Psych Exam I
Which statement correctly identifies a similarity between a correlational study and the differential research design?
Both demonstrate the existence of a relation between two variables.
he coefficient of determination is ____.
C^2
Research that presents no more than minimal risk to participants and involves no intervention and no deception is an example of what type of research?
Category II
How does convenience sampling compare to probability sampling?
Convenience sampling is a faster process
A recent study reports that the more sexual content that adolescents watch on TV, the more likely they were to engage in sexual behaviors. However, it is unclear whether the sexual content on TV leads to sexual behavior or whether sexual behavior leads to a preference for sexual content on TV. This is an example of the third-variable problem.
False
All experiments must have either a no-treatment control group or a placebo control group.
False
Demonstrating that scores from a new measurement procedure are related to scores from an established measure of the same construct is called convergent validity.
False
Differential research is an example of the quasi-experimental research strategy.
False
One safeguard against fraud is review by the IRB.
False
Research studies consistently demonstrate that debriefing participants effectively eliminates the problems caused by deception.
False
Simple random sampling guarantees that the sample will be representative of the population.
False
Stratified random sampling and quota sampling are both classified in the category of probability sampling techniques.
False
Suppose there is a correlation of +0.87 between the length of time a person is in prison and the amount of aggression the person displays on a psychological inventory. This means that spending a longer amount of time in prison causes people to become more aggressive.
False
The concept of nonequivalent groups means that the number of participants is different from one group to another.
False
The goal of the correlational research strategy is demonstrate a cause-and-effect relation between two variables.
False
The initial version of the APA ethics code was known as the Belmont Report.
False
When the data for a correlational study consists of one or more scores that are not numerical values, the relation between the variables cannot be evaluated.
False
individuals who score low on one variable also tend to score low on another variable. This is an example of a negative relation between variables.
False
The manipulated variable in an experiment is the ____ variable.
Independent
A study is ____ if it produces only one explanation for the results.
Internally valid
Which characteristic is necessary for an extraneous variable to become a confounding variable?
It must change systematically when the independent variable is changed
Dr. Cummings conducts an experiment on memory using participants above the age of 65. All people above the age of 65 would make up the ____.
Population
What kind of sampling technique requires that you can get a list of all the individuals in the population?
Probability
Determining a person's reaction time (in milliseconds) would involve measurement on a(n) ____ scale of measurement.
Ratio
Which pair of variables should produce a negative relation?
Speed of running a race
Which statement accurately describes the relationship between accessible populations and target populations?
The target population is also sometimes known simply as the population.
Although some forms of deception are allowed, a researcher cannot deceive participants about potential risk in the study.
True
An artifact such as demand characteristics can threaten both the internal and the external validity of a research study.
True
Any factor that limits the ability to generalize the results of a research study to different populations or different environments is a threat to external validity.
True
For a positive correlation, decreases in X tend to be accompanied by decreases in Y.
True
If you cannot list all the individuals in the population, then you cannot take a simple random sample.
True
It is possible for a sample to have a real, non-zero correlation, even though the correlation for the general population is zero.
True
One advantage of simple random sampling with replacement is that the likelihood of selecting one specific individual does not depend on which other individuals are selected for the sample.
True
Operational definitions are necessary to convert hypothetical constructs into observable variables.
True
Results from a research study indicate that athletes who were given an electrolyte drink had better endurance scores on a treadmill task than athletes who were given water. For this study, the independent variable is water versus electrolyte drink.
True
The most commonly used sampling methods in psychology are nonprobability sampling methods.
True
The purpose of the correlational research strategy is to describe the relation between two variables and measure its strength.
True
To determine how much difference there is between two individuals with respect to some characteristic, you must use either an interval or a ratio scale of measurement.
True
When a researcher does not know the exact number of individuals in the population, it is necessary to use a nonprobability sampling method.
True
Whenever an operational definition is used for a hypothetical construct, the question of reliability is important to consider.
True
Which question can be addressed with a purely descriptive strategy?
What is the average number of text messages that a typical adolescent sends in a month?
