Exam #2

Which of the following is true of the relationship between effect size and statistical significance?

Larger effect sizes are advantageous for statistical significance

Dr. Aarons does a study that finds that having a cognitively demanding job is associated with cognitive benefits in later years, but only among men, not among women. In her findings, gender is a _________ in the relationship between having a cognitively demanding job and cognitive benefits later in life.

moderator

​A college professor reports that students who finish exams early tend to get better grades than students who hold on to exams until the last possible moment. The correlation between exam score and amount of time spent on the exam is an example of a ____.

negative correlation

RESEARCH STUDY 6.2 Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Faking good is also known as

Socially desirable responding

RESEARCH STUDY 6.2 Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. The construct validity of observations can be threatened by all of the following EXCEPT:

Socially desirable responding

Oversampling is a variant used in which of the following sampling techniques?

Stratified random sampling

How are quota sampling and stratified random sampling similar?

Both identify subgroups that need to studied

The difference between a cluster sample and a stratified random sample is

Cluster samples use randomly selected clusters; stratified random samples use pre-determined strata

Professor Fofana wonders if there is an association between students' grades and whether they complete extra credit in his classes. He makes a scatterplot, with the number of extra credit points earned on the x-axis and the numerical grade in his course without extra credit on the y-axis. He finds that r = 0.28. In addition to this correlation coefficient, what other information would Professor Fofana need to determine if this result is statistically significant?

the sample size

​A Pearson correlation of r = -0.25 indicates that a graph of the data would show points ____.

​widely scattered around a line that slopes down to the right

Statistical significance depends on which of the following?

Sample size and effect size

Another word for observer effects is

Expectancy effects

Which of the following is true of probability sampling?

It is the best way to obtain a representative sample.

Research Study 6.1 Which of the questions above is an example of an open-ended question?

Question A

The pattern and parsimony approach to causation is a good example of which cycle in research?

Theory-data cycle

RESEARCH STUDY 6.2 Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Which of the following questions is most likely to result in a socially desirable answer?

"Have you ever hit your relationship partner?"

State three ways that a researcher could reduce reactivity in a study and why each one is effective

1- is to hide their presence from the person they are observing. This is effective because the person cannot behave differently as a function of being observed if they are not aware they are being observed. 2- involves waiting until the person being observed has become desensitized to being observed and is likely to go back to responding "normally." 3- involves examining some product of people's behavior rather than the people's behavior itself. For example, instead of observing people's eating behavior, you could count the number of chips that are missing from the bowl after the study. This is effective because this method is unobtrusive and people will not be aware that their behavior's results are being observed.

When examining an association claim using a bar graph, an association is indicated by which of the following?

A difference in the height between the bars

RESEARCH STUDY 6.2 Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. In which of the following studies is self-report the best data collection option?

A study examining the intensity of pain during natural childbirth

What is the most common sampling technique in behavioral research?

Convenience Sampling

Nesta is making a scatterplot of the digit spans (how many numbers you can remember and repeat back) for his psychology class, with the spans for digits the students hear on one axis and the span for digits the students read on the other. The association is strong, but he notices that one student has a visual digit span that is twice as long as anyone else. What statistical validity question is he raising?

Could outliers be affecting the relationship?

Dr. Gahan decides to create a questionnaire asking about people's attitudes toward immigration (a socially sensitive topic). He should be most concerned about which of the following?

Fence sitting

Dr. Gore is conducting a survey examining people's opinions toward funding for collegiate athletics on his campus. He notices that several participants agree with all 12 questions. This could be an example of all of the following EXCEPT:

Fence sitting

External validity is most important for which of the following claims?

Frequency claims

Stronger effect sizes allow for all of the following EXCEPT?

Greater construct validity

RESEARCH STUDY 6.2 Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Given the scenario above, Dr. Ewell is concerned that the children will behave differently because of the presence of research assistants. Which of the following could he do to address this concern?

Hide a video camera in the daycare center and record the children playing without them knowing

Mischel (1972) studied delay of gratification in preschoolers: Children were offered a special reward if they could wait or a less attractive treat if they chose not to wait. A follow-up study was done years later, looking at the same children as adolescents. The researchers found an association between the waiting times of the preschoolers and parents' reports of the same children's behaviors as adolescents. What is a question that one could ask to assess the construct validity of this association?

How well was delay of gratification measured?

RESEARCH STUDY 6.2 Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Which of the following is true of interrater reliability?

It is measured with an ICC

Which of the following is NOT a problem with journalists ignoring the importance of pattern and parsimony in research?

It makes people read fewer studies about psychology.

Which of the following is true of sample size?

It primarily affects statistical validity

Dr. Cyril conducts a simple random sample of 500 men who became fathers for the first time in the last year. He finds that 23% of them report being unsure of their ability to be good fathers, plus or minus 4%. What is another term for the 4% value?

Margin of error

RESEARCH STUDY 6.2 Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Which of the following is another term for response sets?

Nondifferentiation

Which of the following is the most direct way to control for question order effects?

