report.

Subjects or participants—describes the sample that participated in the study, and Procedure—describes the step-by-step process used to complete the study.

The mode of inquiry that is called the method of faith is a variant of which other method of inquiry?

The Method of Authority

A young child believing everything that her kindergarten teacher says to be true is an example of ____.

The Method of faith

A good hypothesis should make a statement about the existence of a relationship, a difference, or a treatment effect.

True

An oral presentation at a conference is usually done within a strict time limit. T/F

True

Based on a few students whom you know, you decide that art majors wear funky clothes and that physics majors tend to be nerds. This is an example of inductive reasoning. T/F

True

Clinton is using the empirical method when he decides to eat a handful of berries to see if they are poisonous. T/F

True

Every item listed in the references must be cited in the paper. T/F

True

If the scientific method is being used to evaluate a hypothesis predicting a specific relationship between two variables, then it is essential that both variables can be measured.

True

In the scientific method, the actual research study is not done until after the researcher has formed a hypothesis and made a specific prediction. T/F

True

One of the basic goals of a research report is to describe what was done to conduct the research. T/F

True

T/F An artifact such as demand characteristics can threaten both the internal and the external validity of a research study.

True

T/F To determine how much difference there is between two individuals with respect to some characteristic, you must use either an interval or a ratio scale of measurement.

True

The hypothesis for the study is stated at the beginning of the results section. T/F

True

The information in a table should duplicate the information that is in the text. T/F

True

The method of intuition can be valuable when making ethical or moral decisions by doing what "feels" right.

True

The purpose of the method section is to describe how the study was conducted. T/F

True

The results section of an APA-style research report begins immediately following the method section, not on a new page. T/F

True

Which section of a research article is most likely to provide suggestions for additional research?

discussion

Which of the following words or phrases makes the best subject word(s) for a database search? extroverts party animals people who like socializing people with outgoing personalities

extroverts

Applied research is intended to answer theoretical questions. T/F

false

The results section of an APA-style research report typically describes the ____.

findings of descriptive and inferential statistics.

The disadvantage of full-text databases is that they contain ____.

only a fraction of the publications in an area.

You can safely assume that ____.

primary sources contain descriptions of research by those who conducted it

The results section of a research article typically ____.

provides interpretation of the findings.

Your PsycINFO search has yielded several hundred articles. The most efficient next step is to ____.

scan through the titles to see which ones seem most suited to your interests.

Which type of source summarizes information from sources of original research reports?

secondary

A study that aims to modify existing psychological theory related to personality traits would be considered ____ research.

basic

The third step of the scientific method uses a general hypothesis to develop a testable predication. This step involves the use of ____.

deduction

What is the most relevant question you should ask when reading a method section?

Would different participants produce different results?

A researcher initiates a study to determine whether playing organized sports helps children with anxiety feel less anxious. This study can best be classified as ____ research.

applied

After reading a discussion section of a research article, asking if there are alternative explanations for the results is a good way to come up with an idea for a future study. T/F

true

Ideas for research can come from reading a magazine.

true

Secondary sources are a great place to start a literature search, but you should include primary sources to get the whole story. T/F

true

The discussion section of an APA-style research report often contains a description of the limitations of the research. T/F

true

The review of the literature in an introduction of a research article should form the foundation for the study. T/F

true