research methods final exam
Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, if you sleep poorly the night before a big exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brain waves, he plans to let participants sleep until they enter REM sleep and then wake them. After the participants are awake for one minute, Dr. Kushner plans to let them return to sleep. As they enter REM sleep again, he will wake them again and follow the same procedure. He plans to do this through the entire eight-hour sleep session. The following morning, participants will be asked to take a sample SAT test. Dr. Kushner asks his participants to provide informed consent. Doing this is adhering to which principle of the Belmont Report? - the principle of beneficence - the principle of respect for persons - the principle of integrity - the principle of justice
the principle of respect for persons
Vinai learns that people with schizophrenia have a problem labeling their emotions. Using this information, he designs a research study to examine whether teaching schizophrenic patients to label the emotions of people they see in movie clips helps them to better label their own emotions. This is an example of: - empirical research - applied research - basic research - translational research
translational research
What is the difference between ration scale of measurement and an interval scale of measurement? - An interval scale has equal intervals, but a ratio scale does not - A ratio scale of measurement cannot be used to compare people's scores, but interval scales can - An interval scale of measurement is a type of measurement used for categorical measurements, but a ratio scale is used for quantitative measurements - A ratio scale of measurements has a zero value that actually means "nothing" or "the absence of something," but an interval scale does not
A ratio scale of measurements has a zero value that actually means "nothing" or "the absence of something," but an interval scale does not
What is the difference between advice from an authority and that from a researcher? - Authorities often base their advice on intuition, while researchers rely on facts - Authorities always provide advice based on their own research, while researchers base their advice on results from multiple studies - Authorities interpret the results for you when providing advice, while researchers present only statistics - Authorities weigh all possible options, while researchers rely on their own theories
Authorities often base their advice on intuition, while researchers rely on facts
Dr. Ramon makes the following claim: "Watching television leads people to spend less time communicating with their spouses, study says, "Dr. LaSelle 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. LaSalle's claim is the same as Dr. Ramon's claim - Dr. LaSalle's claim makes a stronger statement than Dr. Ramon's claim - Dr. Ramon's claim involves more variables than Dr. LaSalle's claim - Dr. Ramon's claim makes a stronger statement than Dr. LaSalle's claim
Dr. Ramon's claim makes a stronger statement than Dr. LaSalle's claim
Which of the following is a limitation of Google Scholar compared to PsycINFO? - Google Scholar does not provide PDF versions of articles - Google Scholar is not free to use - Google Scholar is not limited to just psychology and related fields - Google Scholar can only be accessed from certain computers
Google Scholar is not limited to just psychology and related fields
Which of these statements would most likely be used by a research psychologist when describing the results of a study? - My data prove the theory being tested - My data do not prove my hypothesis because they mat coincidentally also fit an incorrect hypothesis - My data prove my hypothesis - My data are consistent with my hypothesis
My data are consistent with my hypothesis
What is the primary difference between researchers and non-researchers - Researchers test their intuition with systematic, empirical observations - Researchers rely exclusively on logic - Researchers are strongly influenced by authority figures - Researchers rely on personal experience and intuition
Researchers rely on personal experience and intuition
Which of the following is true of variables? - All variables can be manipulated - Variables only need conceptual definitions - Variables are the same as constants - Some variables can be either manipulated or measured
Some variables can be either manipulated or measured
Which of the following indicates that an article's causal claims are based on research? - The article describes how manipulated variables were operationalized - The article includes a direct quote from an expert in the field - The article compares two groups of individuals - The author describes their creative solution to a scientific problem
The article describes how manipulated variables were operationalized
What was the primary ethical concern in the Milgram study? - The number of people negatively affected was larger than the number of people positively affected - The potential risks to participants outweighed the value of knowledge we can gain - The researchers did not debrief the participants - The financial costs of conducting the study outweighed the benefits gained by the researcher
The potential risks to participants outweighed the value of knowledge we can gain
