Chapter 3 Research Methods

What is the difference between a ratio scale of measurement and an interval scale of measurement?

A ratio scale of measurement has a zero value that actually means "nothing" or "the absence of something," but an interval scale does not.

Establishing construct validity would probably be most important for which of the following?

A measure of religiosity

Todd is also studying the effect of popularity on academic success for his research methods project. He decides to measure popularity by asking each elementary school student to tell him how many friends he or she has. He assumes that more friends means the student is more popular. Which of the following best describes this variable?

A ratio scale of measurement

Operational definitions are abstract ideas.

False

There is only one correct way to operationalize any given variable.

False

Imagine that you are trying to measure people's stress. Which of the following is a self-report measure of stress?

The 10-item Stress Level Scale

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

Whether the participant drank a soda in the 24 hours prior to the study

Which of the following is a reason NOT to use observational operationalizations?

You need a lot of participants

Naomi is studying the effect of popularity on academic success for her research methods project. To do this, she has elementary school students rate how popular each member of their class is. She then uses this information to rank the students on popularity (e.g., John is the most popular, Vanessa is the second-most popular). Which of the following best describes this variable?

An ordinal scale of measurement

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

Number of panic attacks a patient reports

For his research methods class, Felipe plans to watch how teachers treat children in their classrooms who have ADHD. He will evaluate how positively or negatively the children are treated. This is an example of what type of measurement?

Observational measurement

An associative test, such as the IAT (Implicit Association Test) or the Rorschach Ink Blot test are examples of what type of operationalization?

Self-Report

For her research methods class, Serena plans to interview several teachers 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

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

In order to be used in research, every construct needs to be operationalized.

True