Research Methods PSYS053--Exam 1

What is the relationship between moderators and external validity?

Moderators suggest that associations may not generalize to all subgroups of people.

A study finds a correlation coefficient of r = .52. According to Cohen's benchmarks, the magnitude of this effect is:

Large

Which of the following is a good reason a researcher might give for using observational methods as opposed to self-report methods?

"I want to measure something that people may not know how often they do it"

RESEARCH STUDY 6.2: Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Imagine that Dr. Ewell calculates a correlation for his two rates. Which of the following would be the best valuefor Dr. Ewell to find?

0.89

When interrogating he construct validity of an association claim, which of the following statements is true?

How each variable was measured must be considered

Why would behavioral observations be a good research method for studying a high-frequency behavior such as; number of words spoken in a day or number of steps taken in a week?

Participants would not be able to accurately keep track of so much data

Which of the following is true of students views of deception and harm in research studies?

Students typically find that the negative effects of deception are diminished during debriefing

which of the following is true of moderators?

They can inform external validity

RESEARCH STUDY 8.1: Dr. Guidry conducts a study examining the relationship between the number of friends one has and the experience of daily stress and life satisfaction. She randomly samples 1,500 elderly men and women in Nashville, Tennessee (the state capital), located in the southern United States. Below are her findings.• Life satisfaction and experience of daily stress: r = −.57 (p = .01)• Number of friends one has and experience of daily stress: r = .09, not sig.• Number of friends one has and life satisfaction: r = .36 (p = .04) Dr. Guidry finds that the relationship between the number of friends one has and life satisfaction is stronger for men than for women. Why might Dr. Guidry have looked for this difference?

To examine her study's external validity

Which of the following is true about large effect sizes in an association claim?

all else being equal,

In looking at a scatterplot of interrater reliability, why would a researcher want to see all the dots close to the line of agreement?

because it indicates that the researcher's two research assistants/raters are making similar measurements

If a person is asking whether the variables in an association claim are measured appropriately, _________ is being interrogated.

construct validity

Why are convergent and discriminant validity often evaluated together?

d. Researchers have to look at the patterns of correlations for both types of validity

RESEARCH STUDY 8.1: Dr. Guidry conducts a study examining the relationship between the number of friends one has and the experience of daily stress and life satisfaction. She randomly samples 1,500 elderly men and women in Nashville, Tennessee (the state capital), located in the southern United States. Below are her findings: • Life satisfaction and experience of daily stress: r = -.57, 95% CI [-.77, -.37] • Number of friends one has and experience of daily stress: r = .09, 95% CI [-.27, .45] • Number of friends one has and life satisfaction: r = .36, 95% CI [.12, .60] Which of the following conclusions can Dr. Guidry draw about the number of friends one has and life satisfaction based on her statistical analyses?

d. People with more friends tend to report greater life satisfaction.

A researcher most likely prepared two versions of a survey with different question sequencing to address the issue of

question order

The temporal precedence criterion is also known as the ______________ problem

directionality

Which of the following is a disadvantage of using open-ended questions?

NOT the answers are not taken seriously by the participants

All of the following are true of outliers EXCEPT:

They have the biggest effect when dealing with large sample sizes.

When examining an association claim using a bar graph, an association is indicated by which of the following?

a difference in height between the bars

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

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 an exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM sleep. Using an 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 wakes them again and follows 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 IRB approval, Dr. Kushner trusts that his graduate student will conduct the study. However, his graduate student does not and instead provides Dr. Kushner with invented results that support his hypothesis. This is known as which of the following?

data fabrication

How might a researcher deal with reactivity?

wait to begin observations

Which of the following is true of sample size?

It primarily affects statistical validity.

Julian creates a survey asking participants first to report how happy they are in their marriage and then second report how happy they are in their life. His advisor recommends that he create a second version of the survey that reverses the order of these questions. Why is his advisor recommending this?

NOT he is concerned that Julians participants will use shortcuts

RESEARCH STUDY 6.1: Professor Singh creates a survey to measure how happy his students are with his teaching this semster. He is teaching two classes, Psychology and Law and Introduction to Neuroscience. He writes the following questions for his survey Which of the questions above is an example of a question that uses semantic differential scale?