Two researchers tell you they study the same thing. However, when you look at their research papers, they do not use similar methodologies or measurements. How is this possible? - The researchers have the same operational definitions - The researchers have the same conceptual definitions and operational definitions - The researchers have the same conceptual definitions - The researchers do not have the same conceptual definitions or the same operational definitions
The researchers have the same conceptual definitions
Which statement would an animal researcher most likely agree with? - Animals should have the same rights as humans - The use of animals in research is justified by the knowledge that is gained from the research - Animals should be used only in observational research - Ethical issues are less important in research with animals than in research with humans
The use of animals in research is justified by the knowledge that is gained from the research
Dr. Rodriquez is considering conducting a study examining whether narcissistic people have poorer romantic relationships than those who are not narcissistic. One of her first tasks is to determine which of her participants are narcissistic and which are not. She decides to use the scale created by a colleague, the Donal scale. Question 1 reads, "I tend not to think about other people as much as I think about myself." Question 2 reads, "I do not have a high opinion of myself." Question 3 reads, "I think other people think I am really special." Dr. Rodriquez calculates a correlation coefficient (r) to examine the relationship between Question 1 and Question 2 and between Question 1 and Question 3. She finds a correlation coefficient of r = − 0.73 between Questions 1 and 2 and a correlation coefficient of r = 0.74 between Questions 1 and 3. Which of the following is true of her findings? - There appears to be good internal reliability in the scale - The correlation between Questions 1 and 2 is much weaker than that between Question 1 and 3 - The negative correlation between Question 1 and 2 is bad for Dr. Rodriquez - The correlation between Questions 1 and 2 and Questions 1 and 3 are in the same direction
There appears to be good internal reliability in the scale
Which of the following is NOT an example of coercion? - a researcher hinting to participants that their employer will be told if they do not participate - a researcher offering three points of extra credit to college students to participate in a study - a researcher offering homeless participants $1,000 to participate in a study - a researcher telling participants that he will be fired if he is unable to recruit at least 50 participants
a researcher offering three points of extra credit to college students to participate in a study
Which of the following statements is an operational definition of "fear of snakes" that could be assessed as a structured question? - measuring heart rate following exposure to snakes - asking the question "When was the last time you saw a snake?" - asking, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how afraid of snakes are you?" - assigning participants to keep a "daily fear diary" in which they track their fear level
asking, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how afraid of snakes are you?"
Which of the following allow us to make strong predictions using association claims? - strong positive associations - strong negative associations - neither strong positive associations nor strong negative associations - both strong positive associations and strong negative associations
both strong positive associations and strong negative associations
Asking many similar questions when trying to measure a concept is done to: - ensure validity - cancel out measurement error - make sure participants are not lying - allow participants to skip questions
cancel out measurement error
Different factors that could account for significant results are called - hypotheses - biases - predictions - confounds
confounds
Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, if you sleep poorly the night before a big exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brain waves, he plans to let participants sleep until they enter REM sleep and then wake them. After the participants are awake for one minute, Dr. Kushner plans to let them return to sleep. As they enter REM sleep again, he will wake them again and follow the same procedure. He plans to do this through the entire eight-hour sleep session. The following morning, participants will be asked to take a sample SAT test. Upon receiving institutional review board approval, Dr. Kushner trusts that his graduate student will conduct the study. However, his graduate student does not conduct the study and instead provides Dr. Kushner with invented results that will support his hypotheses. This is known as which of the following? - plagiarism - intellectual property destruction - data falsification - data fabrication
data fabrication
Dr. Smitherman insists that all his research assistants know how to be producers of research. All of the following relate to this requirement EXCEPT - he wants to make sure they understand how to write in APA style - he wants to make sure they have previously been participants in research studies - he wants to make sure they understand why anonymity is important - he wants to make sure they understand how to analyze study results
he wants to make sure they have previously been participants in research studies
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 general public will understand the study - previous studies from the same research group - the prestige/reputation of the author - how well the research was conducted
