302 Exam 5 MC

Which of the following is NOT true of control variables? a. They help define the control group. b. They help establish internal validity. c. They are essential in experimental designs. d. They are kept the same for all participants.

When conducting an experiment, what is provided by the independent variable? a. A comparison group b. Random assignment c. Proof of temporal precedence d. Confirmation of internal validity

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 NOT true of Dr. Kline's study? a. He is lacking a control group. b. He does not have a dependent variable. c. He cannot make a causal statement. d. He did not manipulate an independent variable.

A threat to internal validity occurs only if a potential design confound varies ________ with the independent variable. a. Haphazardly b. Systematically c. Spontaneously d. Especially

Which of the following is NOT true of selection effects? a. They are a type of confound. b. They can occur when experimenters allow participants to choose their own treatment group. c. They are unimportant for interrogating internal validity. d. They can occur when researchers assign one type of person to one treatment group and another type of person to another treatment group.

Experiments use random assignment to avoid which of the following? a. Random selection b. Selection effects c. Carryover effects d. Demand characteristics

Which of the following research designs is used to address possible selection effects? a. Posttest-only designs b. Matched-groups designs c. Pretest/posttest designs d. Correlational designs

Using a matched-group design is especially important in which of the following cases? a. When you have only a few people in your study b. When you have at least three levels/conditions of the independent variable c. When you do not have a control group d. When you have a complex dependent variable

An independent-groups design is also known as a ________. a. Between-subjects design b. Matched-groups design c. Within-groups design d. Mixed design

Which of the following is NOT a reason that a researcher might choose a pretest/posttest design? a. To ensure that random assignment made the treatment/comparison groups equal b. To determine how groups change over the course of the experiment c. To allow for the study of spontaneous behaviors d. To make a strong causal claim

Dr. Alfonse, a developmental psychologist, conducts a study to determine whether children prefer books with drawn illustrations or with photographs. A group of 45 first-graders are shown two copies of a book (Little Red Riding Hood) 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? a. Longitudinal design b. Repeated-measures design c. Concurrent-measures design d. Posttest-only design

All of the following are advantages of within-groups designs EXCEPT: a. Participants in the treatment/control groups will be equivalent b. It is less time-consuming for the participants c. It gives researchers more power to find differences between conditions d. They require fewer participants

Which of the following is a threat to internal validity found in within-groups designs but not in independent-groups designs? a. Selection effects b. Design confounds c. Demand characteristics d. Practice effects

Order effects can be controlled by using which of the following techniques? a. Random assignment b. Design confounds c. Increasing demand characteristics d. Counterbalancing

Which of the following is NOT a disadvantage of within-groups designs? a. There is a potential for order effects. b. There is a potential for demand characteristics. c. Depending on the independent variable, these designs are not always possible. d. These designs rely on fewer participants.

RESEARCH STUDY 10.2 Dr. Acitelli studies sleep and sleep disorders. She is curious as to whether falling asleep in front of a television set causes people to fall asleep more slowly than falling asleep without watching TV. She recruits a sample of 60 middle-aged women from a local church who reported no history of sleep problems. She creates three conditions. All participants come to the sleep lab for three nights in a row and experience all three conditions. In the first condition (A), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is off. In the second condition (B), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel. In the third condition (C), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel but is muted. With the use of an electroencephalograph (EEG), the researcher measures how long it takes participants to fall asleep. Which of the following designs is Dr. Acitelli using? a. Pretest/posttest design b. Concurrent-measures design c. Repeated-measures design d. Posttest-only design

RESEARCH STUDY 10.2 Dr. Acitelli studies sleep and sleep disorders. She is curious as to whether falling asleep in front of a television set causes people to fall asleep more slowly than falling asleep without watching TV. She recruits a sample of 60 middle-aged women from a local church who reported no history of sleep problems. She creates three conditions. All participants come to the sleep lab for three nights in a row and experience all three conditions. In the first condition (A), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is off. In the second condition (B), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel. In the third condition (C), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel but is muted. With the use of an electroencephalograph (EEG), the researcher measures how long it takes participants to fall asleep. Given that Dr. Acitelli's participants have agreed to participate for three nights each, which type of counterbalancing should she use? a. Partial counterbalancing b. Full counterbalancing c. Minimal counterbalancing d. Carryover counterbalancing

