Comm 88 Final Practice Questions
D
Which of the following is a topic appropriate for qualitative research? a. The role of the "show" metaphor in the experiences of employees at Disneyland b. The adjustment of a particular married couple to a newly adopted child c. How particular working class families cope with factory closures d. All of the above
C
Which of the following is an advantage of personal interview (face-to-face) surveys? a. There is essentially no interviewer bias b. Costs are typically low c. It is the most flexible survey method d. Sampling error is eliminated e. All of the above
C
How many independent variables are there in a: 2 X 2 X 2 X 3 factorial design? a. 2 b. 3 c. 4 d. 24
E - Because there is an experimental group which implemented a change in policy (UCSB) AND a control group (UCLA) which implemented no change
A cultural diversity expert is interested in how the diversity of the student population at UCSB will be affected by a new admissions policy. She tracks the ethnicity ratio of UCSB students for many quarters, both before and after the change in policy. Over the same time span she gathers ethnicity ratio data at UCLA, which implemented no change in their admissions policy. What type of design is she employing? a. Single-group interrupted time series design b. Natural experiment e. multiple time series design c. Solomon four-group design d. Pretest-posttest control group design e. Multiple time series design
A
A film production company wants to measure reactions to a trailer for its new movie. The following items were used: 1) I am interested in seeing this movie. Strongly disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly agree 2) This movie sounds like it would be funny and exciting. Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 Very much According to the guidelines for question construction, what would be a major problem with question #2? a. It is a double-barreled question b. It is a negatively-worded question c. It is a biased/leading question d. None of the above; it does not violate any question construction guidelines
B
A film production company wants to measure reactions to a trailer for its new movie. The following items were used: 1) I am interested in seeing this movie. Strongly disagree 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly agree 2) This movie sounds like it would be funny and exciting. Not at all 1 2 3 4 5 Very much What type of questionnaire format is being used here to measure people's reactions to the ad? a. Funnel format b. Likert-type items c. Inverted funnel format d. both a and b
A
A high school principal wants to see which of two types of films is most valuable in teaching students of different sexes and grade levels how to avoid AIDS. One film is the personal story of a woman's fears after a sexual relationship, the other is a documentary describing ways to protect against AIDS. The principal obtains 80 students: 40 juniors (20 male, 20 female) and 40 seniors (also 20 male, 20 female). Half of the juniors (10 male and 10 female) are randomly assigned to view one film and the other half (also 10 male, 10 female) to view the other film. The same random assignment is done for the seniors. Apart from the type of film shown, the students are all treated the same way. After viewing, students fill out a questionnaire testing their knowledge of ways to avoid AIDS. Suppose the principal finds that the personal story film was more effective with the seniors, but the documentary story was more effective with the juniors. What type of effect would this be? a. Interaction effect between film type and grade level b. Interaction effect between grade level and sex c. Interaction effect between grade level and sex and film type d. Interaction effect between film type and sex e. Interaction effect between sex and knowledge of ways to avoid AIDS
E
A high school principal wants to see which of two types of films is most valuable in teaching students of different sexes and grade levels how to avoid AIDS. One film is the personal story of a woman's fears after a sexual relationship, the other is a documentary describing ways to protect against AIDS. The principal obtains 80 students: 40 juniors (20 male, 20 female) and 40 seniors (also 20 male, 20 female). Half of the juniors (10 male and 10 female) are randomly assigned to view one film and the other half (also 10 male, 10 female) to view the other film. The same random assignment is done for the seniors. Apart from the type of film shown, the students are all treated the same way. After viewing, students fill out a questionnaire testing their knowledge of ways to avoid AIDS. What type of research design is this? a. A within-subjects design b. A true experiment c. A factorial design d. Pre-experiment e. Both b and c
A
A researcher who qualitatively analyzes and evaluates the metaphors that the President of the USA uses in his speeches is most likely doing which form of textual analysis? a. Rhetorical criticism b. Content analysis c. Critical theory d. All of the above
E
A high school principal wants to see which of two types of films is most valuable in teaching students of different sexes and grade levels how to avoid AIDS. One film is the personal story of a woman's fears after a sexual relationship, the other is a documentary describing ways to protect against AIDS. The principal obtains 80 students: 40 juniors (20 male, 20 female) and 40 seniors (also 20 male, 20 female). Half of the juniors (10 male and 10 female) are randomly assigned to view one film and the other half (also 10 male, 10 female) to view the other film. The same random assignment is done for the seniors. Apart from the type of film shown, the students are all treated the same way. After viewing, students fill out a questionnaire testing their knowledge of ways to avoid AIDS. Which of the following findings would be an example of a main effect that the researchers might find in this study? a. The personal story film was more effective with female students, but the documentary story was more effective with the male students b. Those who watched the documentary film were more knowledgeable than were those who watched the personal story c. Male students had higher knowledge scores than did female students d. Seniors were not affected by either film, but juniors were influenced by the personal story film e. Both b and c
