Research Methods
A CONSTRUCT
A hypothetical attribute or mechanism that helps explain and predict behavior is a:
Select a strategy
Decide on the general approach
DATA How data are analyzed
How _____ are analyzed
REPORTED How results are reported.
How results are _____
PsycINFO®
In psychology, what is the definitive source for abstracts?
CEILING EFFECT When the range is restricted at the high end, the problem is a ceiling effect, where the measurements bump into a ceiling and can go no higher.
Scores are clustered at the high end of the measure.
EXTERNAL VALIDITY
The extent to which the results of an experiment can be generalized to other settings, people, times, or measures is referred to as:
APPLIED RESEARCH Because Virginia's research is intended to answer practical questions about service dog-handler teams.
Virginia, a graduate student in psychology, is an accomplished dog trainer. She is fascinated by how service dogs can help people with PTSD and other psychiatric disorders and conducts research on the characteristics of successful service dog-handler teams. Which of the following best describes this research?
Compare treatments when there is uncertainty about which treatment is best. The basic concept of clinical equipoise is that clinicians have an ethical responsibility to provide the best possible treatment for their patients. However, many research studies evaluate and compare different treatment options by randomly assigning patients to different treatments. The solution to this dilemma is to conduct studies that compare only equally preferred treatments, such as when a researcher has honest uncertainty about which treatment is best.
What is one solution to the dilemma of clinical equipoise?
LAW OF LARGE NUMBERS
What law represents the observation that a large sample is probably more representative than a small sample is of the population?
Respect, beneficence, and justice The Belmont Report identifies three basic principles: (1) the principle of respect for persons requires that individuals should consent to participate in studies; (2) the principle of beneficence requires that the researcher maximize possible benefits to participants, minimize risks to participants, and not harm the participants; and (3) the principle of justice requires fairness in procedures for selecting participants.
What three basic principles regarding the protection of human subjects are identified in the Belmont Report?
BENEFITS
You may learn more about your food intake.
COSTS AND ECONOMIC CONSIDERATIONS
You will be paid $15 in cash.
ACCESSIBLE POPULATION
consists of those individuals who can reasonably be recruited for participation in the research.
DOUBLE-BLIND A research study is double-blind if both the researcher and the participants are unaware of the predicted outcome.
A ____ research study occurs when neither the researcher nor the participants know the predicted outcome.
CONTROL ACTIVITY
Ensuring that the observed relationship is not contaminated by the influence of other variables
APPLIED RESEARCH.
Research that is intended to answer practical questions is called
MEASURES
Ruth has developed an intervention for overweight children and their families. She assesses her intervention at the end of its 12 weeks of classes and finds that the children and their parents have increased knowledge of nutrition and report healthier eating habits.
EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
Sebastian is interested in the relationship between caloric intake and emotional arousal. He randomly assigns his research participants to one of three treatment conditions—high, medium, or low emotional arousal. Sebastian has all participants play a simple arcade-style computer game and varies emotional arousal by having frequent distracting interruptions (high), occasional distracting interruptions (medium), or no distracting interruptions (low). He then has them wait alone for five minutes with access to carefully premeasured snacks before thanking them for their participation and allowing them to leave. He calculates the calories consumed based on the amount of food left and compares the amount of food consumed by each of the groups.
Find an idea
Select a topic and review the literature.
A CONVENIENCE SAMPLE
Selection bias is especially concerning when using:
NOMINAL SCALE
The categories of which scale represent qualitative, not quantitative differences? Ratio
The results of quantitative research are usually NUMERICAL SCORES that can be summarized, analyzed, and interpreted using standard statistical procedures
The primary distinction between quantitative and qualitative research is that quantitative research typically:
FACE VALIDITY
The simplest and least scientific type of validity is ____ validity.
INDUCTION involves reasoning from a small set of observations to a larger set of possible observations
Tim watches a well-known "reality" competition for designers and based on his observations of the contestants, concludes that the fashion designers are prone to artificially coloring their hair and wearing long, flowy tops. Time is engaging in:
RESEARCH DESIGNS which research designs may be used with certain populations and behaviors
What _____ may be used
OUTCOME RESEARCH
What type of research simply investigates the effectiveness of a treatment without attempting to investigate why the treatment is effective?
using INDUCTION
or reasoning from his small number of observations to a larger generalization.
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE In an experiment, the independent variable is the variable manipulated by the researcher. In behavioral research, the independent variable usually consists of two or more treatment conditions to which participants are exposed.
variable that is manipulated
PRIMARY A first-hand report in which the authors describe their own observations is called a primary source.
A first-hand report in which the authors describe their own observations is a
BEHAVIORAL MEASURE constructs often reveal themselves in overt behaviors that can be observed and measured. The behaviors may be completely natural events such as laughing, playing, eating, sleeping, arguing, or speaking. Or the behaviors may be structured, as when a researcher measures performance on a designated task. Behavioral measures provide researchers with a vast number of options, making it possible to select the behavior(s) that seems to be best for defining and measuring the construct.
A measure such as what performance-related tasks an individual is willing to perform (plan a public talk, accept an invitation to give a talk, go into the auditorium where a talk would be given, and so on) is a
POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP
A relationship which one variable increases, the other also increases.
The kind of question the research hopes to answer
A research strategy is determined by:
FIELD STUDY
A research study conducted in the natural environment is a:
MANIPULATES
A researcher_____one or more variables to create the treatment condition(s).
THREAT TO EXTERNAL VALIDITY A threat to external validity is any characteristic of a study that limits the ability to generalize the results from a research study.