RESEARCH STUDY 10.2 Dr. Acitelli studies sleep and sleep disorders. She is curious as to whether falling asleep in front of a television set causes people to fall asleep more slowly than falling asleep without watching TV. She recruits a sample of 60 middle-aged women from a local church who reported no history of sleep problems. She creates three conditions. All participants come to the sleep lab for three nights in a row and experience all three conditions. In the first condition (A), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is off. In the second condition (B), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel. In the third condition (C), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel but is muted. With the use of an electroencephalograph (EEG), the researcher measures how long it takes participants to fall asleep. Given that there are three conditions/levels of the independent variable, how many orders of the conditions are possible in Dr. Acitelli's study? a. Three b. Six c. Nine d. Twelve

RESEARCH STUDY 10.2 Dr. Acitelli studies sleep and sleep disorders. She is curious as to whether falling asleep in front of a television set causes people to fall asleep more slowly than falling asleep without watching TV. She recruits a sample of 60 middle-aged women from a local church who reported no history of sleep problems. She creates three conditions. All participants come to the sleep lab for three nights in a row and experience all three conditions. In the first condition (A), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is off. In the second condition (B), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel. In the third condition (C), participants fall asleep in front of a television that is turned on to the same 24-hour news channel but is muted. With the use of an electroencephalograph (EEG), the researcher measures how long it takes participants to fall asleep. Dr. Acitelli was concerned that asking participants how long it took them to fall asleep would lead them to suspect that was the purpose of the study. Her decision to measure how long it took participants to go to sleep using the EEG instead of self-report was meant to decrease which of the following? a. Order effects b. Selection effects c. Demand characteristics d. Counterbalancing effects

A more general term for practice effects and carryover effects is: a. Order effects b. Within-person effects c. Between-person effects d. Design effects

The ability for a study to reveal a statistically significant difference between the levels of an independent variable when one truly exists is known as: a. Covariance b. Power c. Effect size d. Statistical validity

What is the primary difference between pretest/posttest designs and within-groups designs? a. The number of participants used b. The number of times the dependent variable is measured c. The number of levels of the independent variable participants are exposed to d. There is no difference between the two designs

Random selection enhances ________ and random assignment enhances ________. a. Internal validity; internal validity b. External validity; external validity c. Internal validity; external validity d. External validity; internal validity

Generally, what is the main priority for experimental studies? a. Construct validity b. External validity c. Internal validity d. Statistical validity

When interrogating experiments, on which of the big validities should a person focus? a. Internal validity b. External validity c. Construct validity d. Statistical validity

Which of the following cannot be found in a one-group, pretest/posttest design? a. A random sample b. A valid measure c. A comparison group d. A manipulation

Spontaneous remission in clinical studies is an example of which of the following threats to internal validity? a. Regression b. Attrition c. Maturation d. Placebo effects

The addition of a comparison group can address all of the following threats to internal validity EXCEPT: a. History b. Maturation c. Regression d. Attrition

Which of the following threats to internal validity CANNOT occur in just any study? a. Observer bias b. History threats c. Placebo effects d. Demand characteristics

To be a history threat, the external event must occur: a. Constantly during the experiment b. At the beginning of the experiment c. Systematically, affecting most members of the group d. Intentionally, affecting most members of the group

Regression is especially problematic in which of the following situations? a. When the experimental and comparison groups are equal at posttest b. When one group has an extremely high score at pretest c. When the experimental and comparison groups are equal at pretest d. When one group has an extremely low score at posttest

Which of the following is NOT a method researchers used to identify or correct for attrition? a. Drop the original/pretest scores of participants who left the study b. Not allow participants to leave a study once it has started c. Determine whether those who dropped out of the study had a different pattern of scores than those who stayed in the study d. Use a control group

Which of the following is NOT true of testing effects? a. It can be prevented by use of a control group. b. It can lead to increased/higher scores. c. It can lead to decreased/lower scores. d. It can sensitize people to being tested.

