SS Research Methods Exam #2

A researcher is examining motor skills development by observing children at 18 months, 24 months, and 30 months. If the researcher uses a cross-sectional design and obtains 20 scores for each age, then how many children participated in the entire study?

60

Time-Related Variables

Any variable that changes over time and influences the participants differently in one treatment that in another.

Participant-Related Threats for Designs That Compare Different Groups

Assignment Bias

The basic treat to internal validity for nonequivalent groups design is

Assignment bias

A research study records a score measuring alcohol use and a score measuring income level for each individual in a group of 40-year-old men. The study intends to determine whether there is a relationship between the 2 variables. This study is an example of what research strategy?

Correlational

A study examining what percentage of married couples is satisfied with their marriage is an example of what research approach?

Descriptive

This design - uses participant characteristics such as gender, race, or personality to assign participant groups - no random assignment - dependent variable is measured for each participant to obtain a score within groups - classified as non experimental research design

Differential Research Design

Which of the following is not a disadvantage of a between-subject design?

Each score is independent of all other scores

General Threats for All Designs

Environmental Variables

Single Blind and Double-blind studies minimize this

Experimenter Bias

Counterbalancing

For within-subjects design, this is defined as chaining the order in which treatment conditions are administered from one participant to another so that the treatment conditions are matched with respect to time.

In between-subjects experiments, participants are assigned to treatments using random assignment. Why is random assignment used?

It is an attempt to control participant variables so they don't become confounding variables

This is a threat to internal validity because observed differences between treatment conditions may be caused by this instead of by the treatments

Maturation

Which of the following differentiates a matched-subjects design form a within-subjects design?

The matched-subjects design uses a different group of participants for each treatment condition.

Which of the following accurately describes nonequivalent group design?

The researcher cannot control which people go into each group and cannot ensure that the groups are equivalent

Threat for Designs that Compare One Group Over Time

Time-Related Variables

The goal of the experimental research strategy is to establish the existence of

a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables

A researcher systematically varies the people's stress levels to examine the effects of stress on performance. The researcher includes a measure of stress as

a manipulation check

The appropriate hypothesis test for a within-subjects design that compares two treatment conditions is

a repeated-masures t-test

Internal Validity

a research methods has this if it produces a single, unambiguous explanation for the relationship between to variables

nonequivalent group design

a research study in which the different groups of participants are formed under circumstances that do not permit the researcher to control the assignment of individuals to groups, and the groups of participants are considered nonequivalent.

Differential Research Design

a research study that simply compares preexisting groups.

Treatment Condition

a situation or environment characterized by one specific value of the manipulated variable.

Which of the following is not an example of a non experimental or quasi-experimental study?

a study comparing performance in a room where the walls have been painted yellow versus performance in a room painted blue

History

a threat to internal validity because any differences that are obsessed between treatment conditions may be caused by this instead of by the treatment

A researcher evaluates the effectiveness of an art class having an art expert judge the quality of student's paintings at the beginning of the class, in the middle of the class, and at the end of the class. If the art expert's standards for judgment change during the class, then the internal validity of the study is threatened by

a time-related variable

In a posttest-only nonequivalent control group design one group is observed/measured ____(before, after, same time) receiving a treatment, and the other group is measured _____ (before, after, same time) but receives no treatment

after, at the same time

Extraneous variables

all variables in the study other than the independent and dependent variables

Resentful demoralization occurs when

an untreated group learns of the treatment recede by another group and then becomes less motivated

Instrumentation is a threat to internal validity because

any observed differences between treatment conditions may be caused by changes in this instead of the treatments

Order effects threaten internal validity because

any observed differences between treatment conditions may be caused by order effects rather than the treatments

Cohorts

are individuals who were born at roughly the same time and grew up under similar circumstances

Individual differences

are personal characteristics that can differ from one participant to another

Developmental Research Designs

are used to examine changes in behavior related to age

Experiment/ true experiment

attempts to show the changes in one variable are directly responsible for changes in a second variable

Regression Toward the Mean/ Statistical Regression is a threat to internal validity because

changes that occur in participants' scores from one treatment to the next can be caused by ____ instead of the treatments

