Psych 212 Final Exam Ch. 1-12

Dr. Nguyen is studying how amount of sleep influences mood for kindergartners. A sample of 100 children is selected. Fifty children are allowed to sleep for 11 hours each night. The other 50 children are awoken after 8 hours. After three night, Dr. Nguyen records the mood for each child and compares the two groups of scores. In this example, how many levels are there for the independent variable?

2 variables

Explain why a researcher might find it necessary to use deception in a research study?

A researcher might find it necessary to use deception in a research study to get the results that they desire from patients because in some cases in the participants know all aspect of the research it can skew the results. An example is if your observing someone's breathing and they are informed that there breathing is being watched they will think about it and not breath normally. They also use deception because they could be conducting illegal activities to participate or they have an underlying motive to get desired results to be able to get their research funded.

What is the most common statistical analysis for a single- factor multiple- group design?

ANOVA

A ________ is a brief summary of a psychology article

Abstract

What is a potential problem with the method of authority?

An expert answer may be only a personal, subjective opinion, a person may claim to be ab expert when he or she really is not, an expert may be giving answers outside his or her area of expertise.

What is the most relevant question you should ask when reading a results section?

Are appropriate statistics used?

which type of subject role is most desirable for a research study?

Faithful subject role

T or F A football player who knows that his performance will be better if he wears his lucky shirt is using the method of faith

False

T or F A problem with primary sources is that they may provide an incomplete or misinterpreted description of a research study or a research result.

False

T or F A recent study reports that the more sexual content that adolescent watch on TV, the more likely they were to engage in sexual behaviors. However, it is unclear whether the sexual content on TV leads to a preference for sexual content on TV. This is an example of the third- variable problem.

False

T or F A researcher who deliberately misinforms participants about the research study is committing passive deception

False

T or F A textbook is a primary source

False

T or F If there are two or more possible explanations for the results of a research study, then the study has a problem with external validity.

False

T or F If two variables are consistently related to one another, you can conclude that changes in one variable are causing changes to occur in the other.

False

T or F Pseudoscience is based on objective, empirical evidence.

False

T or F Random assignment guarantees that participant characteristics do not become a confounding variable.

False

T or F Research studies consistently demonstrate that debriefing participants effectively eliminates the problems caused by deception

False

T or F Since convenience sampling offers no guarantee of a representative and unbiased sample, it should not be used in behavioral research.

False

T or F The principle outlined in the Belmont Report are no longer used today.

False

T or F To establish split- half reliability, you must administer the same measurement to the same group of people at two different times.

False

T or F Using a survey to measure students' food preferences is an example of the behavioral modality of measurement.

False

Deception is in direct contradiction with which element of the ethical guidelines?

Informed consent

Who is acting as a confederate?

Jay, who pretends to be a research participant even though he is actually working with the experimenter.

Describe a problem that can arise when you are trying to obtain information using only the method of authority. How is this problem avoided in the scientific method?

Method of authority is when a person relies on information or answers from an expert in the subject area. The problem that could arise only using the method of authority is that it doesn't always provide accurate information and can lead to bias results. This is avoided in the scientific method by following the same steps for all experiments because you come up with a hypothesis or tentative answer and wither your results correlate to what your hypothesis was or you come to a different conclusion

What is the primary goal for randomly assigning participants to treatment conditions in an experiment?

Minimize the likelihood that a participant characteristic becomes a confounding variable

You can safely assume that________

Primary sources contain descriptions of research by those who conducted it

Which section of a research article is most likely to provide a complete list of all the publications cited in the article?

Reference

What is meant by the reliability of measurement and describe three methods for measuring reliability?

Reliability of measurement is the degree of stability or consistency of a measurement. This is important because a measure cannot be valid unless it is reliable, but a measure can be reliable without being valid. One method of reliability is test- retest reliability is comparing the scores obtained form two successive measurements of the same individuals and calculating a correlation between the sets of score. Another is parallel forms reliability is comparing scores obtained by using 2 alternate versions of a measuring instrument to measure the same individuals and calculating a correlation between the two scores. A third one is inter- rater reliability is the degree of agreement between two observers who simultaneously record measurements of a behavior.