Dr. Whetstone is curious about how self-esteem changes as a result of a new counseling program. She is concerned about testing threats in her study. Which of the following would you NOT recommend to her as a way to address this type of threat? a. Collecting pretest data twice b. Conducting a posttest-only study c. Using a different measure of self-esteem at pretest than at posttest d. Using a comparison group

Which of the following is true of instrumentation threats? a. They are the same as testing threats. b. They occur only when using mechanical instruments (e.g., blood pressure cuffs, scales). c. They can be avoided with counterbalancing. d. They are only problematic in observational research.

Dr. LaGuardia is curious as to whether children in a daycare center will share more after watching an educational video on sharing. Immediately before and after the video, he has several undergraduate research assistants code the sharing behavior of a group of 33 four-year-olds. Which of the following would you NOT recommend to him to decrease the threat of instrumentation? a. Establishing the reliability and validity of his coders at pretest b. Establishing the reliability and validity of his coders at posttest c. Using clear coding manuals d. Using only one research assistant to code all the videos

Which of the following studies would NOT have a possible threat of observer bias? a. A study looking at the relationship between the frequency of eating fruits and vegetables and general physical fitness b. A study looking at the relationship between college GPA and SAT scores c. A study looking at the number of hours spent listening to music and singing ability d. A study looking at the rate of text messaging in a day and writing/English composition skill

Observer bias can threaten which of the following big validities? a. Internal validity and construct validity b. External validity and construct validity c. Internal validity and external validity d. Internal validity only

A decrease in participants' scores on a measure from pretest to posttest could suggest all of the following threats to internal validity EXCEPT? a. Regression b. Maturation c. Testing d. Attrition

RESEARCH STUDY 11.1 In previous studies, Dr. Schulenberg has established that finding meaning in one's everyday work activities can lead to greater success in the workplace (e.g., productivity, creativity). He is curious as to whether this can happen in the college classroom. Specifically, he is curious whether finding meaning in one's classroom experience can lead to greater academic performance. In the spring semester, he has his teaching assistant randomly assign half the class to write a paragraph each class period about how the material has meaning for their lives (meaning group). The other half writes a paragraph about what they did to prepare for class (preparation group). He does not know which of his students are writing which paragraph, and the students are not aware they are responding to different writing assignments. To measure academic performance, he gives the students a midterm essay exam and a final exam. The study described above is an example of which of the following? a. A one-group, pretest/posttest design b. A null effect c. A double-blind study d. Observer bias

RESEARCH STUDY 11.1 In previous studies, Dr. Schulenberg has established that finding meaning in one's everyday work activities can lead to greater success in the workplace (e.g., productivity, creativity). He is curious as to whether this can happen in the college classroom. Specifically, he is curious whether finding meaning in one's classroom experience can lead to greater academic performance. In the spring semester, he has his teaching assistant randomly assign half the class to write a paragraph each class period about how the material has meaning for their lives (meaning group). The other half writes a paragraph about what they did to prepare for class (preparation group). He does not know which of his students are writing which paragraph, and the students are not aware they are responding to different writing assignments. To measure academic performance, he gives the students a midterm essay exam and a final exam. Dr. Schulenberg likely designed his study so that neither he nor his students knew which group they were in to address which of the following? a. Placebo effects b. Attrition c. Demand characteristics d. Maturation

RESEARCH STUDY 11.1 In previous studies, Dr. Schulenberg has established that finding meaning in one's everyday work activities can lead to greater success in the workplace (e.g., productivity, creativity). He is curious as to whether this can happen in the college classroom. Specifically, he is curious whether finding meaning in one's classroom experience can lead to greater academic performance. In the spring semester, he has his teaching assistant randomly assign half the class to write a paragraph each class period about how the material has meaning for their lives (meaning group). The other half writes a paragraph about what they did to prepare for class (preparation group). He does not know which of his students are writing which paragraph, and the students are not aware they are responding to different writing assignments. To measure academic performance, he gives the students a midterm essay exam and a final exam. Which of the following aspects of Dr. Schulenberg's study allows him to prevent observer bias? a. Keeping his students unaware of which type of essay they are writing b. Having his teaching assistant assign students randomly to the two groups c. Grading the exams himself (a Ph.D.) instead of having his teaching assistant (a college senior) do it d. Ensuring the person grading the exams is unaware of each student's writing group