A study of attitudes toward organic foods conducted with a wealthy, well-educated urban sample
THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY A threat to internal validity is any factor that allows for an alternative explanation.
A study of emotional arousal in which research assistants are sloppy about how they implement the treatment conditions
THREAT TO EXTERNAL VALIDITY A threat to external validity is any characteristic of a study that limits the ability to generalize the results from a research study.
A study of memory function conducted with introductory psychology students
A CONFOUNDING VARIABLE
A variable that changes systematically along with the two variables being studied is most accurately termed
EXTRANEOUS VARIABLE Extraneous variables are all variables in the study other than the independent and dependent variables.
A variable that is neither manipulated nor is the outcome measure
Informed consent should be obtained using reasonably understood language. When psychologists conduct research, they obtain informed consent of the individual using language that is reasonably understandable to that person except when conducting such activities without consent.
According to the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA 2002, 2010), what characterizes informed consent?
You want to learn more about
According to your text, the key to finding a good research idea is to find a topic that:
MANIPULATION ACTIVITY
Addressing the issue of directionality
DECLARATION OF HELSINKI A similar set of ethical guidelines, known as the Declaration of Helsinki, was adopted by the World Medical Association in 1964 and provides an international set of ethical principles for medical research involving humans
Adopted by the World Medical Association
A HYPOTHESIS
After watching several social media debates quickly devolve into name calling, Hayden develops
NEGATIVISTIC SUBJECT ROLE The negativistic subject role: These participants have identified the hypothesis of the study and are trying to act contrary to the investigator's hypothesis.
Albert really resents having to participate in research as a part of the course requirements for an introductory psychology course. Accordingly, when he believes he has figured out what the hypothesis is, he deliberately tries to behave in a contrary way.
MANIPULATION CHECK
An additional measure used to determine how research participants perceive and interpret the treatment condition is called a:
Influences the dependent variable
An extraneous variable becomes a confounding variable only if it:
CONTROL An important characteristic of an experiment is the control of variables other than the dependent and independent variables.
An important characteristic of an experiment is the ____ of variables other than the dependent and independent variables.
THREAT TO INTERNAL VALIDITY A threat to internal validity is any factor that allows for an alternative explanation.
An observational study of children's reactions to an individual who is upset, in which the observers are not well-trained on the use of the rating scale
Reasoning things through logically is a characteristic of the method of RATIONALISM
Angela likes to try to reason things out and often creates list of pros and cons to aid her in making decisions. Angela is using the method of:
DEPENDENT VARIABLE he outcome measure is also called the dependent variable.
Another term for the outcome measure is the ____dependent variable.
FAITHFUL SUBJECT ROLE The faithful subject role: These participants attempt to follow instructions to the letter and avoid acting on any suspicions they have about the purpose of the study. Two types of participants take on this role: those who want to help science and know they should not allow their suspicions to enter into their responses, and those who are simply apathetic and do not give the study much thought.
Bill has just been diagnosed with dementia and, while the disease is in the early stages, he consents to being part of a longitudinal study of persons with dementia. He believes that if he can help science by being in the research, at least something good will come from his having the disease.
CORRELATIONAL DESIGN
Brittney is interested in the relationship between caloric intake and emotional arousal. She creates a carefully measured array of attractive snack foods. Brittney allows participants to eat as much of various snacks as they want while completing a written measure of emotional arousal. She then calculates the calories they consumed based on the amount of food that is left and looks at the relationship between the amount of calories each participant consumed and his or her emotional arousal score.
Intuition
Caitlyn is faced with the choice of which of two apartments she should rent. Both have similar costs, locations, size, and amenities, so she finally decides to rent the one that just feels right to her.
HOLDING CONSTANT By ensuring that all individuals have similar levels of education, Cameron is trying to control the effects of education by holding it constant.
Cameron is concerned that parental education may have an impact on his study of improving parent-child interactions, so he includes only parents with an undergraduate degree. What method of control is Cameron using?
STUDY
Charley wants to be as time- and cost-effective as possible in his study of learning, so rather than bringing his participants back for several, shorter sessions, he puts his participants through an 11-hour day packed with tasks and tests.
AN EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN Random assignment to groups is one of the hallmarks of an experimental design.
Chloe believes that various cognitive techniques like "thought stopping," in which individuals consciously tell themselves to "stop" when they think negative thoughts, may help students who have test anxiety. She recruits 50 students with test anxiety, has everyone complete a test-anxiety assessment, randomly assigns participants to a treatment group that is taught thought stopping or a control group that meets for a discussion of student life, and after midterm exams, readministers the test-anxiety assessment. This is best described as
Form a hypothesis
Come up with a tentative answer.
The method of faith is a variant of the method of AUTHORITY.
Deeply religious individuals may defer to their religious leaders for all types of decision, including those that seem unrelated to religion. This method of acquiring knowledge, called the "method of faith, a variant of which method?
FIELD STUDY
Demand characteristics will be minimized in which setting?
CONCURRENT VALIDITY the validity of a new measurement is established by demonstrating that the scores obtained from the new measurement technique are directly related to the scores obtained from another, better-established procedure for measuring the same variable. This is called concurrent validity.
Demonstration that the score on the new measure of a construct is related to the score on an established measure of the same construct
DIVERGENT VALIDITY Divergent validity involves measuring one specific construct and not combining two different constructs in the same measurement process. The goal is to differentiate between two conceptually distinct constructs by measuring both constructs and then showing that there is little or no relationship between the two measurements.