Describe what you can expect to see in each of the five sections of research article

The five sections of a research article are Introduction, Methods, Results, Discussion, and Reference. The introduction tells the reader what the research article is about and background information of its history. The method is where you go into detail on the experiments that were performed and they should go into such detail that one should be able to perform the experiment by following the procedure given by the article. In the results section this is where you state the outcomes of your experiment. The discussion section is where you analyze your results and also explain what those mean in relation to your hypothesis. The reference section is a complete list of all the sources of information cited in the report.

Tiffany is researching methods used to treat autism spectrum disorders and begins by searching on the Internet. Which statement should make her suspicious that she is on a site rooted in pseudoscience?

The website focuses on testimonials from family members that describes seemingly miraculous cures.

T of F Secondary sources are a great place to start a literature search, but you should include primary sources to get the whole story.

True

T or F A measurement procedure can be reliable without being valid

True

T or F A researcher decides not to report the data from three participants whose results contradicted the researcher's hypothesis. This is an example of fraud.

True

T or F A researcher should make efforts to minimize pain in nonhuman subjects in research.

True

T or F According to the APA guidelines, it is unethical to offer pay to participants an exorbitant amount of money to entice them to participate in research that they would otherwise avoid

True

T or F After reading a discussion section of research article, asking if there are alternative explanations for the results is a good way to come up with an idea for a future study.

True

T or F An artifact such as demand characteristics can threaten both the internal and the external validity of a research study

True

T or F Based on a few students whom you know, you decide that art majors wear funky clothes and that physics majors tend to be nerds. This is an example of inductive reasoning.

True

T or F Before searching in PsychINFO, it is wise to identify the correct subject terms for the topics you have identified.

True

T or F If a researcher measures two individuals on a nominal scale, it is impossible to determine which individual has the larger score.

True

T or F If the participants in one treatment condition are noticeably older than the participants in another treatment condition, then participant age is a confounding variable.

True

T or F If the scientific method is being used to evaluate a hypothesis predicting a specific relationship between two variables, then it is essential that both variables can be measured.

True

T or F In the scientific method, the actual research study is not done until after the researcher has formed a hypothesis and made a specific prediction

True

T or F In the scientific method, the process of forming a hypothesis means that you are trying to find a possible explanation for the phenomenon that you have observed.

True

T or F One characteristic of a between- subjects design is that the data consist of exactly one score for each participant

True

T or F Operational definitions are necessary to convert hypothetical constructs into observable variables.

True

T or F Selection bias is a threat to external validity.

True

T or F Simulation and field studies are used to increase the external validity of experiments.

True

T or F The method of intuition can be valuable when making ethical or moral decisions by doing what "feels" right.

True

T or F The most commonly used sampling methods in psychology are non probability sampling methods

True

T or F The review of the literature in an introduction of a research article should form the foundation for the study.

True

T or F There is a strong possibility that a convenience sample will be biased.

True

T or F To demonstrate a cause and effect relationship between two variables, a researcher must make one of the variables change rather than waiting for it to change naturally.

True

T or F Using shoe size as a measure of intelligence would produce measurements that have very high test- retest reliability

True

T or F Using someone else's ideas in your research report without a citation is plagiarism even if you have paraphrased the ideas in your own words.

True

The discussion section of an APA- style research report often contains a description of the limitations of the research.

True

Which behavior is an example of plagiarism?

Using someone else's ideas in your research report without a citation

The group of individuals from which researchers actually select participants for research studies is called the _______ population

accessible

A researcher initiates a study to determine whether playing organized sports helps children with anxiety feel less anxious. This study can best be classified as ____________ research.

applied

What term is used for external factor that may influence or distort the measurement in a research study?

artifact

A researcher is intrigued by an explanation of children's problem- solving strategies found in a journal article and develops a research study to determine whether the article's ideas are correct. This study can be classified as ________ research.

basic

Counting the number of times a third- grade student leaves his seat without permission during a 30- minute observation period is an example of using what modality of measurement?