how well the research was conducted
When is it acceptable for a researcher to study participants only from a specific group, such as a researcher studying depression in a sample of Native American women? - if the specific group being studied is especially prone to the problem being studied - if the researcher has special access to the specific group - if the specific group being studied has participated in similar research previously - it is never acceptable for such a specific group to be studied
if the specific group being studied is especially prone to the problem being studied
Which of the following could be an independent variable in a causal claim? - one that is kept constant - one that is manipulated - one that has one level - one that is measured
one that is manipulated
Dr. Rodriguez is a health psychologist who is interested in studying the effects of cannabidiol (CBD) oil on perceptions of pain in college student athletes with sports injuries. She became interested in studying this topic after hearing multiple claims by the media that CBD oil was effective in treating pain. However she could not find any empirical studies that reported findings of effectiveness for CBD oil for sports injuries. Her decision to conduct a study to test the media claims is an example of which of Merton's scientific norms? - universality - communality - organized skepticism - disinterestedness
organized skepticism
Edward believes that there are a lot of differences between men and women on a variety of different dimensions. He believes this because when he thinks about books that have been written on men and women, he can recall only books that say men and women are different (e.g., Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus) and cannot recall any that say men and women are the same. His reliance on what comes to mind is an example of which of the following? - the availability heuristic - overconfidence - a confirmation bias - a present/present bias
the availability heuristic
The principle of justice calls for a balance between _____ and _____ - the interests of the researchers; the interests of the institutional review board - costs to the participant; benefits to the participant - needing to deceive participants; needing to obtain informed consent - the kind of people who participant in research; the kind of people who benefit from it
the kind of people who participate in research; the kind of people who benefit from it
The need to balance the potential costs and benefits to participants taking part in a research study is done to address which principle of the Belmont Report? - the principle of beneficence - the principle of respect for persons - the principle of integrity - the principle of justice
the principle of beneficence
Who is responsible for deciding which validity is prioritized in a study? - the participants - the journalist - the researcher - the peer reviewers
the researcher
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 a majority of middle school students who are bullied have low self-esteem. Clarissa questions the study, saying, "I am not sure that I am convinced—I am not sure you can really measure being bullied." Quinn also questions the study, saying, "Which middle school students did they study? I am curious if they included both private and public school students." Manish also is curious about the study, asking, "I wonder how strong the relationship is between bullying and self-esteem. Could you predict one from the other?" Quinn's concern is addressing which of the following? - the study's construct validity - the study's external validity - the study's statistical validity - the study's internal validity
the study's external validity
What is the primary purpose of an Institutional Review Board? - to review a study after its completion to determine if participants experienced any risk - to review a study's procedure to ensure that participants were randomly selected - to assess scientific fraud - to review a study's procedure to ensure that participants will be treated ethically
to review a study's procedure to ensure that participants will be treated ethically
Dr. Sheffield is a clinical psychologist who specializes in treating pathological gambling. Pathological gambling is defined as being unable to resist impulses to gamble. Bothered by not having a good measure that he can give to clients to determine whether they are suffering from this condition, he creates a new measure of pathological gambling. The measure has 15 questions, and it takes 20 minutes to complete. If Dr. Sheffield's measure does not actually measure pathological gambling, his measure is said to lack which of the following? - conceptualization - operationalization - reliability - validity
validity
Dr. Hoda measures job satisfaction and number of years of education. In examining her scatterplot, she sees the cloud of points has no slope. This indicates which type of relationship? - negative association - positive association - zero association - causal association
zero association
Dr. Rodriquez is considering conducting a study examining whether narcissistic people have poorer romantic relationships than those who are not narcissistic. One of her first tasks is to determine which of her participants are narcissistic and which are not. She decides to use the scale created by a colleague, the Donal scale. Question 1 reads, "I tend not to think about other people as much as I think about myself." Question 2 reads, "I do not have a high opinion of myself." Question 3 reads, "I think other people think I am really special." Dr. Rodriquez decides to test the internal reliability of her measure. Which of the following results demonstrates good internal reliability? =0.10 =-0.98 =-0.03 =0.95
