Experimental Midterm

A textbook is a primary source.

False

Applied research is intended to answer theoretical questions.

False

When the goal of a research study is to describe and compare different subgroups in a known population, the best strategy is to use proportionate stratified random sampling.

False

Susan is a participant in a research study. She has never participated in a study before, and she is excited and a little nervous, so she unintentionally behaves differently than she normally would. Susan's situation is an example of which threat to external validity?

The novelty effect

A researcher records the number of mathematics problems answered correctly during a 15-minute period. This is an example of measurement on a ratio scale.

True

An artifact such as demand characteristics can threaten both the internal and the external validity of a research study.

True

An important element of the scientific method is that research results should be made public.

True

Based on a few students whom you know, you decide that art majors wear funky clothes and that physics majors tend to be nerds. This is an example of inductive reasoning.

True

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

True

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

True

The accessible population is a subject of the target population.

True

What is the most relevant question you should ask when reading a results section?

are appropriate statistics used

The Milgram study involved:

asking participants to administer what appeared to be severe shocks to other people

The primary cause of research fraud is:

competitive pressure

What term refers to a variable that cannot be observed or measured directly but is useful for describing and explaining behavior?

construct

A researcher recruits a sample of 25 preschool children for a research study by posting an announcement in a local daycare center describing the study and offering a $10 payment for participation. What kind of sampling is the researcher using?

convenience sampling

Which sampling technique is most likely to result in a biased sample?

convenience sampling

An explanation is empirical if it based on:

evidence of the senses

Which research strategies produce similar data structures that use similar statistical analyses?

experimental, quasi-experimental and non-experimental

A study examining the relationship between humor and memory compares memory performance scores for one group presented with humorous sentences and a second group presented with nonhumorous sentences. The participants presented with the humorous sentences are all males. The participants presented with the nonhumorous sentences are all females. In this study, gender (male/female) is best characterized as a(n):

extraneous variable

A major goal of research is to _____ from a small group of participants included in a study to the larger group from which they came.

generalize

If individuals are pressured into participating in research because the researcher is in a position of power or authority, then which ethical principle is being compromised?

informed consent

A scatter plot showing the relationship between two variables shows data points that form a straight-line pattern. What kind of relationship is indicated by this pattern?

linear

Fraud involves:

making up data to fit the hypothesis

The disadvantage of a full-text databases is that they contain ______.

only a fraction of the publications in an area

Milgram's obedience study is ethically questionable because the:

participants were potentially psychologically harmed

Which potential problem can occur when the rational method is used?

people are not necessarily very good at logical reasoning

A researcher wants to obtain a sample of 30 preschool children consisting of 10 two-year-old children, 10 three-year-old, and 10 four-year-old children. Assuming that the children are obtained from local daycare centers, this research should use _____ sampling.

quota sampling

A sample consists of 25 freshmen, 25 sophomores, 25 juniors and 25 seniors from a local high school that has an equal number of students in each class. If the sample was obtained using a list of all the students in the high school, it is probably an example of ____ sampling. If the sample was obtained without a list of students, it is likely an example of ____ sampling.

stratified random; quota

One way to detect fraud in research is to:

submit the article for peer review

Passive deception refers to:

withholding information from participants

What is the most relevant question you should ask when reading a method section?

would different participants produce different results?

After you have scanned through a list of titles to determine which articles might be relevant to your research question, you should then read the ___ , of each article to determine whether to keep it in your literature review.

Abstract

A research study records a score measuring Facebook use and a score measuring happiness level for each individual in a group of 20-year-old women. The study intends to determine whether there is a relationship between the two variables. This study is best characterized as:

Correlational

The introduction section of a research article typically:

Describes the overall purpose and rationale of the research.

Which question is best addressed with the experimental strategy?

Does increasing the hours of sleep college students get each night cause an increase in GPA?

A football player who knows that his performance will be better if he wears his lucky shirt is using the method of faith.

False

A problem with primary sources is that they may provide an incomplete or misinterpreted description of a research study or a research result.

False

Finding information in a textbook is an example of using the rational method of inquiry.

False

Research studies consistently demonstrate that debriefing participants effectively eliminates the problems caused by deception.

False

Why is probability sampling rarely used in behavioral science researcher?

It is too difficult to get a representative sample with probability sampling.

Which section of a research article can help you to develop ideas for studies by changing the characteristics of the participants or modifying the procedures for your own study?

Method

A researcher finds that room color influences the mood of 45-year-old women in a sample. To preserve external validity, the researcher should generalize these findings to which group?

Middle-aged women

A researcher recruits participants for an experiment by posting an announcement in the psychology department asking for volunteers. What kind of sampling is being used?

Nonprobability

To select a sample of 10 employees from a factory workforce of 100, a researcher puts each employee's name on a slip of paper, then shuffles the papers in a hat and randomly pics 10 names. What kind of sampling is being used?

Probability

Suppose you are looking for reliable psychological information about a specific keyword. What tool will be most effective?

PsycInfo

Which section of a research article is most likely to provide a complete list of all the publications cited in the article?

