Psych 295 - FINAL (Test #1 Answers)

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."

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"

Which of the following is an association claim?

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

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

Hypotheses are used to determine if a theory is accurate.

How would you adopt the mindset of a scientific reasoner?

Remaining objective as you interpret scientific data.

A Type I error is known as which of the following?

a. A false positive

What is the difference between a ratio scale of measurement and an interval scale of measurement?

a. A ratio scale of measurement has zero value that actually means "nothing" or "the absence of something" but an interval scale does not.

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

a. Abstract

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

a. Administering an anxiety questionnaire

A local committee that reviews research that is conducted on animals is known as...

a. An IACUC

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. Which of the following best describes this variable?

a. An ordinal scale of measurement

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

a. questions

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

b If a measure is valid, it is also reliable.

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:

b. "Autism treatment" and "behavioral" and enter an age range of interest.

A psychiatrist is testing a drug that treats depression. He has given the drug to all his patients, and all of them have experienced a decrease in depressive symptoms. Although this is interesting, his experience is limited because he does not have:

b. A comparison group that did not receive the drug.

Which of the following is an example of applied research?

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

Which of the following studies would probably require written informed consent?

c. A confidential study examining income level and voting behavior

Which of the following is true of variables?

c. Some variables can be either manipulated or measured.

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

d. "What research exists on this topic?" and "What research needs to be conducted to answer the question?"

Which of the following is NOT a reason that psychologists might fabricate or falsify their data?

d. A journal might require it

Which of the following is NOT possible?

d. A measure is valid but not reliable.

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

d. An abstract concept

Which of the following is an example of basic research?

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

Your friend Dominic is complain 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.

d. Criterion validity

Two biases of intuition discussed in the text are:

a. 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?

a. Bias blind spot

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?

a. Confirmation bias.

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

a. Construct validity and external validity.

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

a. Cronbach's alpha

When is it acceptable for a researcher to study only participants from a specific group, such as a researcher studying depression in a sample of Native American women?

a. If the specific group being studied especially prone to the problem being studied (e. g. if depression rates are higher in Native American women)

Why is plagiarism a violation of ethics?

a. It violates an APA standard

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

a. 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:

a. Parsimony

For her research methods class, Serena plans to interview several teachers about their attitude toward teaching children who have ADHD. This is an example of what type of measurement?

a. Self-report measurement

What makes certain constructs harder to operationalize?

a. Some constructs are difficult to observe.

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

a. The importance and accuracy of the story.

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

a. The researcher

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?

a. The researchers have the same conceptual definitions

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?

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

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

b. How well the research was conducted.

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

b. It searches only sources in psychology and related fields.

Why is it unethical to provide an incentive that is too large to refuse (for example, offering undergraduate students free tuition for a semester for participating in a study)?

b. It unduly influences people into participating

Which of the following is NOT a research claim?

b. Most drivers have reported texting while driving.

Dr. Ellison finds a reaction 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?

b. Positive association

Which of the following is true of operational definitions?

b. Some psychological concepts are more difficult to operationally define than others.

A common finding in the study of aggression is that exposure to television is associated with increased 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?

b. The criterion of temporal precedence.

In addition to being ethical violations, why are data falsification and fabrication problematic?

b. They impede scientific progress

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?

c. "The data provide support for my theory."

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

c. A good story may not be supported by data.

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

c. A measure of spirituality

Ethical decision making should be:

c. A thoughtful balance

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

c. Attending a psychological conference

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

c. Confirmation bias.

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?

c. Discussion

Another word for discriminant validity is _______ validity.

c. Divergent

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

c. Empiricism

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

c. Face validity

Elliott is double majoring in English and Psychology. He has 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?

c. 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. Darian, is an "expert" on getting into graduate school. Which of the following should make you less skeptical about his advice?

c. His recommendations are based on research he conducted for his dissertation.

What does it mean that behavioral research is probabilistic?

c. Inferences drawn from behavioral research are not expected explain all cases.

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

c. Internal; external

Which of the following is NOT an example of physiological measurement?

c. Number of panic attacks a patient reports

According to the Belmont Report, which of the following groups of people is entitled to special protection?

c. People with developmental disabilities

When conducting animal research, which guideline states that alternatives to animal research should be considered?

c. Replacement

When determining whether a study should be conducted, we have to balance which two issues?

c. The potential risks to participants vs. the value of knowledge we can gain

The need to balance the potential costs and benefits to participants taking part in a research study is done to address which principle of the Belmont Report?

c. The principle of beneficence

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

d. He must conduct an experiment.

Which types of reliability can be analyzed with scatterplots?

d. Interrater reliability and test-retest reliability

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

d. It ensures that the studies published are of the highest quality.

In considering whether research is ethical, which of the following are balanced against each other?

d. Risk to participants versus value of the knowledge gained

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?

d. The external validity of the study

The principle of justice calls for a balance between _____ and ____

d. The kind of people who participate in research; the kind of people who benefit from it

In addition to the three principles derived from the Belmont Report, which of the following two principles were added in the principles put forth by the American Psychological Association?

d. The principle of integrity and fidelity/responsibility

Hosea is studying the relationship between caffeine consumption and problem-solving ability. Which of the following is a categorical way to operationalize caffeine consumption?

d. Whether the participant drank a soda in the 24 hours prior to the study

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

d. asking, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how afraid of snakes are you?"