Research Methods Exam 1

which of the following is an association claim?

"Owning a dog is related to higher life satisfaction."

When reading an empirical journal article "with purpose," which two questions should you ask yourself as you read?

"What is the argument?" and "What is the evidence to support the argument?"

Marcella is conducting a PsychINFO search for treatments for autism spectrum disorder by searching "autism treatment." However, her search is returning too many results. If she is interested in getting more specific results, Marcella could search

"autism treatment" and "behavioral" and enter an age range of interest

What is the problem with being swayed by a good story?

A good story may not be supported by data

Which of the following is an example of being a consumer of research?

Attending a psychological conference

Which of the following is true of the difference between basic and applied research?

Basic and applies research have different goals

Elliott is double majoring in English and psychology. He plans on being a high school English teacher and is only majoring in psychology because he finds the classes interesting. Which of the following is an important reason for him to be a good consumer of research?

He will probably want to read research related to enhancing his teaching

You and your friends go to see a speaker on campus. The speaker, Dr. Darian, is an "expert" on getting into graduate school. Which of the following should make you less skeptical about his advice?

His recommendations are based on research he conducted for his dissertation

All of the following are true of institutional review boards (IRBs) in the United States EXCEPT

IRBs must have a psychologist as a member

What does it mean that behavioral research is problematic?

Inferences drawn from behavioral research are not expected to explain all cases

Which of the following is a reason why it is important to be a knowledgable consumer of research?

It is important to understand whether the information you read is accurate

Which of the following is a reason that a journalist may misrepresent a psychology study in a magazine?

Journalists may not personally have the scientific background to understand the study

Dr. Stewart is an editor of a psychology journal. She wants to ensure that reviewers give honest reviews of the papers they are asked to read. Which of the following could she do to increase the likelihood of honest feedback?

Make sure the peer reviewers are anonymous

Hannah just finished reading an empirical journal article for a class project. What information might she get out of reading the references section of her article?

The name of an article that researched a similar topic

Looking for which of the following in a trade book will give you a hint as to its scientific rigor?

The number of references

Dr. Smitherman conducted a study 5 years ago, and his graduate student now recommends that they conduct the study again to see if the effect still occurs. Dr. Smitherman said, "No, I cannot do that study now. I think it is unethical." Which of the following is NOT a reasonable explanation for Dr. Smitherman's response?

There were no ethical guidelines 5 years ago but there are now.

Vanessa claims that she sleeps better when she falls asleep to music. She has a comparison group, because she has noticed that she does not listen to music every night, only when she remembers to plug in her iPod. She typically remembers to plug in her iPod on nights when she is able to finish studying earlier. What problem do you see in Vanessa's reasoning about sleeping better to music?

Vanessa may be sleeping better because she is less distracted by studying/going to bed sooner

which of the following studies would probably require written informed consent?

a confidential study examining income level and voting behavior

ethical decision making should be:

a thoughtful balance

RESEARCH STUDY 4.1: Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. Why is this choice potentially problematic?

according to the Belmont report, prisoners are entitled to special protection

RESEARCH STUDY 2.1: Charlotte is studying subliminal messages and weight loss. She is curious whether people will lose more weight if they hear subliminal messages that encourage weight loss ("don't eat that food," "you want to be thin," etc.) in the music on their iPods compared to people who do not have subliminal messages in their music. She studies 40 people and finds the following results. To understand whether the subliminal messages have an effect, Charlotte needs to consider which of the following cells in the chart?

all of the cells

a local committee that reviews research that is conducted on animals is known as:

an IACUC

Which of the following is the difference between claims based on personal experience (anecdotal claims) and frequency claims?

anecdotal claims are not based on scientific studies but frequency claims are

Research that is done specifically to add to our general understanding of psychology, like distinguishing the components of extraversion or predicting the time it takes a person to determine whether an object is a face or another object, is known as

basic research

From an ethical standpoint, in what way is researching prisoners with tuberculosis similar to researching children with ADHD?

both groups of participants have less autonomy than the other types of participants

To evaluate how well a study supports a frequency claim, you need to focus most on evaluating which of the following validities?

construct validity and external validity

RESEARCH STUDY 3.4: Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in context (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the universe. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words that Group B. Based on this study, Dr. Kang can make which of the following claims?

emotion enhances memory

RESEARCH STUDY 1.2: Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression. Dr. White found no differences between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. In this study, "depressed individuals will have higher estrogen levels" was the ______

hypothesis

RESEARCH STUDY 3.4: Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in context (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the universe. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words that Group B. Dr. Kang's decision to assign participants randomly to Group A and Group B increases which of the following?

internal validity of the study

which of the following is true of the Belmont report?

it was written at the request of the US Congress

James is asked about the best way to study for an exam. He responds that the best way to study for an exam is by making flash cards. He easily thinks of all the times he used flash cards and he made A. However, he fails to take into consideration all the times he made As and did not use flashcards and the times he used flash cards and did not do well. He faulty thinking is an example of:

present/present bias

RESEARCH STUDY 1.2: Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression. Dr. White found no differences between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. Another depression researcher reads Dr. White's findings. This new researcher is LEAST likely to:

reject the theory of what causes depression

which of the following is true of students views of deceptions and harm in research studies?

students can find deception to be stressful

which of the following is a reasonable causal claim?

texting while driving reduces impulse control

Which of the following indicated that an article's claims are based on research?

the article describes how a scientific study measured a variable

RESEARCH STUDY 3.4: Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in context (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the universe. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words that Group B. Which of the following is the independent variable in Dr. Kang's study?

the emotion or neutral context of the words

The need to balance the potential costs and benefits to participants taking part in a research study is done to address which principle of the Belmont Report?

the principle of beneficence

Who is responsible for deciding which validity is prioritized in a study?

the researcher

RESEARCH STUDY 1.2: Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression. Dr. White found no differences between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. Based on these results, Dr. White should conclude that:

there may be factors influencing the results that haven't been examined that contributed to the results of studies on this topic

Dr. Hoda measures job satisfaction and number of years of education. In examining her scatterplot, she sees that the cloud of points has no slope. This indicates which type of relationship?

zero association