Research Methods midterm 1

Which of the following is an association claim?

"Owning a dog is related to higher life satisfaction."

A researcher is exploring whether an association exists between college students' time spent outdoors and overall GPA. They measure the amount of hours spent outside per week and their GPA. Calculate the correlation coefficient for the data below.

.69

Deci and Ryan (1985, 2001) have proposed that there are three fundamental needs that are required for human growth and fulfillment: relatedness, autonomy, and competence. Susan predicts that students who have these needs met in their psychology class feel happier and more satisfied with the class. She collects data and finds that students who feel more related and competent do feel happier but that feeling more autonomous does not seem to matter. Susan thinks that maybe autonomy is only necessary when people are in situations in which they are not being evaluated. Susan's prediction that students who have all three needs met will experience greater satisfaction with their psychology class is an example of which of the following?

A hypothesis

Which of the following is an example of translational research?

A neuroscientist utilizing the findings from animal research studying Parkinson's disease and determining if the findings are applicable to humans

Which of the following is an example of being a producer of research?

A researcher who generates their own hypotheses and conducts experiments to test them

Which of the following is an example of being a consumer of research?

A student who reads their psychology textbook

Deci and Ryan (1985, 2001) have proposed that there are three fundamental needs that are required for human growth and fulfillment: relatedness, autonomy, and competence. Susan predicts that students who have these needs met in their psychology class feel happier and more satisfied with the class. She collects data and finds that students who feel more related and competent do feel happier but that feeling more autonomous does not seem to matter. Susan thinks that maybe autonomy is only necessary when people are in situations in which they are not being evaluated. Deci and Ryan's general statement of how the three needs are related to growth and fulfillment is an example of which of the following?

A theory

Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, if you sleep poorly the night before a big exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brain waves, he plans to let participants sleep until they enter REM sleep and then wake them. After the participants are awake for one minute, Dr. Kushner plans to let them return to sleep. As they enter REM sleep again, he will wake them again and follow the same procedure. He plans to do this through the entire eight-hour sleep session. The following morning, participants will be asked to take a sample SAT test. Imagine that Dr. Kushner is a clinical psychologist who volunteers his time at a local prison counseling several inmates. Because of his connections there, he is considering using prisoners as his participants. Why is this choice potentially problematic?

According to the Belmont Report, prisoners are entitled to special protection.

Which of the following is an example of basic research?

An experimental psychologist who examines the function of a specific brain region

Which of the following has been used as a defense of animal research by animal researchers?

Animal research has resulted in many benefits to both animals and humans.

In looking at a scatterplot of interrater reliability, why would a researcher want to see all the dots close to the line of agreement?

Because it indicates that the researcher's two research assistants/raters are making similar measurements

Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in content (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the university. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words than Group B. Which of the following makes Dr. Kang's study an experiment?

Dr. Kang manipulated one variable and measured another.

__________ is the approach of collecting data and using it to develop, support, and/or challenge a theory.

Empiricism

What does it mean that behavioral research is probabilistic?

Findings are expected to explain a certain proportion of cases. Not all cases all of the time.

Stefan wants to make a causal claim in his dissertation. Which of the following is necessary?

He must conduct an experiment.

Elliott is double majoring in English and psychology. He plans on being a high school English teacher and is majoring in psychology because he finds the classes interesting. Which of the following is an important reason for him to be a good consumer of research?

He will probably want to read research related to enhancing his teaching.

You and your friends go to see a speaker on campus. The speaker, Dr. Darian, is an "expert" on getting into graduate school. Which of the following should make you less skeptical about his advice?

His recommendations are based on a research review conducted by members of graduate admissions committees.

When is it acceptable for a researcher to study only participants from a specific group, such as a researcher studying depression in a sample of Native American women?

If the specific group being studied is especially prone to the problem being studied (e.g., if depression rates are higher in Native American women)

Which of the following is NOT an example of physiological measurement?

Number of panic attacks a patient reports

When conducting animal research, which guideline states that alternatives to animal research should be considered?

Replacement

In considering whether research is ethical, which of the following are balanced against each other?

Risk to participants versus value of the knowledge gained

Angela reads about a study in which cell phone use is associated with migraine headaches. She says, "Well, that study is not valid because I use a cell phone more than anyone I know and I never get migraines." Based on her comment, Angela may be forgetting which of the following?

Science is probabilistic.

