Psy290 lesson 4

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

Descriptive

Any factor that allows for an alternative explanation for the results of a study is a threat to external validity.

False

_______ effects occur when environmental events other than the treatment influence the participants' scores in one treatment differently than in another treatment.

History

When a group of individuals is tested in a series of treatment conditions over time, which of the following factors can cause progressive improvement in performance from treatment to treatment and thus provide an alternative explanation for the results?

Practice

Which research strategy attempts to address questions about cause-and-effect relationships but fails to produce an unambiguous answer because the study contains a flaw?

Quasiexperimental

Any factor that limits the ability to generalize the results of a research study to different populations or different environments is a threat to external validity.

True

Both correlational and nonexperimental studies intend to examine relationships between variables without trying to explain the relationships.

True

If the participants in one treatment condition are noticeably older than the participants in another treatment condition, then participant age is a confounding variable.

True

Of all the research strategies that investigate relationships between variables, the correlational strategy is the only one that does not involve comparing groups of scores.

True

Selection bias is a threat to external validity.

True

The purpose of the correlational research strategy is to describe the relationship between two variables and measure its strength.

True

Which of the following questions can be addressed with the descriptive strategy?

What is the average number of text messages that a typical adolescent sends in a month?

When one treatment condition has a lasting effect on individuals that influences their scores in future treatments, the study is confounded by

carry-over effects.

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

correlational

Which research strategy is not concerned with examining relationships between variables?

descriptive

Any factor that limits the ability to generalize the results of the study is a threat to

external validity.

Experimental research studies tend to have very _______ internal validity but often have relatively ______ external validity.

high; low

Sensitization can threaten external validity because the results obtained in a study may be limited to

individuals who have experienced a pretest.

Any factor that allows an alternative explanation for the results of a study is a threat to

internal validity.

In a study with a group of individuals being tested in a series of treatment conditions that extends over a relatively long time, it is possible that systematic changes in the participants' physiology or psychology may occur during the time of the study. If these changes influence the participants' scores, causing scores at the end of the study to be different from scores at the beginning, the effect is called

maturation.

As the values for one variable increase from one person to another, the values for a second variable tend to decrease. This is an example of a __________ relationship.

negative

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 expert's standards for judgment change during the class, then the internal validity of the study is threatened by

nonexperimental

The results of a study may be influenced by the fact that a participant knows he or she is being studied. This threat to external validity is

reactivity.

Experimenter bias can threaten both internal and external validity because the results obtained in a study may be specific to

the experimenter who has the expectations.