Q&A Hero

Q: In order to conduct an experiment more efficiently, a researcher tests groups of participants in several small groups. The number of participants in each group differs because of participants' availability at different times. The different number of participants in each group represents a potential A. intact group problem. B. selective subject loss problem. C. experimenter effect. D. extraneous variable problem.

Q: Four students plan to conduct an experiment with four conditions (A, B, C, and D) during one semester. Each student will serve as an experimenter. The best way to control for the extraneous variable of having four experimenters test participants in the study is to A. make sure each experimenter tests only one of the conditions. B. have the first experimenter test a random order of conditions during the first two weeks of the semester, the second experimenter test a second random order during the next two weeks, and so on. C. have each experimenter test randomized blocks of conditions. D. have each experimenter test condition A during the first two weeks of the semester, condition B during the next two weeks, and so on.

Q: When participants begin an experiment but fail to complete it, the internal validity of the experiment can be threatened. Which of the following types of subject loss poses the most serious threat to internal validity? A. the loss occurs because of an error by the experimenter. B. the loss leads to different numbers of participants in the groups in the experiment. C. the loss occurs because of equipment failure. D. the loss occurs because of some characteristic of the participant that is related to the outcome of the study.

Q: Subject loss (attrition) poses a problem for a random groups design because A. extraneous variables are more likely to affect subjects who drop out. B. group equivalence established at the beginning of the experiment may be lost. C. participants may respond to demand characteristics. D. participants may change their natural group designation.

Q: One preventive step researchers can take when they suspect selective subject loss might occur in their experiment involves using a pretest to screen out participants who may drop out of the study. The disadvantage of this method is decreased A. external validity. B. internal validity. C. statistical significance. D. all of these

Q: One major purpose of conducting experiments is to decide whether a treatment or program effectively changes behavior. A second major purpose for doing experiments is to provide A. definitive answers to theoretical questions. B. simple and relatively quick ways of testing and revising hypotheses. C. methods to obtain results that confirm our hypothesis. D. an empirical test of hypothesis derived from theories.

Q: The factors that researchers control or manipulate in order to determine their effect on behavior are called the A. intervention variables. B. dependent variables. C. independent variables. D. confounding variables.

Q: In a study that investigates the effects of two different doses of a drug on memory performance, memory performance represent the ____ variable and doses of the drug represent the ____ variable. A. correlational; confounding B. experimental; control C. dependent; independent D. independent; dependent

Q: When the three requirements for causal inference are met, an experiment is said to be A. balanced. B. internally valid. C. an independent groups design. D. held constant.

Q: Two control techniques that allow researchers to rule out alternative explanations for an outcome are balancing and A. holding conditions constant. B. establishing a time-order relationship. C. validation. D. establishing a covariation.

Q: A researcher has manipulated only one independent variable at two levels, has held constant as many other variables as possible and has balanced individual differences by using random assignment. The researcher is likely to be able to claim that the independent variable caused the observed changes in the dependent variable because the experiment is A. externally valid. B. internally valid. C. a natural groups design. D. statistical.

Q: The goal of a random groups design experiment is to establish the independent variable as the cause of any differences in the dependent variable. The logic of accomplishing this involves A. beginning with comparable groups, treating them differently, and ending with differences among groups. B. beginning with comparable groups, treating them the same, and ending with no differences among groups. C. beginning with noncomparable groups, treating them differently, and ending with differences among groups. D. beginning with noncomparable groups, treating them the same, and ending with no differences among groups.

Q: Describe how partial replications can be used to establish both experimental reliability and the external validity of research findings.

Q: (p. 209-210, 212) Explain how the procedures for conducting a matched groups design and a natural groups design differ from the random groups design. A matched groups design often is used when the number of participants available for an experiment is too few for random assignment to balance effectively individual differences across conditions of the experiment (as in the random groups design). Instead, the researcher chooses a matching variable preferably the dependent variable measure or a similar variable and matches participants who have the same or similar score on the measure. Once matched, these pairs (triplets, etc.) of participants are randomly assigned to the conditions of the experiment. In a natural groups design, researchers select an individual differences variable for comparing groups of participants (e.g., male, female). Thus, rather than attempting to balance these individual differences (as in the random groups design), the researcher examines participants' responses on the dependent variable as a function of the individual differences independent variable.

Q: A researcher was interested in whether divorce and remarriage influence the extent to which children are sociable. At a nearby school, the researcher classified 5th-graders into one of three groups: intact parents (no divorce), divorced (single-parent families), and remarried parents. The researcher interviewed the 5th-graders and rated their sociability, and also asked them to complete a questionnaire that assessed their level of comfort in different social situations. Suppose that the researcher finds that the 5th graders in the divorce (single-parent) group are less sociable than are 5th graders in the intact and remarried groups. The researcher concludes that divorce and living in a single-parent home causes children to be less sociable, and that remarriage causes improvements in sociability. Do you accept this researcher's conclusions? Why or why not?

