Research Methods; Exam 2

Which of the following is an advantage of observational research compared to survey research?

Observational research examines what people actually do, not what they say they do.

The order of the hypothesis testing process is described by which of the following?

State hypotheses, define the sampling distribution, collect data, compare results to sampling distribution, decide whether to reject or retain the null hypothesis

Gus is asking a standard set of questions to each of his participants one-on-one. He doesn't vary the order or manner in which they are asked. He is using which descriptive method?

Structured interview

Data points that vary greatly from the main cluster of your distribution are known as

outliers

The proportion of a score within a sample is the

percentage

The criterion level defines the

percentage of the sampling distribution that the researcher selects for the region of rejection.

What information do you need to estimate the minimum sample size required for a descriptive study using probability sampling?

-How large the population is -The confidence interval -The confidence level

Which of the following is a way to minimize the social desirability bias?

-Wording questions neutrally -Including questions designed to test the validity of participants' responses -Keeping responses anonymous

The appropriate measure of central tendency for a normally distributed interval variable is which of the following?

-mean -median -mode

Which of the following shouldn't you calculate for nominal variables?

-standard deviation -mean -median

What percentage of scores in a normal distribution are between +1 and -1 standard deviation of the mean?

68%

Researchers often choose a ________ confidence level.

95%

A sample that is made up of those volunteers or others who are readily available and willing to participate is known as what type of sample?

Convenience sample

While of the following is NOT a type of probability sampling?

Convenience sampling

____________ research is designed to answer the "who, what, where, when, and how" questions.

Descriptive

The more homogeneous your population is, the larger your sample should be 1

False 1

With covert observation, the observers reveal that they are observing participants 2

False 2

It is always possible to determine skewness by looking at a graph 3

False 3

If the distribution isn't skewed, that means the data are normally distributed 4

False 4

You should describe every single detail of your sample 5

False 5

If a researcher increases the sample size in a study from 30 to 50, she is likely to decrease the power of his study 6

False 6

___________ are one-on-one conversations directed by a researcher.

Interviews

Which is true of the semi-structured interview?

It requires more training to do than a structured interview.

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of conducting interview research?

Maintaining anonymity is easier than with questionnaires.

A preliminary study with a small sample to test measures and/or procedures is known as a(n) ____________ study.

Pilot

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of archival research?

The fit between your hypothesis and the data is likely to be quite good

Which of the following is true about the size of a probability sample?

The larger the sample, the closer it will be to representing the full population

A descriptive study would NOT be appropriate to use to meet which of the following goals?

To determine a cause-and-effect relationship between variables

Anonymity is more difficult with interviews than it is with questionnaires 1

True 1

If we want to find whether the first-year class at our college has higher scores on the SAT writing test than the national average for the test, we would compute

a one-sample t test

The qualitative analysis in which a researcher uses pre-determined categories to evaluate a behavior or response is known as:

a prior content analysis

The number that represents the central score, around which the other scores cluster, is the

central tendency

A ____________ is an estimation of the margin of error for your scores.

confidence interval

In her study of adjustment to college, Sasha decided to use only first year, first generation college students who lived on campus. This decision is likely to ___________ the error variance in her results because of the _________ of her sample.

decrease; homogeneity

The numbers used to summarize characteristics of a sample is known as:

descriptive statistics

A sampling distribution is created by

drawing many samples of the same size from a population and computing the same statistic for each sample.

The critical value of a statistic defines the

extreme 5% of the distribution for a one-tailed hypothesis and extreme 2.5% of the distribution for a two-tailed hypothesis

A two-tailed hypothesis predicts a difference but not the direction in which the sample statistic will differ from the population 7

false 7

The broader your population of interest, the better 8

false 8

Which of the follow is NOT a drawback of qualitative analysis?

it provides rich information about your sample

A distribution that is ________________ has a high peak with most of the scores clustered in the middle of the curve.

leptokurtic

The arithmetic average is also known as the

mean

The mu and sigma in a population correspond to the

mean and standard deviation in a sample

The score that cuts the sample in half so that 50% of the sample is at or below that score is the

median

A distribution that is ________________ has a moderate peak with a gradual increase of frequency toward the middle of the curve.

mesokurtic

Two ways a researcher can reduce the probability of a Type I error are to use a

more stringent criterion level and a two-tailed test

Saul examines flirting behavior at a fraternity party where the party goers are unaware that they are being watched. Rather than be present at the party making observations, Saul uses footage from security cameras located around the fraternity's public spaces. Saul is conducting

naturalistic observations

A _________ distribution is shaped like a bell.

normal

The type of pose in one's Facebook picture makes no difference in ratings of narcissism by those viewing the page. This is an example of a(n)

null hypothesis

Qualitative analyses allow you to sort and summarize data from

qualitative measures

The ____________ is the distance between the minimum and maximum scores.

range

Holly decides to do archival research using data from several governmental agencies. In other words, she is using

secondary data

The one-sample t test is computed by

subtracting the sample mean from the population mean and dividing by the standard deviation of the sample.

If Skyler asks people about their attitudes toward the current mayor, she is conducting

survey research

Increasing the sample size in a study from 30 to 50 increases the power of a study because

the larger sample size better represents the population and better represents any differences that exist in the population.

Practical significance refers to

the usefulness of our results in everyday life.

The qualitative analysis that involves identifying the main ideas or themes of the participants' responses or behaviors and then grouping common themes together is known as:

thematic analysis

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a normal distribution?

there are two distinct peaks

Qualitative analysis is often considered to be more subjective than quantitative analysis 2

true 2

In order to compute a one-sample t test, you must know the population mean 3

true 3

The region of acceptance of a sampling distribution is typically the middle 95% of the distribution and is defined by the M +/- 2SD 4

true 4

Inferential statistics allow us to determine whether our results are unusual for a particular sampling distribution 5

true 5

Type I errors can be reduced by using a more stringent criterion level, such as p < .01 6

true 6

Experimental hypotheses are always alternative hypotheses but alternative hypotheses are not always experimental hypotheses 7

true 7

A sampling distribution is a distribution composed of a statistic, while a frequency distribution is a distribution composed of individual scores 8

true 8

A distribution that is ________________ is one in which all ratings or scores have the same frequency.

uniform

In computing a one-sample t test, we divide the difference between our sample mean and the population mean by the estimated standard error of the means because

we do not know the standard deviation of the sampling distribution and have to estimate it using the standard deviation of our sample.

Alternative hypotheses always predict

what the researcher expects to find