RESEARCH STUDY 11.1 In previous studies, Dr. Schulenberg has established that finding meaning in one's everyday work activities can lead to greater success in the workplace (e.g., productivity, creativity). He is curious as to whether this can happen in the college classroom. Specifically, he is curious whether finding meaning in one's classroom experience can lead to greater academic performance. In the spring semester, he has his teaching assistant randomly assign half the class to write a paragraph each class period about how the material has meaning for their lives (meaning group). The other half writes a paragraph about what they did to prepare for class (preparation group). He does not know which of his students are writing which paragraph, and the students are not aware they are responding to different writing assignments. To measure academic performance, he gives the students a midterm essay exam and a final exam. magine that in Dr. Schulenberg's study, he notes that all of the students do extremely well on the midterm exam. When he looks at the results of the final exam, he notices that all the students' exam scores went down. Which of the following pattern of results would suggest that there is a threat to internal validity? a. The final exam scores were lower in the preparation group than the meaning group. b. The final exam scores were equally low in both groups. c. The final exam scores were lower than those of students in his fall semester class. d. The final exam scores were lower than the final exam scores of students of his colleague,Dr. Fao.

RESEARCH STUDY 11.1 In previous studies, Dr. Schulenberg has established that finding meaning in one's everyday work activities can lead to greater success in the workplace (e.g., productivity, creativity). He is curious as to whether this can happen in the college classroom. Specifically, he is curious whether finding meaning in one's classroom experience can lead to greater academic performance. In the spring semester, he has his teaching assistant randomly assign half the class to write a paragraph each class period about how the material has meaning for their lives (meaning group). The other half writes a paragraph about what they did to prepare for class (preparation group). He does not know which of his students are writing which paragraph, and the students are not aware they are responding to different writing assignments. To measure academic performance, he gives the students a midterm essay exam and a final exam. Imagine that in Dr. Schulenberg's study, he notes that all of the students do extremely well on the midterm exam. When he looks at the results of the final exam, he notices that all the students' exam scores went down. Given this information, which of the following threats might be present in his study? a. Regression b. Attrition c. Maturation d. Observer bias

RESEARCH STUDY 11.2 Dr. Bloedorn is a health psychologist who researches nutrition. She is curious as to whether a new drink additive will help people consume fewer calories during a meal. The drink additive is a white, odorless, tasteless powder that a person can add to any drink. She collects a random sample of 63 overweight students on campus and measures the calories they eat during lunch, using a bomb calorimeter. She then gives this additive to the same 63 participants to use at dinner and measures how many calories they eat (again, using the bomb calorimeter). Which of the following threats to internal validity will Dr. Bloedorn NOT be worried about? a. Testing effect b. Attrition c. Instrumentation d. Placebo effects

RESEARCH STUDY 11.2 Dr. Bloedorn is a health psychologist who researches nutrition. She is curious as to whether a new drink additive will help people consume fewer calories during a meal. The drink additive is a white, odorless, tasteless powder that a person can add to any drink. She collects a random sample of 63 overweight students on campus and measures the calories they eat during lunch, using a bomb calorimeter. She then gives this additive to the same 63 participants to use at dinner and measures how many calories they eat (again, using the bomb calorimeter). The addition of a control group that does not use the drink additive would help Dr. Bloedorn address which of the following threats to internal validity? a. History b. Demand characteristics c. Instrumentation d. Placebo effects

RESEARCH STUDY 11.2 Dr. Bloedorn is a health psychologist who researches nutrition. She is curious as to whether a new drink additive will help people consume fewer calories during a meal. The drink additive is a white, odorless, tasteless powder that a person can add to any drink. She collects a random sample of 63 overweight students on campus and measures the calories they eat during lunch, using a bomb calorimeter. She then gives this additive to the same 63 participants to use at dinner and measures how many calories they eat (again, using the bomb calorimeter). The addition of a group that does not use the drink additive but adds a similar-looking substance that they think is the additive would help Dr. Bloedorn address which of the following threats to internal validity? a. History b. Observer bias c. Instrumentation d. Placebo effects

