Intro to Research Methods

probabilistic

conclusions meant to explain a certain proportion of possible cases (i.e. there are exceptions)

obtaining unrepresentative samples

- Convenience sampling - Purposive sampling: want to study certain kinds of people, so you only recruit those types of participants in nonrandom way - Snowball sampling: participants asked to recommend others for study - Quota sampling: identify target number, then fill non randomly

Reliability

1. Test-retest reliability: consistent scores every time use the measure 2. Interrater reliability: consistent scores no matter who does the measuring 3. Internal reliability: participant provides consistent pattern of responses, regardless of how the researcher has phrased the question - only for self report scales

advantages of within groups

1. participants in groups are equivalent 2. more power to notice differences 3. fewer participants

carryover effects

contamination carrying over from one condition to next

Katie's study has a posttest-only design. Therefore, she can rule out all of the following EXCEPT A.design confounds B.maturation C.testing D.attrition

A.design confounds

Which question would be evaluating the notetaking experiment's construct validity? A.How large is the effect size between the laptop and handwritten groups? B.How well did the essay test measure people's conceptual knowledge? C.Were there any confounds in the experiment? D.Can we generalize from these college students to other types of people?

B.How well did the essay test measure people's conceptual knowledge?

What is the heading for an APA-style reference page? A.Works Cited B.References C.Bibliography D.There is no heading.

B.References

Which of the following is a source of systematicvariability? A.measurement error B.design confounds C.individual differences

B.design confounds

What is the main reason that researchers do experiments? A.to have a more valid study B.to support causal claims C.to generalize to more people D.to collect evidence in the real world

B.to support causal claims

selection effect

participants in one level of IV systematically differ from other levels

demand characteristics

participants puck up on cues that lead them to guess experiemets hypothesis

Theo controls for selection effects in which of the following ways? -by using a control group -by using matched-groups design -by using random assignment of participants -by using a pretest/posttest design

-by using random assignment of participants

Leigh is interested in looking at how caloric intake affects performance. She conducts a study in which participants drink a cup of water before completing a task, then eat small meal before completing the task again. Based on her study design, which of the following should she be concerned about? -random effects -selection effects -practice effects -carryover effects

-carryover effects

Which two types of validity in an experiment can observer bias threaten? -internal validity and external validity -construct validity and statistical validity -internal validity and construct validity -statistical validity and external validity

-internal validity and construct validity

availability heuristic

being persuaded by what easily comes to mind

ways intuition is biased

being swayed by a good story, being persuaded by what easily comes to mind, failing to think about what we cannot see, focusing on the evidence we like best, being biased about being biased

bias blind spot

belief we are unlikely to fall prey to the biases described, others are more biased than us

Which psycINFO search would give you more responses? A."narcissism" or"self-esteem" B."narcissism" and"self-esteem" C."narcissism" D."self-esteem"

A."narcissism" or"self-esteem"

Which of the following is a simple study that uses a separate group of participants that is generally completed before conducting the study of primary interest to confirm the effectiveness of a manipulation? -a pilot study -a Latin square -counterbalancing -a manipulation check

-a pilot study- conform effectiveness of manipulations before using in target study

Professor Nakumdesigns a memory experiment to test the effect of word familiarity on memory. Three lists of words are created: common words, uncommon words, and made-up words. Participants are randomly assigned to study one of the lists of 30 words for 5 minutes, do math problems for 5 minutes, then write all the words they recall from the list. Their score is the number of words correctly recalled. The use of random assignment of participants increases which of the following? -the temporal precedence of the study -the strength of association of the study -internal validity of the study -external validity of the study

-internal validity of the study

Cara is running a study to examine the effect of music on mood. She randomly assigns participants to three conditions: rock, jazz, and country. She has the participants rate their mood with a short questionnaire, then listen to their assigned music for 20 minutes, and then fill out the mood questionnaire again. Which kind of design is she using? -posttest only -pretest/posttest -concurrent measures -repeated measures

-pretest/posttest

Within groups

-repeated measures: measured on DV after exposure to each level of IV - concurrent measures: exposed to all levels of the IV at the same time and single attitude and preference is DV

Which is the dependent variable in this experiment? - role of the participant -value selected for the mug -type of mug -the range of prices the buyer and seller each consider

