Chapter 10 - Correlational Studies - Exam 2

Only a(n) _________ study has an independent variable.

experimental

A causal relationship can be tested using

experimental research

A negative relationship between variables is characterized by a/an _____________ in one variable that occurs with a/an ______________ in the other variable.

increase; decrease

Most survey research involves a(n)

correlational study

A research question that asks about the presence of behavior, how frequently it is exhibited, or whether there is a relationship between different behaviors is a ___________ research question.

descriptive

Correlation _______ equal(s) causation.

does not

In many studies related to ___________, for example, correlational studies are the only options because we cannot subject someone to factors that may make them unhealthy for ethical reasons.

health

A positive relationship between variables is characterized by a/an ______________ in one variable that occurs with a/an _______________ in the other variable.

increase; increase

Whenever a strong relationship exists between variables, prediction of one variable from other variables ___________.

is possible

In correlational research multiple measures are collected from _______ group(s) of subjects to determine if those measures co-vary.

one

In a correlational study, the variable that is predicted by the predictor variable is called the ___________ variable.

outcome

Strong _________ correlations between age and incidence of Alzheimer's disease have been found such that by the time one reaches an age of 85, they have a 50% chance of getting Alzheimer's disease.

positive (Alzheimer's)

It is ____________ parental influences have a causal relationship with both the number of hours of TV their children watch and their grades.

possible that

A research question that asks if one behavior can be predicted from another behavior to allow predictions of future behavior is a ___________ research question.

predictive

In a correlational study, the variable that is used to predict the outcome variable is called the ___________ variable.

predictor

No groups of subjects are compared in a correlational study as they are in _________ experiments.

quasi

Analyses that allow predictions include

regressions

Many correlational studies use ___________ to measure behavior.

surveys

When a variable that is not of interest in a study may explain the results of a study this is called:

the third variable problem

It is __________ to conduct a study where some participants are assigned to a condition that may be harmful to them.

unethical

Hypothesized relationships are typically tested using correlational analyses such as

Pearson r

Correlational studies can provide good tests of causal research questions.

False

Explain the difference between a descriptive research question and a predictive research question.

A descriptive research question is one where a researcher is interested in whether a behavior occurs and how often it occurs. In a correlational study, a descriptive research question might be whether a relationship exists between two variables and what type of relationship exists. A predictive research question is one in which a researcher examines whether one variable can be predicted from one or more variables.

A researcher would like to study the effects of smoking on respiratory functioning. You have two groups: participants who smoke one pack a day and participants who smoke two. What type of study is this?

A quasi-experiment study

How are correlational studies different from quasi-experiments?

Correlational studies measure dependent variables from a single group of subjects to look for relationships between the measures, but do not separate subjects into groups for comparison as is done in quasi-experiments.

A correlational study showed that men who had one or servings of tomatoes a week were 60% less likely to get prostate cancer. This means that tomatoes causes the reduction in cancer rates.

False

Correlation equals causation. (you better know this!)

False

Explain the difference between a predictor and an outcome variable.

The predictor variable is a measured variable that can be used to predict a score another measured variable, the outcome variable. This prediction is more accurate if there is a strong relationship between the two variables.

A researcher may conduct a correlational study with the ultimate goal of predicting one behavior from another behavior.

True

Correlational studies are designed to examine relationships between measured variables.

True

Correlational studies are used to answer descriptive and predictive research questions.

True

Correlational studies provide information that allows researchers to determine which variables should be considered when they design tests of causal relationships.

True

Most survey research involves a correlational study.

True

The direction of the cause and effect relationship cannot be determined from a correlational study because none of the variables is manipulated in the study.

True

Most of the research showing a link between smoking and long-term health in humans has involved _____________studies.

correlational (smoking)

Suppose that a researcher found that as introversion (as measured on a standardized questionnaire) of participants goes up, number of social activities attended per week decreases. This finding represents:

a negative relationship

Which of the following represents the correlational research design? a. Two groups of participants (those who are left handed and those who are right handed) are asked to perform a speeded cognitive task to compare performance for the two groups b. Participants take a handedness questionnaire with score indicating the degree of right- and left-handedness to look for a relationship between handedness score and time to complete a cognitive task c. Participants are randomly assigned to conditions where a cognitive task is given with speeded or non-speeded instructions to determine if there is an effect of instruction type of task performance

b. Participants take a handedness questionnaire with score indicating the degree of right- and left-handedness to look for a relationship between handedness score and time to complete a cognitive task

A correlational study ____can or cannot______ provide causal information about the relationship between the measures; it can only describe the relationship between the behaviors.

cannot

Important information can be gained from correlational studies about the likelihood of an event based on the relationship with another event, but this relationship may or may not be ____________.

casual-related

Correlational studies provide information that allows researchers to determine which variables should be considered when they design tests of _________ relationships.

causal relationships

Correlational studies are not well-suited for answering _________ research questions.

causal research questions

In ____________ studies, researchers examine two or more measures to determine if those measures are related.

correlational

Explain why correlational studies do not provide the best test of a causal research question.

A variable is not manipulated in a correlational study; thus, a causal relationship is difficult to test, as many types of causal relationships can cause a correlation between variables.

Correlational studies never involve naturalistic observations or systematic observations.

False

Regardless of the type of observational technique used to measure behavior, the goal of any correlational study is to examine relationships between_______ or more measures of behavior.

two