Q: A researcher tested whether exposure to images of very thin fashion models causes young women to be dissatisfied with their own body, compared to exposure to athletic body images or neutral (non-body) images. She randomly assigned 120 women from an introductory psychology course to one of three exposure conditions: very thin female images, athletic female images, or neutral images (e.g., household objects). Each condition had 10 images, projected individually on a large screen. The young women participated in small groups. Each image was displayed for 1 minute, for a total of 10 minutes of exposure. After viewing each image, participants wrote for 30 seconds a description of the image (the participants were led to believe their memory was being tested). After viewing the images, the women completed a questionnaire about satisfaction with their body. Negative scores indicate body dissatisfaction and positive scores indicate satisfaction with their body. The mean scores for each condition were as follows: Suppose the .95 confidence interval (CI) for the very thin condition is -1.75 to -2.50; the CI for the Athletic condition is -.75 to -1.25; and the CI for the neutral condition is 0 to .50. What claim would you make based on the estimates of the population means for the three groups in the experiment based on a comparison of these confidence intervals?

Q: When researchers use the multimethod approach they can reach comparable conclusions about a research question after using different methods to study it. Our confidence in these conclusions increases and the conclusions are said to have A. convergent validity. B. concurrent validity. C. multiple validity. D. correlational validity.

Q: Identify and briefly define the three primary types of control used in experiments.

Q: Clearly and concisely describe how a researcher could minimize the likelihood of selective subject loss in an experimentbe sure to include in your answer any risks that the researcher would be taking in trying to prevent the selective loss.

Q: Briefly outline the steps involved in order to make an inference about the effect of an independent variable using null hypothesis significance testing; be sure to indicate the conditions in which an independent variable is judged to be nonsignificant and when it is statistically significant.

Q: Describe briefly how confidence intervals can be used to determine if the means for the two conditions of an experiment differ.

Q: A researcher identifies a potential mediating variable in the pattern of correlations among variables in a path analysis. If the researcher seeks to make a causal inference about the mediating variable, the suggested next step would be to A. manipulate the variable as an independent variable in an experiment. B. conduct a successive independent samples survey to measure the variable. C. observe different levels of the variable as part of naturalistic observation. D. determine whether a representative sample was used.

Q: A respondent completes items on a closed-response survey by agreeing with each statement on the survey. This might represent a problem of A. loaded questions. B. selection bias. C. filter questions. D. response bias.

Q: A researcher develops a measure of the "self-esteem" construct. One item on the questionnaire states, "I generally feel good about myself." Another item states, "I think I'm not a very good person." The researcher likely uses these two items to protect against possible problems associated with A. response bias. B. leading questions. C. selection bias. D. the order of questions.

Q: Survey questions that are ordered from the most general to the most specific are A. filter questions. B. funnel questions. C. double-barreled questions. D. leading questions.

Q: A survey on consumer products asks questions regarding automobile repair, home electronics, and travel destinations. Allowing respondents to skip the section on automobile repair if they don't own a car is an example of using a A. leading question. B. loaded question. C. funnel question. D. filter question.

Q: Which of the following standards is typically applied when judging the truthfulness of the responses people make to survey questions? A. generally be skeptical of people's responses as probably not truthful unless there is strong evidence that they are truthful B. generally be skeptical of people's responses as probably not truthful and statistically adjust the responses C. generally accept people's responses as truthful unless there is reason to do otherwise D. generally accept people's responses as not truthful

Q: A student is asked in a survey question about whether he would help another person who is in trouble. The student thinks that he probably would not help because he would be hesitant to get involved in a potential dangerous situation. The student decides, however, to respond that he would help. The student is likely responding to the pressure of A. social desirability. B. convergent sensitivity. C. response bias. D. discriminant responding.

Q: When individuals report on a questionnaire that their behavior is more favorable than is actually true, researchers need to be concerned about the ______________ of the responses. A. morality B. selection bias C. social desirability D. reliability

Q: Research findings indicate that people's verbal reports of their behavior and observations of their actual behavior do not always match. These findings provide a good rationale for a(n) __________ approach to psychological research. A. correlational B. observational C. survey D. multimethod

Q: Correlational research is potentially limited when it comes to A. applying the results of correlational studies to predict such issues as physical and psychological health-related problems. B. establishing quantitative relationships between two sets of responses obtained in a survey. C. interpreting causal relationships based on correlational studies alone. D. using sophisticated statistical procedures in analyzing correlational studies.