=0.95
Which of the following is a difference between a debriefing session following a study with deception compared to a debriefing session following a study without deception? - A deception study debriefing must be done with each participant individually - A deception study debriefing must be at least 30 minutes - A deception study debriefing must attempt to restore a sense of honesty and trustworthiness - A deception study debriefing must have a member of the institutional review board present
A deception study debriefing must attempt to restore a sense of honesty and trustworthiness
You and your friends go to see a popular speaker on campus. The speaker, Dr. Darian, is an "expert" on getting into graduate school. Which of the following should make you less skeptical about his advice? - His recommendations are similar to what you knew before you came to the talk - His recommendations are based on techniques that have worked for his students - His recommendations are based on research he conducted for his dissertation - His recommendations are based on the techniques that helped him get into graduate school
His recommendations are based on research he conducted for his dissertation
Scientific journals and magazines are similar in which of the following ways? - Both are written for the general public - Both tend to be written by scientists - Both tend to be peer-reviewed articles - New editions come out on a regular basis (usually monthly)
New editions come out on a regular basis (usually monthly)
Which of the following is a problem presented by the availability heuristic? - We will never be right in our conclusions - We rely on the opinions of others rather than on our own opinions - We do not carefully examine our own experience - We do not examine all of the evidence, only what we quickly think of
We do not examine all of the evidence, only what we quickly think of
Dr. Ramon makes the following claim: "Watching television leads people to spend less time communicating with their spouses, study says, "Dr. LaSelle makes the claim: "Research shows that making more money correlates with spending less time talking with your spouse." Which type of claim is Dr. Ramon making? - causal claim - association claim - frequency claim - statistical claim
causal claim
Kalilah just read a story in the most recent issue of Psychology Today that has grabbed her interest. As a thoughtful consumer of information, what should Kalilah do? - start with the assumption that media coverage of the story is an inaccurate representation of her original research study - read the Psychology Today story cynically - contact the science journalist to ask additional questions about the topic - consider comparing the media coverage of the story to the original research report
consider comparing the media coverage of the story to the original research report
Journal articles that are available through subscription only are - a primary source of disinformation - open access - predatory - paywalled
paywalled
The use of debriefing in a study such as Milgram's obedience study appeals to which principle of the Belmont Report? - principle of justice - principle of integrity - principle of beneficence - principle of respect for persons
principle of beneficence
How would you adopt the mindset of a scientific reasoner? - finding evidence that confirms your hypotheses - using common sense to understand scientific data - remaining objective as you interpret scientific data - reminding yourself that because you know about potential biases, you cannot fall prey to them
remaining objective as you interpret scientific data
The following situations can influence ethical decision making EXCEPT - bad experiences of other researchers - scientific discoveries - the possibility of additional grant funding - changing social norms
the possibility of additional grant funding
Naomi is studying the effect of popularity on academic success for her research methods project. To do this, she has elementary school students rate how popular each member of their class is. She then uses this information to rank the students on popularity (e.g., John is the most popular, Vanessa is the second-most popular). Which of the following best describes this variable? - a interval scale of measurement - an ordinal scale of measurement - a self-report measurement - a categorical measurement
an ordinal scale of measurement
The issue of obtaining informed consent deals with which of the following principles of the Belmont Report? - the principle of beneficence - the principle of respect for persons - the principle of integrity - the principle of justice
the principle of respect for persons
Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, if you sleep poorly the night before a big exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brain waves, he plans to let participants sleep until they enter REM sleep and then wake them. After the participants are awake for one minute, Dr. Kushner plans to let them return to sleep. As they enter REM sleep again, he will wake them again and follow the same procedure. He plans to do this through the entire eight-hour sleep session. The following morning, participants will be asked to take a sample SAT test. Which of the following is true regarding obtaining informed consent in Dr. Kushner's study? - He needs to obtain informed consent because the study is anonymous - He does not need to obtain informed consent since participants will not be awake during most of the study - He does not need to obtain informed consent because he is not using deception - He needs to obtain informed consent because there is a likelihood of risk in his study