Individual difference are

characteristics of the environment that differ between groups

When the data do not consist of numerical scores it is impossible to examine mean differences between groups. In this situation, which statistical analysis is most appropriate for a between-subjects design?

chi-square test for independence

The primary problem with a cross-sectional developmental design is that differences between age groups may not be caused by age but rather are caused by

cohort effects

A researchers designs a study to determine whether female preschoolers prefer sweetened or unsweetened cereal. The researcher uses a box of sweetened colorful cereal and a box of unsweetened tan-colored cereal. The research finds that the group preschoolers ate more of the sweetened colorful cereal and therefore prefers the sweetened cereal. Which 2 variables are confounded in this experiment?

color of the cereal and sweetness of the cereal

posttest-only nonequivalent control group design

compares 2 non-equivalent groups of participants.

pretest-postest nonequivalent control group design

compares two non-equivalent groups and is considered quasi-experiemtnal because it limits threat to internal validity

manipulation

consists of identifying the specific values of the independent variable to be examined ant then creating a set of treatment conditions corresponding to the set of identified values

In an experiment, the score for each participant is obtained by measuring the

dependent

Which of the following is not a risk when participants in one group have an opportunity to talk with participants in the other groups in a between-subjects experiment?

differential attrition

Counterbalancing eliminates confounding by

disrupting any systematic relationship between the order of treatments and time-related factors

matched-subjects design

each individual in one group is matched with a participant in each of the other groups. This is done so that the matched individuals are equivalent w/ respect to a variable that the researcher considers to be relevant to the study.

In between-subjects design

each participant experiences only one level of the independent variable

Experimental research strategy

establishes the existence of a cause-and-effect relationship between two variable. To accomplish this goal, and experiment manipulates one variable while a second variable is measured and other variables are controlled.

longitudinal developmental research design

examines developmental by observing or measuring a group of cohorts over time

Manipulating an independent variable involves

exposing participants to at least two levels of the independent variable

If a researcher measures self-esteem with the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, will other researcher get the same results measuring self-esteem with the Harter Self Esteem Measure This is a question of...

external validity

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 researcher is concerned that the same results may not be obtained for smokers who are not as motivated. This study has a problem with

external validity

time-series design

has a series of observations for each participant before a treatment or event and a series of observations after the treatment is over

When an outside even occurs during a wishing-subject study and influences some of the treatment conditions but not others, the results are confounded by ____

history effects

An extraneous variable can be eliminated completely by

holding it constant

In a time series design, the series of observations before treatment helps reduce threats to internal validity because

if an outside factor is influencing the scores, the effects should be seen before the treatment is administered.

What is the advantage of a field study over a laboratory study?

increased external validity

What is the advantage of a laboratory study over a field study?

increased internal validity

What is the appropriate statistical analysis for comparing mean differences for a differential design comparing samples representing three populations?

independent-measures analysis of variance

In a within-subjects design, individual differences (participant variables) are a problem because

individual differences are not a problem in a within-subjects design.

A researcher evaluates the effectiveness of an art class by having an art expert judge the quality of student's paintings at the beginning of the class, in the middle of the class, and at the end of the class. If the art experts standards for judgment change during the class, then the internal validity of the study is threatened by

instrumentation

A research study finds that a group of participants who received relaxation training had lower exam anxiety scores than a group who did not receive training. However, the researcher suspects that the difference between groups may be caused by the fact that the participants in one group are generally smarter than those in the other. This study has a problem with

internal validity

In a between-subjects experiment, assignment bias is a threat to

internal validity

In a between-subjects experiment, when the participants in one group have characteristics that are noticeably different form those in another group the _____ of the study is threatened.

internal validity

Non experimental research strategy & Quasi-experiemental research strategy

involved comparison of scores from different groups or conditions. But these strategies use a non manipulated variable to define the groups or conditions being compared

Matching

involves assigning individuals to groups so that a specific variable is balanced, or matched, across the groups. The intent is to create groups that are equivalent ( or nearly equivalent)

No-treatment Control Group

is a condition in which participants do not receive the treatment being evaluated

Placebo Control Group

is a condition in which participants receive a placebo instead of the actual treatment