Q: There is a reliable correlation between being outgoing and being satisfied with one's life. One possible way to account for this relationship is that a third variable (number of friends) leads people to be more outgoing and more satisfied with their lives. A correlation that can be accounted for by a third variable such as number of friends is called a A. chaotic relationship. B. spurious relationship. C. causal relationship. D. co-dependent relationship.

Q: Using path analysis, the correlation between poverty and psychological distress can be partially explained by the level of chaos in the home. The chaos variable in this example represents a(n) A. mediating variable. B. moderator variable. C. proxy variable. D. spurious variable.

Q: If the relationships between measures of poverty, chaos, and psychological distress differed depending on whether families lived in rural or urban areas, this variable of population density (rural vs. urban) would be considered a A. spurious variable. B. mediating variable. C. causal variable. D. moderator variable.

Q: A survey question that asks, "Are you worried about global climate change and nuclear weapons?" is an example of a A. funnel question. B. loaded question. C. leading question. D. double-barreled question.

Q: When a questionnaire item implies a preferred response within the wording of the question, it is called A. a loaded question. B. a leading question. C. a double-barreled question. D. a filter question.

Q: One way to minimize the likelihood that respondents might view questions as "loaded" for a survey on controversial topics is to A. use funnel questions to direct people to survey questions that are not controversial. B. use leading questions first to make sure the respondents agree with the survey topic. C. ask people with a range of perspectives on the topic to review and edit the questions for potentially offensive wording. D. use emotional words that represent both sides of the controversial topic so that the survey is not biased.

Q: Which of the following factors is not likely to increase the reliability of a test or questionnaire? A. a testing situation free of distractions B. clear instructions for completing the test C. Little variability among individuals on the factor being tested D. more items on a test

Q: The reliability of a survey or test will likely be low when A. asking people to answer a small number of questions about the concept of interest. B. asking people to respond to a many questions about the concept of interest. C. identifying a sample of individuals who are very different from each other in terms of the construct of interest. D. none of these

Q: Construct validity can be assessed by determining the degree to which similar measures of a construct A. demonstrate correlations near zero. B. are correlated. C. show consistency over time. D. all of these

Q: Convergent validity in survey research, used to establish the construct validity of a measure, is similar to the use of _________ to establish the validity of findings from research employing unobtrusive measures. A. archival data B. spurious relationships C. natural treatments D. converging evidence

Q: A researcher wants to assess the construct validity of a measure of life satisfaction. Which of the following dimensions would likely be most useful to assess when determining the discriminant validity of the measure? A. happiness B. well-being C. spatial reasoning ability D. self-esteem

Q: A researcher's new measure of "friendliness" correlates strongly with a measure of agreeableness, and demonstrates a very low correlation with a measure of intelligence. This pattern of correlations indicates the researcher's measure demonstrates good A. reliability. B. social desirability. C. causal relationships. D. construct validity.

Q: An important initial step when developing a questionnaire is to A. avoid "expert" opinions about the topic because they may bias the survey. B. test only one or two items and then add more for the final survey. C. pretest the questionnaire using a sample similar to the planned survey. D. all of these

Q: The primary advantage of free-response compared to open-ended questions is that free-response questions A. are easier to score and code. B. offer the respondent greater flexibility. C. minimize the problem of expressiveness and spontaneity. D. provide greater comparability of answers across respondents.

Q: The primary disadvantage of closed-response questions is that A. respondents may be forced to choose among response alternatives that don't describe their true opinion. B. responses are very difficult to code and to summarize. C. they allow respondents too much flexibility in their responses. D. all of these

Q: A researcher wants to study the developmental changes in social and political attitudes that occur during the time a person is in college. The researcher is interested in both overall trends and in the changes that individual students undergo. Which survey research design will this researcher need to use? A. observational design B. cross-sectional design C. successive independent samples design D. longitudinal design

Q: Which of the following is not a potential limitation of the longitudinal design? A. It is difficult to pinpoint the exact causes for any changes in individuals' attitudes using a longitudinal design. B. It can be difficult to obtain a sample of respondents willing to participate in a longitudinal design. C. It is not possible to determine whether the final sample is comparable to the original sample in a longitudinal design. D. It takes a massive effort to complete a longitudinal design successfully.

Q: Unless all the respondents in the original sample complete all phases of a longitudinal design, there is a possible problem due to A. selection bias. B. attrition. C. extrapolated data. D. social desirability.

Q: Attrition in survey research corresponds most closely to which of the following problems in the use of unobtrusive measures (physical traces, archival records)? A. selective survival B. selective deposit C. spurious relationships D. natural treatments

Q: Reliability refers to the ______ of a measure, and validity refers to the ______ of a measure. A. consistency; design B. truthfulness; design C. truthfulness; consistency D. consistency; truthfulness

Q: In order to assess the test-retest reliability of a measure, the researcher should A. administer the measure at two different times to different people and compute the correlation between the two sets of scores. B. administer the measure at two different times to the same people and compute the correlation between the two sets of scores. C. correlate individuals' scores on the measure with a different measure designed to measure the same construct. D. ask two people to complete the measure several times and compute the correlations across the many time periods.