He needs to obtain informed consent because there is a likelihood of risk in his study
Anderson is reading his morning paper and sees the following headline: "Men Should Avoid Rock Music When Playing Board Games." 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 constant - a measured variable - a variable's level - a manipulated variable
a measured variable
A scatterplot is a graph - that shows changes over time on a variable - with points plotted to show a possible relationship between two sets of data - used to show causal associations - that shows the size of a difference on a variable between two groups
with points plotted to show a possible relationship between two sets of data
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. Based on this study, Dr Kang can make which of the following claims? - Emotion enhances memory - Group A has better memory than Group B - Fifteen percent of emotional words are remembered - Distraction is associated with worse memory
Emotion enhances memory
Which of the following is an example of applied research? - a personality psychologist who studies the difference between introverts and extroverts - a social psychologist who is interested in the components of self-concept - a cognitive psychologist who looks at the difference in problem-solving abilities of men and women - an educational psychologist who looks for a way to increase math skills in eight-year-olds
an educational psychologist who looks for a way to increase math skills in eight-year-olds
Dr. Kushner is planning on conducting a study next semester. He is curious as to whether sleep deprivation is associated with poorer cognitive performance. For example, if you sleep poorly the night before a big exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Using an electroencephalograph (EEG) to monitor brain waves, he plans to let participants sleep until they enter REM sleep and then wake them. After the participants are awake for one minute, Dr. Kushner plans to let them return to sleep. As they enter REM sleep again, he will wake them again and follow the same procedure. He plans to do this through the entire eight-hour sleep session. The following morning, participants will be asked to take a sample SAT test. Dr. Kushner plans to tell his participants that the reason he is waking them up during the night is to recalibrate the EEG machine. This would be an example of which of the following? - deception through permission - deception through exception - deception through omission - deception through commission
deception through commission
Lana is writing her first empirical journal article. Although she thinks she knows why she found the results she did, she also wants to mention some alternative explanations for her findings. In which section will she mention these alternative explanations? - method - results - discussion - references
discussion
A correlation coefficient and a scatterplot both provide which of the following pieces of information? - the strength and direction of the relationship between two measurements - the path and significance of the relationship between two measurements - the validity and reliability of two measurements - the outliers present in the two measurements
the strength and direction of the relationship between two measurements
Anderson is reading his morning paper and sees the following headline: "Men Should Avoid Rock Music When Playing Board Games." 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. Which of the following is a constant in this study? - the type of game - effort put into playing the game - the gender of the participant - the number of researchers
the type of game
One of the reasons that research studies are superior to personal experience is that - an authority is involved - they use confederates - they include at least one comparison group - they avoid constants
they include at least one comparison group
One criterion for determining that X causes Y is that - we can generalize the results to our population of interest - we have adequate operational definitions - we can determine that X occurs before Y - we can determine that Y occurs before X
we can determine that X occurs before Y
Dr. Knepp studies Extrasensory Perception which is the ability to perceive things through telepathy or clairvoyance. She theorizes that ESP exists but only in people who believe it exists and who are not skeptical of ESP. She surveys a large number of adults about their beliefs in ESP and, as expected, only adults who believe in ESP report having those abilities. What is true about Dr. Knepp's theory? - It is not translational research - It is provable - It is not falsifiable - It does not have a hypothesis
It is not falsifiable
For her research methods class, Serena plans to interview several teachers about their attitude toward teaching children who have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This is an example of what type of measurement? - observational measurement - archival measurement - self-report measurement - physiological measurement
self-report measurement