Advanced Research Methods
What is the median (50th percentile) of the following scores: 0, 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 6?
4
In a normal distribution, approximately what percentage of scores falls BETWEEN one standard deviation below the mean and one standard deviation above the mean?
68%
Identify two pieces of information that all informed consent documents in research should contain.
A description of the study and participation is voluntary and can be discontinued at anytime.
Which of the following would be operational definitions of aggression?
A participants score on an aggression scale, a researcher's behavioral rating of the participant's aggressive behavior, a psychological measure of aggression, and the frequency of verbal aggressions that the participant engages in.
To reduce the impact of testing effects on the results of an experiment, researchers could use ___________.
An alternate form of the test of the dependent variable at post-test
To test the statistical significance of a factorial design, researchers typically use the
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)
Dr. Lilienfeld is interested in studying the relationship between self-esteem and shyness. He gives the same group of subjects a personality test that measures self-esteem and another test that measures shyness. Finally, Dr. Lilienfeld correlates shyness scores with self-esteem scores among his participants. Dr. Lilienfeld is investigating a ___________ claim in his study.
Association
Identify one reason that most correlational studies in psychological science use multivariate correlational designs rather than bivariate correlational designs.
Because almost all psychological variables are multiplied determined and it is important to isolate the predictor of interest
Why is it important to check if there is a curvilinear relationship between two variables before calculating a correlation coefficient?
Because in curvilinear relationships the correlation coefficient does not adequately indicate the degree of the relationship between the variables
The probability of making a Type II Error is called (labeled) __________.
Beta
How are quota sampling and stratified random sampling similar?
Both identify subgroups to be studied
Dr. Basehore is a cognitive psychologist who is interested in the effects of mood on exam scores. Dr. Basehore's dependent variable measure is an exam with items that are so easy that every student in his experiment answers them correctly at both pretest and post-test. Dr. Basehore is likely to receive a null effect in his experiment due to _______________
Ceiling effects
Identify one, specific vulnerable population which may not be able to provide informed consent to participate in a research study.
Children are a vulnerable population who may not be able to provide informed consent to participate
The purpose of debriefing is to _____________ when the study included _________
Clarify the nature of the study; deception
A researcher wants to use high school students to test her research hypothesis. She randomly selects 10 schools from the 24 high schools in her school district. She then randomly selects 20 high school students from each selected high school. What sampling procedure did she use?
Cluster Sampling
A colleague mentions to you that she is offering homeless participants in her research study $1,000 for one hour of participation. You inform your colleague that excessive compensation should be avoided because it may lead to __________ of research participants.
Coercion
A ______________ is a band of scores that likely includes the population mean.
Confidence Interval
Juan is a psychologist who is often frustrated by his superstitious friends. Juan's best friend Harold believes that he has a "lucky" technique for gambling. As evidence, Harold explains that he recently won twice when using this technique. Juan points out that Harold is failing to notice the times the technique did not work. Juan explains that his friend Harold is engaging in __________.
Confirmation Bias
_____________ are third variables that were not controlled for in an experimental study and which may decrease the internal validity of a study.
Confounds
Margarita is creating a new intelligence test and wants to ensure that the test is valid and reliable. To support the _______________ validity of her test, Margarita should read prior research studies about intelligence and create questions on her test that measure all aspects of intelligence.
Content
A(n) __________ variable is a second variable that is held constant by researchers conducting experiments to avoid confounding variables that could impact results.
Control
Leon has created a new test of academic achievement and wants to investigate the validity of his test. He decides to check his test's _____________ validity by calculating the correlation between scores on his test and scores on existing, well-established tests of academic achievement such as the Wide Range Achievement Test
Convergent
A researcher is interested in studying the relationship between self-esteem and shyness. She gives the same group of subjects a test that measures self-esteem and a test that measures shyness. This study is best described as a ___________.
Correlational study
Internal Consistency Reliability of a questionnaire is best measured by calculating _________.
Cronbach's alpha coefficient of the questionnaire
The following item appears on a survey: "Was your cell phone purchased within the last two years, and have you downloaded the most recent updates?" This is an example of a ______________ question.
Double-barreled
The proportion of the variability in a dependent variable that is due to the independent variable is referred to as _____.
Effect Size
Imagine you are a School Psychology intern who is implementing a common, token economy behavioral intervention while on practicum. You are implementing the intervention with n=10 students in one classroom and are using random identification numbers to record students' on-task behavior before and after implementation of the token economy. For the institutional review board (IRB), the research would most likely be classified as __________.