A - Because it is a true experiment, therefore is able to make cause-effect claims
A researcher is interested in studying the effect of listening to loud music on the ability to memorize words. He obtains a convenience sample of 50 college students. He randomly assigns students either to hear loud music or to hear no music while trying to memorize a word list (everything else is exactly the same across the two conditions). He then measures each student's memory for the words. If the researcher finds a difference in memory between those who heard loud music and those who heard no music, which of the following would be true about the conclusion the researcher could make? a. The researcher could conclude that the loud music caused the difference in memory. b. Without a pretest, the researcher cannot make any causal conclusions about the effect of loud music. c. Because the researcher used a college-student sample, he cannot make any causal conclusions about the effect of loud music. d. The researcher could only conclude that there is a relationship between loud music and memory because the data are correlational. e. both c and d
B - Because the only IV being manipulated is music - Factorial designs test for *2 or more* variables being manipulated
A researcher is interested in studying the effect of listening to loud music on the ability to memorize words. He obtains a convenience sample of 50 college students. He randomly assigns students either to hear loud music or to hear no music while trying to memorize a word list (everything else is exactly the same across the two conditions). He then measures each student's memory for the words. What kind of research design is this? a. quasi experiment b. true experiment c. survey d. factorial design e. content analysis
B
A researcher is interested in the effectiveness of different types of public service announcements (PSAs) at increasing a person's willingness to use bicycle helmets for safety. First, she showed a sample of thirty bicycle riders a fear appeal, then had the riders rate their willingness to use bicycle helmets. Then she showed them a humorous appeal, and again had them rate their helmet willingness. Finally, she showed them a logical appeal, and again had them rate their willingness to use helmets. Suppose the researcher finds that riders' rated themselves the most willing to use helmets after seeing the logical appeal. What is the problem that prevents the researcher from concluding that the logical appeal was the most effective? a. Mortality of subjects b. Carry-over/order effects c. Statistical regression d. Low external validity
C
A researcher is interested in the effectiveness of different types of public service announcements (PSAs) at increasing a person's willingness to use bicycle helmets for safety. First, she showed a sample of thirty bicycle riders a fear appeal, then had the riders rate their willingness to use bicycle helmets. Then she showed them a humorous appeal, and again had them rate their helmet willingness. Finally, she showed them a logical appeal, and again had them rate their willingness to use helmets. What could the researcher have done to prevent the problem? a. Make sure the sample is representative of bicycle riders. b. Conduct a pretest to measure the riders' prior attitudes about wearing helmets. c. Randomly assign the riders to watch the PSAs in different orders. d. Make sure the PSAs look professionally made.
E
A researcher is interested in the impact of knowledge about the harmful effects of pollution on concern for the environment. She administers a questionnaire about individuals' concern for the environment to a sample of residents from a large U.S. city. Two weeks later, she distributes "Harmful Effects of Pollution" pamphlets to the city's residents. Two weeks after that, she administers the same questionnaire about concern for the environment to the same sample. Suppose that one week after the researcher distributes the pamphlets, local news programs broadcast that a toxic waste processing plant will soon be built in a neighboring city. What specific problem would this present for the study? a. Statistical regression b. Testing effect c. Maturation d. Diffusion of treatments e. History effect
A
A researcher is interested in the impact of knowledge about the harmful effects of pollution on concern for the environment. She administers a questionnaire about individuals' concern for the environment to a sample of residents from a large U.S. city. Two weeks later, she distributes "Harmful Effects of Pollution" pamphlets to the city's residents. Two weeks after that, she administers the same questionnaire about concern for the environment to the same sample. The dependent variable in this study is: a. Concern for the environment b. Knowledge about the harmful effects of pollution c. Residents of a large U.S. city d. None of the above
D
A researcher is interested in the impact of knowledge about the harmful effects of pollution on concern for the environment. She administers a questionnaire about individuals' concern for the environment to a sample of residents from a large U.S. city. Two weeks later, she distributes "Harmful Effects of Pollution" pamphlets to the city's residents. Two weeks after that, she administers the same questionnaire about concern for the environment to the same sample. Think about the type of design you answered in question #14. Which threat to internal validity is a possible problem for this kind of design (regardless of whether or not it's actually a problem for the example study given above)? a. History effect b. Testing effect c. Maturation d. All of the above e. a and c only
