research methods ch 4
In which of the following ways can an observer's assessments be problematic?
- they can be biased by stereotypes of culture/gender -they can be biased due to a lack of information
Which of the following are disadvantages of longitudinal studies?
- time consuming -expensive to run
Which of the following are reasons why researchers use animals instead of humans?
-Better control over laboratory conditions -Exposing animals to conditions that would not be ethical to impose on humans -Better control over third variables
In which of the following ways can an adoption study be carried out?
-Identify a person who has a disorder of interest. -Determine the rates of the disorder in the adoptive relatives of the adoptees who have the disorder of interest. -Determine the rates of the disorder in the biological relatives of the adoptees who have the disorder of interest.
Which of the following are limitations of epidemiological studies?
-They are limited by the third variable problem. -They cannot establish that any risk factor causes a disorder.
Which of the following are limitations of human laboratory studies?
-They lack high external validity. -They pose problems in generalizability. -They can sometimes pose ethical issues.
In which of the following ways do researchers determine the prevalence, incidence, and risk factors of a disorder?
-Use structured clinical interviews that ask specific questions of participants -Identify a random sample of the population of interest -Identify the population of interest
Information gathered from epidemiological studies _____.
-can give us important clues as to who is at highest risk for a disorder -can be used to test hypotheses about why people are at higher risk
Which of the following factors increase the likelihood of achieving statistical significance?
-larger sample sizes -larger correlations
Which of the following are advantages of doing a case study?
-may be only way to study rare problems -captures uniqueness of individual -invaluable in generating new ideas
Which of the following demonstrate advantages of longitudinal studies over cross-sectional studies?
-researchers can follow groups long enough to assess both short term and long term reactions to the event -researchers can determine whether there are differences between the groups before the crucial event occurs
A problem with family history studies is that _____.
-they cannot tease apart genetic and environmental contributions -several members of a family might share a disorder because they have a common environment
Which of the following are types of genetic studies?
-twin studies -adoption studies -molecular genetic studies -linkage analysis
The single-case experimental design in which an intervention is introduced, withdrawn, and then reinstated and the behavior of the participant is examined both on and off the treatment is ______.
ABAB design
True or false: In order for a result to be statistically significant it also needs to be clinically significant.
False
Which of the following describes the threshold approach to research in abnormal psychology?
Studies focus on people with disorders of various severities or on comparisons of people with diagnosed disorders and people without disorders.
Which of the following describes the continuum approach to research in abnormal psychology?
Studies focus on people with symptoms that range in severity from the everyday to the highly impairing and likely to meet criteria for a disorder.
For what reason is generalizability a drawback of the case study approach?
The conclusions drawn from the study of an individual may not apply to many other individuals.
The probability that both twins will have a disorder if one twin has it is called the _______ rate.
concordance
A variable that is measured along a continuum is called a ___________ variable.
continuous
The primary advantage of a human laboratory study is _____.
control
A(n) ________ is a statistic used to represent the relationship between variables.
correlation coefficient
Epidemiological studies are affected by the same limitations as _________ studies.
correlational
_______ studies look at the relationship between two variables without manipulating either of them.
correlational
If you want to study the relationship between two or more variables that researchers cannot experimentally manipulate, which of the following research methods would be the best to use?
correlational study
When researchers use _____, they tell participants false information to prevent them from guessing the true purpose of the study.
cover stories
Researchers who are investigating the similarities and differences across culture in the nature, causes, and treatment of psychopathology are engaging in _____ -cultural research.
cross
In a _______ study, participants are studied at only one point in time.
cross-sectional
Tamara recently participated in a research study that looked at attitudes toward aging in children, adolescents, and young adults. After answering a single questionnaire, she had completed her participation in the study. This is an example of what type of study?
cross-sectional
Mathieu participated in a study in which he received a vitamin supplement and then had to lift increasingly heavier weights. He correctly guessed that the vitamin supplement was to help enable him to lift greater weights, so he tried harder to do so. This situation demonstrated the presence of _____.
