Research Methods Final Study Guide
The interpretation of data in qualitative research always involves some form of
sorting and categorizing
In qualitative research, triangulation is the method of
using different kinds of data collection techniques in the analysis and interpretation
Mixed-methods research
was being conducted while some scholars debated whether it was possible
historians use secondary sources to
understand what is known about the topic
A researcher wants to determine the percentages of time that a teacher spends in various tasks, such as demonstration, explanation, and monitoring students. Which of the following is probably the most valid way to research this?
an observational study
Additional factors that can affect the relationship between physical activity and blood cholesterol, such as smoking, body fat, and so on, are called
confounding factors
In socio-historical research, technology is not used to
determine the accuracy of the material found
Choose the correct sequence for developing a questionnaire.
determining objectives, delimiting the sample, writing items, pilot testing
A basic characteristic of correlational research is that it
does not manipulate variables and hence cannot establish cause and effect
in a meta-analysis, the results of various studies on a topic are quantified using a standard measure that is called
effect size
whcih of the three branches of philosophy focuses on knowledge
epistemology
"To what populations, settings, treatment variables, and measurement variables can this effect be generalized?" might most appropriately be asked in relation to
external criteria
which of the following is not a common paradigm for socio-historical research
functional-modernism
According to the text, the proposal should be written in
future tense
the case study
gathers data from a single person or from a limited number of similar people
Individuals performing well merely because they are being observed (and not necessarily because of any effect of treatment) are considered to be under the influence of the
history
Which of the following should be included in the discussion section of a research report?
implications of the results
The major weakness of epidemiological studies isthe
inability to experimentally establish cause and effect
the socio-historical process that attempts to eliminate bias in an author is called
internal criticism
In the alternative format for a thesis or dissertation, the body of the thesis or dissertation
is a paper in research journal format
lumping as an approach to socio-historical research occurs when the researcher
takes disparate facts and groups them together
in calculating ES for a tratment effect betwee a pretest and a posttest, the text recommends the use of which standard deviation
the pretest standard deviation
In the journal format for theses and dissertations, the preliminary part
only a and b
Which of the following are most difficult to analyze in a questionnaire study?
open-ended item
Which of the following terms is used in connection with intensity of exercise and refers to the ratio of metabolic rate during exercise to the rate while resting?
MET
When a national poll reports that its survey has a margin of error of 3%, it is referring to error due to
Sampling
A major weakness of observational research lies in the operational definitions. Which question is an example of an operational definition?
What behaviors characterize a good teacher or good coach?
in a meta-analysis of 100 studies that compared boys and girls knowledge of AIDS, and average ES of 0.50 was found. this number represents
a difference of 0.50 standard deviation units
reasoning that moves from a limited number of specific observations to general conclusions is termed ___ reasoning
inductive
Which of the following should not be included in the results section of a research report?
raw data
a fundamental goal of philosophy is to examine reality primarily through
reflective procedures
Determinants of disease are often called
risk factors
The A-B-A-B designation refers to which type of research design?
single subject
in a meta-analysis the researcher found that the mean for the experimental group in a study was 14 and the mean for the control group was 10. the standard deviation of the control group was 5. based on the data what is the ES?
0.80
A survey technique that asks a jury of experts to respond to a series of questionnaires in order to reach a consensus about important issues is the
Delphi survey method
Scaled responses to questionnaire items such as strongly agree, agree, no opinion, and so on are referred to as ________ scale items.
Likert-type
A researcher wishes to study a group of children over a period of 10 years beginning in 2016 and ending in 2025. This is an example of a ________ study.
Longitudinal
The only true experimental design that can specifically evaluate the reactive or interactive effects of testing is the _______ design.
Solomon four-group
Which of the following statements about constructing tables is not true?
The table should include whatever test of significance was used.
In the results section of a research report, the author should include
a and b only
which of the following represents a secondary source regarding those waiting overnight for tickets for. basketball game
an article written by a newspaper columnist who did not observe everyone waiting in line
A study design uses, for example, two groups of people representing a disease-free population who are then classified as exercisers and nonexercisers. After a period of time, the mortality rates of each group are compared. This design is called a(n)
cohort study
Determining the relationship between students' attitudes toward drugs and the frequency of drug usage is an example of a(n) ________ study.
correlational
Which of the following would be included in a grant proposal but not in a thesis proposal?
curriculum vitae of the author
the inclusion criteria in a meta analysis are very mcuh like
delimitations
A baseline in single subject research
establishes initial rates of behavior before an intervention
In a research study in which the treatment involved quite intense physical training, 40% of the participants in the treatment group dropped out as compared with 5% of the control group. This threat to internal validity is called
experimental mortality
the socio-historical research process that attempts to establish whether a document is authentic is called
external criticism
To what populations, settings, treatment variables, and measurement variables can this effect be generalized?" might most appropriately be asked in relation to
external validity
A table of descriptive data should include what information for each group?
mean, standard deviation, and number
A researcher tests the knowledge that 10,000 school children from the southwestern United States have about nutrition, and the scores are transformed into percentiles by grade level. This type of research is a ________ survey study.
normative
which of the following represents a primary source regarding a fight in a ball game?
