Research Methods Chapter 5

known-groups paradigm

whether scores on the measure can distinguish among a set of groups whose behavior is already confirmed

quantitative variables

variables coded with meaningful numbers

Of the following validities, what would the researcher likely rank as most important? •Convergent validity •Criterion validity •Face validity •Discriminant validity

Criterion validity•

A researcher finds that BDI (Beck Depression Inventory) scores (higher score = more symptoms of depression) and a survey of psychological well-being (higher score = higher well-being) have a correlation coefficient of -.65. What is the conclusion?•Evidence of good convergent validity• Evidence of good discriminant validity •Evidence of poor convergent validity •Evidence of poor internal reliability

Evidence of good convergent validity•

interrater reliability

consistent scores are obtained no matter who measures or observes

test-retest reliability

consistent scores every time use the measure (self report, observational, and physiological)

self-report measure

operationalize by recording people's answers to questions about themselves in questionnaires or interviews

Georgina graduated as valedictorian of her high school class because of her class ranking. What type of scale is used for the quantitative variable of class ranking? nominal scale interval scale ratio scale ordinal scale

ordinal scale

what are the types of quantitative variables?

ordinal scale, interval scale, and ratio scale

what are the three types of reliability?

test-retest, interrater, and internal

ordinal scale

ranked order ex. rank in a race

Using Correlation Coefficient (r) to Evaluate Reliability

1. Test-retest reliability -0.5 or higher -Only relevant to variables that do not change over time 2. Interrater reliability -0.7 or higher 3. Internal reliability -Cronbach's alpha: correlation-based statistic to evaluate internal reliability

correlation coefficient (r)

A single number describing how close the dots on a scatterplot are to the line drawn through them

RESEARCH STUDY 5.1: Dr. Rodriquez is considering conducting a study examining whether narcissistic people have poorer romantic relationships than those who are not narcissistic. One of her first tasks is to determine which of her participants are narcissistic and which are not. She decides to use the scale created by a colleague, the Donalscale. Question 1 reads, "I tend not to think about other people as much as I think about myself." Question 2 reads, "I do not have a high opinion of myself." Question 3 reads, "I think other people think I am really special."•Before using the measure in her study, Dr. Rodriquez gives the measure to a group of participants on the first day of the semester and again on the last day of the semester. Dr. Rodriquez is examining the scatterplot of the data she collected on the first day of the semester and the last day of the semester. On the scatterplot, she sees that the dots are very close to forming a diagonal line. This indicates which of the following?• a.A strong relationship• b.A nonrelationship• c.A valid finding• d.A negative finding

A strong relationship

RESEARCH STUDY 5.1: Dr. Rodriquez is considering conducting a study examining whether narcissistic people have poorer romantic relationships than those who are not narcissistic. One of her first tasks is to determine which of her participants are narcissistic and which are not. She decides to use the scale created by a colleague, the Donalscale. Question 1 reads, "I tend not to think about other people as much as I think about myself." Question 2 reads, "I do not have a high opinion of myself." Question 3 reads, "I think other people think I am really special."•Dr. Rodriquez is concerned about the validity of the measure of narcissism recommended by her colleague. She sends a copy of the measure to the faculty members in her psychology department to look at, and they all tell her it looks like it will measure narcissism. She now has evidence of which of the following?• a.Content validity •b.Face validity• c.Discriminant validity• d.Concurrent validity

Face validity•

For her research methods class, Serena plans to interview several teachers about their attitude toward teaching children who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This is an example of what type of measurement?• a.Self-report measurement• b.Observational measurement• c.Physiological measurement• d.Archival measurement

Self-report measurement•

RESEARCH STUDY 5.1: Dr. Rodriquez is considering conducting a study examining whether narcissistic people have poorer romantic relationships than those who are not narcissistic. One of her first tasks is to determine which of her participants are narcissistic and which are not. She decides to use the scale created by a colleague, the Donalscale. Question 1 reads, "I tend not to think about other people as much as I think about myself." Question 2 reads, "I do not have a high opinion of myself." Question 3 reads, "I think other people think I am really special."•Dr. Rodriquez is concerned whether her measure will really measure narcissism or if it will measure some other related concept. She is concerned about the scale's .• a.operational definition •b.validity •c.reliability •d.convenience

b.validity•

Which scale of measurement would eye color require? •A. categorical• B. ordinal• C. interval• D. ratio

categorical

Josiane has found an online test that claims to measure IQ. It consists of choosing the correct definitions for a series of words. She is concerned that it doesn't include tests of other things that are part of IQ, such as problem solving or visual-spatial ability. Which type of validity is she questioning? content validity face validity criterion validity discriminant validity

content validity

Some colleges no longer require the SAT I or the ACT tests; instead, they base their admissions on other factors, such as high school GPA. A major reason they have done this is they have found a low correlation between the scores on the tests and the students' freshman-year GPA. In other words, they were concerned that college entrance exams lacked which type of validity? face validity criterion validity discriminant validity content validity

criterion validity

Dr. Nolan gives his new anxiety measure to a group of his colleagues who are anxiety experts. They agree that the questions on the measure appear to assess anxiety symptoms. This suggests that Dr. Nolan's measure has which of the following types of measurement validity? content validity face validity criterion validity discriminant validity

face validity

Reliability

is it necessary, but not sufficient for validity

Dr. Kamran studies domestic violence and has designed a self-report scale that is meant to assess men's negative attitudes toward women. To validate her scale, she administers it to two groups of recently incarcerated male prisoners: prisoners convicted of domestic violence and prisoners convicted of other crimes. Dr. Kamran finds a statistically significant difference in the mean scores of the two groups. Which technique is Dr. Kamran using to validate her scale? test-retest technique physiological measurements known-groups paradigm interrater reliability test

known-groups paradigm

categorical variables

levels that are qualitatively distinct categories

In a study of aggression in children, a researcher has his undergraduate research assistants watch a group of children on the playground, and record the number of instances of physical or verbal attacks. Which category of measured variable is this researcher using? self-report measures observational measures physiological measures neuropsychological measures

observational measures

physiological measure

operationalize by recording biological data ex. record muscle movement using EMG

observational measure

operationalize by recording observable behaviors ex. recording the number of times someone smiles