Demonstration that there is little or no relationship between the measurements of two different constructs
NUREMBERG CODE The Nuremburg Code was developed in response to the atrocities committed in experiments by Nazi doctors and laid the groundwork for the ethical standards that are in place today for both psychological and medical research.
Developed in response to Nazi atrocities
PARTICIPANT
Don sometimes wonders why he keeps doing research with adolescents because it often seems as though they pay very little attention when completing the rating scales involved in his work. Don is concerned that their inattention will introduce ____ error.
INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES THREAT
Donna assigns her research participants to groups based on their scores on a pretest. However, she finds that in addition to differing on their pretest scores, the groups differ in their age and educational attainment as well.
1. Reference citations must be included if someone else's work has merely influenced your own. 2. Researchers may commit fraud because of the pressures to "publish or perish." 3. The process of peer review involves carefully scrutinizing every aspect of research from justification to data analysis.
Dr. Hernandez addresses the issue of research misconduct in her info session to introductory psychology students, who are candidates for a number of research studies at her university. A researcher at a nearby university has recently been accused of misconduct, so this topic has garnered significant press. Dr. Hernandez wants to share some insights with her students with regard to the publication process. Which of the following are accurate statements about the publication process that Dr. Hernandez might share with her students? Check all that apply.
CONTROL ACTIVITY
Eliminating confounding variables
CEILING EFFECTS Ceiling effects occur when scores on a measure are already so high that there is little room for them to get higher.
Eric studies stress among family members who care for individuals with dementia. He has recently undertaken a study examining the impact of unemployment on caregivers. He recognizes that their stress levels are likely to increase and worries that many of the participants in his research already had such high levels of stress that he will simply be unable to detect increases associated with unemployment. What is Eric concerned about?
PRETEST SENSITIZATION Pretest sensitization refers to the possibility that the pretest itself will have an impact on behavior and response to the experimental manipulation.
Fergie is studying how children whose siblings have been diagnosed with cancer deal with the anxiety that comes with that diagnosis. She has developed an arts and crafts-based intervention that she believes will help the siblings process their feelings. Before the program starts, she administers an assessment of illness-associated anxiety and concerns. In doing so, she has introduced the possibility that the questions she asks will cause some of the youngsters to become more aware of their concerns. This is referred to as:
Critical reading
Finding an answered research question is often the results of:
The cause must occur before the effect For cause and effect to be demonstrated, the cause must occur before the effect.
For cause and effect to be demonstrated:
MEDLINE provides the authoritative medical information on medicine.
Frank wants to learn more about the biology of Alzheimer's disease. His best choice for a literature review would be:
APPREHENSIVE SUBJECT ROLE The apprehensive subject role: These participants are overly concerned that their performance in the study will be used to evaluate their abilities or personal characteristics. They try to place themselves in a desirable light by responding in a socially desirable fashion instead of truthfully
Gary is participating in a study of teen fathers and, while originally enthusiastic, he is becoming increasingly concerned that what he does in the research setting will somehow be used to judge his fitness as a father.
ENVIRONMENT THREAT
Gordon is conducting a memory study that consists of two treatment conditions. All goes well on the first day when he is working with the first treatment condition. However, on the second day, violent thunderstorms descend when he is working with the second treatment condition.
FIELD STUDY APPROACH Field study is research conducted in a place that the participant or subject perceives as a natural environment.
Graham wants to understand how arguments escalate among adolescents. He goes to the food court of a large local mall, sits near tables with teens, and unobtrusively observes. He is using a
MATCHING ON AGE Control over an extraneous variable can also be exercised by matching the levels of the variable across treatment conditions.
He makes sure that for every person of a given age in the experimental group, there is a person in the comparison group of the same age, meaning he is
INTER-RATER Inter-rater reliability is the degree of agreement between two observers who simultaneously record measurements of the behaviors.
Holly is developing an assessment of disordered eating. Part of Holly's assessment of disordered eating involves having trained individuals observe and score the behavior of individuals who may have disordered eating. Holly trains two individuals and has them both observe and score the same videos of individuals selecting and consuming food. Holly is assessing ____ reliability. Parallel forms
TEST-RETEST Test-retest reliability is established by comparing the scores obtained from two successive measurements of the same individuals and calculating a correlation between the two sets of scores.
Holly is developing an assessment of disordered eating. She asks the same group of individuals to complete her instrument on two separate occasions. Holly is assessing ____ reliability.
SELECTED how researchers select individuals to participate in studies
How subjects are _____
Select a design
Identify methods and procedures.
improves performance on memory tests Teaching memory strategies (external stimulus) alters information processing (construct) and improves performance on memory tests (external behavior).
Identify the external behavior in the following scenario: Teaching elderly individuals to use memory strategies alters their information processing and improves performance on memory tests.
Reminder text messages In this scenario, providing reminder text messages (external stimulus) increased studying time (external behavior) via awareness.
Identify the external stimulus in the following scenario: In an evaluation of methods for improving studying, providing reminder text messages was found to increase awareness of study methods and increase studying time.
MANIPULATION ACTIVITY
Identifying the specific values of the independent variable to be examined and then creating a set of treatment conditions corresponding to the set of identified values
RANDOMIZING Randomization is the use of a random process to help avoid a systematic relationship between two variables.
If he uses a process to help him avoid any systematic relationship between age and group, he is
PHYSIOLOGICAL MEASURE A second option for measuring a construct is to look at the physiological manifestations of the underlying construct. Fear, for example, reveals itself by increased heart rate and perspiration (measured by galvanic skin response, GSR).