-value selected for the mug

Scales of measurement

Ordinal scale- ranked order - 1st, 2nd, 3rd Interval scale- numerals represent equal distances between levels and there is no true zero - IQ Ratio scale- numerals represent equal intervals and there is a true zero - exam scores

convergent validity

a self report measure should correlate more strongly with self-report of similar constructs

confirmation bias

focusing on the evidence we like best

practice effects

get better from practicing or worse due to fatigue

Association claim verbs

is linked to, is at higher risk for, is associated with, is correlated with, prefers, are more/less likely, may predict, is tied to, goes with

unsystematic variability

random and affects both groups, not a confound

content validity

the measure contains all parts that your theory says it should contain

Dr. Weber conducted a long-term study in which people were tested on happiness, asked to make two new friends, and then tested on happiness 1 month later. He noticed that six of the most introverted people dropped out by the last session. Therefore his study might have which of the following internal validity threats? •Attrition •Selection •Regression •maturation

•Attrition

•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

Which of the following is true of the distinction between scientific journals and popular magazines? •a.Scientific journals are published quarterly; popular magazines are published monthly. •b.Scientific journals are published on specific topics; popular magazines are not published on specific topics like psychology. •c.Scientific journal articles are peer-reviewed; popular magazine articles are not. •d.Scientific journal article findings explain all cases all of the time; popular magazine articles only explain certain cases.

•c.Scientific journal articles are peer-reviewed; popular magazine articles are not.

Which of the following phrases would NOT indicate that a researcher is making a causal claim? •a."curbs" •b."seems to decrease" •c."suggests a change" •d."is at higher risk of"

•d."is at higher risk of"

A political research center obtains a list of phone numbers for all registered voters in Texas and uses a random number generator to select 1,000 of the phone numbers to call. They ask each voter which candidate for governor they plan to vote for in the upcoming election. Which sampling method is being used? - simple random sampling -stratified random sampling -multistage sampling -systematic sampling

- simple random sampling

How couldshe improve the study? - Run the study as a repeated-measures study -Run the study as a masked study -Run the study as an independent-groups study -Run the study as a within-groups study

-Run the study as an independent-groups study

Ways to get biased samples

-Self selection: sampling only those who volunteer

obtaining a representative sample

- Simple random sampling: assign number to each member of population, then use a table of random numbers to select sample - Cluster sampling: clusters of participants within population of interest are randomly selected, then all individuals in each cluster are used - Multistage sampling: two random samples collected. random sample of clusters is selected from population of interest. from clusters, random sample of people chosen - Stratified random sampling: multistage technique in which researcher selects specific demographic categories and then randomly selects individuals from each - Oversampling: variation of stratified random sampling in which researcher over represents one or more group - Systematic sampling: using random number table, select two numbers (5,3) start with 5th person then choose every 3rd person until sample reaches desired size

Interrogating Association claims

- construct validity, external validity, statistical validity

Interrogating Causal claims

- covariance- two variables go together - temporal precedence: one variable comes before the other -internal validity: a study's ability to eliminate alternative explanations - construct validity -external validity not as important -statistical validity

Is Mr. Stratford collecting a representative sample? -Yes, because 1,000 people is enough to make a representative sample. -Yes, because the transgender people in the final sample were sampled randomly from the population of transgender people in the organization. -No, because the transgender people are over-represented in the final sample. -No, because the sample is not representative of the entire population in general.

-Yes, because the transgender people in the final sample were sampled randomly from the population of transgender people in the organization.

Which of the following is an operational definition of stress? -feelings of anxiousness and pressure -a measurement of the amount of a "fight or flight" hormone in saliva -mental tension -worry about school

-a measurement of the amount of a "fight or flight" hormone in saliva

A city in California has asked Professor Rodriguez to conduct an experiment on earthquake preparedness. Professor Rodriguez will assess the preparedness of a random sample of residents in the city and the city will mail out their annual brochure on earthquake safety. Then, 2 weeks later, he will again assess the preparedness of those residents. Right after the brochures are mailed, a large earthquake is reported in Japan. Which threat to internal validity does this pose? -selection -order -history -maturation

-history

As part of an experiment on the effects of behavior modeling, a set of raters are evaluating prosocial behavior in a series of videotapes of a preschool class. Initially, the raters were quite strict in their ratings, but after 3 hours of rating, their criteria had changed. Which type of threat to internal validity has occurred? -instrumentation -testing -history -regression to the mean