Lorenzo is studying aggression in children. He administers a questionnaire to the children that asks them about their feelings of aggression. Which type of measure is the questionnaire? ordinal scale observational physiological self-report

self-report

Dr. Johnson wants to investigate whether the physiological measure, heart rate variability, varies over time or whether it is a trait that stays stable within the same person over time. He records participants' heart rate variability once at the beginning of the semester and once at the end of the semester. He finds a high positive correlation (r = .65) between the first and second time points. Which type of reliability is he examining? test-retest interrater internal construct

test-retest

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) receives a complaint that some of their employees who administer the road test pass a much higher percentage of test takers than other employees. In this example, what aspect of the road test is being questioned? the interrater reliability of the road test the internal reliability of the road test the test-retest reliability of the road test the measurement validity of the road test

the interrater reliability of the road test

content validity

the measure contains all parts that your theory says it should contain ( subjective) ex. intelligence includes reason and plan so it should assess both

RESEARCH STUDY 5.1: Dr. Rodriquez is considering conducting a study examining whether narcissistic people have poorer romantic relationships than those who are not narcissistic. One of her first tasks is to determine which of her participants are narcissistic and which are not. She decides to use the scale created by a colleague, the Donalscale. Question 1 reads, "I tend not to think about other people as much as I think about myself." Question 2 reads, "I do not have a high opinion of myself." Question 3 reads, "I think other people think I am really special."•Before using the measure in her study, Dr. Rodriquez gives the measure to a group of participants on the first day of the semester and again on the last day of the semester. She then compares the scores between the two time points. This is a test of which of the following?• a.convergent validity• b.Internal reliability• c.Test-retest reliability• d.Construct reliability

•c.Test-retest reliability

ratio scale

numerals represent equal intervals and there is a true zero ex. exam scores, you can say "answered twice as many problems correctly"

what are the two scales of measurement?

categorical variables and quantitative variables

face validity

it looks like what you want to measure (subjective) ex. vocab size

RESEARCH STUDY 5.1: Dr. Rodriquez is considering conducting a study examining whether narcissistic people have poorer romantic relationships than those who are not narcissistic. One of her first tasks is to determine which of her participants are narcissistic and which are not. She decides to use the scale created by a colleague, the Donalscale. Question 1 reads, "I tend not to think about other people as much as I think about myself." Question 2 reads, "I do not have a high opinion of myself." Question 3 reads, "I think other people think I am really special."•Before using the measure in her study, Dr. Rodriquez analyzes the data she gets from her students. She looks at the relationship between each of the individual questions. She sees that participants who agree with Question 1 also agree with Question 3 and disagree with Question 2. This is a test of which of the following? •a.Interrater reliability• b.Internal reliability• c.convergent validity •d.discriminant validity

Internal reliability

convergent validity

a self report measure should correlate more strongly with self-report of similar constructs (not actual behaviors so not criterion validity)

RESEARCH STUDY 5.1: Dr. Rodriquez is considering conducting a study examining whether narcissistic people have poorer romantic relationships than those who are not narcissistic. One of her first tasks is to determine which of her participants are narcissistic and which are not. She decides to use the scale created by a colleague, the Donalscale. Question 1 reads, "I tend not to think about other people as much as I think about myself." Question 2 reads, "I do not have a high opinion of myself." Question 3 reads, "I think other people think I am really special."•Dr. Rodriquez decides to test the internal reliability of her measure. Which of the following results would make her happy? •a.Cronbach's alpha = 0.10 •b.Cronbach's alpha = −0.03 •c.Cronbach's alpha= 0.85• d.Cronbach's alpha= −0.98

c.Cronbach's alpha= 0.85

correlations evidence for criterion validity

measure is associated with a concrete behavioral outcome that it should be associated with

Hosea is studying the relationship between caffeine consumption and problem-solving ability. Which of the following is a categorical way to operationalize caffeine consumption? •a.The number of cups of coffee consumed in a day •b.The number of milligrams of caffeine consumed during the study •c.The frequency of buying energy drinks• d.Whether the participant drank a soda in the 24 hours prior to the study

whether the participant drank a soda in the 24 hours prior to the study

discriminant validity (divergent validity)

measure should correlate less strongly with other measures of different constructs

interval scale

numerals represent equal distances between levels and there is no true zero ex. iq , you cannot say "twice as intelligent"

Which scale of measurement would degree of pain felt, as rated on a 10-point scale require? •A. categorical• B. ordinal• C. interval •D. ratio

ordinal and. interval•

internal reliability

participant provides consistent pattern of responses, regardless of how the researcher has phrased the question (only for self-report scales)

Dr. Johnson wants to investigate whether the physiological measure, heart rate variability, varies over time or whether it is a trait that stays stable within the same person over time. He records participants' heart rate variability once at the beginning of the semester and once at the end of the semester. He finds a high positive correlation (r = .55) between the first and second time points. Which of the following would a scatterplot of these results (heart rate variability at the beginning of the semester on the x-axis, heart rate variability at the end of the semester on the y-axis) look like? The cloud of points would have no slope at all. The cloud of points would slope upward from left to right. The cloud of points would slope downward from left to right. There isn't enough information given to determine this.

The cloud of points would slope upward from left to right.