notes taken by a spectator at the game
It is reasonable to expect volunteer participants to be similar in nature to
other volunteers from similar populations
In qualitative research, sampling designed to select small groups or individuals likely to be knowledgeable and informative about the phenomenon of interest is called
purposive sampling
In experimental design, when comparisons are made of groups that have been selected on the basis of their extreme scores, the posttest means of the groups tend to move toward the mean of the entire population from which the extreme groups were selected. This threat to internal validity is called
statistical regression
The qualitative researcher typically
studies a small number of participants
in a meta-analysis, the ES for the experimental versus control group was 0.68, which represents a percentile equivalent of 75. this means that
the average score of the experimental group was better than 75% of the control groups scores
Measurements are frequently made and then averaged across several participants. To what degree of precision should the average be reported in a research paper?
to the precision with which it was measured
The first step in conducting a questionnaire survey is to
list specific objectives to be achieved
A major limitation in the use of video-recording in observational research is its
obtrusiveness
a method of philosophy that is designed to liberate people from the traditional claims of the other branches of philosophy falls under the heading of deconstructionism and is called
poetry
The lengths and contents of abstracts differ according to their intended use. The important parts of an abstract for a published research paper include the
problem, methods, results, discussion
Of the surveys frequently used for measuring physical activity in epidemiological research, the shortest (one to four items) is the
global questionnaire
In comparison to survey interviews, qualitative interviews tend to be
less structured
The five-chapter format for theses and dissertations differs from the four-chapter model in that a separate chapter is devoted entirely to
the literature review
Which of the following is the most unobtrusive technique for measuring student interest in reading?
Count how often students check out books from the library.
The internal validity of an experimental design is concerned with what question?
Did the independent variable really produce a change in the dependent variable?
Consider the following questionnaire item (which uses a yes/no format): "Do you use objective test items or essay items?" What rule regarding item construction does it violate?
Do not use items that have two or more separate ideas in the same item.
In developmental studies, when one wants to determine how individual children change rather than what is typical at each stage, one would prefer the ________ method.
Longitudinal
Which of the following techniques show(s) that the qualitative researcher was concerned with trustworthiness during data analysis?
A and c
A researcher finds that the control group performs above its usual performance when compared with the experimental group. This effect is named the
Avis effect
Which of the following is not included in a proposal?
Tables of results
A pretest of knowledge about microcomputers is given to a group of students 5 minutes prior to a film on the subject. A posttest given 10 minutes after the film shows a 10-point gain from the pretest. The researcher concludes that the film produced the gain. Which of the following is likely the threat to internal validity?
Testing
Which of the following is not true about a mixed-method study?
The emphasis on quantitative and qualitative methods is based on other similar studies.
Sometimes it is not possible to actually administer the treatment (e.g., when comparing children who had been in Head Start vs. children who had not). However, the researcher is trying to imply causation. This type of design (sometimes called causal comparative) is referred to as
an ex post facto design
In the journal format for theses and dissertations, the appendixes contain
an extended review of literature
which of the three branches of philosophy focuses on the value of things
axiology
To help ensure an acceptable return rate in a questionnaire study, the researcher should
b and c only
A type of study that matches individuals with and without disease on factors such as age and ethnicity is the
case control study
A job analysis is primarily a form of what research technique?
case study
splitting as an approach to socio-historical research occurs when the researcher
chips away at theory by examining how it holds together
Trustworthiness in qualitative research
deals with both data collection and analysis
The practice of selecting a small random sample of a survey's nonrespondents is primarily intended to
determine whether the nonrespondents are a different population from the respondents
A qualitative research technique involves interviews of small numbers of participants in a group setting. These groups are called
focus groups
a major difference is the purpose of a meta-analysis and review of literature for a research paper is that the meta-analysis uses the literature
for empiracle and theoretical conclusions
Interviewers may become more skilled with practice, which could cause differences between the results of participants interviewed early in the study and those of participants interviewed later. This threat to internal validity is an issue of
instrumentation
particularizing as an approach to socio-historical research occurs when the researcher
is interested in a minute detail of the past
generalizing as an approach to socio-historical research occurs when the researcher
is interested in how things fit into the bigger picture
An important advantage of the qualitative method is that
it is more likely than other methods to lead to new insights about the problem
Generally speaking, an oral presentation at a conference has
less detail than a poster
which of the three branches of philosophy focuses on the nature of things
metaphysics
Doing a mixed-methods study requires
more expertise than is required for two separate studies
The descriptive, analytical narratives that are a trademark of qualitative research are also called
narrative vignettes
A double-blind experiment is one in which
neither the researcher nor the participants know which participants receive the experimental treatment
it is common when looknig at a distribution to encounter extreme or unusual scores taht could have a misleading effect on the results. these extreme scores are termed
outliers
Prevalence of disease differs from incidence of disease in that prevalence refers to the number of
people who presently have a disease, whereas incidence relates to new cases
The one characteristic of true experimental designs that preexperimental and quasi-experimental designs do not have is
random assignment to groups
A study is designed to determine whether the addition of programmed instruction will produce greater achievement scores than the traditional lecture-discussion method. Participants are randomly assigned to two instructional groups. Both groups are tested at the end of the experimental period. What statistical test is indicated?
t test
the fact that meta-analysis quantifies findings from many studies is a frequently mentioned advantage. another strong advantage of the meta-analysis over the normal review paper is
the description fo the coding of study characteristics and the criteria for excluding studies
the most frequent and sever criticism of meta-analysis is that
the studies represent wide differences in methodologies, design,s and measurements