-instrumentation

Which of the following validities is correctly matched with the technique to address concerns regarding that validity? -external validity and random assignment -external validity and counterbalancing -internal validity and random sampling -internal validity and random assignment

-internal validity and random assignment

Three common types of measures

1. self report: operationalize by recording people's answer to questions about themselves in questionnaire/interview 2. Observational measure: operationalize by recording observable behavior -record every time person smiles 3. Physiological measure: operationalize by recording biological data

independent groups design

between subjects, different groups of participants placed in different levels of IV

In which section would I find how the results of the current study relate to past research? a. Introduction b. Results c. Discussion d. Method

c. Discussion

Which of the following is NOT part of the CRAAP test?- a. Identifying the purpose of the information b. Seeking information that fits with your hypothesis c. Finding out if the information has been reviewed or refereed d. Identifying the author's credentials

c. Finding out if the information has been reviewed or refereed

Which of the following is an example of an association claim? a."41% of people surveyed reported that they were having a good day." b."Guzzling a 20-ounce bottle of soda ramps up cellular aging." c."People who sit within two tables of the bartender have three more alcoholic drinks, on average, than those who sit three tables away." d."Viewing a recent conflict as it would look one year in the future led to increased feelings of forgiveness."

c."People who sit within two tables of the bartender have three more alcoholic drinks, on average, than those who sit three tables away."

Causal claim verbs

causes, affects, may curb, exacerbates, changes, may lead to, makes, sometimes makes, hurts, promotes, reduces, prevents, distracts, fights, worsens, increases, trims, adds

Reading the news on the Internet, Johan comes across the headline, "When Stress is Increased, Men Rush In this study, gender :•Is a constant •Has two levels •Is a manipulated variable

•Has two levels

Reading the news on the Internet, Johan comes across the headline, "When Stress is Increased, Men Rush Ahead, Women More Which of the following is a constant in this study? •gender of the participants •the amount of time to perform the decision task •the amount of stress •number of decision tasks performed

•the amount of time to perform the decision task

The campus safety committee has asked Professor Ibrahim to study bicycling on his campus. He trains two observers and has them observe the number of cyclists and their safety at various points around campus. He randomly selects 10 observation locations from the places bicycles can be ridden on campus and randomly selects five 1-hour spans of time for each place. He has his observers make observations at each of the 10 places for each of the five time spans. Which type of sampling is he using? - simple random sampling - stratified random sampling - multistage sampling - systematic sampling

- multistage sampling

Mr. Stratford is the president of a national organization of lesbian, bisexual, gay, and transgender people in the United States. He wants to survey 1,000 members of his organization about the position they want the organization to take on several political issues. He knows that transgender people make up only 5% of his organization, but he wants to make sure their views are accurately represented. He decides to randomly sample 100 transgender members and then adjust the final results so transgender people are weighted to their actual proportion in the organization. Which type of sampling is Mr. Stratford using? - oversampling -cluster sampling - snowball sampling - quota sampling

- oversampling

In a business class experiment on the endowment effect, Theo is comparing the value of a coffee mug to someone who owns it and is selling it to someone who is buying it. The endowment effect describes the tendency of sellers to value something they own more than buyers do. Participants are randomly assigned to be buyers or sellers of a mug with their first name on it. Buyers select the maximum price they would pay for the mug. Sellers select the minimum price they would accept for the mug. Which is the independent variable in this experiment? - role of the participant - value selected for the mug - the endowment effect - type of mug

- role of the participant

Claims

Frequency claims- describes a particular rate or degree of a single variable - 72% of the world smiled yesterday Association claim- one level of a variable is likely to be associated with another - People who multitask the most are the worst at it Causal claims- one of the variables is responsible for changing the other - music lessons enhance IQ

unbiased sample

all members of the population have an equal probability of being included

within groups design

each participant is presented with all levels of the IV

order effect

exposure to one level of IV influences reactions to other levels of IV

present/present bias

failing to think about what we cannot see

Face Validity

it looks like what you want to measure

criterion validity

measure is associated with concrete behavioral outcomes that it should be associated with

discriminant validity

measure should correlate less strongly with other measures of different constructs

variables

measured variable- observed and recorded manipulated variable- controlled Conceptual variable (construct)- abstract concepts Operationalize- turn a concept of interest into a measured or manipulated variable

biased sample

not all members have an equal probability

design confound

second variable varies systematically along with the IV

combined threats

selection-history threat: an outside event or factor systematically affects participants at one level of IV selection-attrition threat: participants in one experimental group experience attrition

known groups paradigm

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

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

•b.Internal reliability

Matthew is reading an empirical journal article and wants to know whether the authors used the Big Five Inventory (BFI-44) or the NEO-PI to measure extraversion. In which section would he find this information? •a.Introduction •b.Method •c.Results •d.Discussion

