Research Methods

Dr. Nguyen is studying how amount of sleep influences mood for kindergarteners. A sample of 100 children is selected. Fifty children are allowed to sleep for 11 hours each night. The other 50 children are awoken after 8 hours. After three nights, Dr. Nguyen records the mood for each child and compares the two groups of scores. In this example, how many levels are there for the independent variable?

2

Most journals in psychology follow the writing style established by the

American Psychological Association.

Where should figures be placed in a manuscript?

At the end

A study that aims to modify existing psychological theory related to personality traits would be considered ____ research.

Basic

What is an ethical principle identified in the Belmont Report?

Beneficence

While driving, you notice that you seem to encounter more impatient and rude people on the road than you do in person, and you wonder why that would be the case. This is an example of getting research ideas from _________.

Casual Observations

Which sampling technique is most likely to result in a biased sample?

Convenience Sampling

A study examining the percentage of children age 3-5 who are enrolled in preschool is an example of what research approach?

Descriptive

Which risk to a study exists whether or not participants in different groups are able to communicate with each other?

Differential attrition

What are the two major threats to internal validity in within-subjects experiments?

Environmental variables and time-related variables

Study examining the relationship between humor and memory compares memory performance scores for one group presented with humorous sentences and a second group presented with nonhumorous sentences. The participants in both groups consist of a mixture of males and females. In this study, gender (male/female) is a(n) ________ variable.

Extraneous

A between-subjects experiment with 25 scores in treatment I and 25 scores in treatment II must have a total of 25 participants in the experiment.

False

A researcher is not obligated to use anesthesia for surgery in nonhuman subjects in research.

False

A valid measure is one that yields highly similar results across different experimental conditions.

False

Basic research is intended to answer practical problems

False

Counterbalancing effectively eliminates order effects.

False

If the measurement device changes during the course of a within-subjects study so that the participants' scores are influenced, internal validity is threatened by statistical regression.

False

It is a good idea to start with a specific idea and then make that idea more general as you conduct your literature review

False

One disadvantage of within-subject designs is that they tend to require more participants than are needed for between-subject designs

False

Research studies consistently demonstrate that debriefing participants effectively eliminates the problems caused by deception.

False

The principles outlined in the Belmont Report are no longer used today

False

To establish split-half reliability you must administer the same measurement to the same group of people at two different times.

False

an experiment comparing a treatment group with a no-treatment control group has no independent variable

False

Using observations of a small number of humans to make a statement about human behavior in general is an example of ____ reasoning.

Inductive

Deception is in direct contradiction with which element of the ethical guidelines?

Informed Consent

Which element is part of the APA ethical guidelines?

Informed Consent

A study is ____ if it produces only one explanation for the results.

Internally Valid

What is a concern with simple random sampling without replacement?

It does not produce independent selections.

Why is a confounding variable unacceptable in a true experiment?

It threatens internal validity by providing an alternative explanation for the results.

Although field studies tend to have higher external validity then traditional lab studies, they also tend to have _______.

Lower internal validity

What does counterbalancing involve?

Matching the treatment conditions with respect to time

Dr. Mias is conducting a study on the effect of meditation on the anxiety levels of elderly hospice patients; however, the patients' declining health affects their anxiety levels in between each measurement. Which threat to internal validity has confounded this study?

Maturation

A researcher designs a study to determine whether female preschoolers prefer sweetened or unsweetened cereal. The researcher first presents the children with the sweet cereal and measures how much they ate. Later, during the same session, the researcher presents the children with the unsweetened cereal and measures how much they ate. The research finds that the group of preschoolers ate more of the sweetened cereal and therefore prefers the sweetened cereal. Is this conclusion justified?

No; this conclusion is not justified. Time-related variables could threaten the results.

A researcher recruits participants for an experiment by posting an announcement in the psychology department asking for volunteers. What kind of sampling is being used?

Non probability

Dr. Ziser conducts an experiment on life satisfaction using participants above the age of 80. All people above the age of 80 would make up the __

Population

Research results indicate that the more servings of red meat eat from age 15 to 25, the higher their cholesterol scores will be at age 60. This is an example of a ____ relationship between variables.

Positive

You develop a new measure of anxiety and you find that people who score high on your measure show more anxious behavior than people who score low on your measure. You have demonstrated ____.

Predictive Validity

An advantage of holding a variable constant rather than using random assignment to form your groups is that holding a variable constant ____.

Prevents confounding

An empirical journal article is an example of

Primary Source

Which subsection of the method section describes everything that happened during the study?​

Procedure

How do quantitative research and qualitative research differ?

Quantitative research is expressed in numbers and graphs. It is used to test or confirm theories and assumptions. This type of research can be used to establish generalizable facts about a topic. Qualitative research is expressed in words. It is used to understand concepts, thoughts or experiences. This type of research enables you to gather in-depth insights on topics that are not well understood.

Measurement that includes a large error components will have very low...

Reliability

A researcher conducts a study in which 50 college students are assigned to different treatments and tested. In the study, the students are called

Research participants

Because random assignment is likely to create groups of different sizes, researchers often employ ____.

Restricted random assignment

When people make an observation, then form a hypothesis that explains the observation, and then make more observations to test the credibility of the hypothesis, they are using the ____.

Scientific Method

For a within-subjects study comparing two treatments, A and B, a researcher expects that practice in the first treatment will improve the participants' scores in the second treatment. If the order of treatments is counterbalanced, then The practice will

Scores in treatment A for half the participants and scores in treatment B for half the participants.

The review of the literature in the introduction section of a research report is an example of a ____________ source.