If she uses a measure such as heart rate or galvanic skin response, she is using a
QUESTIONS AND FURTHER INFORMATION
If you have any questions about this study, you may contact Professor Brown at [email protected] or 555-555-1212.
HYPOTHESIS
In a context of science, a statement that describes or explains a relationship between or among variables is called?
The primary distinction between science and pseudoscience is based on the notion of testable and refutable hypotheses - ENGAGING IN PSEUDOSCIENCE
In a recent debate about a sometimes controversial theory, Debater A was able to list observations that would cause her to modify the theory that Debater B supported, while Debater B said nothing would cause him to change his views. This suggest that Debater B is:
INFORMED CONSENT In any study involving deception, the principle of informed consent is compromised because participants are not given complete and accurate information. In these situations, a researcher has a special responsibility to safeguard the participants.
In a study involving deception, which APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct principle is most compromised?
A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
In an effort to reduce underage drinking, Student Life offers no-cost, alcohol-free weekend events in two of the university's four undergraduate dormitories. At the end of the semester, the number of incidents related to underage drinking has gone down at both dorms, but the decrease was much greater at the dorms with the special events. This is best described as
Identifying the values to be examined Manipulation of a variable starts with identifying the values to be examined.
In an experiment, manipulation of a variable starts with:
CONTROL All variables except the treatment condition(s) are controlled so they do not influence the outcome.
In an experiment, researchers_____ all other variables except the treatment condition(s).
PREMISE STATEMENTS
In logical reasoning what statement is facts or assumptions that are presumed to be true?
THEORY in the behavioral sciences, a theory is a set of statements about the mechanisms underlying a particular behavior. Theories help organize and unify different observations of the behavior and its relationship with other variables. A good theory generates predictions about the behavior.
In psychology, a ___is a set of statements about the mechanisms underlying a particular behavior,
An error is an honest mistake. An error is an honest mistake that occurs in the research process. There are, unfortunately, many opportunities for errors to be made in research—for example, in collecting data, scoring measures, entering data into the computer, and publication typesetting.
In the context of a research study, how does error differ from fraud?
MILGRAM STUDY Examples of the questionable treatment of human participants have been found in behavioral research. The most commonly cited example is the Milgram obedience study (Milgram 1963). Milgram instructed participants to use electric shocks to punish other individuals when they made errors during a learning task. In fact, no shocks were used in the study (the "shocked" individuals were pretending); however, the participants (those who administered the shocks) believed that they were inflicting real pain and suffering. Although the participants in Milgram's study sustained no physical harm, they suffered shame and embarrassment for having behaved inhumanely toward their fellow human beings.
Incorporated deception in instructing participants to use electric shocks to punish other individuals when they made errors during a learning task
NOVELTY EFFECT
Individuals participating in an experiment may perceive and respond differently than they would in the normal, real world. This is referred to as the
TUSKEGEE STUDY In 1963, for example, it was revealed that unsuspecting patients had been injected with live cancer cells (Katz 1972). In 1972, a newspaper report exposed a Public Health Service study, commonly referred to as the Tuskegee study, in which nearly 400 men had been left to suffer with syphilis long after a cure (penicillin) was available. The study began as a short-term investigation to monitor untreated syphilis but continued for 40 years just so the researchers could examine the final stages of the disease (Jones 1981)
Involved the deliberate withholding of the cure for syphilis, even when a cure became available
Ami has been diagnosed with early skin cancer. She goes to the website of the National Cancer Institute to see what kinds of treatment have been shown to be effective by randomized clinical trials.
Is it science or pseudoscience? Review the statements and check those that represent science. Check all that apply.
POPULATION
Is the large group of interest to the researcher.
PLAGIARISM
Is the unethical representation of someone else's ideas or words as one's own.
Basing decisions on what is right or wrong is relying on INTUITION
Jan decides to play the lottery because she just feels like it is her day to win so she picks the numbers based on those that feel right. Jan is relying on which of the following?
Relying on one's own sensory input involves relying on the method of EMPIRICISM
Jared relies on looking out the window to decide what the day's weather will be like. Jared is relying on which method?
Rationalism
Jina likes to weigh things out before making decisions. She is prone to creating lists of pros and cons and making choices on the basis of reasoning things out.
CASUAL OBSERVATION. Watching the behavior of people you encounter in your everyday life can be an excellent source for research ideas.
Joel volunteers with a food bank and has noticed that some individuals become more comfortable with repeat visits, while others seem to become increasingly uncomfortable and anxious on repeat visits. He comes to realize that those who become more comfortable with the process are often employed but have low pay, while those who become increasingly uncomfortable are often unemployed and have been unable to find new jobs. This illustrates finding a research idea through:
PARTCIPANTS
Jon conducts his studies of child-rearing practices at the onsite daycare for office workers at a software-development company and generalizes his results to all parents.
ERIC provides access to educational resources and literature.
Jules is conducting a literature review on academic achievement among children who are homeless. Her best choice for a literature review would be:
GOOD SUBJECT ROLE The good subject role: These participants have identified the hypothesis of the study and are trying to produce responses that support the investigator's hypothesis.
Julie is participating in a study of moral reasoning. She believes she has figured out what the hypothesis is and tries to respond in ways that will support that hypothesis.
PsycARTICLES®
Karla is conducting a literature review on children's moral development. She has progressed to the point where she wants to read the journal articles, not simply the abstracts. Her best choice would be:
NEGATIVISTIC SUBJECT Negativistic subjects have identified the hypothesis of the study and are trying to act contrary to the investigator's hypothesis.
