Psych Chapters 3-10

Which of the following is true of control variables? A. Control variables only occur in the control group. B. Control variables help establish external validity. C. Control variables are not essential in experimental designs. D. Control variables are kept the same for all participants.

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

An independent-groups design is also known as a ________ design. A. between-subjects B. matched-groups C. within-groups D. mixed

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

Practice effects and carryover effects are examples of ________ effects. A. order B. scientific C. between-person D. causal

Generally, what is the main priority for experimental studies? A. Construct validity B. External validity C. Internal validity D. Statistical validity

A variable that the researcher controls is a ________ variable. A. measured B. manipulated C. dependent D. selection

Which of the following phrases describes a manipulated variable? A. "Participants wrote down how many text messages they had sent the day before." B. "Researchers recorded whether participants volunteered to help the student in need or did not volunteer." C. "Participants were placed in the high tempo music condition, the low tempo music condition, or the no music condition based on which color card they randomly drew from a deck." D. "Researchers recorded the length of time participants took to complete the anagrams."

Cohen's d

Which of the following graph formats is the best way to examine an association claim between a categorical variable and a quantitative variable? A. A scatterplot B. A line graph C. A bar graph D. A pie chart

Statistical significance depends on which of the following? A. Sample size and number of variables analyzed B. Direction of the association and strength of the association C. Sample size and effect size D. Number of outliers and direction of the association

For a third variable to be plausible as the explanation in an established association, which of the following must also be true? A. The third variable must be related to both of the measured variables in the original association. B. The third variable must be measured on the same scale as the original measured variables. C. The third variable must be a categorical variable. D. The third variable must have a positive relationship with the two measured variables in the original association.

If an association study did not select people for the study by using random sampling, which of the following statements is true? A. The association should be rejected as inconclusive. B. The study must be done again using the same participants. C. The effect size should be considered, but tests of statistical significance should not. D. The findings should be replicated in another population.

What is the relationship between moderators and external validity? A. Moderators suggest that associations may be spurious. B. Moderators suggest that associations may not generalize to all subgroups of people. C. Moderators are necessary for external validity to be established. D. Moderators suggest that an association between two variables will extend to another variable.

Which of the following means a study used a bivariate correlational design? A. The presence of only measured variables B. The use of correlational statistics C. The inclusion of quantitative variables D. The depiction of a bar graph

If there is not a full range of scores on one of the variables, this is known as ________. A. spurious data B. an outlier effect C. restriction of range D. null effect

When interrogating the construct validity of an association claim, which of the following statements is true? A. Quantitative variables need to be assessed, but qualitative variables do not. B. The reliability of the measures is more important than their validity. C. How each variable was measured must be considered. D. Only the construct validity of the outcome variable needs to be interrogated.

The temporal precedence criterion is also known as the ________ problem. A. third variable B. covariance C. association D. directionality

If we found that the association between deep talk and well-being was stronger for women than for men, that would be an example of a A. subgroup. B. moderator. C. confound.

Which of the following is true of variables? A. Variables are the same as constants. B. All variables can be manipulated. C. Some variables can be either manipulated or measured. D. Variables only need conceptual definitions.

Which of the following is true of operational definitions? A. Conceptual definition and operational definition mean the same thing. B. Some psychological concepts are more difficult to operationally define than others. C. Some psychological concepts cannot be operationally defined. D. Operational definitions answer the question, "Why did the researchers measure this variable?"

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? A. negative association B. positive association C. zero association D. causal association

RESEARCH STUDY 3.3: 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 most 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." Clarissa's concern is addressing which of the following? A. the study's statistical validity B. the study's internal validity C. the study's external validity D. the study's construct validity

A common finding in the study of aggression is that exposure to television is associated with increased aggressive behavior in children. You know this relationship may not be causal because you are not sure which occurred first: watching television or being aggressive. You are questioning which of the following rules of causation? A. the criterion of covariance B. the criterion of temporal precedence C. the third-variable criterion D. the criterion of external validity

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. Which of the following makes Dr. Kang's study an experiment? A. Dr. Kang manipulated one variable and measured another. B. Dr. Kang used a distractor task. C. The study was conducted at a university. D. The study was conducted by a professor.

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? A. the statistical validity of the study B. the internal validity of the study C. the construct validity of the study D. the external validity of the study

When researchers conduct an experiment comparing two different treatment conditions, they are likely to be more concerned with __________ validity than ____________ validity. A. construct; internal B. statistical; construct C. internal; external D. external; statistical

You read a news article titled, "New Drug Reduces OCD Symptoms in Mice" about a recent scientific study. To evaluate whether the title's claim is supported, you should do which of the following? A. Ensure that the authors attempted to maximize Type II error. B. Research the frequency of OCD in mice. C. Check whether the authors established covariance, temporal precedence, and internal validity. D. Ask yourself whether the implication makes intuitive sense.

What makes certain constructs harder to operationalize? A. Some constructs are difficult to observe. B. When different definitions don't correlate C. When there are only two levels of the variable D. Some constructs cannot be manipulated.

