Research Methods Exam 1

Ellie is looking for a summary of research on the effect size of childhood abuse on adult depression. Which of the following scientific sources would be an ideal source? a. A review journal article. b. A meta-analysis. c. A trade book. d. A chapter in an edited book. e. Her professor.

b. A meta-analysis.

_______ is the approach of collecting data and using it to develop, support, and/or challenge a theory. a. Falsifiability b. Empiricism c. Theorizing d. Application e. Teaching

b. Empiricism

The _____ of a normal curve describes how symmetrically the individual scores are distributed around the central tendency. a. skew b. variance c. standard deviation d. kurtosis e. confidence interval

a. skew

Dr. Quinn plans to attend a conference in Montreal next month and she is currently deciding how she will get there. Upon reflecting, she remembers hearing much more information about plane crashes than car crashes, and decides it would be safer to drive. Dr. Quinn is exhibiting what bias in reasoning? a. The availability heuristic b. Introspection c. Reconstructive memory d. Dogmatic reasoning e. She has committed no fallacy

a. The availability heuristic

In which of the following scenarios should you be most skeptical of an authority? a. When they based their opinions on their intuition. b. When they present all the evidence on a topic. c. When they have a scientific degree. d. When they have conducted scientific research on the topic. e. When they have only published reviews.

a. When they based their opinions on their intuition.

In inferential statistics, the intent of calculating a central tendency from your sample is to ______. a. estimate the central tendency in the population of interest b. estimate the central tendency in all possible populations c. determine the true central tendency of the sample d. estimate the central tendency of the sample e. determine the true central tendency of the population of interest

a. estimate the central tendency in the population of interest

A distribution with two peaks is best described by ________. a. one mode b. two modes c. one mean d. two means e. two medians

b. two modes

Measurement of temperature in degrees Fahrenheit is an example of a variable on a _____ scale. a. nominal b. ordinal c. ratio d. interval e. discrete

d. interval

Consider the following abstract: 43 depressed undergraduate women were randomly assigned to either an aerobic exercise treatment condition in which they participated in strenuous exercise, a placebo treatment condition in which they practiced relaxation exercises, or a no-treatment condition. Aerobic capacity was assessed before and after a 10-wk treatment period. Self-reported depression was assessed before, during, and after the treatment period. Results show that subjects in the aerobic exercise condition had reliably greater increases in aerobic capacity and reliably greater decreases in depression than did subjects in the relaxation or no-treatment conditions. There was also a reduction in depression that was independent of treatment; it is suggested that a no-treatment control condition is a necessity in research on depression. The findings provide clear evidence that participation in a program of strenuous aerobic exercise is effective in reducing depression. From this abstract we may conclude _____________. a. Aerobic exercise can reduce depression. b. Aerobic exercise can cure depression. c. Any exercise can reduce depression. d. Depression will not go away without aerobic exercise. e. There is a positive correlation between exercise and depression.

a. Aerobic exercise can reduce depression.

Which of the following is the difference between claims based on personal experience (anecdotal claims) and frequency claims? a. Anecdotal claims are not based on scientific studies but frequency claims are. b. Anecdotal claims involve a single variable; frequency claims involve two variables. c. Anecdotal claims are less interesting than frequency claims. d. Anecdotal claims appear in newspapers; frequency claims appear in journals. e. Anecdotal claims are restricted to events that only occurred once, frequency claims reference events that happened multiple times.

a. Anecdotal claims are not based on scientific studies but frequency claims are.

_______ validity concerns how well a conceptual variable has been operationalized for measurement. a. Construct b. Internal c. External d. Statistical e. Historical

a. Construct

Theories are ______. a. never proven, only supported b. never proven, only refuted c. proven when given enough support d. proven if there is 100% consensus in the scientific community e. proven if an experiment is conducted on an entire population

a. never proven, only supported

In the theory-data cycle, theories first lead to ______. a. questions b. answers c. data d. research e. communication

a. questions

Dr. Ellison finds a relation between years spent in higher education and problem solving. Specifically, spending more years in formal education beyond high school is associated with higher scores on two different measures of problem solving. This is an example of which type of correlation? a. Negative association b. Positive association c. Zero association d. Causal induction e. Apparent correlation

b. Positive association

A psychiatrist is testing a drug that treats depression. He has given the drug to all his patients, and all of them have experienced a decrease in depressive symptoms. Although this is interesting, his findings are limited because he did not have _____. a. a reliable way to measure depressive symptoms b. a placebo group that did not receive the drug c. a hypothesis d. psychotherapy to supplement the drug e. a patent for the drug