behavioral

Demand characteristics can threaten internal validity because the results ________

can be explained by reactivity instead of the treatment conditions

While driving, you notice that you seem to encounter more impatient and rude people on the road than you do in person, and you wonder why that would be the case. This is an example of getting research ideas from________.

casual observation

A researcher describes the unique characteristics of an individual research participant and uses participant's real first name when writing about her study. Which ethical principle is being compromised?

confidentially

Which type of validity requires multiple research studies, usually conducted over a long period of time?

construct

In an experiment, manipulation of the independent variable requires________

creating at least two treatment conditions defined by two different levels of the independent variable

Although the intent of informed consent is to provide participants with complete information about a research study before they agree to participate, this is sometimes impossible because __________.

deception is an important part of the research

What kind of reasoning uses a general statement to make conclusions about specific examples?

deductive

Cues given to the participants about how they are expected to behave define a situation's _________.

demand characteristics

One responsibility of the IACUC is to ensure that__________

discomfort is minimized in nonhuman subjects in research

A researcher finds that a particular medication causes rats' memory to improve. A second researcher plans to test this medication with humans diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. The second researcher is addressing the problem of _________.

external validity

The Tuskegee study involved ______

failing to provide treatment for men with syphilis

In a between- subjects experiment, when the process of assigning participants to the treatment conditions produces groups with different characteristics, the __________ of the study is threatened

internal validity

Researchers often use simulation experiments in an attempt to obtain the ______ of an experiment and still keep much of the _______ of research conducted in the real world.

internal validity; external validity

Which method of acquiring knowledge is being used when people make decisions based on instinct or hunches?

intuition

Which section of a research article can help you to develop ideas for studies by changing the characteristics of the participants or modifying the?

method

Looking up your local weather report online is an example of using the _______.

method of authority

Marisol just found out she is pregnant and tells everyone that she has a feeling she will have a girl. In this case, Marisol is using the __________.

method of intuition

Debriefing is ________

more effective the sooner it is delivered

A researcher conducts a study in which 50 college students are assigned to different treatments and tested. In the study, the students are called _______

participants

A researcher who deliberately omits informing participants about the true intent of a questionnaire is committing _________-.

passive deception

The APA ethical guidelines_______.

permit research using either active or passive deception

Using a PET scan to measure brain activity while participants solve mathematics problems is an example of using what modality of measurement?

physiological

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 an _______ relationship.

positive

The discussion section of a research article typically ________

provides interpretation of the findings

After measuring a group of individuals, a researcher finds that Jared's score is three times greater than Jasmin's score. These measurements must come from a _________ scale.

ratio

Participants who know that they are being observed may modify their behavior. This problem is known as_________.

reactivity

A limitation of using matching rather than random assignment to form groups in a between- subjects experiment is that matching _______.

requires another level of work

The review of the literature in the introduction section of a research paper is an example of a ______ source

secondary

Using an anonymous questionnaire to determine how many times students send or receive messages during class is an example of using what modality of measurement?

self- report

A researcher attempts to recreate the real world in the laboratory. This type of research is called a ________.

simulation study

One criticism of proportionate stratified random sampling is that _________

statistical analysis may be impeded when subgroups are small

A researcher would like to describe and compare the attitudes of four different ethnic groups of students at a local state college. To obtain participants for the study while ensuring sufficient numbers of participants from each of the ethnic groups, the researcher should probably use _______ sampling.

stratified random

A researcher conducts a study in which 50 rate are assigned to different treatments and tested. In the study, the rats are called research ________.

subjects

A professor teaching an introductory psychology class of 200 obtains a sample of 25 students by selecting every eighth name from the class list. The professor is using _________ sampling.

systematic

Establishing the reliability of a measurement procedure by using the procedure to measure the same individuals on two separate occasions and comparing the two sets of scores is known as __________ reliability.

test- retest

Variables related to _______ are potential threats to the internal validity of every study.

the environment of the study

Using a sports star to sell clothing in a television commercial relies upon which nonscientific method of acquiring knowledge?

the method of authority

A limitation of using the method of empiricism is that ________

the process can be time consuming and often risky