Research Methods in Psychology Ch 6 Exam

In which research situation below would an extraneous variable become a confounding variable?

An extraneous variable varies systematically along with the two variables being studied.

Which research strategies attempt to address the same question about the relationship between variables?

Correlational and nonexperimental

A scatter plot showing the relationship between two variables shows data points that form a straight-line pattern. What kind of relationship is indicated by this pattern?

Linear

A researcher finds that room color influences the mood of 45-year-old women in a sample. To preserve external validity, the researcher should generalize these findings to which group?

Middle-aged women

Experiments allow researchers to ____.

answer cause-and-effect questions about the relationship between two variables

Demand characteristics can threaten internal validity because the results ____.

can be explained by reactivity instead of the treatment conditions

Deciding whether a study will compare different groups of individuals or examine changes within the same group of individuals involves a decision about the research ____.

design

The results of a study may be influenced by the experimenter's expectations regarding the outcome of the study. This artifact is known as ____.

experimenter bias

Any factor that limits the ability to generalize the results of the study is a threat to ____.

external validity

The degree to which your research results generalize beyond the specific characteristics of your study refers to ____.

external validity

A 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 best characterized as a(n) ____ variable.

extraneous

Sensitization can threaten external validity because the results obtained in a study may be limited to ____.

individuals who have experienced a pretest

A research study attempts to describe the relationship between self-esteem and birth order position by measuring self-esteem for each individual in a group of first-born boys, and then comparing the results with self-esteem scores for a group of later-born boys. This study is an example of the ____ strategy.

nonexperimental

A research study begins by separating a sample of 20-year-old women into two groups: a high Facebook use group and a low Facebook use group. A score measuring happiness is then obtained for each woman. The study intends to determine whether there is a relationship between Facebook use and happiness. This study is an example of the ____ research strategy.

nonexperimental

As the values for one variable decrease from one person to another, the values for a second variable also tend to decrease. This is an example of a(n) ____ relationship.

positive