603 Final (quiz questions only)

Assume that you have developed a study technique that you believe will result in students scoring higher on research methods exams. You test your study technique with the design diagrammed below. Using the diagrammed design, what predictions will you make? R = random assignment 0 = observation X = stimulus R 01 X 02 R 03 04

02 should be greater than 01 and 04

A sampling interval of 5 was used to select a sample from a population of 1,000. How many elements are to be in the sample?

200

Attrition effects are automatically controlled when participants are assigned randomly to experimental and control groups.

FALSE

Case-control designs have more controls for threats to validity than do most other designs for evaluating programs or practice.

FALSE

Probability sampling ensures that there will be no sampling error whatsoever.

FALSE

Quantitative studies and qualitative studies are equally likely to employ probability sampling procedures.

FALSE

Quantitative studies should never use availability sampling because it is too risky to ever yield useful results.

FALSE

Random assignment to experimental and control groups controls for research reactivity.

FALSE

Selecting a sample that the researcher believes will yield the most comprehensive understanding of a subject based on an intuitive "feel" for the subject is employing quota sampling.

FALSE

The classic experiment with random assignment of participants controls for measurement bias.

FALSE

The one-group pretest-posttest design controls for passage of time.

FALSE

The terms population and sampling frame are synonymous.

FALSE

Whenever two variables are correlated, we may assume that one is the cause of the other.

FALSE

Which of the following statements is true about focus groups?

The group dynamics may bring out information that may not have emerged in individual interviews..

In comparison to surveys, qualitative research is

more subjective and less generalizable.

You want to draw a representative sample of social workers employed in domestic violence programs. You have a list of all such programs, but not of their staff members. Your survey will involve face-to-face interviews, and your travel budget is limited to visiting 10 cities. What kind of sampling design would you use?

multistage cluster sampling.

Suppose our research methods cause the client to improve. This would be termed

reactivity.

Every kth element in a list is chosen for inclusion in the sample in

systematic sampling

An example of the participant-as-observer includes

telling a motorcycle gang that you are a researcher and would like to ride with them for a year to understand their interaction patterns.

The problem of an interaction between the testing and the experimental stimulus is handled by

the Solomon four-group design.

Which of the following statements is true about the emic and etic perspectives in qualitative research?

Although the two perspectives seem contradictory, the participant observer should try to blend them

Which of the following is POOR advice about recording observations in the field?

Always constantly take notes while you are observing.

An informant is one of your colleagues who attempts to gain membership into the group being studied.

False

Field notes should record what you "know happened," NOT what you "think" has happened.

False

If a self-report scale has high reliability and validity in group research, we can assume it will have equally high reliability and validity in single-case experiments.

False

If the target problem improves at any point during the intervention phase, it is safe to infer that the intervention is effective.

False

In a single-case design with a student at high risk for dropping out of school, a good measurement plan to assess whether our intervention is effective would be to monitor whether or not he/she drops out of school.

False

In single-case experiments, direct observation is always better than using self-report scales or available records.

False

Qualitative researchers should NEVER participate as an actor in the events under study.

False

Qualitative researchers should wait to record observations until enough time has passed to put the events in a proper perspective.

False

Self-monitoring is an example of unobtrusive observation.

False

The complete participant role prevents researchers from having an effect on what they are observing.

False

The qualitative researcher in the role of participant-as-observer participates fully with the group under study but does not disclose his or her role as researcher.

False

Suppose you wish to measure progress in increasing the amount of time a child in institutional care spends studying as an indicator of the effectiveness of your groupwork intervention. Which of the following approaches most likely would be least vulnerable to reactivity problems?

Have cottage parents run spot checks in the cottage at different intervals.

Suppose you obtained the following results in an ABAB design assessing the effectiveness of family therapy in reducing a child's temper tantrums. Which interpretation(s) is(are) plausible? Number of tantrums per day: A: 4 5 4 5 4 4 B: 1 1 1 0 0 0 A2: 0 0 0 0 0 0 B2: 0 0 0 0 0 0

History could have caused the change or the intervention may have been effective, but with irreversible effects.