demand characteristics
________ occur when situations arise that cause participants to guess the purpose of the study and change their behavior as a result.
demand characteristics
In an experiment, researchers studied how a specified amount of alcohol affected levels of aggression. In this study, the level of aggression would be the _____.
dependent variable
Because a researcher who comes in contact with participants might inadvertently influence their behavior in a treatment-based experiment, ______ studies are often used to prevent this.
double blind
A placebo control group is often used in studies of the effectiveness of ______.
drugs
The statistic that is calculated in a meta-analysis transforms the results into a common factor. This statistic is called the _____.
effect size
Therapy outcome research that tests how well a therapy works in real-world settings is said to test the ______ of a therapy.
effectiveness
When doing therapy outcome studies, we are most likely testing the _________.
effectiveness of treatment
Therapy outcome research that tests how well a therapy works in highly controlled settings with a narrowly defined group of people is said to test the ______ of a therapy.
efficacy
_______ is the study of the frequency and distribution of a disorder, or a group of disorders, in a population.
epidimiology
Dr. Edgarson is studying the effects of alcohol on reaction time. To do this, she needs a place where she can give her participants a specific dose of alcohol, allow time for the alcohol to be metabolized, and then have a computer set up with a program to test for their reaction time. What type of study is she conducting?
experimental
In ____ studies, researchers attempt to control the independent variable and any potentially problematic third variables rather than simply observing them as they occur naturally.
experimental
_______ validity is the extent to which a study's results can be generalized to real-life phenomena.
external
Human laboratory studies have low _____.
external validity
To avoid the presence of demand characteristics, researchers often use _______ measures to obscure the real purpose of the study.
filler
________ is the ability to apply what we have learned in a case study to other individuals or groups.
generalizability
In a ________, researchers are interested in the relationship between people's membership in a particular group and their scores on some other variable.
group comparison study
Samantha is a member of Michael's Archangels, a motorcycle group that supports many charitable efforts. Researchers are interested in studying the relationship between people's membership in the group and their scores on a measure of altruistic behavior. This study would be a(n)
group comparison study
All colleges and universities have ________ participants committees to ensure that in studies with people, the benefits of the study substantially outweigh any risks to the participants and that the risks to participants have been minimized.
human
What type of study creates situations that capture key key characteristics of real world events?
human laboratory study
A testable statement of what we predict will happen in a study is known as a(n) _____.
hypothesis
The number of new cases that develop during a specified period of time is called _____.
incidence
A(n) ___________ variable is the factor we believe will affect the outcome of our prediction.
independent
Dr. Anders conducted an experiment in which he determined that the amount of alcohol consumed affected lecture note-taking ability. Dr. Anders gave each group a different amount of alcohol and nothing else. A student correctly pointed out that Dr. Anders did not control for amount of liquid consumed and that this may have, indeed, caused the observed results. Dr. Anders' study had low _____.
internal validity
When researchers want to ensure that their study demonstrates that changes in the dependent variable can confidently be attributed to manipulation of the independent variable and not other factors, then the study has high _____.
internal validity
An advantage of a meta-analysis is that _____.
it can pool the data of many studies with small samples to provide more power
Which type of study attempts to locate links between genes to assess risk for mental illness?
linkage analysis
_______ is a statistical technique for summarizing results across several studies.
metaanalysis
______ studies are used to investigate the connection between genes and behavioral disorders.
molecular genetic
Which of the following has helped researchers overcome the challenges of researching psychopathology by using different methods to study the same issue?
multimethod approach
Dr. Yankowski wanted to assess whether his patient's depression could be alleviated by the use of meditation in different settings. Which research design would best attempt to answer this question?
multiple baseline design
In a ______, an intervention might be given to the same individual but in different settings or to different individuals at different points in time.
