PSY 3213 Exam 2
What sample size is often cited as the optimal balance between accuracy and effort?
1,000
observer bias
A bias that occurs when observers' expectations influence their interpretation of the participants' behaviors or the outcome of the study.
quota sampling
A biased sampling technique in which a researcher identifies subsets of the population of interest, sets a target number for each category in the sample, and nonrandomly selects individuals within each category until the quotas are filled.
purposive sampling
A biased sampling technique in which only certain kinds of people are included in a sample.
________ is when you study every member of a population.
A census
reactivity
A change in behavior of study participants (such as acting less spontaneously) because they are aware they are being watched.
observer effect
A change in behavior of study participants in the direction of an observer's expectation. Also called expectancy effect.
stratified random sampling
A form of probability sampling; a random sampling technique in which the researcher identifies particular demographic categories of interest and then randomly selects individuals within each category.
oversampling
A form of probability sampling; a variation of stratified random sampling in which the researcher intentionally overrepresents one or more groups.
self-selection
A form of sampling bias that occurs when a sample contains only people who volunteer to participate.
population
A larger group from which a sample is drawn; the group to which a study's conclusions are intended to be applied.
survey
A method of posing questions to people on the telephone, in personal interviews, on written questionnaires, or via the Internet.
cluster sampling
A probability sampling technique in which clusters of participants within the population of interest are selected at random, followed by data collection from all individuals in each cluster
systematic sampling
A probability sampling technique in which the researcher counts off members of a population to achieve a sample, using a randomly chosen interval (e.g., every nth person, where n is a randomly selected number).
multistage sampling
A probability sampling technique involving at least two stages: a random sample of clusters followed by a random sample of people within the selected clusters.
negatively worded question
A question in a survey or poll that contains negatively phrased statements, making its wording complicated or confusing and potentially weakening its construct validity.
semantic differential format
A response scale whose numbers are anchored with contrasting adjectives.
representative sample
A sample in which all members of the population of interest are equally likely to be included (usually through some random method), and therefore the results can generalize to the population of interest.
biased sample
A sample in which some members of the population of interest are systematically left out, and as a consequence, the results from the sample cannot generalize to the population of interest.
census
A set of observations that contains all members of the population of interest.
response set
A shortcut respondents may use to answer items in a long survey, rather than responding to the content of each item. Also called non-differentiation.
masked design
A study design in which the observers are unaware of the experimental conditions to which participants have been assigned. Also called blind design.
forced-choice format
A survey question format in which respondents give their opinion by picking the best of two or more options.
open-ended question
A survey question format that allows respondents to answer any way they like.
Likert scale
A survey question format; a rating scale containing multiple response options that are anchored by the terms strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree.
double-barreled question
A type of question in a survey or poll that is problematic because it asks two questions in one, thereby weakening its construct validity.
leading question
A type of question in a survey or poll that is problematic because its wording encourages only one response, thereby weakening its construct validity.
snowball sampling
A variation on purposive sampling, a biased sampling technique in which participants are asked to recommend acquaintances for the study.
Judy writes a survey to assess how much people worry. Her survey has 20 questions that people can rate their level of agreement to on a seven-point Likert scale. All of the questions are worded so that higher responses will indicate a higher level of worry. After having 100 people complete her survey, she finds that a lot of respondents often respond to all of the questions by choosing only the "strongly agree" option. What is this kind of responding called?
Acquiescence
unobtrusive observation
An observation in a study made indirectly, through physical traces of behavior, or made by someone who is hidden or is posing as a bystander.
acquiescence
Answering "yes" or "strongly agree" to every item in a survey or interview. Also called yea-saying.
convenience sampling
Choosing a sample based on those who are easiest to access and readily available; a biased sampling technique.
Nesta is making a scatterplot of the digit spans (how many numbers you can remember and repeat back) for his psychology class, with the spans for digits the students hear on one axis and the span for digits the students read on the other. The association is strong, but he notices that one student has a visual digit span that is twice as long as anyone else. What statistical validity question is he raising?
Could outliers be affecting the relationship?
socially desirable responding
Giving answers on a survey (or other self-report measure) that make one look better than one really is.
faking good
Giving answers on a survey (or other self-report measure) that make one look better than one really is. Also called socially desirable responding.
faking bad
Giving answers on a survey (or other self-report measure) that make one look worse than one really is.