If people score high on one measure and score low on another measure, there is ____
a negative relation between the two measures
Which example violates the ethical guidelines concerning deception?
administering shocks without giving participants advanced warning and obtaining consent
If a researcher finds that room color influences mood of the adults in a sample, then the researcher would like to conclude that room color affects the mood of ____.
adults in general
The Milgram study involved ____.
asking participants to administer what appeared to be severe shocks to other people
Which type of validity requires multiple research studies, usually conducted over a long period of time?
construct
The most commonly used sampling method in psychological research is probably ____ sampling
convenience
A method for nonprobability sampling is ____
convenience sampling
A researcher recruits a sample of 25 preschool children for a research study by posting an announcement in a local daycare center describing the study and offering a $10 payment for participation. What kind of sampling is the researcher using?
convenience sampling
A researcher determines the amount of sleep for each child by interviewing the children's parents. Then the researcher watches the children in the classroom to obtain measurements of their level of attention. The researcher hopes to demonstrate that amount of sleep is related to attention level. This researcher is using a ____ research strategy.
correlational
A researcher watches children on a playground to obtain measurements of their level of activity. Then the researcher watches the children's caregivers on the playground to obtain measurements of their level of verbal reprimanding of children. The researcher hopes to demonstrate that the caregiver's verbal reprimanding is related to children's activity level. This researcher is using a ____ research strategy.
correlational
Although the intent of informed consent is to provide participants with complete information about a research study before they agree to participate, this is sometimes impossible because ____
deception may be an important part of the research
Dr. Hines is interested in studying how indoor lighting can influence people's moods during the winter. A sample of 100 households is selected. Fifty of the homes are randomly assigned to the bright-light condition where Dr. Hones replaces all the lights with 100-watt bulbs. In the other 50 houses, all the lights are changed to 60-watt bulbs. After two months, Dr. Hines measures the level of depression for the people living in the houses. In this example, the level of depression is the ____ variable.
dependent
A confounding variable is a variable that influences the ____.
dependent variable and varies systematically with the independent variable
Which statement accurately describes what is evaluated by differential research?
differences in scores between preexisting groups of participants
A researcher would like to examine the relation between self-esteem and academic performance for high school students. This researcher could use a correlational study or a(n) ____.
differential study comparing academic performance scores for a group of high self-esteem students and a group of low self-esteem students.
A negative value for a correlation indicates ____.
increases in X tend to be accompanied by decreases in Y
The manipulated variable in an experiment is the ____ variable.
independent
In a scatter plot, each ____.
individual is represented by a single point
Deception is in direct contradiction with which element of the following ethical guidelines?
informed consent
A defining characteristic of the correlational study is that the ____.
intent is to demonstrate the relation between variables
A researcher who is studying methods of decreasing test anxiety decides to measure anxiety in a group of volunteers both before and after an experimental intervention. He finds that anxiety levels are lower after the intervention. However, when reviewing his results, the researcher notes that the first test occurred about a week before midterm exams and the second test occurred two weeks after the exams. This study appears to have a problem with ____.
internal validity
The ____ of a research study is concerned with factors in the study that raise doubts about the interpretation of the results.
internal validity
The specific treatment conditions that are used in an experiment are called the ____.
levels of the independent variable
A Pearson correlation of r = +0.9 indicates that a graph of the data would show points ____.
lustered close to a line that slopes up to the right
In an experiment comparing two treatments, the researcher assigns participants to treatment conditions so that each condition has 15 seven-year-old children and 10 eight-year-old children. For this study, what method is being used to control participant age?
matching
A measurement procedure is valid if it ____.
measures what you intend it to measure
As the values for one variable increase from one person to another, the values for a second variable tend to decrease. This is an example of a(n) ____ relation.
negative
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
Dr. Kim varies the amount of caffeine given to three groups of participants (0, 100, and 200 mg) and then observes the anxiety level for each group. The 0-mg condition represents the ____ group.
no-treatment control
A researcher compares preexisting groups of individuals in which type of study?