•b.Method

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

Interrogating Frequency claims

- construct validity: how well the conceptual variable is operationalized, how well the variable is measured or manipulated - external validity: how well the results of a study represent the people or contexts besides those in the study itself - statistical validity: the extent to which the studies conclusions are reasonable and accurate

It has been reported that half of Americans show road rage. For this claim to have strong external validity, which of the following would have been the best sample for the researcher to have used? -students from Intro to Psych courses who are earning extra credit -cross-section of American drivers representing men and women; people from the city, suburbs, and farms; and people of all ages -young men from ages 20 to 30 years; because they are the group most frequently charged with road rage, they should be the focus -a random sample of people from a Los Angeles telephone book

-cross-section of American drivers representing men and women; people from the city, suburbs, and farms; and people of all ages

Lucia is interested in studying discrimination in hiring. She designs an experiment in which the participant takes the role of an employer looking at job candidates for a specific position. Each participant is given two very similar résumés (one of a candidate with a female name and one of a candidate with a male name) and is then asked to rate the suitability of each candidate for a job. Lucia finds no difference in participants' ratings of male and female candidates. Which threat to internal validity should she be concerned about? -observer bias -demand characteristics -placebo -selection

-demand characteristics

Typically, in which type of claim is it most important to have a random sample? - association -causal -frequency

-frequency

What kind of a claim is the following headline making? "You Gotta Have Friends? Most Have Just Two True Pals." -frequency claim -association claim -causal claim

-frequency claim

Participants in a research study are given a list of words to study for 3 minutes and then, after a delay, are asked to recall the list. The length of the delay is manipulated between participants to be either 2 minutes, 5 minutes, or 10 minutes. Because different groups need different amounts of time, the first 25 participants who arrive are assigned to the 10-minute group, the next 25 are assigned to the 5-minute group, and the final 25 are assigned to the 2-minute group. Which confound does this create? -demand characteristic -selection effect -experimenter bias -carryover effect

-selection effect

internal validity threats

1. maturation threats: change in behavior that emerges spontaneously over time 2. history threat: external factor affects most member of the treatment group 3. regression threat: if groups mean is unusually extreme at time 1, time 2 will likely be less extreme 4. attrition threat: participants drop out systematically 5. testing threat: exposed to DV twice, so better because of practice or worse because bored 6. instrumentation threat: measuring instrument changes over time 7. observer bias: researcher's expectations influence interpretation of results 8. demand characteristics: participants guess what the study is supposed to be about

Professor Lee is curious if there is any pattern to who earns extra credit in her course. She examines this question by graphing a scatterplot of her students' exam grades and the number of extra credit points earned. She finds that the students with the lowest exam grades tend to have the most extra credit points. What type of association is this? •Causal •Zero •Positive •Negative

•Negative

A study found an effect size of d= .2. You know this about the study results: •There is a strong effect •The effect is not statistically significant •There is considerable overlap between the groups •There is no covariance

•There is considerable overlap between the groups

Reading the news on the Internet, Johan comes across the headline, "When Stress is Increased, Men Rush In this study, the number of decision tasks performed is best described as which of the following? •a constant •a manipulated variable •a measured variable

•a measured variable

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.A strong relationship

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

•b.Face validity

•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

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

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

•d.Whether the participant drank a soda in the 24 hours prior to the study

Reading the news on the Internet, Johan comes across the headline, "When Stress is Increased, Men Rush Ahead, Women More Cautious." (This headline is based on a study conducted by Lighthallet al., 2011.) In this study, men and women were asked to perform a decision task as many times as possible in a set period, in either a stressed or unstressed condition. In the unstressed condition, men and women performed similarly. However, in the stressed condition, the number of decision tasks performed by men increased while the number performed by women decreased. Which of the following is a variable in this study? •the decision task type •the length of the set period •the amount of stress •the cause of the stress

•the amount of stress