Lauren is not happy about the requirement that introductory psychology students participate in research, so when she does participate, she tries to figure out what the researcher hopes to demonstrate and sets out to do the exact opposite. What "role" is Lauren playing?
MATCHING Matching involves making groups as similar as possible with respect to potential confounders.
Lauren is studying ways to improve communication in families in which there is a child with severe mental illness. Lauren then selects her control group to be as like her experimental group as possible, with the exception that the children in the control group do not have a severe mental illness. What method of control is Lauren using?
A NONEXPERIMENTAL DESIGN A nonexperimental design involves two or more groups but does not attempt to infer causality.
Lee is interested in the development of children's social skills and believes that being in daycare may help children develop their social skills. He has observers rate children's social behavior on playgrounds and finds that children who are in daycare differ from children who are not in daycare. This is best described as
EXPERIMENTER BIAS When the characteristics of the experimenter alter the outcomes, experimenter bias has occurred.
Lennie develops a therapeutic intervention for children who have witnessed domestic violence incidents. Aware that her own passion about the issue might affect outcomes, she trains her most senior graduate students to perform the intervention when it is tested. Lennie is trying to avoid:
QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
Malorie is interested in the relationship between caloric intake and emotional arousal. She has participants complete a questionnaire while waiting alone with a carefully premeasured buffet of attractive snacks and then calculates caloric intake by the food that is left. One of the questions asks participants to indicate, with a yes or no response, whether they consider themselves to be emotional. Malorie compares the amount of calories consumed by people who consider themselves to be emotional to the amount of food consumed by people who do not consider themselves to be emotional.
SELF-REPORT MEASURE One option for measuring, or operationalizing, performance anxiety is to ask each participant to describe or to quantify her own fear. The primary advantage of a self-report measure is that it is probably the most direct way to assess a construct.
Margie is studying performance anxiety. If she measures anxiety by asking her research participants to rate their own anxiety, she is using a
Tenacity
Marta assures her friend Sara, who is 41 weeks pregnant and enduring a miserably hot, humid summer, with no sign of the baby being ready to be born, that everyone knows eating a salad made with spinach, blackberries, and walnuts will stimulate labor.
INTER-RATER RELIABILITY Inter-rater reliability is the degree of agreement between two observers who simultaneously record measurements of the behaviors.
Measured by computing the correlation between the scores from the two observers or by computing a percentage of agreement between the two observers
CONSTRUCT VALIDITY Demonstrating that measurements of a variable behave in exactly the same way as the variable itself establishes the construct validity of the measurement procedure
Measurements of a variable behave the same way as the variable itself
ORDINAL SCALE Measurements on an ordinal scale allow a researcher to make a determination of whether two individuals differ and the direction of the difference but do not allow a determination of the magnitude of the difference.
Measurements on which scale allow a researcher to make a determination of whether two individuals differ and the direction of the difference but do not allow a determination of the magnitude of the difference?
CURIOSITY. Many research topics are selected based on the researcher's interests and concerns.
Michele is very interested in how families change when a child is diagnosed with cancer, and she decides to learn more about the topic through research. Your text would describe this as picking a research topic based on:
PARTICIPANTS
Mila studies social behavior in nonhuman primates and generalizes her results to humans.
Reasoning from the general to the specific is DEDUCTION
Nina is about to start chemotherapy for cancer. She is aware that chemotherapy can cause vomiting and diarrhea, and therefore reasons that she, too will experience voting and diarrhea. Which of the following describes Nina's reasoning?
SPLIT-HALF RELIABILITY split-half reliability is obtained by splitting the items on a questionnaire or test in half, computing a separate score for each half, and then calculating the degree of consistency between the two scores for a group of participants.
Obtained by dividing the items on a questionnaire or test in half, computing a separate score for each half, and then calculating the degree of consistency between the two scores for a group of participants
Using DEDUCTION
On the other hand, Lindsay, who has observed the same debates, reasons from a general proposition about methods of persuasion to try to understand the interactions,
The process of repeating experiments is called REPLICATION
Peggy is fascinated by the patterns between diet and behavior in children. She is surprised to learn that, when several researchers tried to repeat a small study of the impact of gluten- and casein-free diet on the behavior of children with autism, they found the diet failed to produce statistically significant behavioral changes. This process of repeating experiments is known as:
OBSERVER Observer error occurs when the individual making the measurements introduces human error.
Peter's job is to watch videos of children interacting with other children and estimate the physical distances between the children. If Peter is simply not good at estimating distances, ____ error will be introduced.
STUDY
Quincy adores doing research with children and often chats and plays with the children in ways unrelated to the research while data are being collected.
HOLDING CONSTANT THE CONFOUNDING VARIABLE An extraneous variable can be eliminated completely by holding it constant
Richard believes that age may confound the results of his experiment. If he chooses to study only one age group, he is____
Advertisers often rely on famous individuals to endorse products, thus using the method of AUTHORITY
Russell is shopping for a new car, and when he walks into the showroom, he notices huge monitors playing endorsements by famous athletes. Russell recognizes that reliance on the method of___ is a common advertising ploy.
Relying on a perceived expert for information a is a characteristic of the method of AUTHORITY
Sara relies on news from a network known to have extremely liberal slant, and Constance relies on news from a network known to have an extremely conservative slant. No matter what has occurred, it seems as though their takes are diametrically opposed and completely irreconcilable. Both Sara and Constance are relying on the method of :
FLOOR EFFECT clustering at the low end of the scale can produce a floor effect.
Scores are clustered at the low end of the measure.