b. a placebo group that did not receive the drug

Dr. Jekyll has spent the last 30 years of his life teaching Bobo the gorilla how to understand grammar as a human does. It is the crowning achievement of his career and he immediately submits a manuscript to a major journal. The reviewers question whether his findings will generalize to other gorillas. In essence, they are doubting the _______ of his findings. a. internal validity b. external validity c. novelty d. importance e. theoretical foundation

b. external validity

Consider the following abstract: Research has shown that mindfulness can positively affect peoples' lives in a number of ways, including relying less on previously established associations. We focused on the impact of mindfulness on implicit age and racial bias as measured by implicit association tests (IATs). Participants listened to either a mindfulness or a control audio tape and then completed the race and age IATs. Mindfulness meditation caused a decrease in implicit race and age bias. Analyses using the Quad Model suggested that this reduction was due to weaker automatically activated associations on the IATs. What is the independent variable in this study? What is the dependent variable? a. independent: measurement of IAT scores; dependent: the audio tape participants listened to b. independent: the audio tape listened to; dependent: measurement of IAT scores c. independent: measurement of IAT scores; dependent: the Quad Model analysis d. independent: the Quad model analysis; dependent: measurement of IAT scores e. independent: participants' age and race; dependent: measurement of IAT scores.

b. independent: the audio tape listened to; dependent: measurement of IAT scores

Dan repeatedly hears the statement, 'camel's store water in their humps', over the course of his life. Eventually, he comes to believe it is a fact. This is an example of ______. a. dogma b. the repetition-induced truth effect c. the belief-contact effect d. the gambler's fallacy e. availability bias

b. the repetition-induced truth effect

The act of reflecting on your inner thoughts, sensations, and intuitions describes what sources of knowledge? a. Anecdotal evidence b. Expert testimony c. Introspection d. Scientific inference e. Descriptive statistics

c. Introspection

In analyzing data from an experiment, if a significant effect exists in reality and you fail to detect the effect in your data, we refer to this as _____. a. a hit b. a type 1 error c. a type 2 error d. a correct rejection e. evidence for the null hypothesis

c. a type 2 error

Dr. Frankenstein, a memory researcher, has recently published a paper demonstrating a causal link between number of hours slept before a test and test performance. He claims the extra hours of sleep help the students better consolidate the studied materials. His detractors claim that the students are simply better able to concentrate and pay attention to the questions. In essence, they are doubting the _____ of her findings. a. historical validity b. construct validity c. internal validity d. external validity e. novelty

c. internal validity

Occam's razor states that the simplest solution is the best, all other things being equal. This speaks to a theory's _______. a. probability of being true b. likelihood of developing many predictions c. parsimony d. consensus in the community e. mathematical formulation

c. parsimony

The ______ is what we are interested in making inferences about; the ______ is what we usually end up studying. a. experimental condition; control condition b. sample; population c. population; sample d. control condition; experimental condition e. hypothesis; variance

c. population; sample

As the number of participants in an experiment grows, the _____ ordinarily becomes smaller. a. variance b. standard deviation c. standard error of the mean d. mean e. skew

c. standard error of the mean

Dan feels like he is coming down with some kind of illness. He goes on WebMD to check his symptoms against possible causes and discovers they perfectly match the symptoms of 'super flu'. Even though there has only been 2 known cases in history, Dan is convinced that he has 'super flu'. Dan is exhibiting what bias in reasoning? a. The sick man's fallacy b. The unavailability bias c. Ignoring the independence of events d. Base-rate neglect e. Base-rate affirmation

d. Base-rate neglect

When conducting an experiment to determine whether a causal relationship exists between two variables, what is the most common practice to reduce the possibility of studying biased samples? a. Collecting data from a large enough sample to correct for bias. b. Having a minimum of two conditions. c. Collecting personal data from the participants and statistically controlling for individual differences. d. Pre-screening participants for desirable traits. e. Random assignment of participants to conditions.

e. Random assignment of participants to conditions.

Consider the following abstract: A study in BMJ of data for 36,000 adults ages 40 and older found those who had any amount of physical activity were at lower risk of dying early, with those who were physically inactive about five times more likely to die prematurely than those who were most active. The analysis, based on eight studies in the US and Western Europe, found a steep decline in death risk as activity increased to a daily amount of 5 hours of light activity or 24 minutes of moderately intense activity, while 9.5 hours or more a day of sitting was associated with increased risk of premature death. From this abstract we may conclude ______________. a. If you start exercising by age 40, you will decrease your odds of dying early. b. If you start exercising at any time, you will decrease your odds of dying early. c. Sitting too long will increase your chances of early death. d. The amount of exercise one engages is associated with early mortality. e. All of the above.

d. The amount of exercise one engages is associated with early mortality.