Exempt
Imagine you are a Forensic Psychology intern who is conducting a research study on substance use among parolees. You will use random identification numbers for each parolee. You have decided to collect hair follicle samples to estimate parolees' substance use over the past three months. Assuming this is the only data you are collecting, the institutional review board (IRB) would most likely classify this research as ______________.
Expedited Review
Which of the following study designs can a researcher use to make a causal claim?
Experimental Design
Jessica recently read a study that claimed increased studying led to better grades in a sample of college freshmen. Jessica is interested in how these results apply to other college students (e.g., sophomores, juniors, seniors) not included in the original study. Thus, Jessica is interested in the ______ of the original study
External Validity
Raquel developed a new questionnaire to measure aggression in adolescents. She is concerned that the items on her questionnaire do not appear to be measuring aggression. Raquel decides to ask a group of researchers who are experts in aggression to review her questionnaire and provide their subjective feedback on her questionnaire's _____________.
Face Validity
If an ANOVA shows that the differences between condition means (between group variance) is not larger than the within group variance (error variance), a researcher will
Fail to reject Ho
(T/F) If there is a strong, statistically significant correlation between two variables, we can be sure that one variable causes the other variable.
False
(True/False) A hypothesis is the same as a scientific theory.
False
(True/False) A one-tailed hypothesis test is also known as a non-directional hypothesis.
False
(True/False) In an experimental study, EXTERNAL validity is more important than INTERNAL validity.
False
(True/False) In an independent groups design, the same participants are exposed to every level of the independent variable and are measured on the dependent variable after each exposure.
False
(True/False) To be considered a confounding variable, a variable must vary UNSYSTEMATICALLY with the independent variable in an experimental design
False
(True/False) Within-subjects (Within-groups) designs have a LOWER risk of carryover effects than Between-subjects (Independent groups) designs
False
(True/False). If two variables are correlated, this means that one of the variables causes the other variable
False
(True/False). In a confidential study, researchers do not collect any identifying information of participants.
False
(True/False). It is possible for a questionnaire to be unreliable but valid.
False
Scientific psychological theories, unlike pseudoscientific theories, have which of the following characteristics?
Falsifiability, data support, parsimony
One of the problems with the Bonferroni adjustment is that it _______________.
Increases the probability of making a Type II Error
In Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) a FACTOR refers to a _____________
Independent Variable
In an experimental study, the _____________ are manipulated by the researcher
Independent Variables
Dr. Rodriguez is interested in the effects of couple's therapy on the number of positive statements between partners in their daily conversations. Dr. Rodriguez uses a behavioral rating form to code if a statement is positive, neutral, or negative. If Dr. Rodriguez's research assistants change how they code statements during the study, a __________ effect will likely occur.
Instrumentation
____________ validity is MOST important when investigating a causal claim.
Internal
Random assignment to experimental conditions increases the ___________ of an experiment.
Internal Validity
In experimental research, researchers generally regard _________ as more important than __________.
Internal Validity; External Validity
When using observational measures, researchers are interested primarily in __________.
Interrater Reliability
Most standardized intellectual assessments allow for calculation of an overall Intelligence Quotient (IQ). Overall IQ is best described as a ___________ scale of measurement.
Interval
Which of the following is true of probability sampling?
It increases the external validity of a study
Dr. Hernandez is interested in studying the association between childhood physical abuse and anxiety disorders in children. Why would Dr. Hernandez likely choose a correlational design rather than an experimental design for her study?
It would be unethical to assign children to experience childhood physical abuse or an anxiety disorder
John has a z-score of -2.3, whereas Mary has a z-score of +1.9. Whose score is more extreme (further from the mean) in the distribution of scores
John's score
Which of the following observational research designs has the most control over confounding variables and the least amount of external validity?
Laboratory Observation
What TWO pieces of information do all correlation coefficients give you?
Magnitude and direction
Which of the following threats to internal validity would NOT be reduced by the use of a comparison condition in an experimental study?
Maturation effects
Which measure of central tendency is MOST affected by outliers in a skewed distribution?
Mean
In datasets with continuous variables that include extreme scores (outliers), the __________ is the most accurate measure of central tendency.
Median
Which of the following, when properly designed and completed, is considered the strongest form of scientific evidence?
Meta-analyses
The description of sample participants and their demographics is typically found in the __________ section of a psychology research article.
Methods
Dr. Shah finds that the relationship between the number of friends one has and life satisfaction is stronger for men than for women. In this study, sex (male or female) is considered a(n) ____________.
Moderator
Unlike t-tests, chi-square tests are used for ____________ data.