Research strategy

is a general approach to research determined by the kind of question that the research study hopes to answer

Research design

is a general plan for implementing a research strategy. Specifies whether the study will involve groups or individual participants, will make comparisons within a group or between groups, and how man variables will be included.

treatment

is a manipulation administered by the researcher

Statistical Regression or regression toward the mean

is a mathematical phenomenon in which extreme scores (high or low) on one measurement tend to be less extreme on a second measurement

pre-post design

is a research study in which a series of observation is made over time for one group of participants

Manipulation Check

is an additional measure to assess how the participants perceived and interpreted the manipulation and/or to asses the direct effect of the manipulation

Research Procedure

is an exact, step-by-step description of a specific research study

Confounding Variable

is an extraneous variable (usually unmonitored) that changes systematically along with the two variables being studied. Provides an alternative explanation for the observed relationship between two variables, and is a threat to internal validity

event

is an outside occurrence that is not controlled or manipulated by the researcher

Threat to external validity

is any characteristic of a study that limits the ability to generalize the results from a research study

Threat to internal validity

is any factor that allows for an alternative explanation

Extraneous Variable

is any variable in a research study other than the specific variables being studied

simulation

is the creation of conditions within an experiment that simulate or closely duplicate the natural environment in which the behaviors being examined would normally occur

Random Assignment

is the use of a random process to assign participants to treatment conditions

Randomization

is the use of a random process to help avoid a systematic relationship between two variables

Goal of Counterbalancing

is to use every possible order of treatments w/ and equal number of individuals participating in each sequence.

Non manipulated varaible

is usually a participant characteristic or a time variable.

And advantage of a multiple-treatment within-subjects design compared to a two- treatment design is

it is more likely to reveal the full relationship between the independent variable and the dependent variable

In a between-subjects design, large individual differences can lead to

large variance within treatments

A within-subjects design has a definite advantage over a between-subjects design when the number of available subjects is relative ___ and individual differences are relatively ___ (large? small?)

large, small

A quasi-experimental design

makes some attempts to minimize threats to validity

Which two elements of a research study are unique to experimental research?

manipulation and control

For an experiment comparing 2 treatments, the researcher selects participants so that each treatment condition has 20 males and 10 female. For this study, what method is being used to control participant gender?

matching

An advantage of matching a variable across treatments rather than using random assignment to form your groups is that

matching guarantees that there is no systematic relationship between participant characteristics and the treatment conditions

Which of the following is the primary goal for randomizing and extraneous variable in an experiment?

minimize the likelihood that the variable is confounding

Standardizing procedures within each treatment condition

minimizes variance within treatments

A researcher can't use random assignment to create groups of participants for what research design?

nonequivalent group design

A research study begins by separating a sample 40-year-old men into two groups: a high-income group and low-income group. A score measuring alcohol use is then obtained for each man. The study intends to determine whether there is a relationship between income and alcohol use. This is an example of what research strategy?

nonexperimental

Differential research is classified as

nonexperimental

Carry-over effects

occur when one treatment condition produces a change in the participants that affects their scores in subsequent treatment conditions.

Order effects

occurs when the experience of being tested in one treatment condition (participating and being measured) has an influence on the participants' scores in a later treatment condition(s).

Experimenter Bias

occurs when the experimenter's expectations or personal beliefs regarding the outcome of the study influence the findings of a study.

Assignment bias

occurs when the process used to assign different participants to different treatments produces groups of individuals with noticeably different characteristics

In the non experimental pretest-posttest design, each individual in a single group of participants is measured...

once before treatment and once after treatment

In a pretest-postest nonequivalent control group design on group is measured ____ (one, twice), before and after a treatment is given. And the other group is measured at the same time ____ (once, twice) but does not receive any treatment

once, twice.