Suppose you obtained the following results in a multiple baseline design assessing the impact of family therapy on tantrums, chores, and truancy in treating one child and his parents. Which interpretation(s) is(are) plausible? Number of tantrums: Al: 4 4 4 B1: 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Number of chores performed: A2: 0 0 0 3 3 B2: 3 3 3 3 3 3 Number of days truant: A3: 4 4 4 0 0 0 0 B3: 0 0 0 0

History could have caused the change or the intervention may have been effective, with generalizable effects.

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a cross-sectional study?

It concentrates on the changes that take place within a specific sample over a period of time.

Which of the following statements is true about participatory action research?

It is distinguished by its social action aims. The researcher serves as a resource to those being studied. It often involves poor people

Which of the following statements is true about availability sampling in quantitative studies?

It is very risky but can yield useful results in some instances

What would you infer from the following graph of the number of temper tantrums in an AB design? Baseline: 15 15 14 14 13 13 12 12 11 11 Intervention: 10 10 9 9 8 8 7 7 6

Maturation appears to be the most plausible explanation.

Which of the following is a social constructivist standard for appraising the trustworthiness of qualitative research?

Member checking

The classic experiment with random assignment of participants controls for:

NONE OF THESE

The design diagrammed in the last question

NONE OF THESE

A practitioner tests whether a new technique will be effective in reducing the number of time-outs required in play therapy sessions for children with conduct disorders. In each of the two sessions before implementing the new technique, five time-outs occurred. In each of the two sessions after implementing the new technique, no time-outs occurred. The practitioner should conclude:

None of these.

Which of the following is an example of unobtrusive observation?

None of these.

Which of the following approaches would be least obtrusive in regard to measuring the impact of the above groupwork intervention on school performance?

Obtain grade, attendance, and conduct data from school records.

Which of the following contemporary positivist strategies is recommended for enhancing the rigor of qualitative studies?

Prolonged engagement Triangulation. Negative case analysis. Leaving a paper trail for auditing

Suppose an ABCD design obtains the following results regarding level of social adjustment with a chronically mentally ill client discharged to live with his family. A (Baseline): 10 10 10 10 10 B (Social skills training): 10 10 10 10 10 C (Occupational Rehabilitation): 10 10 10 10 10 D (Family education): 15 20 25 30 35 What is the most appropriate inference for future interventions with similar clients?

Replicate the study to assess possible order effects

Which of the following statements is true about case-control designs?

Retrospective data are collected about past differences that might explain differences in outcome.

Cluster sampling is a useful sampling procedure for large populations that are geographically scattered.

TRUE

In qualitative inquiry, purposive sampling can be used to select deviant cases as well as representative cases.

TRUE

Quasi-experiments using nonequivalent comparison groups without random assignment can be credible, assuming that the comparability of the experimental and comparison groups is plausible—especially if the researcher provides substantial evidence of that comparability.

TRUE

Sampling error can be reduced through an increase in the sample size of probability samples.

TRUE

Snowball sampling is used when the members of a population are difficult to locate.

TRUE

Studies that assign subjects to intervention groups on the basis of their extreme scores are vulnerable to regression toward the mean.

TRUE

The effectiveness of randomization in experimentation is affected by the number of participants involved.

TRUE

The problem of external validity refers to the generalizability of results.

TRUE

Time series designs with many measurement points control for maturation.

TRUE

Time series designs with many measurement points control for statistical regression.

TRUE

Using probability sampling, each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected for the sample.

TRUE

Without using appropriate experimental and control groups, extraneous events in subjects' lives can make history a threat to internal validity, even if those events are of no historical importance to people in general.

TRUE

Which of the following statements is/are true about qualitative sampling methods?

They might involve purposively selecting deviant cases

Although AB designs offer the least control for history, they are often worth doing.

True

Ideally, baselines should be extended until a stable trend in the data is evident.

True

Multiple measurement points during baseline control for statistical regression.

True

Prolonged engagement is used to reduce the impact of reactivity and respondent bias.

True

Sometimes it is appropriate to conduct single-case experiments with unstable baselines.

True

The ability to construct a retrospective baseline is one of the advantages of using available records.

True

Target problems can be quantified in terms of their

frequency duration magnitude

Suppose a new social casework program is offered to students with high levels of truancy. If those students placed in the program by their families have significantly less truancy after participating than the students who did not participate in the program, then we can conclude that

a selection bias might explain away the difference

Quasi-experimental designs are often used instead of experimental designs because

agency constraints often make experiments infeasible.

