Chapter 8 Designing Experiments

________ is a process for controlling order effects with all possible orders. A. Complete counterbalancing B. Elimination C. A Latin square D. Randomization

A. Complete counterbalancing

Which of the following is a drawback of the matched pairs design? A. It can be costly and time-consuming. B. It is not useful when only a few participants are available. C. It fails to ensure that the groups are equivalent. D. It simply randomly assigns participants to groups.

A. It can be costly and time-consuming.

In a ________ design, half the participants receive only a posttest, while the other half receive both a pretest and a posttest. A. Solomon four-group B. pretest-posttest C. one-group pretest-posttest D. two-group pretest-posttest

A. Solomon four-group

32. Mike wants to study the effects of an energy drink on athletic performance. He designs a study in which he has two groups that are not given an energy drink (control groups) and two groups that are given an energy drink (experimental groups). In the design, one control group and one experimental group are asked to fill out a questionnaire before the experiment, while the other control group and experimental group are not given a questionnaire. Mike's design is an example of a A. Solomon four-group design. B. repeated measures design. C. two-group control design. D. posttest-only design.

A. Solomon four-group design.

A ________ effect is associated with the deterioration of performance with the passage of time. A. fatigue B. carryover C. practice D. counterbalanced

A. fatigue

11. To achieve internal validity, a researcher must design and conduct experiments where only the ________ variable can be the cause of the results. A. independent B. dependent C. criterion D. confounding

A. independent

When individuals participate in only one experimental condition, it is a(n) ________ design. When individuals participate in all experimental conditions, it is a ________ design. A. independent groups; repeated measures B. partial; whole C. single group; full measure D. group; multigroup

A. independent groups; repeated measures

When a confounding variable is present in an experiment, one cannot tell whether the results were due to the A. independent variable or the confounding variable. B. independent variable or the dependent variable. C. dependent variable or the participant variable. D. dependent variable or the confounding variable.

A. independent variable or the confounding variable.

. When a confounding variable is present in an experiment, A. internal validity is challenged. B. external validity is challenged. C. internal validity can be assumed. D. external validity can be assumed.

A. internal validity is challenged.

When the results of an experiment can confidently be attributed to the effect of the independent variable, the experiment is said to have A. internal validity. B. construct validity. C. external validity. D. content validity.

A. internal validity.

In a repeated measures design, when the sequence of presenting the treatments determines the participants' responses in part, the researcher is dealing with A. order effects. B. criterion variables. C. incomplete counterbalancing. D. constancy.

A. order effects.

A design that has two conditions with the same participants in both conditions is a(n) ________ design. A. repeated measures B. independent groups C. posttest-pretest D. random time series

A. repeated measures

Sasha, a psychologist, has participants serve as their own control group by having them take part in every condition of her study. This experimental approach is an example of a(n) A. repeated measures design. B. simple random design. C. one-shot case study. D. independent groups design.

A. repeated measures design.

Mike wants to find out whether campers prefer cotton or nylon sleeping bags. He asks a group of female campers to try both nylon and cotton sleeping bags. The sleeping bags were rated for softness and warmth. Mike intends to generalize the findings to apply to all campers. What is the confounding variable in Mike's experiment? A. the gender of the campers B. softness C. sleeping bags D. cotton or nylon material

A. the gender of the campers

In a Solomon four-group design, if there is no impact of the pretest, A. the posttest scores will be the same for all the groups. B. the posttest scores will be different for all the groups. C. the pretest scores will be different for all the groups. D. the posttest scores will not be affected.

A. the posttest scores will be the same for all the groups.

2. ________ occurs when the effects of an independent variable and an uncontrolled variable are intertwined, so that one cannot determine which of the variables is responsible for a particular observed effect on a dependent variable. A. Attrition B. Confounding C. Counterbalancing D. Fatigue effect

B. Confounding

4. Jim, a researcher, attempts to test the effect of the environment in an examination hall on a student's performance; however, he gives students question papers that differ in complexity and subject matter. His results will not be reliable because the complexity and subject matter of the examination are A. independent variables. B. confounding variables. C. dependent variables. D. control variables.

B. confounding variables.

To control order effects in a repeated measures design, one should use a(n) A. independent groups design. B. counterbalancing technique. C. short time interval between conditions. D. reversal design.

B. counterbalancing technique.

Natasha wants to know whether wearing sunglasses helps while driving. In a counterbalanced repeated measures design, the presence or absence of sunglasses would be varied by A. having all drivers first drive with sunglasses and then without sunglasses. B. having half the drivers first drive without sunglasses and then with sunglasses and having the other half first drive with sunglasses and then without sunglasses. C. having all drivers first drive without sunglasses and then with sunglasses. D. having half the drivers drive with sunglasses and the other half drive without sunglasses.