There is a strong positive association between years of education and income. The mean income for American adults in 2005 was $32,000 and the average number of years of education was 12. Mr. Lopez has 16 years of education. What would you predict about his income?
His income is probably higher than $32,000.
de Abreu, Gathercole, and Martin (2011) found that the correlation of non-word repetition and digit recall in a memory was r = .59. Based on Cohen's (1992) guidelines, how would you describe this effect size?
Large
Jenny recently learned of plans to cut down an old beautiful tree on her campus to make way for a new bike path. Jenny is opposed to cutting down the tree, and she decides to survey some students at her university to see if others also oppose cutting down the tree. She plans to share the results of her survey with the school administration to argue to keep the tree. One question on Jenny's survey asks, "Would you be in favor of brutally cutting down this majestic tree to make way for a stupid bike path?" A problem with this question is that it is a _______________.
Leading Question
The following item appears on a survey: "On a five-point scale, where 1 is Strongly disagree, 2 is disagree, 3 is Neither agree nor disagree, 4 is Agree, and 5 is Strongly agree, rate the following statement:"I look forward to coming to class". What type of question format is being used?
Likert Scale
Which of the following is one of the ways that researchers can avoid reactivity in observational studies?
Masked or blinded study designs protect against observer effects, not reactivity.
Jenny recently learned of plans to cut down an old beautiful tree on her campus to make way for a new bike path. Jenny is opposed to cutting down the tree, and she decides to survey some students at her university to see if others also oppose cutting down the tree. She plans to share the results of her survey with the school administration to argue to keep the tree. One question on Jenny's survey asks, "Do you oppose not cutting down this tree?" A problem with this question is that it is a _____________.
Negatively worded question
Dr. Rhodes is interested in how differing levels of light affect how people perceive color. He finds participants for this research study by making an announcement in several psychology classes at his university. Should Dr. Rhodes be concerned about using this sampling method?
No, because external validity probably doesn't matter for the type of claim he is making.
Dr. Lawrence is the director of Counseling Services at her university. She is planning to conduct a survey of 100 students at the university to see how aware they are of the counseling services that are offered at the university. She wants the proportion of males and females in her sample to reflect the proportion in the university as a whole (55 percent female and 45 percent male). Dr. Lawrence plans to stand in the Student Union and ask people to participate until she has given the survey to 55 females and 45 males. Is Dr. Lawrence collecting a representative sample?
No, because the participants are selected non-randomly.
Professor Law wants to construct a survey to assess involvement with computer games. Which question is a double-barreled question?
On a scale of 0 (Not at all) to 5 (Very much), rate how much you like and play your favorite game.
Professor Law wants to construct a survey to assess involvement with computer games. Which question uses a Likert-type scale?
On a scale of 1 (Strongly agree) to 5 (Strongly disagree) scale, rate the following statement: Computer games are a great pastime.
fence sitting
Playing it safe by answering in the middle of the scale for every question in a survey or interview.
Which of the following is a way to control for socially desirable responding?
Removing the neutral option can be used to stop fence sitting, but will not affect socially desirable responding.
Joseph wants to find out what customers at his restaurant think about the food and the service. He creates a survey for diners to fill out at the end of their meal with three questions: 1) Please rate the food from 1-10, where 1 is yucky and 10 is delicious; 2) Please rate the service from 1-10 were 1 is unacceptable and 10 is outstanding. What kind of question format is Joseph using?
Semantic Differential
Judy writes a survey to assess how much people worry. Her survey has 20 questions that people can rate their level of agreement to on a seven-point Likert scale. All of the questions are worded so that higher responses will indicate a higher level of worry. After having 100 people complete her survey, she finds that a lot of respondents often respond to all of the questions by choosing only the "strongly agree" option. How could she improve the construct validity of her survey?
She could include reverse-worded items.
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. After completing the observational study, Professor Ibrahim sends a survey out to the entire campus about bicycle safety, and asks all bicyclists to respond. He finds a large difference between their reports of how safely they ride and what his observers found. What is the most likely cause of the self-report ratings being inconsistent with the observational data?