multiple baseline design
A researcher finds that when a person scores high on the common depression assessment tools, he tends to rate his self-esteem as being lower. This is an example of
negative correlation
A correlation of 0 (zero) indicates _____.
no correlation
The prediction that there is no relationship between the phenomena being studied is called the _____.
null hypothesis
Just because there is a strong correlation between two or more variables, we cannot say _____.
one variable causes the other
The hypothesis to be tested is that orange-eyed people are more intelligent than fuschia-eyed people. Intelligence will be measured as a score on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale. Defining intelligence using this score is an example of _____.
operationalization
A researcher is looking at the connection between class attendance and performance on various assessment tools (exams, quizzes, in-class assignments). He finds that the more students attend class, the better they tend to do when they are assessed. This is an example of
positive correlation
The _____ of a disorder is the proportion of the the population that has the disorder at a given point or period in time.
prevelance
Dr. Blackwell is selecting a sample for a study. He is making sure his sample is highly similar to the population in terms of sex, ethnicity, and age. Dr. Blackwell is creating a ________ sample.
representative
The ABAB design in a single-case experiment is also known as the ____ design.
reversal
Matilda has a strong desire to be thin. She wants to look thinner than the models in magazines and is afraid of becoming fat. Matilda has ______ that increase the likelihood that she may develop an eating disorder.
risk factors
A(n) ______ is a group of people selected from the _______ that the researcher wants to study.
sample, population
A basic series of steps designed to obtain and evaluate information relevant to a problem in a systematic way is often called the _____.
scientific method
Ethical problems arise in which types of control groups in therapy outcome research?
simple, placebo, and wait list
When the same person serves as both the subject and control in a study, researchers are using a ______.
single-case experimental design
The ____________ of a result is an index of how likely the result occurred simply by chance.
statistical signifigance
The index of how likely a result occurred simply by chance is called _____.
statistical signifigance
Roger has found that there is a generational relationship with depression. If one parent has clinical depression, the chances a child will have it are higher than in families where depression is not present in either parent. From this, he can state _____.
that though related, this connection does not show a causal link
The greatest disadvantage of all correlational studies is _____.
the fact that they cannot indicate what is a cause and what is a consequence
Dr. Miles has observed over the years that students who do well in her class seem to sit in the front seats. As the third variable problem illuminates, she cannot conclude that sitting in the front seat will cause the student to get an A because _____.
the real cause may be the motivation of the student
Experimental studies designed to test whether a specific therapy reduces psychopathology in individuals who receive it are called _____.
therapy outcome studies
The possibility that variables not measured in a study are the real cause of the relationship between the variables that are measured is called the _________ problem.
third variable
Which of the following is an example of theories or concepts that were developed in studies of one culture being applied to another culture?
variable of expressed emotion
Because they can change over time, weight, mood, and attitudes are all known as _____.
variables
Denada was in a study that looked at the effect of a drug on weight loss. Denada did not receive the active weight loss ingredient but was placed on a list to receive it after the study was completed. Denada was in a(n) _____ control group.
wait list
What question would you ask to generate a hypothesis?
what kind of evidence would support my idea?
Some researchers believe it is unethical to ____ treatment or to provide a treatment believed to be ineffective for people in distress during therapy outcome research.
withold
Between whom do we expect to see the highest concordance rates in genetic testing?
Monozygotic (identical) twins
____ is the way we measure or manipulate the variable in a study.
Operationalization
The effects of strokes, brain injuries, and unique situations that occur to a single person are best studied using _____.
a case study
A correlation of +1.00 or -1.00 indicates _______ correlation.
a perfect
A benefit of animal research is that _____.
animal research may very well be crucial to the advancement of our knowledge of how to help people overcome psychopathology
_____ studies are detailed histories of individuals who have some form of psychological disorder. They have been used for centuries as a way to understand the experiences of individuals and make general inferences about the sources of the psychopathology.
case