Which of the following procedures for dealing with an unstable baseline might be appropriate in some situations?

all of these. Introduce intervention anyway, recognizing that a stable baseline is not feasible. Delay intervention until the baseline becomes stable.

Among the advantages of qualitative research is that it

allows for the modification of research design,

Drawing a purposive judgmental sample

allows researchers to use their prior knowledge about the topic.

Suppose a case management program is established to reduce rehospitalization rates in a hospital and that those rates drop dramatically once the new program is established. We can conclude that

another event occurring during the time of the study might explain away the change.

Pre-experimental designs

are the weakest experimental designs.

The length of the baseline in single-case designs should be

as long as is practically and ethically possible. longer with a low frequency behavior than with a high frequency behavior. extended until a stable trend appears.

You want to examine the relationship between family size and family cohesion. You use as your sample all the students in this research methods class. What kind of sampling design are you using?

availability sampling

The Solomon four-group design

combines the classical experimental design with the posttest-only control group design.

To obtain samples of the same size from strata of varying sizes, it would be necessary to use

disproportionate stratified sampling.

The unit about which information is collected and which provides the basis of analysis is called the

element

In single-case experiments, maximizing the number of measurement points helps by

enhancing the identification of precipitating conditions during assessment. enabling us to change the intervention plan at the point at which we see that no progress is occurring. increasing our ability to pinpoint unlikely coincidences and therefore infer what is causing changes in the dependent variable.

Professor Smith was interested in reporting the reality of the experiences of teenage runaways living on the streets in their own terms. Smith is probably most interested in:

ethnography.

A study that begins with observations and then looks for patterns, themes, or common categories is using what method?

grounded theory.

A school social worker administered a self-esteem test to a group of 9th graders in September. During the school year the students received intensive social work intervention designed to improve their self-esteem. In May the self-esteem test was given again and the self-esteem scores improved. A major problem in this research is that the researcher failed to control for

history. maturation. testing. selection biases.

Suppose you instruct a couple to have a typical conversation while you observe them in your office. This would be an example of

obtrusive observation.

For a causal relationship to exist there must be evidence

of a relationship between variables. that one variable precedes the other in time. that a third variable did not cause the changes observed in the first two variables

Which of the following is LEAST suited to providing clear evidence about a causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables?

one-shot case study

An advantage of qualitative research is that

phenomena can be studied in a natural setting.

In deciding what to measure in a single-case experiment, it is usually best to

pick something implied by how the clinical goal was operationally defined. measure more than one thing. choose a behavior that is more frequent over one that occurs very rarely.

Qualitative research is especially effective for

providing a comprehensive perspective to the researcher.

The qualitative researcher

seldom approaches the task with precisely defined hypotheses to be tested. attempts to make sense out of an ongoing process that cannot always be predicted in advance. alternates between induction and deduction. makes initial observations, develops tentative conclusions that suggest further observation, and revises the conclusions.

When selecting a comparison group in a quasi-experimental design, one should

select a group as similar as possible to the experimental group.

If a qualitative researcher wanted to learn a community organization's pattern of recruitment over time, the researcher might begin by interviewing a fairly recent recruit and asking who introduced that person to the organization. Then the researcher might interview the person named and ask who introduced that person to the community organization. This would be an example of

snowball sampling

A friend of yours, a senior, took the Graduate Record Exam in September and scored in the 99th percentile. In February your friend took the same exam over again. This time your friend scored in the 84th percentile. As a research methodology student, you told your friend that his/her lowered score was probably due to

statistical regression

You are doing research on hospital personnel—orderlies, technicians, nurses, and doctors. You want to be sure you draw a sample that has cases in each of the personnel categories. You want to use probability sampling. An appropriate strategy would be

stratified sampling.

An instrumentation effect occurs when

the measurement instrument is changed from the pretest to the posttest

Probability samples are advantageous to the researcher because

the method by which they are selected limits conscious and unconscious sampling bias, and the accuracy or representativeness of the sample can be estimated.

The 55-mph speed limit was introduced in the U.S. in 1973. Shortly thereafter the number of auto accidents declined. We can conclude that

the reduced speed limit may have caused the decline in the number of auto accidents

If we can establish that variable X comes before variable Q in time, then we can say

variable Q is not a cause of variable X.