RESEARCH METHODS EXAM 1

Salma conducts a study and finds that her data do not completely support her theory. Which of the following statements should she avoid saying?

"My data disprove my theory"

Establishing construct validity is most important for which of the following?

An abstract concept

Students who interested in being consumers of, but not producers of, research might choose which of the following professions?

An advertising executive

Which of the following is an example of applied research?

An educational psychologist who looks for a way to increase math skills in 8-year-olds

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

Confirmation bias

Which of the following is the last section of an empirical journal article?

Discussion

What does it mean that research is probabilistic?

Inferences drawn from behavioral research are not expected to explain all cases

Dr. Stewart is an editor of a psychology journal. She wants to ensure the reviewers give honest reviews of the papers they are asked to read. Which of the follows could she do to increase the likelihood of honest feedback?

Man sure the peer reviewers are anonymous

Which of the following is true of variables?

Some variables can be either manipulated or measured

Which of the following is a reason psychological scientists publish their research in scientific journals?

TO have their results reviewed by other psychologists

Which of the following is not a research claim?

Teens spend too much time texting and driving.

Which of the following is a reasonable causal claim?

Texting while driving reduces impulse control

Which of the following is the first section of an empirical journal article?

abstract

Another word for data is a(n)

observation

Which of the following is an association claim?

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

Benjamin is a social psychologist who studies marriage. He believes that marital satisfaction has two components: the ability to trust one's partner and a belief that one can be a good spouse. He conducts a study to test his ideas. Assuming that his data match his theory which of the following statements should he make?

"The data provide support for my theory"

When reading an empirical journal article "with a purpose," which two questions should you ask yourself as you read?

"What is the argument" and "What is the evidence to support the argument?"

Marcella is conducting a PsycINFO search for treatments for autism spectrum disorder by searching "autism treatment." However, her search is returning too many results. If she is interested in getting more specific results, Marcella could search

"autism treatment: and " behavioral" and enter an age range of interest

How many subcategories of quantitative variables exist?

3

A type 1 error is known as which of the following?

A false positive

Which of the following is not possible?

A measure is valid but not reliable

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

A measure of spirituality

Todd is 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

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

Which of the following is an example of translational research?

A sports psychologist who uses information on how we emotionally process victory to design an intervention or improving mental stamina during athletic performance

Which of the following is the correct order of the sections of an empirical journal article?

Abstract, Method, Results, Discussions, references

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

Administering an anxiety questionnaire

In order to use the known groups paradigm to establish criterion validity, which of the following is necessary?

After testing, the groups should have significantly different t scores on the measures

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 the difference between claims based on personal experience (anecdotal claims)) and frequency claims?

Anecdotal claims are not based on scientific studies but frequency claims are

Research is done specifically to solve a practical problem, like increasing memory ability or decreasing symptoms of depression, is known as:

Applied Research

Research that is done specifically to add to our general understanding of psychology, like distinguishing the components of extraversion or predicting thee time it takes a person to determine whether an object is a face or another object is known as:

Basic Research

Which of the following is true of the difference between basic and applied research?

Basic and Applied research have different goals

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 researchers tow research assistants/ raters are making similar measurements

When reading an empirical journal article "with a purpose" which section should you read first?

Because it provides an overview of the article

Two biases of intuition discussed in the text are:

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

After reading the chapter, Cyril says to himself, "I am sure other people might engage in faulty thinking, but I never would." What is Cyril experiencing?

Bias- blind spot

You read a news article titled, "New Drug Reduces OCD Symptoms in Mice" about a recent scientific study. To evaluate whether the title's claim is supported, you should do which of the following

Check whether the authors established covariance, temporal precedence and internal validity

What is the term for a researcher's definition of the variable in question at a theoretical level?

Conceptual definition

According to its conceptual definition, a variable should be related to a particular behavior. If a researcher is able to demonstrate that his measure of the variable is related to the behavior, then he has established which of the following?

Criterion validity

A correlation- based statistic called ___ is commonly used to determine internal reliability

Cronbach's alpha

Another word for discriminant validity is ____ validity

Divergent

Articles that could be considered journalism:

Do not require specialized education to read

Which of the following question assesses internal validity when evaluating causal claims?

Does the study establish temporal precedence

If you are interested in reading an overview of peer- reviewed scientific research within a specific are which of the following reading sources would you choose?

Edited books

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

Empiricism

Asking an expert or experts evaluate a measure is used to establish ___ validity

Face

If a measurement looks like it is a plausible operationalization of a conceptual variable, then it has:

Face validity

How can you ensure that a popular media article accurately reflects the original research of a scientific study?

Find and read the original

Which of the following is a limitation of Google Scholar compared to PsycINFO?

Google scholar is not limited to just psychology and related fields

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

He must conduct an experiment

Dr. Smitherman insists that all his research assistants know how to be producers of research. All of the following relate to this requirement EXCEPT:

He wants to make sure they have previously been participants in research studies

Elliott is double majoring in English and Psychology. He plans on being a high school English teacher and is only 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. Darain, 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 research he conducted for his dissertation

Dr. Gonzales is a peer reviewer for a manuscript submitted to a journal. He is likely to provide comments on which of the following?