Authority
Scotty has no patience with social media debates about what is or is not happening in politics. He trusts one particular network, and if he hears it on that network, he knows it is true. Otherwise, it cannot be true.
A PHYSIOLOGICAL Salivary cortisol is a physiological measure of stress.
Shawnda is studying the psychological stress related to weather extremes by measuring salivary cortisol levels to assess the amount of stress in her participants. Salivary cortisol is best described as ____ measure of weather-related stress.
A SELF-REPORT Self-report measures are those in which individuals rate themselves.
Shawnda is studying the psychological stress related to weather extremes. She has created a survey asking her research participants to rate their own stress levels at specific times of the day. This is best described as ____ measure of weather-related stress.
CONSTRUCT Construct validity requires that the scores obtained from a measurement procedure behave exactly the same as the variable itself.
Sherree studies altruism and uses a measure of altruism that has been shown to relate to altruistic behavior consistent with expectations. Sherree's measure of altruism can be said to have good ____ validity.
CONCURRENT Concurrent validity is demonstrated when scores obtained from a new measure are directly related to scores obtained from an established measure of the same variable.
Sonya is developing a new measure of social anxiety and demonstrates its validity by showing its relationship to a well-established measure of social anxiety. Sonya is assessing _____ validity.
BASIC RESEARCH Research intended to gather knowledge for the sake of knowledge is called basic research.
Steven is fascinated by the interactions among various neurotransmitter systems and wants to learn more about them at the cellular level. This research is best described as:
BELMONT REPORT The Belmont Report summarizes the basic ethical principles identified by the National Commission. To this day, these principles are the foundation for federal regulations protecting human participants.
Summarizes the principles set forth by the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research
MEASURES
Tai is conducting research on creativity and has selected one of the newer ways of assessing creativity that has been widely criticized.
SIMULATION APPROACH A simulation is the creation of conditions within an experiment that simulate or closely duplicate the natural environment in which the behaviors being examined would normally occur
Teresa works with high-risk expectant mothers, those with characteristics likely to make parenting particularly challenging. She has developed a highly interactive workshop designed to teach the women the skills needed to care for infants. To test the effectiveness of the program, Teresa has the women spend 72 hours with a doll designed to mimic a fussy infant, complete with crying to be fed, changed, and held, and crying for no apparent reason. She is using a
GUIDELINES The term guidelines is used to refer to this entire body of work because it is impossible to anticipate every specific research situation.
The American Psychological Association (APA) continually reviews and revises the APA Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA 2002, 2010) to provide guidance on standards of professional conduct. What term best applies to the APA's work in this area?
Protection of human participants is upheld The National Research Act mandates regulations for the protection of human participants and had the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare create the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research (Dunn and Chadwick 1999).
The National Research Act mandates that:
Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals The U.S. Department of Agriculture's requirements for the use of nonhumans in research can be found in the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's requirements for the use of nonhumans in research can be found in the:
A general topic area
The best strategy for finding a research idea is to begin with which of the following?
INTERVAL SCALE The categories on interval and ratio scales are organized sequentially, and all categories are the same size. The characteristic that differentiates interval and ratio scales is the zero point. The distinguishing characteristic of an interval scale is that it has an arbitrary zero point. A ratio scale, on the other hand, is characterized by a zero point that is not an arbitrary location. Instead, the value 0 on a ratio scale is a meaningful point representing none (a complete absence) of the variable being measured.
The categories are arranged sequentially and are of the same size; the zero is arbitrary.
RATIO SCALE The categories on interval and ratio scales are organized sequentially, and all categories are the same size. The characteristic that differentiates interval and ratio scales is the zero point. The distinguishing characteristic of an interval scale is that it has an arbitrary zero point. A ratio scale, on the other hand, is characterized by a zero point that is not an arbitrary location. Instead, the value 0 on a ratio scale is a meaningful point representing none (a complete absence) of the variable being measured.
The categories are arranged sequentially and are of the same size; the zero is meaningful.
ORDINAL SCALE The categories that make up an ordinal scale have different names and are organized sequentially. Often, an ordinal scale consists of a series of ranks (first, second, third, and so on) like the order of finish in a horse race. Occasionally, the categories are identified by verbal labels, such as small, medium, and large drink sizes at a fast-food restaurant. In either case, the fact that the categories form an ordered sequence means that there is a directional relationship between categories
The categories have different names and are arranged sequentially.
NOMINAL SCALE The categories that make up a nominal scale simply represent qualitative (not quantitative) differences in the variable measured. The categories have different names but are not related to each other in any systematic way.
The categories represent qualitative but not quantitative differences.
Identifying which variable is the cause and which variable is the effect
The directionality problem refers to:
TEST-RETEST RELIABILITY Test-retest reliability is established by comparing the scores obtained from two successive measurements of the same individuals and calculating a correlation between the two sets of scores.
The estimate obtained by comparing the scores obtained from two successive measurements
External stimulus --> construct --> external behavior
The function or role of a construct is best illustrated by the sequence:
OVERVIEW
The goal of this study is to examine the relationship between beliefs about food and dietary patterns.
DEPENDENT VARIABLE The dependent variable is the variable that is observed for changes to assess the effects of manipulating the independent variable. The dependent variable is typically a behavior or a response measured in each treatment condition.
The outcome variable that is measured
FACE VALIDITY Face validity is the simplest and least scientific definition of validity. Face validity concerns the superficial appearance, or face value, of a measurement procedure.
The superficial appearance of a measure
INDEPENDENT VARIABLE The experimenter manipulates the independent variable.