D. How easily did you feel this class was?

Which of the questions above is an example of an open-ended question?

A. What was your favorite part of this class?

The ethical principles that govern psychological research and the code of conduct for how to protect human and nonhuman participants in research are published by the

APA

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.

From an ethical standpoint, in what way is researching prisoners with tuberculosis similar to researching children with ADHD?

Both groups of participants have less autonomy than other types of participants

what is the difference between data that is collected anonymously and data that is collected confidentially?

Confidential research collects participants names but separates them from the data; Anonymous research does not collect participants names at all.

Dr. Jewell is Interested in measuring peoples attitudes towards proposed tax cuts. One of his items reads "People who.support cutting taxes are not well informed about how the government works" What is the problem with this question?

It is a leading question

In which of the following ways is an institutional animal care and use committee different from an institutional review board?

IACUICs monitor the care and treatment of animals throughout the study; IRBs do not monitor the care of humans throughout the study

All of the following are true of institutional review boards in the United States EXCEPT that

IRBs must have a psychologist as a member

Which of the following is NOT a question you should ask about the statistical validity of an association claim?

Is random assignment affecting the findings?

In developing a measure of need for cognition, or the degree to which people like thinking and problem solving, Dr. Jonason asks his participants to rate their agreement with the following statement; I frequently solve and enjoy solving crossword puzzles and Sudoku puzzles. What is the problem with this question?

It is a double-barreled question

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 an exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM sleep. Using an 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 wakes them again and follows 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 him with informed consent. Doing this is adhering to which Principle of the Belmont Report?

NOT principle of justice

RESEARCH STUDY 3.4: 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. Dr. Kang's decision to assign participants randomly to Group A and Group B increases which of the following?

NOT the external validity

RESEARCH STUDY 8.1 Dr. Guidry conducts a study examining he relationship between the number of friends one has and the experience of daily stress and life satisfaction. She randomly samples 1500 elderly men and women in Nashville, Tennessee. Below are her findings - Life Satisfaction and experience of daily stress r= -.57, 95% CI{-.77, -.37} -Number of friends one has and experience of daily stress r=.09, 95% CI {-.27,.45} -Number of friends one has and life satisfaction r=.36, 95% CI {.12, .60} Dr. guidry has decided to examine one of her relationships with a scatterplot to double check for a curvilinear relationship. what relationship will be most important for her to examine?

Number of friends one has and experience of daily stress

Which of the following ethical violations did NOT occur in the Tuskegee Study?

Participants in the study were given/infected with the disease

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 an exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM sleep. Using an 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 wakes them again and follows 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 use deception in his study and is thinking about a debriefing session. Which of the following is true of debriefing?

Participants must be told the reasons for the deception

In determining whether the relationship between two of Dr. Guidry's variables was statistically significant, which of the following must be considered?

Sample size and effect size

RESEARCH STUDY 8.1: Dr. Guidry conducts a study examining the relationship between the number of friends one has and the experience of daily stress and life satisfaction. She randomly samples 1,500 elderly men and women in Nashville, Tennessee (the state capital), located in the southern United States. Below are her findings. • Life satisfaction and experience of daily stress: r = −.57 ( p = .01) • Number of friends one has and experience of daily stress: r = .09, not sig. • Number of friends one has and life satisfaction: r = .36 ( p = .04) Dr. Guidry realizes that the women in her study have more friends than the men in her study. This might result in which of the following?

Spurious associations due to subgroups

Which of the following is true of students' views of deception and harm in research studies?

Students typically find the negative effects of deception to be diminished during debriefing

RESEARCH STUDY 8.1: Dr Guidry conducts a study examining the relationship between the number of friends one has and the experience of daily stress and life satisfaction. She randomly samples 1,500 elderly men and women in Nashville, Tennessee (the state capital), located in the southern United States. Below are her findings.• Life satisfaction and experience of daily stress: r = −.57 (p = .01)• Number of friends one has and experience of daily stress: r = .09, not sig.• Number of friends one has and life satisfaction: r = .36 (p = .04)Considering Dr. Guidry's sample, which of the following statements is true?

The association found in her study could probably generalize to elderly people in other large cities in the South.