Which of the following is true of operational definitions? A. There is only one operational definition that is possible for each conceptual definition. B. The specification of operational definitions is one of the creative aspects of the research process. C. Conceptual definitions are created after operational definitions are determined. D. Operational definitions and conceptual definitions are the same thing.

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. An ordinal scale of measurement B. A self-report measurement C. A categorical measurement D. An interval scale of measurement

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 having more friends means the student is more popular. Which of the following best describes this variable? A. A ratio scale of measurement B. A qualitative variable C. An other-report measure D. A categorical variable

RESEARCH STUDY 5.1: 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." Before using the measure in her study, Dr. Rodriquez gives the measure to a group of participants on the first day of the semester and again on the last day of the semester. She then compares the scores between the two time points. This is a test of which of the following? A. Interrater reliability B. Internal reliability C. Test-retest reliability D. Construct reliability

A correlation-based statistic called ________ is commonly used to determine internal reliability. A. Cronbach's alpha B. kappa C. a scatterplot D. Pearson's r

Establishing construct validity is most important for which of the following? A. A concrete construct B. A behavior that is directly observable C. Physical measurements (e.g., length) D. An abstract concept

In which of the following ways are content and face validity similar? A. Both involve subjective judgments. B. Both involve asking participants for their opinions about the measurement. C. Both are preferred by psychologists as ideal measures of validity. D. Both are very difficult to establish.

Another word for discriminant validity is ________ validity. A. convergent B. asymmetrical C. divergent D. multiple

According to its conceptual definition, a variable should be related to a particular behavior. If a researcher can demonstrate that his measure of the variable is related to the behavior, then he has established which of the following? A. Discriminant validity B. Content validity C. Convergent validity D. Criterion validity

What does it mean that "reliability is necessary but not sufficient for validity"? A. If a measure is reliable, it is also valid. B. If a measure is valid, it is also reliable. C. Reliability and validity are unrelated concepts. D. Reliability and validity are the same concept.

In developing a measure of "need for cognition" (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? A. It is a forced-choice question. B. It is a double-barreled question. C. It has a double negative. D. It is a leading question.

Which of the following is the most direct way to control for question order effects? A. Give the survey questions to different groups of people. B. Prepare different versions of the survey, varying the order of the questions. C. Combine multiple questions into single questions. D. Order effects cannot be controlled for.

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: A. a response set. B. acquiescence. C. yea-saying. D. fence sitting.

How do reverse-worded items address shortcuts? A. They slow down readers, making them answer more carefully. B. They give people more answer options. C. They are easier for people to read. D. They ask each question twice so the participant answers twice.

Dr. Gahan decides to create a questionnaire asking about people's attitudes toward immigration (a socially sensitive topic). He should be most concerned about which of the following? A. People self-reporting more than they can know B. Fence sitting C. Faking bad D. Negatively worded answers

Forced-choice question formats are especially good at dealing with which of the following issues? A. Fence sitting B. Faking good C. Response sets D. People self-reporting more than they can know

Which of the following is true when asking people questions about themselves? A. The confidence people have in their memories is not strongly related to the accuracy of their memory. B. People are very good judges of the reasons for their behavior. C. People are better able to remember vivid memories. D. If people are inaccurate in reporting their reasons for behavior, it is because they are deliberately trying to be deceptive.

Which of the following statements is true of observational data? A. Observational measures automatically have good construct validity. B. Observational measures cannot be used to make causal claims. C. Observational measures can be used to make frequency claims. D. Observational measures provide better information than self-report data.

A study by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) involved telling teachers that some of their students were "bloomers" and would achieve rapid academic success within the next year. In fact, these students were no different than any of the other students in the class. At the end of the year, the "bloomers" showed more gains in IQ than the other students. It appeared that the teacher had unintentionally treated the "bloomers" in special ways. This is an example of which of the following? A. Observer bias B. Observer effects C. A masked study design D. Self-report operationalization

Another word for observer effects is: A. observer bias. B. expectancy effects. C. interrater reliability. D. unobtrusive observation.

Masked, or blind, study designs are designed to deal with: A. yea-saying biases. B. bystander effect. C. observer bias. D. faking good.

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. Dr. Ewell is concerned that the children will behave differently because of the presence of research assistants. He is concerned about: A. reactivity. B. observer bias. C. faking good. D. interrater reliability.

Observer bias relates mainly to ______ whereas observer effects stem from _________ A. validity; reliability B. researchers; participants C. faking good; faking bad D. outcomes; expectations

Unobtrusive observation is done to counteract which of the following? A. Observer bias B. Observer effects C. Reactivity D. Nay-saying

Faking good is also known as: A. fence sitting. B. acquiescence. C. socially desirable responding. D. nondifferentiation.

Why might question order affect how people respond to a survey or poll? A. People cannot understand multiple questions. B. People are lazy. C. People may try to appear consistent. D. People are easily confused.

Which of the following is true of behavioral observation? A. It requires recording technology, such as video cameras. B. It requires a research assistant to be with the participant at all times. C. It may tell a different story than data collected by self-report questions. D. It is a more reliable and valid method than self-report methodology.

If a question has response options such as strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, and strongly disagree, this is known as a(n): A. Likert scale. B. agreement scale. C. semantic differential format. D. open-ended format.

criterion variable

predictor variable