Prepare different versions of the survey, varying the order of the questions

Research Study 6.1: Professor Kramer creates a survey to measure how happy his students are with his teaching this semester. He is teaching two classes: Psychology and Law and Introduction to Neuroscience. He writes the following questions for his survey: A. What was your favorite part of this class? B. Please rate how much you agree with the following statement using the scale below: This was one of my favorite classes all semester. 1 2 3 4 5 Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree C. Which of the following is most true of you? a. I am a very serious student. b. I try only as hard as I have to. D. How easy did you feel this class was? 1 2 3 4 5 Easy Hard Refer to Research Study 6.1 to answer the following four questions. Which of the questions above is an example of a question that uses a Likert scale?

Question B

Another term for probability sampling is

Random Sampling

Which of the following statements is true of random assignment and random sampling?

Random assignment is necessary for internal validity, whereas random sampling is necessary for external validity.

What is the difference between random sampling and random assignment?

Random sampling- how you select individuals from pop to participate Random assignment- how you place those participants into groups (control vs experiment)

RESEARCH STUDY 6.2 Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Unobtrusive observation is done to counteract which of the following?

Reactivity

RESEARCH STUDY 7.1 Professor Kramer has decided to measure how happy his students are with his teaching this semester. He is teaching two classes this semester—Psychology and Law and Introduction to Neuroscience. He gives his students a survey. In the above scenario, if all the students in Dr. Kramer's two classes complete the survey, then Dr. Kramer has done which of the following?

Relied on a census

Dr. Jackson is a personality psychologist who is interested in studying the characteristics of people who report being abducted by UFOs. She finds several people in a support group to research and asks them if they can provide the names and contact information of other people who have also been abducted. Upon contacting these new participants, she asks them to refer her to even more people they may know who have been abducted. This is an example of what kind of sampling?

Snowball sampling

Explain why socially desirable responding happens. Name one way to decrease the likelihood of its occurrence.

Socially desirable responding happens when participants are embarrassed, or shy, or uncomfortable about giving an unpopular answer. Possible means of decreasing socially desirable responding include ensuring anonymity, creating questions designed to assess this tendency, getting others to rate participants (e.g., friends), or using specialized measures to keep participants from knowing exactly what they are studying (e.g., the IAT).

Dr. Leman is interested in using a survey to study people's experiences with natural disasters, like Hurricane Sandy and the tornadoes that hit Joplin, Missouri, and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Provide one reason why a survey is a good method to study this topic and one reason that a survey may not be a good method.

Students can give a variety of reasons why using a survey may be a good method. These reasons may include that surveys are excellent measures of subjective experiences (e.g., fear, anxiety) or that surveys may be good measures of why people think they responded to the natural disaster the way they did (why they evacuated). Students can give a variety of reasons that is not a good reason, including but not limited to the faulty nature of people's memory, especially for vivid events (like a natural disaster). The answers in both cases should demonstrate that the student realizes that surveys are better for subjective information as opposed to objective information.

Dr. Overup decides to use a hidden camera to videotape the behavior of people on dates at a local restaurant to determine how they express affection in public. She has three research assistants code each video. She calculates an ICC of .94 for their rating of affection. Explain how Dr. Overup should interpret this value and what it tells her in terms of the reliability and validity of her measure.

Students should state that Dr. Overup should be pleased with an ICC of that value as it is very close to one, indicating a high degree of interrater reliability. Students should state that it appears that the research assistants are all rating the same behavior, indicating good reliability but they should state that this says nothing about the validity of her measure (it is possible that the research assistants are all similarly biased).

Dr. Katz is interested in studying self-esteem. He is especially curious as to whether people who have higher self-esteem say the words I and me more often than do those who have low self-esteem. He has decided to poll people and ask them how often they say these words during the day. Explain why you would advise him not to use this method and explain what alternative you would propose.

Students should state that people are unlikely to be able to realistically know how many times they say any given word or two in a given day. (Students may be precise and say this is an issue of inability to report.) Thus, he is likely to acquire a lot of very inaccurate data. As an alternative, they should recommend some sort of observational measure. Students may recommend a specific way to collect data, but that is not necessary. If they mention some alternatives, these could include using some sort of recording device (similar to the electronically activated recorder [EAR] described in the book) or even bringing participants into a lab and counting the words in a lab conversation.

A study finds a correlation coefficient of r = .32 and reports p < .05. The p value indicates which of the following?

The correlation is unlikely to have come from a zero association population

Which of the following is the essential feature of studies that support association claims?

They involve two measured variables

How do reverse-worded items address shortcuts?

They slow down readers, making them answer more carefully

RESEARCH STUDY 7.1 Professor Kramer has decided to measure how happy his students are with his teaching this semester. He is teaching two classes this semester—Psychology and Law and Introduction to Neuroscience. He gives his students a survey. In the above scenario, Dr. Kramer plans to give his survey only to his Psychology and Law students because he sees them on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and he can spare the class time (unlike in his Introduction to Neuroscience class, which only meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays). Which of the following is true?

This will lead to a biased sample because the type of students who take Psychology and Law may be different from the type of students who take Introduction to Neuroscience.

​A Pearson correlation of r = -1.00 means that all the data points fit perfectly on a straight line. T/F

True

Dr. Stevens did a study that found that having a cognitively demanding job is associated with cognitive benefits in later years because people who are highly educated take cognitively demanding jobs, and people who are highly educated have better cognitive skills. She found that the amount of education is a ________ in the relationship between having demanding job and cognitive benefits in later years.

confounding third variable