How well the research was conducted

Which of the following is true of the relationship between hypotheses and theories?

Hypotheses are used to determine if a theory is accurate

What does it mean that "reliability is necessary nut not sufficient for validity?"

If a measure is valid it is also reliable

What types of reliability can be analyzed with scatterplots?

Interrater reliability and test- retest reliability

In interrogating the construct validity of a measure, which question should a researcher ask?

Is there enough evidence that this measure is valid?

Which of the following is the reason that scientific journals use peer review?

It ensures that the studies published are of the highest

Compared with doing a generic Internet search, why is PsycINFO a superior way to find scientific sources?

It searches only sources in psychology and related fields

Both James and Thomas have theories that explain why listening to classical music while reading is associated with increased recall of the material. James' theory is much simpler Thomas'. Thomas created his theory a few months before James did. Which of the following is true?

James' theory would be considered better because it is more parsimonious

Which of the following is a reason that a journalist may misinterpret a psychology study in a magazine?

Journalists may not personally have the scientific background to understand the study

Hannah just finished reading an empirical journal article for a class project. Where should she go if she wants to look for a list of the study's hypotheses or research questions?

Last paragraph of the introduction

When examining the statistical validity of a frequency claim, one should look for the:

Margine of error estimate

Diego is interested in examining the relationship between a person's attachment style and his or her relationship satisfaction. He finds 65 studies that have examined this topic. He combines the results of all these studies and calculates an effect size. His research is most accurately described as:

Meta analysis

Ellie is looking for a summary of research on the effect size of childhood abuse on adult depression. Which of the following scientific sources would be an ideal source?

Meta- analysis

Matthew is reading an empirical journal article and wants to know whether the authors used the Big Five Inventory (BFI-44) or the NEO-PI to measure extraversion. In which section would he find this information?

Method

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 students treat other children in their classrooms who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He will evaluate how positively or negatively the children are treated by their classmates. This is an example of what type of measurement?

Observational measurement

Which of the following could be an independent variable in a causal claim?

One that is manipulated

Occam's razor states that the simplest solution is the best, all things being equal. This speaks to a theory's:

Parsimony

Another word for hypothesis is a(n)

Predictions

An educational psychologist is testing the discriminant validity of a new measure of numerical learning difficulties. He gives his measure to a group of students along with another measure of verbal learning difficulties, which he predicts should not be strongly related to numerical learning difficulties. Which of the following correlations would the psychologist hope to find in order to establish discriminant validity?

R=-0.18

You read research that found that first-born children tend to have higher IQs than their siblings. However, you typically earn higher grades than your older brother. Scientists might explain this discrepancy by saying that:

Research is probabilistic

How does research overcome the problem of confounds?

Research systematically compares multiple conditions

Which of the following sources is most likely to contain only information that has been rigorously peer- reviewed?

Review journal articles

Which of the following is a benefit of the peer review process?

Reviewers' names are kept anonymous so they can be open in their critiques of an article

A helpful tool for visualizing test-retest reliability and interrater reliability is a:

Scatterplot

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

Which of the following is true of the distinction between scientific journals and popular magazines?

Scientific journal articles are peer reviewed; popular magazine articles are not

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

What makes certain constructs harder to operationalize?

Some constructs are difficult to observe

Which of the following is true of operational definitions?

Some psychological concepts are more difficult to operationally define than others

Javier wants his lab partner to tell him if he thinks the article he found for their project is appropriate. Rather than have him read the article, which two parts of the paper could Javier have his lab partner read to get a summary of the article?

The abstract and the first paragraph of the discussion

Which aspect of the peer- review cycle allows for the greatest amount of honesty in reviews?

The anonymity of the peer reviewers

Which of the following indicates that an article's claims are based on research?

The article describes how a scientific study measured a variable

A common finding in the study of aggression is that exposure to television is associated with increases aggressive behavior in children You know this relationship may not be causal because you are not sure which occurred first: watching television or being aggressive. You are questioning which of the following rules of causation?

The criterion of temporal precedence; The third variable criterion

Nadia submits her article to a scientific journal for publication. Who makes the final decision on whether her article is published in that scientific journal?

The editor of the journal

Dr. Hadden wants to conduct a study that will allow him to make claims that apply to all college students. Which of the following validities is he prioritizing?

The external validity of the study

The quality of journalists' coverage of a science story will be determined by two factors:

The importance and accuracy of the story

Hannah just finished reading an empirical journal article for a class project. What information might she get out of reading the references section of her article?

The name of an article that researched a similar topic

Looking for which of the following in a trade book will give you a hint to its scientific rigor?

The number of references

Two researchers tell you they study the same thing. However, when you look at their research papers, they do not use similar methodologies or measurements. How is this possible?

The researchers have the same conceptual definitions

Which of the following is true of operation definitions?

