Research methods
Which of the following is a threat to internal validity found in within-groups designs but not in independent-groups designs?
Practice effects
In popular press terms like 'controlled for' and 'taking into account' or 'correcting for' or 'adjusting for' indicate the use of ----
Regression
Which example illustrates a positive correlation?
Salary level decreases as educational level decreases.
Experiments use random assignment to avoid which of the following?
Selection effects
Online surveys commonly suffer from which of the following?
Self-selection
A researcher's attempt to control sounds, smells, and even temperature in a testing environment is meant to reduce which of the following?
Situation noise
Which of the following sampling techniques would you recommend to a researcher interested in studying rare individuals, like people who have been struck by lightning?
Snowball sampling
What makes certain constructs harder to operationalize?
Some constructs are difficult to observe.
Which pair of variables should produce a negative relationship?
Speed of running and time to complete a race
Convenience sampling relies on which of the following?
Studying people who are easy to find
Which of the following is true when asking people questions about themselves?
The confidence people have in their memories is not strongly related to the accuracy of their memory.
Which of the following means a study used a bivariate correlational design?
The presence of measured variables
Which of the following statements is an operational definition of "fear of snakes" that could be assessed as a structured question?
asking, "On a scale of 1 to 10, how afraid of snakes are you?"
An independent-groups design is also known as a -------- design.
between-subjects
When bivariate association claims do not meet the criteria of temporal precedence and internal validity, this means that ________ cannot be ________.
causal inferences; made
A researcher is performing an experiment to determine whether eating chocolate can improve memory. Measurements of memory in this experiment would be the ____ variable.
dependent
One responsibility of the IACUC is to ensure that ____.
discomfort is minimized in nonhuman subjects in research
A distinction between science and pseudoscience is that ____.
science is based on hypotheses that are testable and refutable
A study finds a correlation coefficient of r =.52. This number gives you information about which of the following?
strength and direction of the relationship
To be a history threat, the external event must occur:
systematically, affecting most members of the group.
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
Which of the following is a dependent variable?
the one that is measured
What additional information is obtained by measuring on an interval scale as compared to an ordinal scale?
the size of the differences
According to the text, the bridge between basic and applied research is known as:
translational research
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. How many variables are included in this study?
two
Your friend Gaby loves reading articles about psychology studies in her monthly women's magazine. Which of the following would you tell her?
"Be careful about reading those articles because they may not present findings accurately."
Having a representative sample is most important in which of the following example claims?
"Forty-three percent of psychology majors report being frustrated by people asking them if they are psychoanalyzing them."
In which of the following studies is self-report the best data collection option?
A study examining the intensity of pain during natural childbirth
When examining an association in which one variable is categorical and one is quantitative, which of the following is most likely to be used?
A bar graph
Which of the following cannot be found in a one-group, pretest/posttest design?
A comparison group
Dr. Anderson conducted a study investigating whether exercising immediately before an exam boosted cognitive abilities. She randomly assigned participants to either do jumping jacks or count to 60 before giving them a geometry test. She did not find any differences between groups but believes there may have been a ceiling effect. What might be a clue that this was the case?
All participants' scores are centered around 100% correct.
Which of the following has been used as a defense of animal research by animal researchers?
Animal research has resulted in many benefits to both animals and humans.
What is indicated by a negative correlation between grade point average and the number of hours spent studying for a sample of college students?
As the number of hours increases, grade point average decreases.
------- can be examined in both simple bivariate designs and longitudinal designs.
Autocorrelation
A researcher wants to know what people really do, not what they think they do. Which method would you advise him to use?
Behavioral observations
RESEARCH STUDY 9.1: Dr. Farah is an educational psychologist who is interested in studying the potential causal relationship between doing homework and academic achievement. In January, Dr. Farah has her students report their fall GPA (a measure of academic achievement) and estimate how many hours they spent doing homework during a typical week in the fall semester. In May, Dr. Farah measures the same variables again (the estimated number of hours spent doing homework during a typical week in the spring semester and their spring GPA). She finds the following correlations: Variable A Variable B Correlation Coefficient Correlation 1 Fall number of hours of homework Fall semester GPA .83* Correlation 2 Fall number of hours of homework Spring number of hours of homework .36* Correlation 3 Fall number of hours of homework Spring semester GPA .69* Correlation 4 Fall semester GPA Spring number of hours of homework .18 Correlation 5 Fall semester GPA Spring semester GPA .45* Correlation 6 Spring number of hours of homework Spring semester GPA .80* *Indicates a statistically significant relationship.
Both Correlations 3 and 4
How are quota sampling and stratified random sampling similar?
Both identify subgroups that need to be studied.
Which of the following activities IS an example of a survey or poll?