For a third variable to be plausible as the explanation in an established association, which of the following must also be true?

The third variable must be related to both of the measured variables in the original association.

When evaluating the external validity of an association claim, which of the following is the most important issue to consider?

The way the sample was selected from the population

RESEARCH STUDY 8.1 Dr. Guidry conducts a study examining he relationship between the number of friends one has and the experience of daily stress and life satisfaction. She randomly samples 1500 elderly men and women in Nashville, Tennessee. Below are her findings - Life Satisfaction and experience of daily stress r= -.57, 95% CI{-.77, -.37} -Number of friends one has and experience of daily stress r=.09, 95% CI {-.27,.45} -Number of friends one has and life satisfaction r=.36, 95% CI {.12, .60} Which of the following best describes the 95% CI for the relationship between the number of friends and daily stress?

There is not a statistically significant association between the two variables

Which of the following is NOT a way that a researcher might indicate a statistically significant result in a journal article?

a notation of p = .20

Todd is studying the effect of popularity on academic success for his research methods project. He decides to measure popularity by asking each elementary school student to tell him how many friends he or she has. He assumes that more friends means the student is more popular. Which of the following best describes this variable?

ratio scale of measurement

When obtaining informed consent from a participant , what must a researcher do?

explicitly inform participants of any potential risks involved in participating in the study

Which of the following is more likely to be part of debriefing?

fully informing participants about all aspects of the study

RESEARCH STUDY 8.1 Dr. Guidry conducts a study examining he relationship between the number of friends one has and the experience of daily stress and life satisfaction. She randomly samples 1500 elderly men and women in Nashville, Tennessee. Below are her findings - Life Satisfaction and experience of daily stress r= -.57, 95% CI{-.77, -.37} -Number of friends one has and experience of daily stress r=.09, 95% CI {-.27,.45} -Number of friends one has and life satisfaction r=.36, 95% CI {.12, .60} Comparing all three correlations, Dr. Guidry will be able to most accurately predict life satisfaction from the experience of daily stress because the relationship

has the largest effect size

When is it acceptable for a researcher to study participants only from a special 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

Which type of validity is typically not relevant to association claims?

internal

Which of the following is true of behavioral observations?

it may tell a different story than data collected by self-report questions

The construct validity of observations can be threatened by

not aquisience

Masked, or blind, study designs are designed to deal with:

observer bias

Which of the following is a unique threat to construct validity found only in behavioral observations?

observer bias

If there is not a full range of scores on one of the variables, this is known as _________.

restriction of range

Which of the following increases accurate responding?

reverse-worded questions

In considering whether research is ethical, which of the following are balanced against each other?

risk to participants versus value of the knowledge gained

Using a computerized measure of Implicit opinions, such as the Implicit Association Test, is a way to address

socially desirable responding

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 an exam, will you do worse? Dr. Kushner is especially curious about selective sleep deprivation, where people are kept from entering REM sleep. Using an 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 wakes them again and follows 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 suspects that the people who will most benefit from his study are high school and college students, who are asked to perform cognitive functions in various states of sleep deprivation. Given this information, what type of participants should Dr. Kushner recruit for his study?

students from a community college

The aim of the Tuskegee Study was to examine which disease?

syphilis

Which of the following is true when asking people questions about themselves?

the confidence people have in their memories is not strongly correlated with the accuracy of their memory

RESEARCH STUDY 8.1: Dr. Guidry conducts a study examining the relationship between the number of friends one has and the experience of daily stress and life satisfaction. She randomly samples 1,500 elderly men and women in Nashville, Tennessee (the state capital), located in the southern United States. Below are her findings.• Life satisfaction and experience of daily stress: r = −.57 (p = .01)• Number of friends one has and experience of daily stress: r = .09, not sig.• Number of friends one has and life satisfaction: r = .36 (p = .04) Matt, Dr. Guidry:s research assistant is discussing the findings of the study with some other students. He claims that the experience of more daily stress causes people to have lower life satisfaction. Which of the following causal criteria did Matt meet?

the covariance of cause and effect

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

When is an outlier most likely to be problematic?

when the sample size is small and the outlier is extreme on both variables

In which of the following cases might a small effect still be important?

when the study has life or death implications