The bicyclists were probably responding in a socially desirable way on the self-report survey.
sample
The group of people, animals, or cases used in a study; a subset of the population of interest.
simple random sampling
The most basic form of probability sampling, in which the sample is chosen completely at random from the population of interest (e.g., drawing names out of a hat).
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. When the observations began, the observers noticed that bicyclists slowed down when they neared the observers. How could this reactivity be avoided?
The observers could make unobtrusive observations by hiding.
probability sampling
The process of drawing a sample from a population of interest in such a way that each member of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample, usually via random selection.
observational research
The process of watching people or animals and systematically recording how they behave or what they are doing.
random assignment
The use of a random method (e.g., flipping a coin) to assign participants into different experimental groups.
Which of the following is true about self-reports?
They are valuable sources of information when researchers are interested in a person's internal experiences. If a self-report measure has good construct validity, it can be a valuable source of information about a person's internal experiences.
Which of the following is the essential feature of studies that support association claims?
They involve two measured variables.
Which of the following is true about open-ended questions?
They provide rich data, but they can be time-consuming for researchers because the responses need to be coded.
Professor Law wants to construct a survey to assess involvement with computer games. Which of the following would be an example of an open-ended question?
What computer games have you played?
Professor Law wants to construct a survey to assess involvement with computer games. Which is a forced-choice question?
Which is truer of you? a) I have little interest in computer games or b) I would miss computer games if I couldn't play anymore.
Is it ethical for psychological researchers to observe people in a public place?
Yes, because in those settings people can reasonably expect their behavior to be public, not private.
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 percent of his organization, but he wants to make sure that their views are accurately represented. He decides that he will randomly sample 100 transgender members and then adjust the final results so that transgender people are weighted to their actual proportion in the organization. Is Mr. Stratford collecting a representative sample?
Yes, because the transgender people in the final sample were sampled randomly from the population of transgender people in the organization.
Which sample would be most likely to represent the population of American teenagers?
a cluster sampling of 1,000 teenagers from around the United States
If the relationship between two variables changes depending on the level of another variable, what is this other variable called?
a moderator
What kind of sample is best for external validity?
a sample where each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected; Generalizability-one in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.
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 gubernatorial candidate they plan to vote for in the upcoming election. What is the population of interest that the research center wants to generalize to?
all registered voters in Texas
The superintendent of schools in a small town in Ohio made a lot of policy changes to the way school administration worked in his district. A researcher at a nearby university wanted to look at what teachers in his district thought about the changes. The researcher made a list of all of the schools in the district and used a random number generator to select a sample of five schools from the district. Then the researcher interviewed every teacher at each of those five schools. What sampling method did the researcher use?
cluster sampling
Dr. Rhodes is interested in how differing levels of light affect how people perceive color. He finds participants for this research study by making an announcement in several psychology classes at his university. What kind of sampling method is Dr. Rhodes using?
convenience sampling
Which of the following is considered a biased sampling method?
convenience sampling
The Yerkes-Dodson law (1908), shows that performance increases with arousal up to a point, but beyond that, performance decreases with increasing arousal. What type of correlation is this?
curvilinear
Professor Meyer gives the students in his class a mid-semester feedback survey asking them how stressed out they are by the assignments in his class. The majority of his class report that they feel "extremely stressed." What might explain this?
faking bad
Typically, in which type of claim is it most important to have a random sample?
frequency
Which type of validity is typically not relevant to association claims?
internal
Which of the following is required to establish causality?
internal validity, temporal precedence, covariance
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 selects ten observation locations at random from the places bicycles can be ridden on campus and five one-hour spans of time at random from the daylight hours for each place. He has his observers make observations at each of the ten places for each of the five time spans. What type of sampling is he using?
multistage sampling
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. Both observers are very interested in the topic because they have been struck by bicycles. Although the interrater reliability is high, what threat to construct validity should concern Professor Ibrahim?
observer bias
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 percent of his organization, but he wants to make sure that their views are accurately represented. He decides that he will randomly sample 100 transgender members and then adjust the final results so that transgender people are weighted to their actual proportion in the organization. What type of sampling is Mr. Stratford using?
oversampling
A ________ is the entire set of people in which the researchers are interested
population
Dr. Jennings is doing a study on the experience of being a racial minority on a college campus. He goes to the Asian Student Association, Black Student Union, and Hispanic Student Group on his campus to recruit participants for his study. Dr. Jennings only includes Asians, African-Americans, and Hispanic participants in his study. What type of sampling is Dr. Jennings using?
