PSY 211 Final Exam
Which of the following is an association claim?
"Owning a dog is related to higher life satisfaction."
Ellie is looking for a summary of research on the effects of childhood abuse on adult functioning. Which of the following scientific sources would NOT be an ideal source?
A chapter in an edited book
Which of the following is NOT an example of applied research?
A clinical psychologist who examines the effectiveness of art therapy in decreasing symptoms of ADHD
stratified random sampling
A multistage technique in which the researcher selects particular demographic categories on purpose and then randomly selects individuals within each of the categories.
Which of the following is the first section of an empirical journal article?
Abstract
Which of the following has the sections of an empirical journal article in the correct order?
Abstract, Method, Results, Discussion, References
Which of the following is an example of being a producer of research?
Administering an anxiety questionnaire
Which of the following is an example of basic research?
An experimental psychologist who examines people's ability to perceive a "sweet" taste
Research that is done specifically to solve a practical problem, like increasing memory ability or decreasing symptoms of depression, is known as
Applied research
Sasha believes that she is a nice person. To confirm this, she asks all her friends whether she is a nice person and they all agree that she is. Sasha concludes that she is a nice person and says she has evidence of it. However, she does not ask any of her enemies whether they think she is a nice person. Sasha would likely draw a different conclusion if she did which of the following?
Asked her enemies if she was a nice person
Research that is done specifically to add to our general understanding of psychology, like distinguishing the components of extraversion or predicting the time it takes a person to determine whether an object is a face or another object, is known as
Basic research
Your friend Gaby loves reading articles about psychology studies in her monthly women's magazine. Which of the following would you tell her?
Be careful about reading those articles because they may not present accurate findings.
The two biases of intuition discussed in the text are
Being swayed by a good story and being persuaded by what comes easily to mind
Journals and magazines are similar in all the following ways EXCEPT:
Both tend to publish peer-reviewed articles
A psychiatrist is testing a drug that treats depression. He has given the drug to all his patients and all of them have experienced a decrease in depressive symptoms. Although this is interesting, his experience is limited because he does not have a:
Comparison group that did not receive the drug
Articles that could be considered journalism:
Do not require specialized education to read
Which of the following is a limitation of Google Scholar compared to PsycINFO?
Google Scholar is not limited to just psychology and related fields.
Dr. Smitherman insists that all his research assistants know how to be producers of research. All of the following relate to this requirement EXCEPT:
He wants to make sure they have previously been participants in research studies
Elliott is double majoring in English and psychology. He plans on being a high school English teacher and is only majoring in psychology because he finds the classes interesting. All of the following are important reasons for him to be a good consumer of research EXCEPT:
He will likely need to be a producer of researcher as well
You and your friends go to see a speaker on campus, Dr. Darian, an "expert" on getting into graduate school. Which of the following should make you less skeptical about his advice?
His recommendations are based on research he conducted for his dissertation.
systematic sampling
If I wanted to systematically sample this class, I would roll two dice
Producer of Research
Important for coursework in psychology, for graduate school, and for working in a research lab
What does it mean that behavioral research is probabilistic?
Inferences drawn from behavioral research are not expected to explain all cases
Biases of intuition
Intuition is biased by faulty thinking. Intuition is biased by motivation. The intuitive thinker vs the scientific thinker
An independent variable is one that:
Is manipulated
Which of the following is a benefit to using a wiki to conduct psychological research?
It can be corrected quickly.
When reading an empirical journal article "with purpose," why should you read the abstract first?
It provides an overview of the article
Compared with doing a generic Internet search, why is PsycINFO a superior way to find scientific sources?
It searches only sources in psychology and related fields
Empiricism (empirical method)
Knowledge or conclusions based on evidence from the senses (or from instruments that can help the senses)
Psychological scientists may choose to publish their work in all of the following EXCEPT:
Popular magazines
James is asked about what is the best way to study for an exam. He responds that the best way to study is by making flash cards. He easily thinks of all the times he used flash cards and he made As. However, he fails to take into consideration all the times he made As and did not use flash cards and the times he used flash cards and did not do well. His faulty thinking is an example of
Present/present bias
In the theory-data cycle, theories first lead to
Questions
Angela reads about a study in which cell phone use is associated with migraine headaches. She says, "Well, that study is not valid because I use a cell phone more than anyone I know and I never get migraines." Based on her comment, Angela may be forgetting which of the following?
Science is probabilistic.
Which of the following is true of the distinction between scientific journals and popular magazines?
Scientific journal articles are peer-reviewed; popular magazine articles are not
Which of the following is true of operational definitions?
Some psychological concepts are more difficult to operationally define than others.