The variable the experimenter uses to create the treatment condition(s) is called the
TIME-RELATED THREAT
Tina is studying the effects of paint color on motivation. She has a single group of participants who come back on five consecutive days and spend an hour in a room painted a specific color while completing a rather dull task. On Monday, the participants are in a pale pink room in the morning, on Tuesday they are in an aqua room around lunchtime, on Wednesday they are in an emerald green room in the early afternoon, on Thursday they are in a red room in the late afternoon, and on Friday they are in a beige room in the evening.
Natasha's assertion on is based a superstition and thus represents the method of TENACITY
Upon hearing that one of her favorite actors has died, Natasha worries out loud about who the other two deaths will involve, as she is certain that deaths comes in threes. Natasha's assertion that deaths come in threes is based on which of the following?
A CORRELATIONAL DESIGN Research that examines relationships between variables by measuring two or more variables for each participant but does not attempt to infer causality is correlational.
Vonda studies children's reading skills and how parents can help their children become better readers. She asks parents to estimate the amount of time they read to their children per week and then relates the parental estimates to the children's word recognition scores. This is best described as
RESEARCH STRATEGIES Which research strategies may be used with certain populations and behaviors
What _____ may be used
MEASUREMENT what measurement techniques may be used for certain individuals and certain behaviors
What _____ techniques may be used with which research subjects
THE ENTIRE POPULATION MUST BE KNOWN For probability sampling to be possible, the entire population must be known.
What condition must be met for probability sampling to be possible?
Participants left the study feeling ashamed and embarrassed. The participants entered the study thinking that they were normal, considerate human beings, but they left with the knowledge that they could all too easily behave inhumanely.
What impact did the Milgram study have on participants?
To conduct research that is impossible to conduct using human participants Researchers who use nonhumans as subjects do so for a variety of reasons, including the following: (1) to understand animals for their own sake; (2) to understand humans (many processes can be generalized from nonhumans to humans); and (3) to conduct research that is impossible to conduct using human participants.
What is one major reason why researchers use nonhumans as subjects?
Reasonable Risk in Relation to Benefits The seven basic IRB criteria are as follows: Minimization of Risk to Participants, Reasonable Risk in Relation to Benefits, Equitable Selection, Informed Consent, Documentation of Informed Consent, Data Monitoring, and Privacy and Confidentiality.
What is one of the seven basic Institutional Review Board (IRB) criteria for studies involving human subjects?
The competitive nature of an academic career The primary cause of fraud is the competitive nature of an academic career. There is strong pressure on researchers to have their research published. For example, tenure and promotion within academic departments are often based on research productivity.
What is the primary cause of research fraud in academia?
To evaluate the quality and contributions of a research study The primary purpose of peer review is to evaluate the quality of the research study and the contribution it makes to scientific knowledge. The reviewers also are likely to detect anything suspect about the research or the findings.
What is the primary purpose of the peer review process?
PROCESS RESEARCH
What type of research attempts to identify the active components of the treatment? Functional
RATIO
What type of scale has a meaningful zero point representing a complete absence of the variable being measured?
Primary sources may include sections that are secondary sources such as the literature reviews in the introduction sections of journal articles.
When considering the sources in your literature review, you should remember that:
VARIABLES
When scientific method is being used, which of the following describes the characteristics or conditions that change or have different values for different individuals?
METHOD
Where, in a research paper, are you most likely to find a description of the operational definition used by the investigators?
1. Possible suspension 2. Replication 3.Peer review
Which actions are considered safeguards for preventing fraud? Check all that apply.
1. COMPARISON 2. MEASUREMENT 3. MANIPULATION 4. CONTROL To be considered a true experiment, an experimental study should contain the following four basic elements: 1. Manipulation. The researcher manipulates one variable by changing its value to create a set of two or more treatment conditions. 2. Measurement. A second variable is measured for a group of participants to obtain a set of scores in each treatment condition. 3. Comparison. The scores in one treatment condition are compared with the scores in another treatment condition. Consistent differences between treatments are evidence that the manipulation has caused changes in the scores. 4. Control. All other variables are controlled to be sure that they do not influence the two variables being examined.
Which elements are characteristics of true experiments? Check all that apply.
Psychologists must perform animal surgical procedures under appropriate anesthesia. The Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA 2002, 2010) states, among other guidelines, that psychologists perform surgical procedures under appropriate anesthesia and follow techniques to avoid infection and minimize pain during and after surgery.
Which ethical guideline regarding animal research is upheld in the Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (APA 2002, 2010)?
RANDOMIZATION
Which method for controlling extraneous variables allows researchers to control a multitude of variables simultaneously while not requiring specific attention to each extraneous variable?
The method of EMPIRICISM can be time consuming and sometimes even dangerous
Which method of acquiring knowledge can be time consuming and sometimes even dangerous?
An operational definition
Which of the following is a procedure for measuring a variable that cannot be observed or measured directly?
Trey, who tells study participants the experiment focuses on eye functioning, when in fact it is on sexual attraction Active deception, or commission, is the presenting of misinformation about the study to participants. The most common form of active deception is misleading participants about the specific purpose of the study. An example of this is Trey's misinformation as to the purpose of the study.
Which research assistant is engaging in active deception?
The motivation for criminal behavior using anonymous mail surveys A research proposal fits in Category I (Exempt Review) if the research presents no possible risk to adult participants. Examples of Category I proposals include anonymous, mailed surveys on innocuous topics and anonymous observation of public behavior.
Which research proposal would most likely be classified as a Category I proposal by the IRB?
