Research Methods Exam 1
Which of the following statements is an operational definition of "fear of snakes" that could be assessed as a structured question?
"On a scale of 1 to 10, how afraid of snakes are you?"
When reading an empirical journal article "with a purpose," which two questions should you ask yourself as you read?
"What is the argument?" and "What is the evidence to support the argument?"
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:
"autism treatment" and "behavioral" and enter an age range of interest
Please list FIVE factors (1 point each) that you consider when evaluating research articles.
1. citations 2. date posted/written 3. what journal published the article 4. how many sources 5. is it peer reviewed
RESEARCH STUDY 3.4 (questions 29-32): Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in content (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the university. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words than Group B. Which of the following makes Dr. Kang's study an experiment?
Dr. Kang manipulated one variable and measured another
RESEARCH STUDY 3.2: Dr. Ramon makes the following claim: "Watching television leads people to spend less time communicating with their spouses, study says." Dr. LaSalle makes the claim: "Research shows that making more money correlates with spending less time talking with your spouse." Which of the following statements is true of Dr. Ramon's and Dr. LaSalle's claims?
Dr. Ramon's claim goes further than Dr. LaSalle's claim
Dr. Gonzalez is a peer reviewer for a manuscript submitted to a journal. He is likely to provide comments on which of the following?
How well the research was conducted
Hannah just finished reading an empirical journal article for a class project. Where should she go if she wants to look for a list of the study's hypotheses or research questions?
Last paragraph of the introduction
Which of the following is a reasonable causal claim?
Texting while driving reduces impulse control
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. This is known as:
a theory
qualitative methods
emerging methods
When examining the statistical validity of a frequency claim, one should look for the:
margin of error estimate
Dr. Ellison finds a relation 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?
positive association
quantitative methods
pre-determined methods
Another word for hypothesis is a(n) _________________.
prediction
Abby is a psychologist who wants to investigate Chinese American women's experiences with racism and prejudice in the workplace. She knows there is not much research in this area and wants to explore the many questions she has about this phenomenon. What is the best research approach for Abby in this situation?
qualitative approach
In the theory-data cycle, theories first lead to _________________.
questions
You read research that found that first-born children tend to have higher IQs than their siblings. However, you typically earn higher grades than your older brother. Scientists might explain this discrepancy by saying that:
research is probablistic
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?
the external validity of the study
RESEARCH STUDY 3.4 (continued): Dr. Kang's decision to assign participants randomly to Group A and Group B increases which of the following?
the internal validity of the study
According to the text, the bridge between basic and applied research is known as:
translational research
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:
a comparison group that did not receive the drug
Constructivist
believing in multiple meanings
If you are interested in reading an overview of peer-reviewed scientific research within a specific area, which of the following reading sources would you choose?
edited books
Consider Rogers' article entitled, "Person or Science? A philosophical Question", where he discussed the tension between the scientific and experiential. Rogers illustrated four arguments from both the scientific and experiential sides of himself, and then he ends with a synthesis of this tension. Based on Rogers' discussion, illustrate two arguments for the scientific, two arguments for the experiential, and a final synthesis of these arguments.
One of the arguements from the scientific side of this debate was why the scientific method doesn't work for psychology. The "scientist" basically asks,"well the scientific method works for every other science, why doesn't it work for social sciences?". Another arguement that was brought up was that nothing in psyhcology is really proven, everything is theoretical (the first statement made by the "scientist" in the article). They "scientist" states that you only know your only truth, which makes it hard to validate things. On the experiential side of this debate, one of the points brought up is that science and experiments turn participants into objects. This also brings up the question of whether human exoeriments are ethical, since we're turning them into objects. The "experientialist" also states that you can't exactly know a person's feelings and turn those feelings into data basically because everyone is different. The final synthesis for this article was that science is a human thing. Another point that was brought up in the synthesis is that a science experiment starts and ends with the "experientialist". The final thoughts also brought up that you can combine both points from the scientific side and experientialist side of this debate and find a happy medium between the two.
RESEARCH STUDY 3.3: Anton and his friends are discussing a study he read about in his developmental psychology class. In the study, the researcher made the claim that most middle school students who are bullied have low self-esteem. Anton is concerned with Type I error. What does this mean?
The researcher concluded there was a relationship, but there isn't really one
A Type I error is known as which of the following?
a false positive
RESEARCH STUDY 3.1: Anderson is reading his morning paper and sees the following headline: "Men Should Avoid Rock Music When Playing Board Games." (This headline is based on a study conducted by Fancourt, Burton, & Williamon, 2016.) In the study, men and women played the game "Operation" when listening to different types of music. Male participants performed worse when listening to AC/DC than when listening to Mozart, but female participants' performance did not differ based on music. In this study, the researchers recorded how many errors participants committed. This is an example of which of the following?
a measured variable
postpositivist
believing in reductionism
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?
bias blind spot
Mixed methods
both predetermined and emerging methods
Asking questions to get the answers we want is known as:
confirmation bias
Different factors that could cause misattribution of causation for significant results of a study are called ______.
confounds
How can you ensure that a popular media article accurately reflects the original research of a scientific study?
find and read the original scientific article
When reading an empirical journal article "with a purpose," which section should you read first?
introduction
RESEARCH STUDY 3.5: Jenny reads the following headline on an online article: "If You're Sexist, People Will Think You're Racist, and Vice Versa." (This headline is based on a study conducted by Sanchez and colleagues, 2017.) This study found that members of stigmatized groups are threatened by prejudice directed at other stigmatized groups. Their results showed that White women can be threatened by racism, and men of color threatened by sexism, and that these perceptions made participants expect unfair treatment. In this study, ________ is a conceptual definition of one of their primary variables.
perceived prejudiced attitudes
Which of the following sources is most likely to contain only information that has been rigorously peer-reviewed?
review journal articles
Quantitative research is to ________________; as qualitative research is to ________________.
statistical analysis; text analysis
RESEARCH STUDY 3.4 (continued): Dr. Kang sends his study to a journal to be published. One of the peer reviewers questions the way Dr. Kang manipulated emotion, arguing that being exposed to emotional words does not make one emotional. The reviewer is questioning which of the following?
the construct validity of the study
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?
the criterion of temporal precedence
RESEARCH STUDY 3.4 (continued): Which of the following is the independent variable in Dr. Kang's study?
the emotional or neutral content of the words
Bushman (2002) conducted a study examining the effect on aggression of venting versus not venting anger. To invoke anger in participants, he asked each to write a political essay. Participants were instructed to show their essays to Steve, who was a confederate. He criticized the essays and made rude comments. Participants were then randomly assigned to one of three groups: Group 1 (control group) was told to sit quietly in the room for 2 minutes, Group 2 (control group) was told to punch a punching bag for 2 minutes as a form of exercise, and Group 3 (catharsis group) was told to punch a punching bag for 2 minutes while imagining Steve's face on the bag. Then participants played a quiz game with Steve, and they were given the opportunity to provide a blast of loud noise to Steve's ears. Group 1 showed less than average levels of aggression, Group 2 showed average levels of aggression, and Group 3 showed greater than average levels of aggression. What was the primary confounding variable Bushman was trying to control?
participants' level of aggression prior to the study