Which of the following allow us to make better predictions using association claims?
Strong positive correlations AND strong negative correlations
Javier wants his lab partner to tell him if he thinks the article he found for their project is appropriate. Rather than have him read the article, which two parts of the paper could Javier have his lab partner read to get a summary of the article?
The abstract and the first paragraph of the discussion
parsimony
The degree to which a theory provides the simplest explanation of some phenomenon.
Hannah just finished reading an empirical journal article for a class project. What information might she get out of reading the references section of her article?
The name of an article that researched a similar topic
Looking for which of the following in a trade book will give you a hint as to its scientific rigor?
The number of references
Which of the following is NOT a reason to be skeptical of an authority?
They have conducted scientific research on the topic.
Research studies are superior to personal experience because
They include at least one comparison group
All of the following are reasons psychological scientists publish their research EXCEPT:
To get money from the journals where their work appears
external validity
To whom, what, or where can the association be generalized?
Consumer of research
What do you gain by being a critical consumer of information? For psychology courses, when reading printed or online news stories based on research, for your future career `
falsifiable
a feature of a scientific theory, in which it is possible to collect data that will prove the theory wrong
Oversampling
a variation of stratified random sampling in which a researcher overrepresents one or more groups
snowball sampling
a variation on purposive sampling, a biased sampling technique in which participants are asked to recommend acquaintances for the study
Cronbach's alpha
an average of all the possible item-total correlations
manipulated variables
are controlled
Measured variables
are observed and recorded
Association claims
argue that one level of a variable is likely to be associated with a particular level of another variable
confirmatory hypothesis testing
asking biased questions to get expected answers
simple random sampling
assign a number to each member of the population and then use a table of random numbers to select your sample
bivariate correlation
association that involves exactly two variables
Association claims involve
at least two measure variables
bias blind spot
biased about being biased
cluster sampling
clusters of participants within a population of interest are randomly selected, and then all individuals in each selected cluster are used
Applied research
conducted in order to solve practical problems; the findings will be directly applied to finding a solution to a real-world problem
Confounds
confused. Outcomes and possible explanations
Frequency claims
describe a particular rate or degree of a single variable
Independent groups design
different groups of participants are placed into different levels of the independent variable
within-groups design
each participant is presented with all levels of the IV
Population
entire set of people or things
ratio
equal intervals and a meaningful zero
interval
equal intervals between units but no meaningful zero
probability sampling
every member of the population of interest has an equal chance of being selected for the sample
Type II error
false negative
Type I error
false positive
Basic research
goal is to enhance the general body of knowledge about a particular topic; can often be a foundation for later applied studies
Which of the following is true of the relationship between hypotheses and theories?
hypotheses used to determine if a theory is accurate.
research design
in the context of design, researchers formulate hypotheses
Random sampling
increases external validity
A dependent variable is one that:
is measured
Empiricism
is the approach of collecting data and using it to develop, support, and/or challenge a theory.
Purposive sampling
is used when you want to study certain kinds of people, so you only recruit those types of participants
face validity
it looks like what you want to measure
research questions
lead to appropriate research design
Theory
leads researchers to pose particular questions
Ordinal
meaningful values but unequal intervals between units
internal validity
no alternative causal explanations for the outcome
causal claim
one of the variables is responsible for changing the other
reactivity
participant behavior actually changes to match the observers expectations
observer effects
participants behavior changes to match observer expectations
construct validity
quality of the measures and manipulations
Probabilistic
research findings are not expected to explain all cases all of the time
convenience sampling
sampling only those who are easy to access; this is a common technique in behavioral research
self-selection
sampling only those who invite themselves
quota sampling
similar to stratified random sampling; the researcher identifies subsets of the population and then sets a target number (i.e., quota) for each category in the sample. Then the researcher uses nonrandom sampling until the quotas are filled
Sample
smaller set of people or things that is taken from the population
statistical validity
statistical conclusions are appropriate and reasonable
strong correlations
strong effect sizes
translational research
the bridge between basic and applied research in which findings from basic research are then used to develop applications
Internal reliability
the extent to which multiple measures, or items, are all answered the same by the same set of people
content validity
the measure contains all the parts that your theory says it should contain
multistage sampling
two random samples are collected: Stage 1: a random sample of clusters is selected from your population of interest, Stage 2: from those selected clusters, a random sample of people is chosen
Posttest-only design
type of independent-groups experiment in which participants are randomly assigned to IV groups and are tested on the DV just once
random assignment
used only in experimental designs to assign participants to groups at random
observer bias
when observers see what they expect to see
moderator
when the relationship between two variables changes depending on the level of another variable