CDC asking questions over the telephone
Dr. Alfonse, a developmental psychologist, conducts a study to determine whether children prefer books with drawn illustrations or with photographs. A group of 30 preschoolers are shown two copies of a book (Ferdinand the Bull) at the same time. Although the story is the same, one book is illustrated with drawings and the other is illustrated with photos. Students are then asked to indicate which book they prefer. This is an example of which of the following designs?
Concurrent-measures design
Adding several variables to a regression analysis can help do which of the following?
Control for several variables at once
Which of the following is NOT an example of a probability sample?
Convenience sample
------------is used to control order effects in an experiment
Counterbalancing
In the longitudinal studies, to see if two variables measured at the same point of time --- correlations are used.
Cross-sectional
Teresa is creating a new measure on hyperactivity in children. She has read some research stating that understanding energy level and the ability to focus is key to understanding hyperactivity. However, Teresa's measure of hyperactivity only contains items about diet and exercise. With what type of validity may Teresa's measure have a problem?
Face Validity
Which of the following studies is an example of a longitudinal design?
Dr. Benson's study in which she measured people's spatial manipulation ability in August and measured their ability again in May after they had taken two semesters of art classes
What is one of the most important characteristic of a correlational study?
Exploring whether a relationship exists between variables
Dr. Mias is conducting a study on the effect of meditation on the anxiety levels of elderly hospice patients; however, the patients' declining health affects their anxiety levels in between each measurement. Which threat to internal validity has confounded this study?
Maturation
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 is concerned about the validity of the measure of narcissism recommended by her colleague. She sends a copy of the measure to the faculty members in her psychology department to look at, and they all tell her it looks like it will measure narcissism. She now has evidence of which of the following?
Face validity
Because there is a strong positive correlation between depression and risk of divorce, we can conclude that depression causes divorce.
False
When the participants' score on Dependent variable are clustered towards the lower end it is [ Select ] ["Floor effect", "Ceiling effect", "Normal curve effect"] and when they are on the higher end it is known as [ Select ] ["Floor effect", "Ceiling effect", "Normal curve effect"] .
Floor effect / Ceiling effect
RESEARCH STUDY 4.1: 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 there is a likelihood of risk in his study
For his research methods class project, Hiro is studying the effect of pet ownership on stress levels. Although a lot of research has been done on dog and cat owners, not much is known about other pets, so Hiro decides to study bird owners. Which of the following would demonstrate a purposive sampling technique?
He recruits bird owners by e-mailing members of the National Bird Owners Association and asking for participants.
Dr. Kline, an environmental psychologist, conducts a study to examine whether visiting zoos causes people to have more positive attitudes toward environmental conservation. He asks a group of 45 people attending the zoo on a Saturday morning about their attitudes. He finds that 69% of the people report having a positive attitude after their visit. Which of the following is true?
His study does not qualify as an experiment.
Dr. White reads about a new theory that states that depression is caused by increased levels of estrogen in the womb. To test this theory, she conducted a study comparing the level of estrogen in amniotic fluid in individuals who were later diagnosed with depression with the level of those who did not develop depression. Dr. White found no differences between the groups in estrogen levels in the amniotic fluid. In this study, "depressed individuals will have higher estrogen levels" was the .
Hypothesis
Spontaneous remission in clinical studies is an example of which of the following threats to internal validity?
Maturation
Which of the following is a necessary component of a longitudinal design?
Measuring the same variables at two points in time
If individuals are pressured into participating in research because the researcher is in a position of power or authority, then which ethical principle is being compromised?
Informed consent
Why is there a publication bias against null effects?
People generally want to read about independent variables that matter.
Dr. Farah is an educational psychologist who is interested in studying the potential causal relationship between doing homework and academic achievement. In January, Dr. Farah has her students report their fall GPA (a measure of academic achievement) and estimate how many hours they spent doing homework during a typical week in the fall semester. In May, Dr. Farah measures the same variables again (the estimated number of hours spent doing homework during a typical week in the spring semester and their spring GPA). A colleague of Dr. Farah's asks her why she did not simply conduct an experiment. Which of the following is a probable reason for Dr. Farah's choice not to conduct an experiment?
It would be unethical to manipulate whether students are told to do homework for a semester.
The data points in the scatter plot tend to cluster around straight line is known as [ Select ] ["Monotonic relationship", "Linear relationship", "Curvilinear relationship"] , whereas when they are consistently one directional either positive or negative it is known as [ Select ] ["Curvilinear relationship", "Monotonic relationship", "Linear relationship"]
Linear relationship / Monotonic relationship
To counter internal validity threats, in a specific type of study design the participants know their group assignment but the observers don't. It is known as ------
Masked study
A football player who knows that his performance will be better if he wears his lucky shirt is using the following method--
Method of Tenacity
Tiffany is researching methods used to treat autism spectrum disorders and begins by searching on the Internet. Which statement should make her suspicious that she is on a site rooted in pseudoscience?
The website focuses on testimonials from family members that describe seemingly miraculous cures.