purposive sampling
Dr. Lawrence is the director of Counseling Services at her university. She is planning to conduct a survey of 100 students at the university to see how aware they are of the counseling services that are offered at the university. She wants the proportion of males and females in her sample to reflect the proportion in the university as a whole (55 percent female and 45 percent male). Dr. Lawrence plans to stand in the Student Union and ask people to participate until she has given the survey to 55 females and 45 males. What type of sampling method is Dr. Lawrence going to use?
quota sampling; the researcher identifies subsets of the population of interest and then sets a target number for each category in the sample.
Which of the following is most important for enhancing external validity?
random sampling
Which of the following describes a "fence-sitting" response to a survey?
responding to a controversial question on a survey by selecting the response right in the middle
What other information, in addition to effect size, must you know in order to determine if a correlation is statistically significant?
sample size
The student government at a college is interested in determining how important intercollegiate sports are to the students there. Since all students have e-mail accounts, they are able to send a survey to all the students. About 50 percent of the students respond. Which is the most likely bias in this sample?
self-selection bias; There is no way to know if the 50 percent of the students who responded were representative of the entire student body or the reasons they chose to answer
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 gubernatorial candidate they plan to vote for in the upcoming election. What sampling method is being used?
simple random sampling
A sample is always __________ a population.
smaller than
Beth is working on a research study focused on attention span in children. Among the participants, the group of 11-year-old boys is underrepresented. Beth asks her 11-year-old brother to distribute flyers about participation in the study to his male classmates and soccer team. What type of sampling is this?
snowball
The following problematic question appears on a survey: "Please indicate whether the following statement is true or false for you: My cell phone is new and has all the latest features". How could this question be changed to improve its construct validity?
split the question into two so that it is not double-barreled
A college administrator knows that 70 percent of the students at his college are from out of state, so he decides to make sure that he includes 70 out-of-state students and 30 in-state students in his survey about admission practices at the college. He has a list of all of the out-of-state and all of the in-state students currently enrolled at the college. He randomly selects 70 students from the out-of-state list and 30 students from the in-state list. What sampling method is he using?
stratified random sampling; the researcher selects particular demographic categories on purpose and then randomly selects individuals within each of the categories
The directors of an annual community concert want to find the musical preferences of the audience. The ushers place a survey card on every sixth seat beginning with the second seat (2 and 6 were chosen from a random number table). All of the cards are returned as the audience leaves. Which type of sampling is being used?
systematic sampling
Which of the following is considered a representative sampling method?
systematic sampling
To look at the relationship between reaction time and level of expertise in tennis, experts and non-experts are compared. Which of the following would be the most appropriate, easiest way to evaluate the relationship between these variables?
t test and a bar graph
Vida is studying the connection between school grades and time spent using social media. She finds a strong correlation, showing the students with lower grades spend more time using social media. She decides that before she can claim that increased use of social media causes grades to drop she must make sure that the social media came before the low grades. What criterion of causality is she concerned with?
temporal precedence
Temporal Precedence
the process of establishing that the cause did indeed happen before the effect, providing a solution to the chicken and egg problem.
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. Initially, the observers can't agree about what is dangerous behavior. Professor Ibrahim refines his codebooks to clearly define the rating scales and retrains the observers. What is he addressing by doing this?
the reliability of the measurement
Which of the following is a method to control for observer bias?
use a masked or blind study design; Observer bias that comes about from the observers' seeing what they want to see is avoided when the observers are "blind" to the conditions to which the participants are assigned.
Jenny recently learned of plans to cut down an old beautiful tree on her campus to make way for a new bike path. Jenny is opposed to cutting down the tree, and she decides to survey some students at her university to see if others also oppose cutting down the tree. She plans to share the results of her survey with the school administration to argue to keep the tree. One question on Jenny's survey asks, "Would you be in favor of brutally cutting down this majestic tree to make way for a stupid bike path?" How could this question be changed to improve its construct validity?
use more neutral language so that it is not a leading question
When people are asked why they made a certain choice, they ______________.
will tell you why they think they made that choice, but they may not be accurate at identifying the true reason for their choice