The specification of operation definitions is one of the creative aspects of the research process

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

Vinai

Translational research

Vanessa claims that she sleeps better when she falls asleep to music. She has a comparison group because she has noticed that she does not listen to music every night, only when she remembers to charge her iPod. She typically remembers to charge her iPod on nights when she is able to finish studying earlier. What problem do you see in Vanessa's reasoning about sleeping better to music?

Vanessa may be sleeping better because she is less distracted by studying/ going to bed sooner

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

Tim tells you that the best way to make friends is by opening the conversation with a joke. He can easily recall all the friends he met by telling a joke and also the times he opened with chitchat and didn't befriend the person. If you were concerned that Tim was making the present/present bias, what would you ask him?

What about the times you opened with a joke and didn't become friend with the person Have you tested this conclusion systematically

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

When they based their opinions on their intuition

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

Translational research is best thought of as ____ basic research and applied research

a bridge between

and all of them have experiences a decrease in depressive symptoms. Although this is interesting, his experience is limites because he does not have:

a comparison group that did not receive the drug

What is the problem with being swayed by a god story?

a good story may not be supported by data

When using correlation coefficients to evaluate reliability, which of the following is undesirable?

a negative correlation coefficient

Benjamin is a social psychologist who studies marriage. He believes that marital satisfaction has two components: the ability to trust one's partner and a belief that one can be a good spouse. This is known as:

a theory

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?

availability heuristic

Scientific journals and magazines are similar in which of the following ways?

both are trying to inform the readers

Asking many similar questions when trying to measure a concept is done to:

cancel out measurement error

Sasha believes that she is a nice person. To confirm this, she asks all her friends whether she is a nice person; they all agree that she is. Sasha concludes that she is a nice person and says she has evidence of it. However, she does not ask any of her enemies whether they think she is a nice person. This is an example of which of the following?

confirmation bias Asked her enemies if she was a nice person

Different factors could account for significant results are called.

confounds

Your friend Dominic is complaining about having to take the Graduate Record Examination (GRE), a test that is required to go to graduate school and is similar to the ACT and SAT. He complains, "Tests like the GRE don't really measure how well people actually do in graduate school." Dominic is questioning the ____ of the test.

criterion validity

When researchers conduct an experiment comparing two different treatment condition, they are likely to be more concerned with ___ validity than ___ validity

internal; external

Which of the following is NOT a section or subsection commonly found in an empirical journal article?

outcomes

A research consumer _____ scientific results.

reads

Which of the following is a dependent variable?

the one that is measured

Which of the following is an example of basic research?

An experimental psychologist who examines people's ability to perceive a "sweet" taste

Lana is writing her first empirical journal article. Although she thinks she knows why she found the results she did, she also wants to mention some alternative explanations for her findings. In which section will she mention these alternative explanations?

Discussions

Which of the following is a limitation of PsycINFO compared to Google Scholar?

PsycINFO is not free to use

To evaluate how well a study supports a frequency claim, you need to focus must on evaluating which of the following validities?

Construct validity and external validity

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

James is asked about the best way to study for an exam. He responds that the best way to study is by making flash cards. He easily thinks of all the times he used flash cards and he made As. However, he fails to take into consideration all the times he made As and did not use flash cards and the times he used flash cards and did not do well. His faulty thinking is an example of:

Present/ present bias

Advice that is based on ____ is most likely to be correct

Research

Who is responsible for deciding which validity is prioritized in a study?

The researcher

Which of the following phrases would NOT indicate that a researcher is making a causal claim?

"is at higher risk of"

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

Both strong positive associations and strong negative associations

Your friend Gaby loves reading articles about psychology studies in her monthly women's magazine. Which of the following would you tell her?

"be careful about reading those articles because they may not present findings accurately"

Which of the following statements is an operation definition of "fear of snakes" that could be assessed as a structured question?

Asking, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how afraid are you of snakes?"

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

Attending a psychological conference

What is the difference between advice from an authority and that from a researcher?

Authorities often base their advice on intuition while researchers rely on facts

In which of the following ways are content and face validity similar?

Both and involve subjective judgements

Why are convergent and discriminant validity often evaluated together?

Both involve collecting information from a lot of psychological measures of theoretical interest

Your friend Alanna says that when examining validity, you always want to see positive correlations. Why is she wrong?

Both strength and direction of a correlation matter when examining validity

Which of the following is a reason why it is important to be an effective producer od research?

It is important to know how to interpret the results and graphs you study

Which of the following is a reason why it is important to be a knowledgeable consumer of research ?

It is important to understand whether the information you read is accurate

In the theory- data cycle, theories first lead to ____

Questions

How would you adopt the mindset of a scientific reasoner?

Remaining objective as you interpret scientific data

Which of the following is a benefit of using a wiki to review psychological research?

The wiki page can be quickly corrected

Research studies are superior to personal experiences because:

They include at least one comparison group

Why is it important to adopt the mindset of a scientific reasoner?

To avoid falling into pitfalls of personal biases

According to the text the bridge between basic and applied research is known as:

Translational research

Dr. Hoda measures job satisfaction and number of years of education. In examining her scatter plot, she sees the cloud of points has no slope. This indicates which type of relationship?

Zero association