C
A researcher is interested in the impact of knowledge about the harmful effects of pollution on concern for the environment. She administers a questionnaire about individuals' concern for the environment to a sample of residents from a large U.S. city. Two weeks later, she distributes "Harmful Effects of Pollution" pamphlets to the city's residents. Two weeks after that, she administers the same questionnaire about concern for the environment to the same sample. What type of design is this? a. Interrupted time series design b. Trend study c. One group pretest-post test design d. Pretest-post test control group design
D
A researcher wants to run an experiment on students at a university to see if eating a high-calorie meal for lunch helps them participate more in their afternoon classes. She randomly assigns the students into 3 groups: one is given a high-calorie meal for lunch, one is given an apple, and one is not given lunch at all. Before lunch, the researcher surveys the students on how often they participate in their morning classes. In the evening, the students are asked, in another survey, how often they participated in their afternoon classes. Which one of these statements is FALSE: a. The IV is manipulated in 3 different ways b. The DV is a measure of student participation c. This is an example of a pre-test/post-test experimental design d. Due to how this experiment is setup, the researcher will be able to tell if there was a pre-test influence on the outcome e. None of the above are false statements
E
A researchers data collection entails her collecting 10,000 Facebook posts from her friends over a year. She extracts the following information from each post: friends name, location of the post, whether or not the post had an attached picture, and total number of "likes" Which of the following statements is demonstrably true? a. Her results will be generalizable to a wider group of people who use social media b. She will have collected 10,000 individual data points, which could be considered "Big Data" c. Of the 4 variables of Big Data, this example illustrates the Velocity concept best d. If she triples her collection of posts, she is very likely to get better results e. None of the above are demonstrably true statements
D
An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of jingles and humor in advertisements on liking for products. Jingles was represented by television ads containing either jingles or no jingles. Humor was represented by ads containing either humor or no humor. Liking for products was measured according to the subject's rating of the ad according to a 10-point scale, with 10 being the highest score of liking. In this experiment, _____________ is an independent variable and _____________ is a dependent variable. a. humor; jingles b. liking for products; humor c. jingles; humor d. jingles; liking for products
E
I have results from my survey question: "What race or ethnic group do you think you identify with?" (Which had 9 difference choices). Which analysis approach would be most appropriate? a. Reporting the percentages of each answer in a pie chart b. Reporting the percentages of each answer in a bar chart c. Showing the correlation in answers between all 9 choices d. Comparing the average answers between all 9 choices e. Both A and B f. All of the above
D
If a researcher wanted to examine whether the social values emphasized in women's magazine articles matched the values held by American women over 18, which two research methodologies would be necessary? a. Content analysis & experiment b. Experiment & survey c. Experiment & naturalistic inquiry d. Content analysis & survey
A
If a study finds that a measure of "prejudicial attitudes" is correlated with a measure of "discriminatory behaviors" at r = .85, what would be appropriate to conclude? a. The more discriminatory behaviors a person shows, the more prejudicial attitudes that person is likely to hold. b. There is a weak relationship between prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory behaviors c. Prejudicial attitudes are likely to lead to discriminatory behaviors. d. Both a and c
C
In what aspect are interviews worse than self-administered surveys? a. They are less flexible b. They usually yield lower response rates c. They cost more d. They are not good for finding out in-depth information e. None of the above are the answer to the question
C
Market researchers interested in promoting a new cheeseburger invite a few people at a fast food restaurant into a room together to discuss their feelings about burgers. The researchers are using which of the following techniques? a. Case study b. Ethnographic interview c. Focus group d. Participant observation
D
The Solomon 4-Group Design is best used in experiments where... a. The researcher wants to know if pre-testing is influencing the post-test results b. The researcher wants to compare the same IV condition with AND without a pre-test c. The researcher wants to do his experiment quickly, effortlessly, and cheaply d. Both A and B e. Both A and C
D
The Solomon four group design allows researchers to: a. Compare experimental and control groups b. Compare pretest scores with posttest scores c. Control for the pretest interacting with the manipulation d. All of the above
D
What could be wrong with the wording of this question given in a scientific survey: "How much do you agree with the candidates view that we should not be repealing the important tax breaks that give life to small businesses in California?" a. It shows non-exclusive choices b. It is a double-barreled question c. It is unclear what the question is asking d. It is a leading question, and thus biased e. There is nothing wrong with this question for a scientific survey
B
When dependent variable measures are influenced by the fact that subjects think they are getting some special treatment, this is called: a. Social desirability b. Placebo effect c. Demand characteristics d. Experimenter bias
D