Nominal
The real purpose of the Milgram study was to investigate ___________
Obedience to authority
The following item appears on a survey: "What are your thoughts about Psychology?" This is an example of a(n) __________ question.
Open-ended
A(n) _________ definition defines a concept by specifying how the concept is measured or manipulated in a particular study.
Operational
Identify one advantage and one disadvantage of WITHIN-subjects designs.
Participation fatigue is a disadvantage, advantage is it does not require a large sample of participants since you can measure both variables with each participant.
One difference between science and pseudoscience is the use of _______ in scientific publications. This involves sending a study to experts in the subject area to evaluate the research methodology and the conclusions reached by the investigators.
Peer Review
When research articles are submitted for publication they are usually sent by the journal editor to other scientists familiar with the topic for recommendations concerning publication. This process is referred to as ___________
Peer Review
Which of the following correlation coeffcients would you use to investigate the association between the two nominal-level variables
Phi correlation
Participants in a _________ group in an experiment receive an inactive treatment (treatment with no effect) but believe they are receiving the active treatment.
Placebo
To prevent faulty reasoning about the results of a study, researchers should use a priori hypotheses rather than _________ hypotheses that are formed after data is collected.
Post Hoc
A researcher is interested in developing a self-report questionnaire that will identify patients who are most likely to attempt suicide following inpatient hospitalization for mental illness. This researcher will be most concerned with the _______________ of his questionnaire.
Predictive Criterion Validity
Designs in which the dependent variable is measured both before and after participants are assigned to one level of the independent variable are known as _________.
Pretest-posttest design
Which of the following correlation coefficients is significant using an alpha level of .05?
R= -.23, p=.04
Which of the following Pearson correlation coefficients is STRONGEST?
R= -0.95
Disguised observation is used to counteract the problem of ___________.
Reactivity
Social desirability response bias is _______________.
Reduced when participants responses are anonymous
When a researcher recruits a sample whose average is extremely high or low at pretest, a(n) _____________ may likely occur.
Regression to the mean
A Type I Error occurs when a researcher ________.
Rejects a null hypothesis that is true
A researcher is concerned with ______________ in her survey results because it appears that many participants gave the same response to all questions on her survey.
Response Sets
A professor has promised to give you second author on his publication if you only edit it for grammar and spelling errors. You inform your professor that you cannot receive authorship for editing alone because it would violate __________ of the APA Research Ethics code.
Section 8.12, Publication Credit
Researchers use random assignment of participants to different levels of the independent variable in an experiment to avoid ________________
Selection effects
Which of the following threats to internal validity would cause group differences BEFORE the start of the experiment?
Selection effects
Participants in a study were asked to rate their mood on the following scale: 1 (Pleasant) 2 3 4 5 6 7 (Unpleasant). This is an example of a __________ scale.
Semantic Differential
An industrial psychologist obtained a list of 859 employees in a large company. He numbered the employees from 001 to 859, then used a table of random numbers to choose a sample of 100 employees. What kind of sample did he select?
Simple random sample
Which of the following is an example of a cross-lag correlation in a study on social media usage?
Social media usage at time 1 correlated with self-esteem at time 2
Which of the following correlation coefficients would you use to investigate the association between two ordinal-level variables?
Spearman's rank-ordered correlation
Which of the following is an example of a moderating variable?
Stress only causes negative health outcomes when the stress is viewed negatively
According to the Central Limit Theorem, the mean of the sampling distribution of sample means will approach __________ as the number of samples increases.
The population Mean
Confidence intervals based on t-statistics are typically used to estimate _____________
The population mean
To quickly determine the relevance of a research article to your question of interest, you should first examine the ___________ sections.
Title and Abstract
(T/F) If a treatment condition has a permanent effect on research participants, then it would be inappropriate to use a within-subjects experimental design
True
(True/False) A Likert scale allows participants to indicate their level of agreement with statements on surveys.
True
(True/False) A participant variable is a variable that is not manipulated by a researcher but may be a predictor variable in a factorial design.
True
(True/False) In a cross-sectional correlational design, researchers collect all data at one point in time.
True
(True/False) Statistical power is defined as the probability of correctly rejecting the null hypothesis when the null hypothesis is false
True
In an experiment on the effects of nicotine on attention, ALL subjects are given an attention test after smoking a cigarette without nicotine AND again after smoking a cigarette with nicotine. This is an example of a __________ design.
Within-subjects
What are the THREE requirements for a causal claim?
the 2 variables covary, the causal variable occurs before the outcome variable, no other explanations exist for the relationship.