A researcher is conducting an experiment comparing 3 treatment conditions. If the researcher uses a between-subjects design. there will be ____ score(s) for each participant but if a within-subjects design is used there will be ____ score(s) for each participant.

one and three

In a typical pre-post study

one group is measured before and after a treatment

The single-factor two group design includes

only two levels of one independent variable

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 placebo effect?

placebo vs. no-treatment

Common examples of progressive error are

practice effects and fatigue

A disadvantage of the two-group design is that it

provides limited information about the effect of the independent variable

What name is given to the variable that is used to define the groups or conditions in a quasi-experiemntal study?

quasi-independent

Which of the following is not a method for trying to prevent a participant characteristic (such as age or gender) from becoming a confounding variable in between-subjects experiment?

randomly select the participants form the population

A no-treatment control group is a condition in which participants

receive a zero-value of the independent variable

Cohort effects and generation effects

refer to differences between age groups (or cohorts) caused by unique characteristics or experiences other than age.

Placebo Effect

refers to a response by a participant to an inert medication that has no real effect not the body. Effect occurs simply because the individual thinks the medication is effective

Progressive error

refers to changes in a participant's behavior or performance that are related to general experience in a research study but not related to specific treatment(s).

Instrumentation

refers to changes in the measuring instrument that occur during a research study in which participants are measured in a series of treatment conditions

External validity

refers to the extent to which we can generalize the results of a research study to people, settings, times, measures, and characteristics other than those used in that study.

Control group

refers to the non-treatment condition in an experiment

Experimental group

refers to the treatment condition in an experiment

What is the appropriate statistical analysis for evaluating the before treatment versus after treatment mean difference for a pretest-posttest design?

repeated-measrues t test

Between-Subjects Experimental Design or Independent Measures

requires a separate, independent group of individuals for each treatment condition. As a result, the data for this design contains only one score for each experiment.

Field Study

research conducted in a place that the participant or subject perceives as a natural environment

How many groups of participants would be needed to completely counterbalance a within-subjects experiment with 3 treatment conditions

six

In a between-subjects design, you can increase the likelihood of finding a difference between the treatment conditions by

taking steps to minimize variance within groups

Levels

the different values of the independent variable selected to create and define the treatment conditions

A researcher has observed that people who suffer form an eating disorder tend to have lower self-esteem than people without a disorder. However, the researcher is not sure whether the lower self-esteem leads to an eating disorder or whether having an eating disorder leads to lower self-esteem. This is an example of

the directionality problem

Restricted Random Assignment

the group assignment process is limited to ensure predetermined characteristics (such as equal size) for the separate groups

One of the primary advantages of a pretest-poshest nonequivalent control group design, in comparison to other nonequivalent group designs is

the presets scores can help reduce the threat of assignment bias

Diffusion refers to

the spreading of treatment effect from the experimental to the control group

Independent Variable

the variable manipulated by the researcher. Usually consists of two or more treatment conditions to which participants are exposed.

Dependent variable

the variable that is measured to obtain the scores within each group in non experimental and quasi-experimental groups

Dependent Variable

the variable that is observed for changes to asses the effects of manipulating the independent variable

Quasi-independent variable

the variable that is used to differentiate the groups of participants or groups of scores being compared in non experimental and quasi-experimental research designs

Quasi experimental designs are different from non experimental because?

this designs actively attempts to limit threats to internal validity

Non Experimental are different from Quasi- experimental designs because?

this designs make little or no attempt to control threats to internal validity

The internal validity of the pre-post designs is threatened by

threats related to time

A prison psychologist measures depression for a group of prisoners each day for one week before and for one week after the psychologist begins a series of group therapy sessions. This is an example of a(n) ____design

time series

The goal of differential research design

to determine whether the scores for one group are consistently different form the scores of another group

What is the general purpose for using simulations and field studies?

to increase external validity

If a researcher has a reason to expect large and long-lasting order effects, the best strategy is

to use a between-subjects research design

Cross-sectional development research design

uses different groups of individuals, each group representing a different age. The different groups are measured at one point in time and then compared

nonequivalent control group design

uses preexisting groups, one of which serves in the treatment condition and the other in the control condition. Researcher doesn't use random assignment.

History effect

when a group of individuals is being tested in a series of treatment conditions, any outside event(s) that influences the participants' scores in one treatment differently than in another treatment.

Maturation

when a group of individuals is being tested in a series of treatment conditions, any psychological or physiological changes that occur in participants during the study and influences the participants' scores.

Counterbalancing is used in

within-subjects designs to reduce individual differences