RES Quiz 2 G&F chapter 6

Threats to external validity

(named in the chapter) selection bias, college student, volunteer bias, participant characteristics, species generalizations, novelty effect, multiple treatment interference, experimenter characteristics, sensitization, generality across response measures, time of measurement

research strategy

a general approach to research determined by the kind of question that the research study hopes to answer (goals/general approach)

Correlational research study

a study that measures two variables for each individual, where each variable is measured with numerical scores. Attempts to DESCRIBE the relationship, not explain it.

Participant characteristic

a study uses participants who share similar characteristics (like gender, age race ethnic identity, socioeconomic status), threat to external validity

3. A researcher measures mood for a group of participants who have listened to happy music for 20 minutes and for a second group who have listened to sad music for 20 minutes. If different mood scores are obtained for the two groups, the researcher would like to conclude that music influences mood. However, the happy music group was tested in a room painted yellow and the sad music group was in a room painted dark brown and the researcher is concerned that the room color and not the music may influence mood scores. What kind of validity is being questioned?

a. Internal validity

3. What aspect of a study is threatened if the participants are tested in one treatment condition at one time and then tested in a second treatment condition at a different time?

a. Internal validity

A research study attempts to describe the relationship between self-esteem and birth order position by measuring self-esteem for each individual in a group of first-born boys, and then comparing the results with self-esteem scores for a group of later-born boys. Which research strategy is being used?

a. Nonexperimental

1. A journal article reports that a new teaching strategy is very effective for first-grade students. A teacher wonders if the same strategy would be effective for a class of third-grade students. What is the teacher questioning?

a. The external validity of the report

1. Which of the following questions can be addressed with the descriptive strategy?

a. What is the average number of text messages that a typical adolescent sends in a month?

2. Experimental research studies tend to have very _______ internal validity but often have relatively _______ external validity.

a. high; low

Sensitization

aka assessment sensitization- the phenomena where the process of measurement can alter the participants so they react differently to treatment (threat to external validity)

Research procedure

an exact step by step description of a specific research study

Threat to external validity

any characteristic of a study that limits the ability to generalize the results from a research study (3 main- generalization from sample to general population, generalization from one research study to another, generalization from research study to real world

Threat to internal validity

any factor that allows for an alt explanation

extraneous variable

any variable in a research study other than the specific variables being studied

Experimental research strategy

attempts to answer cause and effect between two variables

3. Which of the following is a general plan for implementing a research strategy?

b. A research design

1. Cues given to participants about how they are expected to behave define which of the following terms?

b. Demand characteristics

1. Results from a research study suggest that a stop-smoking program is very successful. However, the participants who volunteered for the study were all highly motivated to quit smoking and the researcher is concerned that the same results may not be obtained for smokers who are not as motivated. What kind of validity is being questioned?

b. External validity

2. How can sensitization threaten external validity of a study?

b. The results may be limited to individuals who have experienced a pretest.

2. The degree to which your research results generalize beyond the specific characteristics of your study refers to

b. external validity.

Novelty effect

bc being in a research study is a new/fun/exciting/novel/anxiety inducing experience, participants may act or respond differently than they would in the real world (threat to external validity)

1. Which of the following describes a variable that exists in a study but is not being directly examined?

c. Extraneous

Cross-Species Generalizations

cant perfectly apply findings from rat studies to humans (threat to external validity)

Time-related variables

could be confounding variables, during the time between the first treatment condition and the final treatment condition individual participants or their scores may be influenced by factors other than the treatment (threat to internal validity)

2. A study examining the relationship between humor and memory compares memory performance scores for one group presented with humorous sentences and a second group presented with non humorous sentences. The participants in one group are primarily 8-year-old students and those in the second group are primarily 10-year-old students. In this study, age is potentially a(n) ________ variable.

d. confounding

Linear relationships

data makes a straight line

experimenter bias

experimenters expectations or personal beliefs about the study influence the findings of a study (threat to internal and external validity), fixed by a single blind and double blind experiment

artifact

external factor that may influence/distort measurements (can threaten validity and reliability, or internal and external validity)

Confounding variable

extraneous variable (usually unmonitored) that changes systematically along with the two variables being studied, provides an alt explanation for the observed relationship between the 2 variables (threat to internal validity)

Research design

general plan for implementing a research strategy. A research design specifies whether the study will involve groups or individual participants, will make comparisons within a group or between groups, and how many variables will be included

Negative relationship

increase in one variable leads to decrease in another

Positive relationship

increases in one variable lead to increases in another

Nonexperimental

intended to demonstrate a relationship between variables, but does not attempt to explain the relationship.

Descriptive research strategy

not concerned with relationships between variables but the description of individual variables. Answers questions about the current state of individual variables for a specific group of individuals

participant reactivity

occurs when participants modify their natural behavior in response to the fact that they are in a research study or the knowledge that they are being measured (threat to internal and external validity)

multiple treatment interference

participation in one condition (of a multi-condition study) may have an effect on the participant that carries in the next treatment and influences their performance or behavior (threat to external validity) (ex: fatigue, practice)

field studies

patients are less likely to know they're being observed so they'll actually act normal

subject roles

patients can assume these in a study, where they become overly cooperative or uncooperative or defensive (threat to both)

Problems with lab settings

patients know they are being studied and they may change how they act (threat to internal and external)

Participant variables

personal characteristics that can differ from one individual

curvilinear relationship

predictable relationship between two variables but the pattern is a curved line

Internal validity

produces a single, unambiguous explanation for the relationship between two variables

demand characteristics

refer to any of the potential cues/features of a study that suggests to the participants what the hypothesis/purpose is and thus influence the participants to respond/behave in a certain way (threat to internal and external validity)

Experimenter characteristics

results of a study can vary depending on the characteristics of the experimenter (like demographic characteristics or personality) (threat to external validity)

Selection bias

sampling procedure favors the selection of some individuals over others, sample does not accurately represent the population (threat to external validity)

External validity

the extent to which we can generalize the results of a research study to people, settings, times, measures and characteristics other than those used in the study

Individual differences

the individuals in a research study differ on a variety of participant variables (age, weight, eight, IQ, personality), these differences from one participant to another are individual differences (threat to internal validity)

College students

threats to external validity. Undergrads are really available and are generally favored due to ease/convenience. But they are likely to have less stable sense of self, stronger tendency to comply with authority, less stable peer relationships, and higher intelligence than non college educated adults

Quasi-experimental

uses some of the rigor/control from experimental studies, but they always have a flaw that prevents the research from obtaining an absolute cause and effect (almost experimental, but not quite)

Volunteer bias

volunteers are not perfectly representative of the general population (threat to external validity)

exaggerated variables

when the differences between treatment conditions might be exaggerated to make it sound more compelling

pretest sensitization

when the participants have increased awareness of their attitudes/behaviors, causing them to be affected differently by the treatment (threat to external validity)