B. having half the drivers first drive without sunglasses and then with sunglasses and having the other half first drive with sunglasses and then without sunglasses.

At the end of a three-year study, Lene finds that 12 percent of her participants did not take part in the final survey because they moved away to another city. In research terms, Lene is experiencing issues related to A. maturation. B. mortality. C. testing. D. regression

B. mortality.

Helen wants to test the level of comfort of a new recliner compared to the old model. She creates two equivalent groups through random sampling, has the control group sit in the old model, and has the other group sit in the new one. Afterward, she has members of each group rank comfort level based on their experience of sitting in the recliner, on a scale of 1 to 5. This is an example of a A. pretest-only design. B. posttest-only design. C. matched pairs design. D. Solomon four-group design.

B. posttest-only design.

Improvement of performance as a result of repeated exposure to a task is referred to as a ________ effect. A. reactive B. practice C. fatigue D. nonreactive

B. practice

Which of the following is likely to be the most important consideration for a repeated measures design using alcohol or drugs? A. the use of a Latin square B. the time interval between treatments C. the order of presenting the conditions D. complete counterbalancing

B. the time interval between treatments

Jose states that he has completely counterbalanced the conditions in his experiment. What does this mean? A. All participants are exposed to all conditions. B. He has an equal number of participants in all conditions. C. All possible orders of presentation of the conditions are presented. D. The conditions are presented in a fixed order.

C. All possible orders of presentation of the conditions are presented.

Which of the following is an advantage of using a pretest-posttest design over using a posttest-only design? A. It takes less time to conduct an experiment. B. It minimizes demand characteristics. C. It confirms whether the groups are equivalent. D. It enables participants to figure out what is being studied and why.

C. It confirms whether the groups are equivalent.

Which of the following is true of a repeated measures design as compared with an independent group design? A. It requires a greater number of participants. B. It decreases the likelihood of an order effect. C. It gives the researcher a greater ability to see and explain individual participant differences. D. It is less likely to detect the effect of the independent variable.

C. It gives the researcher a greater ability to see and explain individual participant differences.

If a greater percentage of heart surgeons than dermatologists are sued for malpractice, can it be concluded that heart surgeons are less competent than dermatologists? A. Yes, if the same number of heart surgeons and dermatologists are being compared. B. No, because there are more heart surgeons than dermatologists. C. No, because the variables of being sued and the potential risk to patients in each specialty are confounded. D. Yes, if the difference is statistically significant.

C. No, because the variables of being sued and the potential risk to patients in each specialty are confounded.

Irene wants to examine the effect of a defendant's appearance on the judgment of guilt for a crime. She has participants read an identical account of the crime except for the defendant's appearance. A group of high school students receives the description of an attractive defendant, while a group of senior citizens receives the description of an unattractive defendant. Both groups are then asked to rate the defendant's guilt on a 7-point scale. A major cause for confusion in Irene's experiment is the A. measure of guilt. B. manipulation of appearance. C. age of the participants. D. description of the crime.

C. age of the participants.

Ahmed conducts a study to test the effectiveness of a drug. He surveys the participants twice—once at intake and then six months later. He finds that the drug was overall effective, but approximately 55 percent of the original sample stopped using the drug. Therefore, he does not have posttest data for them. In this case, what is likely to be an alternative explanation for the results obtained by Ahmed? A. statistical regression B. diffusion of treatment C. attrition D. maturation

C. attrition

1. A(n) ________ variable is one that varies along with an independent variable. A. extraneous B. dependent C. confounding D. criterion

C. confounding

3. A good experimental design requires eliminating all possible ________ variables that could result in alternative explanations. A. independent B. dependent C. confounding D. valid

C. confounding

Dante wants to conduct a study in which participants taste five different brands of honey and decide which one they like best. To control for potential order effects, Dante should use A. elimination. B. constancy. C. counterbalancing. D. randomization.

C. counterbalancing.

16. A researcher can claim that the independent variable in an experiment caused the results only by A. proving that the experiment has high external validity. B. keeping the dependent variable constant. C. eliminating competing, alternative explanations. D. eliminating experimental control and randomization.

C. eliminating competing, alternative explanations.

Powel wants to find out how using fins increases swimming speed. This hypothesis could be tested with a counterbalanced repeated measures design by A. having half the swimmers swim without fins and the other half swim with fins. B. having all swimmers first swim without fins and then swim with fins. C. having half the swimmers first swim without fins and then with fins and having the other half swim first with fins and then without fins. D. having all swimmers first swim with fins and then without fins.

C. having half the swimmers first swim without fins and then with fins and having the other half swim first with fins and then without fins.