Which of the following is true about interview surveys (compared to self-administered surveys), according to your reading? a. Interviews tend to have a higher response rate. b. Interviewers can probe for detail and minimize "don't know" responses. c. Interviewers must be more careful about social desirability problems. d. All of the above e. a and c only
B
Which of the following is true of the "grounded theory" process, according to your reading? a. Research methods are typically quantitative, such as surveys and experiments. b. Study designs are free to change, and theory emerges out of the data. c. Representative sampling is important and valued. d. All of the above e. a and c only
D
Which of the following represents a "true" experimental design? a. Posttest only control group design b. The Solomon four-group design c. Pretest-posttest control group design d. All of the above
D
Which of the following research questions would best be answered by content analysis? a. "Does a course in cultural sensitivity reduce people's prejudicial attitudes?" b. "What effect does sexually explicit material have on men's attitudes toward women?" c. "Do Asian-Americans support Affirmative Action in university admissions?" d. "What types of products are advertised during televised sporting events?" e. Both a and b
E
Which of the following research questions would best be answered by experimental research? a. "Does a course in cultural sensitivity reduce people's prejudicial attitudes?" b. "What effect does sexually explicit material have on men's attitudes toward women?" c. "Do Asian-Americans support Affirmative Action in university admissions?" d. "What types of products are advertised during televised sporting events?" e. Both a and b
C
Which of the following research questions would best be answered by survey research? a. "Does a course in cultural sensitivity reduce people's prejudicial attitudes?" b. "What effect does sexually explicit material have on men's attitudes toward women?" c. "Do Asian-Americans support Affirmative Action in university admissions?" d. "What types of products are advertised during televised sporting events?" e. All of the above except d
B
Which of the following survey methods would be most appropriate if the questions were about sensitive subjects, if costs had to be kept low, and if a very high response rate was not critical to the researchers? a. Personal interview survey b. Self-administered mail survey c. Sensitivity survey d. Telephone survey
C
Which of these examples should NOT be considered to be about "Big Data" in Communication Research? a. Collecting 3,000 Facebook profiles from UCSB students in order to analyze their online connections with each other b. Collecting tweets from people who use a certain selection of popular hashtags over time in order to study how quickly popular hashtags are re-used among Twitter followers c. Sending out 2,000 tweets with a link to an online survey with 10 questions to Twitter users, using similar random selection d. Gathering 500,000 social media posts from varying sources from people posting in NYC during the Thanksgiving holiday to see how many people posted about turkey dinners e. Gathering 34,515 online comments from the LA Times and looking for the use of foul language between the commenters
B
Which of these is NOT a good way to get higher response rates in self-administered surveys? a. Offer to give your participants a $20 gift card to Amazon.com for taking the survey b. When you send your recruitment request to potential participants, ask them to come to your building to take it c. Keep you questions clear and simple d. Keep the number of questions to 20 or fewer e. Be persistent and persuasive in your recruitment tactics
A
Which of these is an example of experience sampling? a. Having your participants download your app and use it on a daily basis for a month, and when prompted by the app, to immediately log in and rate their current "general happiness level" from 1 to 5 b. Give out surveys to people to fill out at the mall regarding their spending habits at clothing stores c. Select 12 people to ask in-depth questions to about their daily eating habits d. Send funny texts (SMS) to participants several times in one day and then interview them the next week to ask them their opinions on the texts e. Send an email to participants and ask them to take your survey online within 1 week's time
C
Which of these is the TRUE statement about validity in experiments? a. Validity is often pursued at the expense of reliability in experiments b. Internal validity in experiments is preferable if researchers do random assignments c. External validity is crucial to have if researchers want their experimental results to be applied outside of the lab setting d. Internal validity in experiments is preferable if researchers do random assignments of their subjects e. Who needs Validity? No one!
B
Which of these would you consider to be a strong correlation? a. r = 0.5 b. r = -0.9 c. r = 0 d. r = 0.6 e. r = -0.2
B
You are analyzing magazine advertisements in order to compare the social status of male characters versus female characters. Using a multistage cluster sampling technique, the researcher ends up with a representative sample of advertisements from issues of male-marketed and female-marketed magazines. For each ad, observers code the following variables for each male and female character: "economic status" (rich, upper-middle class, middle or lower- middle class, or poor), the setting (home, work, outdoors, or other), and "sense of importance" (a rating on a scale from 1 "very low" to 7 "very high"). You find that when coding a set of the exact same ads, your coders get very different scores on the "sense of importance" ratings for the characters. This is a problem with ____________, which is probably due to the fact that this rating is an attempt to code __________. a. Reliability; manifest content b. Reliability; latent content c. Validity; manifest content d. Validity; latent content