For her research methods class, Serena plans to have several teachers complete a questionnaire about their attitude toward teaching children who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This is an example of what type of measurement?

Self-report measurement

Which of the following is true of variables?

Some variables can be either manipulated or measured.

Edward believes that there are a lot of differences between men and women on a variety of different dimensions. He believes this because when he thinks about books that have been written on men and women, he can quickly recall only books that say men and women are different (e.g., Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus) and cannot recall any that say men and women are the same. His reliance on what comes to mind is an example of which of the following?

The availability heuristic

Deci and Ryan (1985, 2001) have proposed that there are three fundamental needs that are required for human growth and fulfillment: relatedness, autonomy, and competence. Susan predicts that students who have these needs met in their psychology class feel happier and more satisfied with the class. She collects data and finds that students who feel more related and competent do feel happier but that feeling more autonomous does not seem to matter. Susan thinks that maybe autonomy is only necessary when people are in situations in which they are not being evaluated. Data collection and analysis was supervised by an experienced professor. Susan's hypothesis was not completely supported by her data. What does this mean?

The hypothesis and/or theory may need to be amended.

Hosea is studying the relationship between caffeine consumption and problem-solving ability. Which of the following is a categorical way to operationalize caffeine consumption?

The number of cups of coffee consumed in a day

The need to balance the potential costs and benefits to participants taking part in a research study is done to address which principle of the Belmont Report?

The principle of beneficence

In addition to the three principles derived from the Belmont Report, which of the following two principles were added in the principles put forth by the American Psychological Association?

The principle of integrity and fidelity/responsibility

Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, if you sleep poorly the night before a big exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brain waves, he plans to let participants sleep until they enter REM sleep and then wake them. After the participants are awake for one minute, Dr. Kushner plans to let them return to sleep. As they enter REM sleep again, he will wake them again and follow the same procedure. He plans to do this through the entire eight-hour sleep session. The following morning, participants will be asked to take a sample SAT test. Dr. Kushner's decision about the type of participants to recruit should be informed by which of the following principles of the Belmont Report?

The principle of justice

Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, if you sleep poorly the night before a big exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brain waves, he plans to let participants sleep until they enter REM sleep and then wake them. After the participants are awake for one minute, Dr. Kushner plans to let them return to sleep. As they enter REM sleep again, he will wake them again and follow the same procedure. He plans to do this through the entire eight-hour sleep session. The following morning, participants will be asked to take a sample SAT test. Dr. Kushner asks his participants to provide informed consent. Doing this is adhering to which principle of the Belmont Report?

The principle of respect for persons

A correlation coefficient and a scatterplot both provide which of the following pieces of information?

The strength and direction of the relationship between two measurements

Hosea is studying the relationship between caffeine consumption and problem-solving ability. Which of the following is a quantitative way to operationalize problem-solving ability?

The time spent solving a math problem

True of False - An experiment requires the investigator to include at least one measured variable and at least one manipulated variable

True

Which of the following is a problem presented by the availability heuristic?

We do not examine all of the evidence, only what we can quickly think of.

In which of the following scenarios should you be skeptical of an authority?

When they based their opinions on their intuition

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 experience is limited because he does not have:

a comparison group that did not receive the drug.

Two biases of intuition discussed in the text are:

being swayed by a good story and being persuaded by what comes easily to mind.

Which of the following allow us to make strong predictions using association claims?

both strong positive associations and strong negative associations

Dr. LaSalle makes the following claim: "Watching television leads people to spend less time communicating with their spouses, study says." Which type of claim is Dr. Ramon making?

causal claim

Asking questions to get the answers we want is known as:

confirmation bias.

A researcher is exploring whether an association exists between college students' time spent outdoors and overall GPA. They measure the amount of hours spent outside per week and their GPA. What is the relationship between time outside and GPA?

positive association

Dr. Ellison finds a relation between amount of sleep and problem solving. Specifically, having a higher amount of sleep the night before an exam is associated with higher scores on two measures of problem solving. This is an example of which type of association?

positive association

Another word for hypothesis is a(n) .

prediction

Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in content (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the university. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words than Group B. Which of the following is the independent (manipulated) variable in Dr. Kang's study?

the emotional or neutral content of the words

Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in content (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the university. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words than Group B. Which of the following is the dependent (measured) variable in Dr. Kang's study?

the number of words remembered

Research studies are superior to personal experience because:

they include at least one comparison group.