Reference

A young child believing everything that her kindergarten teacher says to be true is an example of:

The method of faith.

What is a potential problem with the method of authority?

These other three choices are all potential problems: A person may claim to be an expert when he or she really is not. An "expert" answer may be only a personal, subjective opinion. An expert may be giving answers outside his or her area of expertise.

A floor effect means that a measurement procedure is not likely to detect a decrease in scores.

True

A good hypothesis should make a statement about the existence of a relationship, a difference, or a treatment effect.

True

A literature search is successfully ended when you stop uncovering new leads.

True

A reliable measurement procedure produces similar scores when the same individuals are measured twice under similar conditions.

True

Demand characteristics are cues within a research study that suggest how the participants are expected to behave or respond.

True

If you cannot list all the individuals in the population, then you cannot take a simple random sample.

True

One test of a study's external validity is if the same results can be obtained using other systems of measurement.

True

Researchers seeking to conduct studies with nonhuman subjects must get their studies approved by their institution's Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC).

True

Selection bias is likely to produce a sample with characteristics that are noticeably different from those in the population.

True

Stratified random sampling is used instead of simple random sampling when a researcher wants to ensure that the subgroups within a population are represented in the sample.

True

Using shoe size as a measure of intelligence would produce measurements that have very high test-retest reliability.

True

Deciding whether a study will compare different groups of individuals or examine change within the same group of individuals involved a decision about the research _____.

design

A hypothesis is a ____ statement and a prediction is a ____ statement.

general; specific

When you identify a gap in the literature, you _____.

have found a research idea

The results section of a research article typically:

includes the outcome of statistical analyses

Which element is part of the APA ethical guidelines?

informed consent

A research study reports that participants who scored high on a new test measuring relationship satisfaction had more physical contact with their romantic partners during an interview whereas participants who scored low on the test avoided physical contact with their romantic partners. Assuming that more physical contact is associated with higher relationship satisfaction, this study is a demonstration of _____ validity.

predictive

You develop a new measure of anxiety and you find that people who score high on your measure show more anxious behavior than people who score low on you measure. You have demonstrated ___.

predictive validity

A ____ source contains original research reports.

primary

A researcher would like to examine the political attitudes for students at a local university. The researcher will evaluate a sample of 200 students but would like to be sure that the ages and genders of individuals in the sample accurately represent the ages and genders for the entire student body at the university. What would be the best sampling method for the researcher to use?

proportionate stratified random sampling

The method section of a research article typically ____.

provide the details of how the research was conducted

The discussion section of a research article typically _____.

provides interpretation of the findings.

Participants who know that they are being observed may modify their behavior. This problem is known as ___.

reactivity

When a sample has the same characteristics as the target population, the sample is said to be a(n) _____ sample.

representative

Your PsychInfo search has yielded several hundred articles. The most efficient next step is to:

scan through the titles to see which ones seem most suited to your interests

A distinction between science and pseudoscience is that:

science is based on hypotheses that are testable and refutable

When people make an observation, then form a hypothesis that explains the observation, and then make more observations to test the credibility of the hypothesis, they are using the:

scientific method

A researcher develops a 20-question test to measure anxiety and administers it to a group of participants. To evaluate the reliability of the test, the researcher computes a score for the first 10 questions and a score for the last 10 questions for each participant and then computes the correlation between the two scores. What is the researcher measuring?

split-half reliability

A research ____ is a general approach that is intended to address a specific question.

strategy

If every possible outcome is equally likely during sample selection, then the sample is said to be:

stratified

A researcher conducts a study in which 50 rats are assigned to different treatments and tested. In the study, the rats are called research:

subjects

Establishing the reliability of a measurement procedure by using the procedure to measure the same individuals on two separate occasions and comparing the two sets of scores in known as ____ reliability.

test-retest

While driving, you notice that you seem to encounter more impatient and rude people on the road than you do in person, and you wonder why that would be the case. This is an example of getting research ideas from:

casual observation

Clinical equipoise refers to a:

clinician's ethical responsibility to provide the best possible treatment for research participants

Although the intent of informed consent is to provide participants with complete information about a research study before they agree to participate, this is sometimes impossible because:

deception is an important part of the research

Cues given to the participants about how they are expected to behave define a situation's ______.

demand characteristics

Which question can be addressed with a descriptive strategy?

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

If people score high on one measure and score low on another measure, there is:

a negative relationship between the two measures

A refutable hypothesis must:

allow for the possibility that the observations will not support the hypothesis

One characteristic of random sampling with replacement is that it:

allows for the same individual to be selected more than once

Experiments allow researchers to:

answer cause-and-effect questions about the relationship between two variables

A measurement procedure is valid if it:

measures what you intend it to measure

An artist tries putting a freshly painted canvas outside during a rainstorm to see how the painting will change from the pattern of the raindrops. Which method of acquiring knowledge is she using?

method of empiricism

Debriefing is:

more effective the sooner it is delivered

What additional information is obtained by measuring on an interval scale as compared to an ordinal scale?

the size of the differences