RESEARCH STUDY 11.2 Dr. Bloedorn is a health psychologist who researches nutrition. She is curious as to whether a new drink additive will help people consume fewer calories during a meal. The drink additive is a white, odorless, tasteless powder that a person can add to any drink. She collects a random sample of 63 overweight students on campus and measures the calories they eat during lunch, using a bomb calorimeter. She then gives this additive to the same 63 participants to use at dinner and measures how many calories they eat (again, using the bomb calorimeter). Imagine that Dr. Bloedorn finds no difference between the calories consumed with the drink additive and without. This is known as: a. Situation noise b. Within-group variance c. A null effect d. Placebo effect

Which of the following is NOT a reason that a study might yield a null result? a. A lack of between-group variance b. Too much within-group variance c. A "true" null result d. Use of a within-subjects design

Dr. Deveraux has conducted a study that has resulted in a null effect. Nonetheless, she suspects that there truly is a causal relationship between her independent and dependent variables. Which of the following is UNLIKELY to be to blame? a. A weak manipulation b. An insensitive measure c. Too many participants d. A reverse confound

Dr. Morimoto is curious as to whether exposing people to violent video games causes them to be more aggressive. He assigns half his participants to play a video game for five minutes and the other half to play for seven minutes. He finds that there is no relationship between playing the game longer and being more aggressive. What might be to blame for this null effect? a. A weak manipulation b. An insensitive measure c. A reverse confound d. Ceiling effect

Dr. Sanderson is curious as to whether exposing people to violent video games causes them to be more aggressive. She assigns half her participants to play a violent video game for 5 minutes and the other half to play the same game for 25 minutes. Afterward, she has them play a board game and has a well-trained coder determine whether they are very aggressive in their playing style, barely aggressive, or not at all aggressive. She finds that a vast majority of her participants, regardless of group assignment, are rated as very aggressive. This outcome would be known as a/an: a. Weak manipulation b. Ceiling effect c. Floor effect d. Outlier

All of the following are true of ceiling and floor effects EXCEPT: a. They can be detected by manipulation checks b. They are only problematic in pretest/posttest designs c. They can be caused by poorly designed dependent variables d. They can be caused by poorly designed independent variables

A confound that keeps a researcher from finding a relationship between two variables is known as a/an: a. Weak confound b. Insensitive confound c. Null confound d. Reverse confound

Unsystematic variability in a study is also known as: a. Error variance b. Null effect c. Group inconsistency d. Situational variability

In what way does high within-groups variance obscure between-groups variance? a. It leads to null results b. It leads to larger effect sizes c. It causes more overlap between experimental/comparison groups. d. It limits the type of statistical analyses that can be conducted.

Which of the following things CANNOT be done to reduce measurement error? a. Using more precise measurements b. Using more reliable measurements c. Using a pretest/posttest design d. Collecting measurements from more people

Which of the following things CANNOT be done to reduce the effect of individual differences? a. Using a matched-groups design b. Decrease power c. Collecting measurements from more people d. Using a within-groups design

Testing threats involve ________ whereas instrumentation threats involve ________. a. Researchers; participants b. Participants; measurements c. Independent variables; dependent variables d. Within-groups; between groups

When a double-blind study is not possible, an acceptable alternative may be a ________. a. A matched groups design b. A within-groups design c. Use of a control group d. A masked design

Which of the following is NOT a reason a researcher might choose to conduct a double-blind placebo control group study? a. To examine possible placebo effects b. To control for observer bias c. To prevent attrition d. To control for demand characteristics

A participant's score on a dependent variable is a combination of which of the following: a. Measurement error and their true score b. Systematic variance and error variance c. Manipulation effect and observer bias d. Their mean score and their standard deviation

A researcher's attempt to control sounds, smells, and even temperature in a testing environment is meant to reduce which of the following? a. Between-group variance b. Situation noise c. Weak manipulations d. Demand characteristics

Why is there a publication bias against null effects? a. Because null effects are not real b. Because null effects are the result of badly designed studies c. Because people tend to prefer reading about differences more than similarities d. There is no publication bias against null effects