Which hypothesis is most problematic because it cannot be tested?
There would be less stress today if 9/11 had never occurred.
Which of the following is a reason why multiple regression designs are inferior to experimental designs?
They can only control for third variables that are measured.
In addition to being ethical violations, why are data falsification and fabrication problematic?
They impede scientific progress.
Why are double-barreled questions problematic?
They may have poor construct validity.
Which of the following is NOT a reason that a researcher might choose a pretest/posttest design?
To allow for the study of spontaneous behaviors
Why should journalists report on the previous body of research when writing about a newly published scientific study?
To highlight pattern and parsimony in scientific research
A Pearson correlation of r = −1.00 means that all the data points fit perfectly on a straight line.
True
An important element of the scientific method is that research results should be made public.
True
With a very large sample, even a small correlation can be statistically significant.
True
Which of the following is NOT a reason that a study might yield a null result?
Use of a within-subjects design
Regression is the statistical process for _____.
Using one variable to predict another
Which behavior is an example of plagiarism?
Using someone else's ideas in your research report without a citation.
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?
Validity
A common response set is acquiescence- which is another word for ------------
Yes saying
Dr. Gore is conducting a survey examining people's opinions toward funding for collegiate athletics on his campus. He notices that several participants agree with all 12 questions. This could be an example of all of the following EXCEPT:
fence sitting.
Researchers often use a coding system to associate data with a particular participant during the course of a research study in order to ____.
help protect confidentiality
One responsibility of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to ensure that ____.
human participants will be kept safe in research
A measurement procedure is valid if it ____.
measures what you intend it to measure
An artist tries putting a freshly painted canvas outside during a rainstorm to see how the painting will change from the pattern of the raindrops. Which method of acquiring knowledge is she using?
method of empiricism
Tamika is a research assistant who is watching elementary school students while they complete puzzles on their own. She records the order in which the students finish the puzzles, from first to last. Which of the following descriptor applies to the variable in Tamika's study?
ordinal
A Latin square is used with _____.
partial counterbalancing
A researcher who wanted to observe behaviors in a private social club with restricted access, would probably need to use ____.
participant observation
Testing threats involve ......, whereas instrumentation threats involve---- .
participants; measurements
A limitation of using the rational method is that ____.
people are generally not very good at reasoning
According to the Belmont Report, which of the following groups of people is entitled to special protection?
people with developmental disabilities
Dr. Ziser conducts an experiment on life satisfaction using participants above the age of 80. All people above the age of 80 would make up the ____.
population
You develop a new measure of anxiety and you find that people who score high on your measure show more anxious behavior later, than people who score low on your measure. You have demonstrated ____.
predictive validity
In Milgram's (1963) experiments on obedience to authority, participants were led to believe that they were shocking a "learner" in another room each time the learner made an error. What was the main risk to participants in Milgram's study?
psychological distress
After measuring a group of individuals, a researcher finds that Jared's score is three times greater than Jasmin's score. These measurements must come from a(n) ____ scale.
ratio
Last year Tomas and his friend Jamie were both too short to ride the rollercoaster. Jamie went to the park this year and was tall enough to ride. Because Tomas is taller than Jamie, he thinks that he will be able to ride the rollercoaster as well. Tomas is using the ____ to answer his question.
rational method
The presence of an observing researcher, can cause participants to show signs of ____.
reactivity
RESEARCH STUDY 9.1: Dr. Farah is an educational psychologist who is interested in studying the potential causal relationship between doing homework and academic achievement. In January, Dr. Farah has her students report their fall GPA (a measure of academic achievement) and estimate how many hours they spent doing homework during a typical week in the fall semester. In May, Dr. Farah measures the same variables again (the estimated number of hours spent doing homework during a typical week in the spring semester and their spring GPA). She finds the following correlations: Variable A Variable B Correlation Coefficient Correlation 1 Fall number of hours of homework Fall semester GPA .83* Correlation 2 Fall number of hours of homework Spring number of hours of homework .36* Correlation 3 Fall number of hours of homework Spring semester GPA .69* Correlation 4 Fall semester GPA Spring number of hours of homework .18 Correlation 5 Fall semester GPA Spring semester GPA .45* Correlation 6 Spring number of hours of homework Spring semester GPA .80* *Indicates a statistically significant relationship.
two
If a sample is biased, then it is --------the population of interest.
unrepresentative of
Dr. Paul is concerned about a fence-sitting response set when he conducts his survey. Which of the following might you recommend to decrease fence sitting?
using scales with an even number of response options
Counting how many times a child exhibits disruptive behavior during a 30-minute observation period is an example of measuring behavior using ---- method.
using the frequency method.
In which of the following cases might a small effect still be important?
when it is aggregated over many situations
Which set of correlations correctly shows the highest to lowest degree of relationship?
−0.91, +0.83, +0.10, −0.03