Secondary

Although it is possible to obtain a sample with characteristics that are very different from thepopulation through random sampling, it is more likely that a nonrepresentative sample is theresult of ____.

Selection Bias

Which manipulation of the time period between treatment conditions reduces the chances of history influencing the results of a within-subjects experiment?

Shortening

A researcher attempts to recreate the real world in the laboratory. This type of research is called a ____.

Simulation study

What is an advantage of the between-subjects design versus the within-subjects design?

The key advantage of using a between-subjects design is that it is the only design that allows for the use of randomization, manipulation, and the inclusion of a comparison/control group, which are required to demonstrate cause and effect.A between-subjects design also places less of a burden on the participant and the researcher because participants are observed (or participate) only one time, and the researcher does not have to track participants over time.

Susan is a participant in a research study. She has never participated in a study before, and she is excited and a little nervous, so she unintentionally behaves differently than she normally would. Susan's situation is an example of which threat to external validity?

The novelty effect

Why is the range effect known as a "ceiling effect" a problem for researchers?

The scores are already so high that there is no chance of measuring improvements

Why is random assignment used in between-subjects experimental designs?

To eliminate systematic differences between the groups

A good hypothesis should make a positive statement about the existence of something,usually the existence of a relationship,the existence of a difference,or the existence of a treatment effect

True

A reliable measurement procedure produces similar scores when the same individuals are measured twice under similar conditions.

True

According to the APA guidelines, it is unethical to offer pay to participants an exorbitant amount of money to entice them to participate in research that they would otherwise avoid

True

An artifact such as demand characteristics can threaten both the internal and the external validity of a research study

True

An oral presentation at a conference is usually done within a strict time limit.

True

Any factor that limits the ability to generalize the results of a research study to different populations or different environments is a threat to external validity.

True

Both correlational and nonexperimental studies intend to examine relationships between variables without trying to explain the relationships

True

Demand characteristics are cues within a research study that suggest how the participants are expected to behave or respond.

True

Demonstrating the grade point averages for a group of college students are positively related to their SAT scores in a demonstration of predictive validity for the SAT

True

Holding a participant variable constant has the double advantage of preventing the variable from becoming a confounding variable, and reducing variance within groups

True

If one or more of the treatments in an experiment is expected to have a large and long-lasting effect that could influence the participants' scores in later treatments, the best strategy is to use a between-subjects design.

True

If you cannot list all the individuals in the population, then you cannot take a simple random sample

True

Part of the scientific method involves using a hypothesis to make predictions.

True

Randomly assigning participants to treatment conditions is not a part of within-subjects experiments.

True

Research results show that participants who shout their favorite curse words over and over can endure a painful stimulus longer than participants who shout a neutral word. For this study, the dependent variable is the amount of time that the pain is endured

True

Researchers use random assignment in an effort to create groups that are as similar as possible.

True

Results from a research study indicate that students who exercise to just before studying had better scores on their exams 10 students who did not exercise before studying. Independent variable is exercising versus not exercising before study sessions

True

Secondary sources are a great place to start a literature search, but you should include primary sources to get the whole story.

True

Selection bias is a threat to external validity.

True

Selection bias is likely to produce a sample with characteristics, that are noticeably different from those in the population

True

Simulation and field studies are used to increase the external validity of experiments.

True

Stratified and proportionate stratified sampling both involve selecting individuals from predetermined subgroups in the population

True

The discussion section of an APA-style research report often contains a description of the limitations of the research

True

The method of intuition can be valuable when making ethical or moral decisions by doing what "feels" right.

True

The most commonly used sampling methods in psychology are nonprobability sampling methods.

True

The purpose of an experiment is to demonstrate that changes in one variable are responsible for causing changes in a second variable.

True

There are some studies for which written informed consent from participants is not required.

True

When a researcher does not know the exact number of individuals in the population, it is necessary to use a nonprobability sampling method

True

dallas is using the rational method when, upon seeing that birds eating certain berries do not die, concludes that the berries are not poisonous

True

If there are many individual differences that could confound your study, what is the best approach for creating equivalent groups in that case?

Using randomly assignment

Which research design involves measuring the same group of participants in two different treatment conditions?

Within-subjects

What is the most relevant question you should ask when reading a method section?

Would different participants produce different results?

What is the most relevant question you should ask when reading a results section?

are appropriate statistics used

Holding a variable constant prevents a participant characteristic from confounding a study by ____.

eliminating variability in that characteristic

In an experiment, the purpose for manipulating the independent variable is to help ___.

establish the direction of the relationship and help eliminate the third variable problem

The Tuskegee study involved ____.

failing to provide treatment for men with syphilis

In a between-subjects design, individual differences (participant variables) are a problem because they can ____.

increase variability of the scores

holding a variable constant is a technique for removing one threat to ____ but it can limit the ____ of an experiment

internal validity; external validity

In the scientific method, a prediction is evaluated by ______.

making systematic, planned observations

A limitation of a single-factor multiple group design is that the ____.

mean differences between the groups become smaller as more groups are used

Using the number of yawns in a one-hour period as a definition and a measurement of sleepiness is an example of an ____ of sleepiness.

operationalizing Operational Definition

Standardizing procedures, standardizing treatment settings, and limiting individual differences all have the effect of ____.

reducing variance within treatments

Your PsycINFO search has yielded several hundred articles. The most efficient next step is to ____.

scan through the titles to see which ones seem most suited to your interests

studies involving deception

should not be done if the deception involves concealing possible harm

In an experiment, a confounding variable is a(n) ____.

threat to internal validity

The Nuremberg Code outlines basic ethical guidelines for the _____.

treatment of human participants