Benjamin is a social psychologist who studies marriage. He believes that marital satisfaction has two components: the ability to trust one's partner and a belief that with mindfulness one can be a good spouse. He conducts a study with questionnaires to test his ideas. Assuming that his data match his theory, which of the following statements would be most appropriate? a. The data prove his theory. b. His theory is generalizable. c. The data complicate his theory. d. The data provide support for his theory. e. The data are irrelevant to his theory because the study was correlative.

d. The data provide support for his theory.

When is it more appropriate to use a bar graph rather than a line graph to visualize your data? a. When there is a lot of variance in the data. b. When the number of bars would exceed two. c. When you have a large number of subjects. d. When the variable on the x-axis is discrete, rather than continuous. e. When you can represent your data as z-scores.

d. When the variable on the x-axis is discrete, rather than continuous.

Factors other than the independent variable that could account for significant results are called _____. a. ulterior motives b. hypotheses c. biases d. confounds e. predictions

d. confounds

Which of the following measures of central tendency is LEAST appropriate to use to describe the central tendency when there are many outliers in a dataset? a. kurtosis b. median c. mode d. mean e. scatterplot

d. mean

Famed lemon scientist, Dr. C. I. Truss, has just published a paper demonstrating that drinking lemonade every day for two years straight can significantly improve one's IQ. Scientists reading his paper are quick to note that his sample size is in the thousands and the effect size between lemonade drinkers and the control group is 0.01. They are dismissive of his findings. In essence, they are doubting the _____ of his findings. a. novelty b. external validity c. internal validity d. statistical validity e. likelihood

d. statistical validity

A common finding in the study of aggression is that exposure to television is associated with increased aggressive behavior in children. You suspect this relationship may not be causal because you are not sure which occurred first: watching television or being aggressive. You are questioning which of the following rules of causation? a. the criterion of covariance. b. the third-variable criterion. c. the criterion of mechanism. d. the criterion of temporal precedence. e. the criterion of happenstance.

d. the criterion of temporal precedence.

James is asked about the best way to study for an exam. He responds that the best way to study is by making flash cards. He easily thinks of all the times he used flash cards and he earned As in his courses. However, he fails to take into consideration all the times he earned As and did not use flash cards, and the times he used flash cards and did not do well. His faulty thinking is an example of _____. a. overreliance on prior successes b. the availability heuristic c. asking biased questions d. the present/present bias e. overconfidence

d. the present/present bias

Which of the following is an example of being a consumer of research? a. Designing a questionnaire for PTSD. b. Consenting to participate in a research study. c. Measuring dopamine levels in patients with schizophrenia. d. Tracking the number of trials it takes a rat to learn a maze. e. Attending a psychological conference.

e. Attending a psychological conference.

Consider the following abstract: A study that followed almost 71,000 middle-aged Japanese adults for an average of 20 years found those who ate the most plant protein were 13% less likely to die and 16% less likely to die from cardiovascular causes, compared with those who ate the least, researchers reported in JAMA Internal Medicine. "When individuals eat more plant protein foods such as nuts, soy, and lentils, there is a significant improvement in cardiovascular risk factors such as blood lipids, blood pressure, and body weight," commented Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. From this abstract we may conclude _____________. a. Eating more plant protein is good for you. b. Eating less protein from animals is good for you. c. Specifically eating nuts, soy, and lentils is better for your heart. d. People in Japan eat more plant protein than non-Japanese people. e. For this population, choice of protein consumption can predict mortality rates.

e. For this population, choice of protein consumption can predict mortality rates.

Which of the following is true of operational definitions? a. Conceptual definition and operational definition mean the same thing. b. Some psychological concepts cannot be operationally defined. c. Operational definitions answer the question, "Why did the researchers measure this variable?" d. Operational definitions only concern participant characteristics. e. Some psychological concepts are more difficult to operationally define than others.

e. Some psychological concepts are more difficult to operationally define than others.

Asking questions worded or framed to get the answers we want is known as _______. a. dishonest interrogation b. casual research c. basic research d. leading with the truth e. confirmation bias

e. confirmation bias

When examining the statistical validity of a frequency claim, one should look for the _____. a. strength of the association b. statistical significance c. length of the measurement d. median and mode e. margin of error estimate

e. margin of error estimate

The ordinate refers to _______; whereas the abscissa refers to _______. a. variance; central tendencies b. discrete variables; continuous variables c. nominal data; interval data d. the x-axis, the y-axis e. the y-axis, the x-axis

e. the y-axis, the x-axis