PSY 290A Exam 1

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

Do the results have real-world applications?

Magazine articles that describe previous research are primary sources.

False

T/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/F: A textbook is a primary source.

False

T/F: All journal articles are primary sources.

False

T/F: Applied research is intended to answer theoretical questions.

False

T/F: Basic research is intended to answer practical problems.

False

T/F: It is a good idea to start with a specific idea and then make that idea more general as you conduct your literature review.

False

T/F: Secondary sources must contain complete reports of research.

False

T/F: The most complete coverage of existing journals is provided by full-text databases.

False

What is the most relevant question you should ask when reading an introduction?

Is the literature review up to date?

Suppose you are looking for reliable psychological information about a specific keyword. What tool will be most effective?

PsycINFO

The database that contains brief summaries of psychology articles and information on where to find the original publication is ____________.

PsycINFO

A newspaper article discussing someone's research is an example of a ________ source.

Secondary

Which type of source summarizes information from sources of original research reports?

Secondary

Which statement is the best example of a hypothesis?

Smaller class size is related to better academic performance.

Why should a hypothesis contain a positive statement?

The scientific method assumes something does not exist unless it is prove to exist.

Which hypothesis is a problematic because it cannot be tested?

There would be less stress today if 9/11 had never occurred.

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

True

T/F: A good hypothesis should make a positive statement about the existence of a relationship, a difference, or a treatments effect.

True

T/F: A good way to come up with a research idea is to look in the discussion section of a research article, and find the discussion of ideas for future research.

True

T/F: A literature search is successfully ended when you stop uncovering new leads.

True

T/F: After reading a discussion section of a 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/F: Before searching in PsycINFO, it is wise to identify the correct subject terms for the topics you have identified.

True

T/F: Ideas for a research can come from reading a magazine.

True

T/F: Ideas for research can come from casual observation of the people around you.

True

T/F: Ideas for research can come from reading a magazine.

True

T/F: PsycINFO provides broader coverage of journals than PsycARTICLES.

True

T/F: The discussion of an APA-style research report often contains a description of the limitations of the research.

True

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

True

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

True

Which section of a research article is most likely to provide suggestions for additional research?

discussion

Which of the following words or phrases makes the best subject word for a database search?

extroverts

When you identify a gap in the literature, you _______.

have found a potential research idea

The disadvantage of full-text databases is that they contain _________.

only a fraction of the publications in an area

The procedure for indirectly measuring and defining a variable that cannot be observed or measured directly is referred to as:

operational definition

Combat veterans may be diagnosed with PTSD. You wonder about the best way to treat PTSD. This is an example of getting research ideas from ______________.

practical problems

A ________ source contains original research reports.

primary

A ____________ source contains original research reports.

primary

An empirical journal entry is an example of a ___________ source.

primary

You can safely assume that __________.

primary sources contain description of research by those who conducted it

The results section of a research article typically ________.

provides interpretation of the findings

The discussion section of a research article typically ___________.

provides interpretation of the findings.

The method section of a research article typically ___________.

provides the details of how the research was conducted.

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

reference

Your PsycINFO search has yielded several hundred articles. The most efficient next step is to _________.

scan through the titles to see which ones seem most suited to your interests.

The review of the literature in the introduction section of a research report is an example of a ____ source.

secondary

The review of the literature in the introduction section of a research report is an example of a ____________ source.

secondary

When using PsycINFO for a literature search, it is more common to enter a ________ into the database.

subject word

A student who believes that his or her performance on tests is influenced by wearing a lucky hat is using the method of ____.

tenacity

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

Research studies that are intended to answer practical problems would be classified as ____________.

applied

Finding out why clients diagnosed with schizophrenia do not consistently take their medication would be an example of __________.

applied research

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

A study that aims to modify existing psychological theory related to personality traits would be considered __________ research.

basic

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

While watching your kids play in the backyard, you get some ideas about what factors may be causing them to compete or collaborate. This is an example of getting research ideas from _______.

casual observation

What term refers to a variable that cannot be observed or measured directly but is useful for describing and explaining behavior?

construct

A new survey of depression correlates positively and strongly with two other surveys of depression. This is an example of:

convergent validity

The advantage of full-text databases is that they contain _______.

word-for-word copies of each publication.

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

deductive

The introduction section of a research article typically __________.

describes the overall purpose and rationale of the research.

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

Would different participants produce different results?

After you have scanned through a list of titles to determine which articles might be relevant to your research question, you should then read the ____________ of each article to determine whether to keep it in your literature review.

abstract

An ________ is a brief summary of a psychology article.

abstract

A good hypothesis must _______.

allow for all variables to be measured

A refutable hypothesis must ________.

allow for the possibility that the observations will not support the hypothesis

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

method

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

Intelligence is an example of an operational definition.

true

One difference between a scientific answer and answers gained by other methods is that the scientific answer is more likely to be an absolute or final answer

true

Ratio data are numerical and lack an absolute zero point.

true

A potential drawback of secondary sources is that they ____________.

typically do not contain detailed information about any specific study