Demand characteristics and participant reactivity can affect both internal and external validity. Experimenter bias threatens external validity because the results obtained in a study may be specific to the experimenter who has the expectations. The results may not be the same with an experimenter who did not have such a bias. Experimenter bias also threatens internal validity because the data may show a pattern that appears to be a real treatment effect but was actually caused by the experimenter's influence. Demand characteristics refer to any of the potential cues or features of a study that (1) suggest to the participants what the purpose and hypothesis is and (2) influence the participants to respond or behave in a certain way. Reactivity occurs when participants modify their natural behavior in response to the fact that they are participating in a research study or the knowledge that they are being measured. If the participants are not acting normally, the internal validity of the study is threatened because the obtained results can be explained by participant reactivity instead of the different treatment conditions. Demand characteristics and reactivity can threaten the external validity of the study because the results obtained under the influence of demand characteristics may not generalize to a new situation where the environmental demands are different.
Which statements about balancing internal and external validity are true? Check all that apply.
1. Requires that psychologists inform potential participants of their right to refuse to participate in research and their right to withdraw from the research at any time 2. Allows researchers to dispense with informed consent under certain specific circumstances 3. Permits psychologists to offer reasonable inducements, including money, for research participation 4. Requires researchers to take reasonable steps to minimize harm, should it occur
Which statements are consistent with the APA guidelines? Check all that apply.
Placebo groups are especially important in process research. The placebo effect refers to a response by a participant to an inert medication that has no real effect on the body. The placebo effect occurs simply because the individual thinks the medication is effective. Although the concept of the placebo effect originated in medical research, it has been generalized to other situations in which a supposedly ineffective treatment produces an effect. Common examples in behavioral research include the use of inactive drugs (especially when participants believe they are receiving psychotropic drugs), nonalcoholic beverages (when participants are expecting alcohol), and nonspecific psychotherapy (therapy with the therapeutic components removed).
Which statements are true with regard to placebos and their use in research? Check all that apply.
FACE VALIDITY
Which type of validity refers to whether the measurement looks as though it actually measures what it is intended to measure?
SECONDARY A resource that contains a description or summary of other people's research is a secondary source.
While reading her abnormal psychology text, Nancy reads about research on the diathesis-stress model of schizophrenia. The textbook is best described as a
The participants experienced shame and embarrassment for having behaved inhumanely toward others. In the Milgram obedience study, study participants were instructed to use electric shocks to punish other individuals when they made errors during a learning task (but no shocks were actually given). Although the participants in Milgram's study sustained no physical harm, they suffered shame and embarrassment for having behaved inhumanely toward their fellow human beings.
Why did the Milgram obedience study bring the questionable treatment of human participants to the forefront?
NONEXPERIMENTAL DESIGN
William is interested in the relationship between caloric intake and emotional arousal. He has a series of in-depth discussions with a morbidly obese individual who identifies himself as an emotional overeater and then describes the relationship between emotional arousal and caloric intake using illustrations from the individual's life.
VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION
You may withdraw from the study at any time, without penalty.
DESCRIPTION OF PROCEDURE
You will be asked to complete a questionnaire about food. You will also be asked to keep a food diary for one week.
HOW how studies may be carried out with individuals
_____ studies are carried out
The method of tenacity DOES NOT ALLOW FOR THE CORRECTION OF ERRONEOUS IDEAS
a drawback of the method of tenacity is that it:
1. Researchers must proceed rapidly, with an effort to minimize pain, when an animal's life must be terminated. 2. Researchers using animals in research are subject to oversight by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
he APA provides a set of ethical guidelines for the use and treatment of nonhuman subjects that parallels the guidelines for human participants presented earlier. Which of the following statements are consistent with the APA guidelines with regard to nonhuman subjects? Check all that apply.
MOTIVATION Providing rewards (external stimulus) improved hygiene (external behavior) via changes in motivation (construct).
identify the construct in the following scenario: In a study of adolescents with schizophrenia, providing modest rewards was found to increase motivation and improve personal hygiene.
INTERNAL VALIDITY
if A research study produces a single, unambiguous explanation for the relationship between two variables.
Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee Institutions that conduct research with animals have an animal use review board called an Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.
institutions that conduct research with animals have an animal-use review board called an:
A SIMULATION
involves creation of conditions in an experiment that duplicate natural conditions as closely as possible.
CONSTRUCT A construct is a hypothetical attribute or mechanisms that helps explain and predict behavior in a theory.
is a hypothetical mechanism used to help explain behavior
THEORY
is a set of statements about the mechanisms underlying a behavior.
AN OPERATIONAL DEFINITION An operational definition specifies a measurement procedure (a set of operations) for measuring an external, observable behavior and uses the resulting measurements as a definition and a measurement of the hypothetical construct.
is a way to measure an observable characteristic that serves as a stand-in for something that is not observable.
NEGATIVE RELATIONSHIP
is one in which increasing levels of one variable are associated with decreasing levels of the other.
FRAUD
is the explicit effort of a researcher to falsify or misrepresent data.
TARGET POPULATION
is the group defined by the researcher's specific interests.
SAMPLE
is the group of individuals who participate in a study.
PLACEBO EFFECT
refers to a response by a participant to an inert medication that has no real effect on the body.
CONTROL GROUP
refers to the no-treatment condition in a research study.
DESCRIPTIVE
research strategy is intended to answer questions about the current state of individual variables for a specific group of
REPRESENTATIVE
sample has the same characteristics as the population.
THE PURPOSE OF MANIPULATING The purpose of manipulation is to allow directionality to be demonstrated.
the independent variable is to allow directionality to be demonstrated.