37. Aisha wants to examine the effect of room temperature on task performance. First, she randomly assigns participants to three groups. Then she places one group of participants in a room that is set to a temperature of 54 degrees, a second group in a room that is set to a temperature of 72 degrees, and a third group in a room that is set to a temperature of 90 degrees. She then measures the amount of time it takes each group to complete the same task. This design would best represent a(n) ________ design. A. three-group pretest-posttest B. repeated measures C. independent groups D. pretest-posttest

C. independent groups

If the two groups involved in an experiment are not equivalent, A. the experiment is said to have high internal validity. B. the experimental result is likely to be affected by ethnocentrism. C. it cannot be ascertained that the independent variable caused the results. D. it is impossible to conduct a replication.

C. it cannot be ascertained that the independent variable caused the results.

A confounding variable is problematic for an experimental design because it A. increases the internal reactivity of the experiment. B. eliminates alternative explanations for the results. C. makes possible alternative explanations for the results. D. increases the variability in the data.

C. makes possible alternative explanations for the results.

63. Hector measures participants based on a variable of interest and rank orders them according to their scores. He then places them in pairs in which each member has approximately the same score as the other member in the pair. The members of each pair are then randomly assigned to the conditions in the experiment. Hector's method of participant assignment is an example of a(n) ________ design. A. Latin squares B. repeated measures C. matched pairs D. independent pairs

C. matched pairs

A matched pairs design involves A. randomly assigning participants to groups and then matching pairs of participants. B. matching pairs of participants based on researcher preference and then randomly assigning half the pairs to each group. C. matching pairs of participants based on a participant variable and then randomly assigning members to the conditions of the experiment. D. an attempt to control for order effects.

C. matching pairs of participants based on a participant variable and then randomly assigning members to the conditions of the experiment.

A matched pairs design is most likely to be used when A. the sample size is large. B. the matching variable and the dependent variable are unrelated. C. only a few participants are available for the study. D. running large numbers of individuals in the experiment is inexpensive.

C. only a few participants are available for the study.

Toby wants to see whether packaging information affects the way people rate breakfast cereal. The same cereal is put in three kinds of packages: a brown box that says, "To start your day off with a smile"; a yellow box that says, "For extra energy all day"; and a white box that says, "Fortified with B complex and iron." In this study, the variables of the ________ are confounded. A. package information and kind of cereal B. rating of people and package information C. package information and color of the box D. kind of cereal and color of the box

C. package information and color of the box

Jacob, a researcher, asks the participants of his study to transfer data from 12 spreadsheets to 12 different documents. He observes that the participants gain more efficiency in transferring the data with each new spreadsheet. This scenario exemplifies a(n) A. attrition effect. B. primacy effect. C. practice effect. D. carryover effect.

C. practice effect.

Colin wants to find out how using fins increases swimming speed. If he uses an independent groups design, he would manipulate the variable by A. having all swimmers first swim without fins and then with fins. B. requiring all swimmers to first swim with fins and then without fins. C. randomly requiring half the swimmers to swim without fins and the other half to swim with fins. D. having half the swimmers first swim without fins and then with fins and having the other half swim first with fins and then without fins.

C. randomly requiring half the swimmers to swim without fins and the other half to swim with fins.

Jane, a researcher, measured the performance of two groups of employees. One group received low monetary incentives first and was later given high monetary incentives. The other group was given high monetary incentives first and was later given low monetary incentives. At each stage, the employees' performance was measured. This scenario exemplifies a(n) A. posttest-only design. B. independent groups design. C. repeated measures design. D. Solomon four-group design.

C. repeated measures design.

In an experimental design, if awareness of the pretest poses a problem, a researcher is LEAST likely to A. employ a Solomon four-group design. B. embed the pretest in a set of irrelevant measures. C. tell the participants what is being studied and why. D. disguise the pretest.

C. tell the participants what is being studied and why.

________ is a technique to control for order effects without having all possible orders. A. A pretest-only design B. Randomization C. Attrition D. A Latin square

D. A Latin square

Which of the following statements is LEAST likely to be true of a Latin square? A. Each condition precedes and follows each condition one time. B. Each condition appears at each ordinal position. C. It controls for order effects. D. It results in complete counterbalancing.

D. It results in complete counterbalancing.

. If one cannot use all possible orders in a repeated measures design, a good alternative is to use A. an independent groups design. B. a reversal design. C. complete counterbalancing. D. a Latin square.

