Research Methods Exam 1 (Quizzes)

Availability heuristic:

things that pop up easily in our mind tend to guide our thinking.

What question assesses internal validity when evaluating causal claims?

"does this study establish temporal precedence?"

When reading an empirical journal "with a purpose", what 2 questions should you ask yourself as you read?

1. What is the argument? 2. What is the evidence to support the argument?

You submit a study for approval by the institutional review board (IRB), and they tell you that written informed consent is required. Which of the following can be excluded from your informed consent document?

A description of the study's hypotheses

Which of the following is NOT an example of coercion? -A researcher hinting to participants that their employer will be told if they do not participate -A researcher offering three points of extra credit to college students to participate in a study -A researcher offering homeless participants $1,000 to participate in a study -A researcher telling participants that he will be fired if he is unable to recruit at least 50 participants

A researcher offering three points of extra credit to college students to participate in a study

Translational research is what?

The bridge between basic and applied research. -Use of lessons from basic research to develop and test applications to healthcare, etc.

Example of basic research:

An experimental psychologist who examines peoples abilities to perceive a "sweet" taste.

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 other types of participants.

What is meta-analysis?

Combines the results of what many studies and gives a number that summarizes the magnitude/effect if size in a relationship.

Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, if you sleep poorly the night before a big exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brain waves, he plans to let participants sleep until they enter REM sleep and then wake them. After the participants are awake for one minute, Dr. Kushner plans to let them return to sleep. As they enter REM sleep again, he will wake them again and follow the same procedure. He plans to do this through the entire eight-hour sleep session. The following morning, participants will be asked to take a sample SAT test. Dr. Kushner plans to tell his participants that the reason he is waking them up during the night is to recalibrate the EEG machine. This would be an example of which of the following?

Deception through commission

Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, if you sleep poorly the night before a big exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brain waves, he plans to let participants sleep until they enter REM sleep and then wake them. After the participants are awake for one minute, Dr. Kushner plans to let them return to sleep. As they enter REM sleep again, he will wake them again and follow the same procedure. He plans to do this through the entire eight-hour sleep session. The following morning, participants will be asked to take a sample SAT test. Which of the following is true regarding obtaining informed consent in Dr. Kushner's study?

He needs to obtain informed consent because there is a likelihood of risk in his study.

When is it acceptable for a researcher to study only participants from a specific group, such as a researcher studying depression in a sample of Native American women?

If the specific group being studied is especially prone to the problem being studied (e.g., if depression rates are higher in Native American women)

According to the Belmont Report, which of the following groups of people is entitled to special protection?

People with developmental disabilities

Your professor says that researchers do not make ethical decisions alone. What does this mean?

Researchers must consider the opinions of others, including institutional review board (IRB) members and peers.

What is a benefit of peer-review?

Reviewers' names are kept anonymous so they can be open in their critiques of an article.

What is parsimony?

SIMPLE

What is a theory?

Set of statements that describes general principles about how variables relate to one another.

Why are research studies superior to experience?

They include at least one comparison group (enables comparison of what would happen both with and without the thing we are interested in).

When reading "with a purpose", what should you read first?

The abstract.

What is the last section of an empirical journal called?

The discussion.

Why might a researcher debrief his participants even if his study didn't include any deceptive elements?

To ensure that his participants had a good research experience

Causal claim

a claim arguing that a specific change in one variable is responsible for influencing the value of another variable

Data:

a set of observations

Internal validity

a studies ability to rule out alternative explanations for a causal relationship between two variables

Example of being a producer of research:

administering an anxiety questionnaire.

External validity

an indication of how well the results of a study generalize to, or represent, individuals or contexts besides those in the study itself.

What does the abstract of an article provide?

an overview of the article

Dependent variable

being measured

Independent variable

manipulated

Temporal precedence

one of three criteria for establishing a causal claim, stating that the proposed causal variable comes first in time, before the proposed outcome variable

What is the mindset of a scientific reasoner?

remaining objective as you interpret scientific data.

Generalizability:

the extent to which the subjects in a study represent the populations they are intended to represent; how well the settings in a study represent other settings or contexts.

Ethical decision making done by researchers can change in response to all of the following EXCEPT: -bad experiences of other researchers. -the possibility of additional grant funding. -changing social norms. -scientific discoveries.

the possibility of additional grant funding.

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

the researcher

Hypothesis are used to determine if a _______________ is accurate.

theory