nonequivalent group design
By "design name alone" which of the following designs implies individuals are not randomly assigned to treatment group?
nonequivalent group design
A research study begins by separating a sample of 20-year-old women into two groups: a high Facebook use group and a low Facebook use group. A score measuring happiness is then obtained for each woman. The study intends to determine whether there is a relation between Facebook use and happiness. This study is an example of the ____ research strategy.
nonexperimental
Using number of facial smiles in a 60-second period as a definition and a measurement of happiness, is an example of ____ happiness.
operationalizing
A problem with nonequivalent group designs is that any differences found could be explained by differences in
participant characteristics
The APA ethical guidelines ____.
permit research using either active or passive deception
The results from a research study indicate that adolescents who watch more sexual content on television also tend to engage in more sexual behavior that their peers. The correlation between amount of TV sexual content and amount of sexual behavior is an example of a ____.
positive correlation
In nonexperimental and quasi-experimental studies, different groups or conditions are defined in terms of ____.
pre-existing participant variables or time
A researcher introduces a new mathematics program in one school district and uses a neighboring district as a no-treatment control group. Before the program begins, the students in both districts are given a standardized mathematics test. After the program is in place for six months, the students are tested again and the researcher compares the before and after scores for the two groups. This research study is classified as ____.
quasi-experimental
Which research strategy attempts to address questions about cause-and-effect relations but fails to produce an unambiguous answer because the study contains a flaw?
quasi-experimental
A researcher wants to obtain a sample of 30 preschool children consisting of 10 two-year-old children, 10 three-year-old, and 10 four-year-old children. Assuming that the children are obtained from local daycare centers, this researcher should use ____ sampling.
quota
If each person in a large group has an equal chance of being included in an experiment, then the researcher is using ____ sampling.
random
One way to detect fraud in research is to ____
replicate the study
When a sample has the same characteristics as the target population, the sample is said to be a(n) ____ sample.
representative
Dr. Garza conducts an experiment on memory using participants above the age of 65. Because she cannot include all people above the age of 65, she will select what is known as a ____.
sample
Using an anonymous questionnaire to determine how many times students send or receive text messages during class is an example of using what modality of measurement?
self-report
A researcher develops a 20-question test to measure anxiety and administers it to a group of participants. To evaluate the reliability of the test, the researcher computes a summary score for the first 10 questions and a summary score for the last 10 questions for each participant and then computes the correlation between the two scores. What is the researcher measuring?
split-half reliability
A strategy for reducing experimenter bias is to ____.
standardize the experiment
A researcher would like to examine the political attitudes for students at a local university. The researcher will evaluate a sample of 200 students but would like to be sure that the ages and genders of individuals in the sample accurately represent the ages and genders for the entire student body at the university. What would be the best sampling method for the researcher to use?
stratified random sampling
A sample consists of 25 freshmen, 25 sophomores, 25 juniors, and 25 seniors from a local high school that has an equal number of students in each class. If the sample was obtained using a list of all the students in the high school, it is probably an example of ____ sampling. If the sample was obtained without a list of students, it is likely an example of ____ sampling.
stratified random; quota
A professor teaching an introductory psychology class of 200 obtains a sample of 25 students by selecting every eighth name from the class list. The professor is using ____ sampling.
systematic
Which correlation is appropriate for measuring the relation between gender (male/female) and performance on a task (success/failure)?
the phi-coefficient
One criticism of a stratified random sample is that ____.
the sample may not be representative of the population
The major advantage of a simple random sample is that it ensures that ____.
the selection procedure is unbiased although its outcome may be biased
What additional information is obtained by measuring on an interval scale as compared to an ordinal scale?
the size of the differences
If a study finds that there is a strong relation between two variables, this means that ____.
there is a relation between the variables but causality has not been established
In an experiment, a confounding variable is a(n) ____.
threat to internal validity
A Pearson correlation of r = +0.25 indicates that a graph of the data would show points ____.
widely scattered around a line that slopes up to the right
Passive deception refers to ____.
withholding information from participants