D. a Latin square.

Michelle is interested in factors that influence the perceptions of others. She provides participants with photographs of female supermodels and asks them to rate the attractiveness of each woman. She then provides participants with photographs of women who are not models and asks the participants to rate the attractiveness of each woman. She finds that participants rate the women who are not models much lower. What effect may be responsible for the lower ratings of the women who are not models? A. a reactive effect B. a practice effect C. a fatigue effect D. a carryover effect

D. a carryover effect

17. An experiment can be assumed to have internal validity if A. there is a strong manipulation of the independent variable. B. the dependent variable is valid. C. confounding variables are present. D. all variables other than the independent variable are kept constant.

D. all variables other than the independent variable are kept constant.

One problem with the pretest-posttest design is that participants A. drop out of the experiment. B. cannot be randomly assigned to groups. C. cannot be divided into two equivalent groups. D. are sensitized about the true purpose of the experiment.

D. are sensitized about the true purpose of the experiment.

Gerard conducts a study to examine the effect of an exercise program on obese people. The participants must exercise for one hour every day for six months. By the end of the fourth month, Gerard finds that 75 percent of the participants have dropped out of the study. What kind of problem has Gerard encountered in his study? A. selection B. morbidity C. maturation D. attrition

D. attrition

Juan wants to compare the effectiveness of two drugs in treating migraines. He administers Drug A to a participant and then Drug B to the same participant eight hours later, when Drug A is still in the participant's system. In this case, the study is contaminated by a(n) ________ effect. A. order B. fatigue C. practice D. carryover

D. carryover

Mortality in an experimental design refers to the fact that participants A. provide false responses. B. cheat on questionnaires. C. engage in intragroup conflict. D. drop out of experiments.

D. drop out of experiments.

Wendy wants to know if a new sports drink improves physical performance. The number of push-ups each participant can complete in 1 minute is recorded first. The participants are then given 8 ounces of the sports drink, and the number of push-ups completed in 1 minute is recorded again. Wendy finds that the number of push-ups completed is less after consuming the new sports drink. This finding is likely the result of a ________ effect. A. reactive B. carryover C. practice D. fatigue

D. fatigue

A design that assigns different participants to each condition using random assignment is a(n) ________ design. A. Solomon four-group B. repeated measures C. pretest-posttest D. independent groups

D. independent groups

To observe the influence of external factors on students' performance, Raj asks participants to come to his laboratory, fill out a questionnaire, and attempt quizzes. He finds that over time, fewer participants show up to take part in the experiment. This decrease in the number of participants in the experiment is called A. the practice effect. B. the fatigue effect. C. regression. D. mortality.

D. mortality.

Kalim wants to study the effectiveness of a new teaching method. He includes two teachers of a class in the experiment. One teacher uses the new method of teaching, and the other teacher uses the old method. At the end of the semester, he finds that students who were taught in the new way had higher grades than students taught in the old way. What is the confounding variable? A. the teaching methods B. the grades C. the class D. personal differences between the two teachers

D. personal differences between the two teachers

To study the effect of different types of stimulus on memory recall, Zhong subjects participants divided into two equivalent groups to either an auditory or a visual presentation of a poem. After the presentation, the participants are asked to answer several questions about the poem. Which type of experimental design has Zhong employed? A. pretest-only design B. pretest-posttest design C. four-group posttest design D. posttest-only design

D. posttest-only design

Jeanne wants to know whether wearing sunglasses improves driving performance. If she uses an independent groups design, she would manipulate the variable by A. requiring all drivers to first drive with sunglasses and then without sunglasses. B. having half the drivers first drive without sunglasses and then with sunglasses, and having the other half first drive with sunglasses and then without sunglasses. C. having all drivers first drive without sunglasses and then with sunglasses. D. randomly requiring half the drivers to drive with sunglasses and the other half to drive without sunglasses.

D. randomly requiring half the drivers to drive with sunglasses and the other half to drive without sunglasses.

A psychologist is interested to know which of two sorting techniques leads to better memory performance in 6-year-old children. Each participant first sorts a set of pictures any way they like. Recall is then tested. After this, each participant is required to sort an equivalent set of pictures into five predetermined categories. Recall for the items is then tested. What procedure does this study represent? A. matched random assignment B. simple random assignment C. combined measures D. repeated measures

D. repeated measures

5. When testing the effect of noise on the performance of a task, Marco tests half the participants in a cool, quiet room and the other half in a hot, noisy room. In this case, what confounding variable has Marco failed to eliminate? A. noise level B. task performance C. gender of the participants D. room temperature

D. room temperature

18. Which of the following does NOT increase the likelihood of internal validity in an experiment with random assignment of participants? A. the use of control for extraneous variables B. the use of experimental control C. removal of confounding variables D. the use of a pretest

D. the use of a pretest

In a ________ design, comparisons are made among the same group of participants. A. random assignment B. matched sets C. natural sets D. within-subjects

D. within-subjects