Q: Which of the following must be true for a test or questionnaire to be considered reliable as measured by the computation of test-retest reliability? A. People would have to hold similar relative positions in the distributions for the two test times. B. People would have to hold very different relative positions in the distributions for the two test times. C. People would have to have identical scores on the two administrations of the test. D. People would have to have scores on the two administrations of the test that were uncorrelated.

Q: Students at a university volunteered to complete an online survey about the different attitudes men and women have about exclusive, serious dating relationships (e.g., "going Facebook official"). One criticism of this cross-sectional research likely concerns A. attrition from the study over time. B. noncomparable samples over time. C. response rate bias. D. the extent to which the findings can be generalized.

Q: Researchers have studied changes in the values and goals of college freshman from 1966 to the present by drawing random samples from each year's incoming class. Which survey research design describes this research? A. stratified random sampling design B. cross-sectional design C. successive independent samples design D. longitudinal design

Q: A major threat to the interpretation of results from a successive independent samples design is A. interviewer bias. B. attrition from the study. C. stratified random sampling from the population. D. noncomparable successive samples.

Q: The potential problem of noncomparable successive samples can arise in the successive independent samples design. Samples are considered noncomparable when A. they are not representative of the same population. B. they differ in sample size by more than 50 respondents. C. there is a large difference among the samples on the average survey response. D. there is no standard value in the population on which the different samples can be compared.

Q: A university alumni office conducted a survey of their alumni to assess changes in attitudes toward the university over time. In the first year of the survey, the alumni office surveyed graduates from the year 2009. In the second and third years of the survey, graduates from the years 2011 and 2013 were surveyed, respectively. When examining the results of the survey to determine whether attitudes of the alumni changed over time, the alumni office should consider A. the likely problem of attrition in their sample. B. only the results of the 2013 sample. C. the potential problem of noncomparable samples. D. all of these

Q: The distinguishing characteristic of the longitudinal design is that A. samples from several population are tested once. B. the same sample of respondents is surveyed more than once. C. a sample of individuals is asked to complete an especially long survey. D. different samples from a population are compared over time.

Q: A researcher decides to conduct a survey using telephone interviews and has access to random-digit dialing. Because some people have multiple phone numbers and therefore, a greater likelihood of being surveyed, the researcher should be aware of the potential problem of A. response rate bias. B. interviewer bias. C. telephone bias. D. selection bias.

Q: A researcher uses random-digit dialing to conduct a survey using telephone interviews. Suppose that many people don't answer their phone for the survey because when they check the caller identification, they don't recognize the phone number. This represents the potential problem of A. interviewer bias. B. selection bias. C. response rate bias. D. nonprobability bias.

Q: Which of the following statements regarding Internet surveys is false? A. Researchers have little control over the research environment when conducting Internet surveys. B. Selection bias is less problematic for Internet surveys because of the large samples that are typically obtained. C. Response rate bias due to nonresponding leads to relatively low response rates for Internet surveys. D. Internet surveys represent a low-cost, efficient method for obtaining a large, potentially diverse sample of respondents.

Q: Internet surveys are best characterized as A. nonprobability (convenience) samples. B. simple random samples of the population. C. stratified random samples of the population. D. selected samples.

Q: In a nationwide study, samples of students were asked their opinions about the quality of their college education. The results of the survey were analyzed for differences among students at the various colleges and universities. What survey design was used in this study? A. correlated samples design B. cross-sectional design C. successive independent samples design D. longitudinal design

Q: A survey researcher randomly selected individuals in Canada, Mexico, and the United States and mailed them a survey about North American trade policies. The researcher compared individuals' survey responses in these countries. This researcher used a A. cross-sectional survey design. B. successive independent samples design. C. longitudinal survey design. D. observational design.

Q: A researcher conducts a survey using a randomly selected sample, but there is a low response rate for the survey. The researcher should A. conclude that the original random sample did not represent the population. B. conclude that the final survey sample does not represent the population. C. examine the sampling frame for the original sample. D. examine the survey data to determine whether the final sample represents the population.

Q: Low response rates that result when respondents fail to return a completed mail survey are a major factor leading to response rate bias. These low response rates pose a potential problem because A. a carefully selected convenience sample becomes a probability sample. B. segments of the population may be overrepresented or underrepresented in the final sample. C. only surveys with a 100% response rate can be interpreted. D. the sample size becomes smaller than the researcher intended.

Q: Techniques to increase the return rate for a survey include A. preserving a sense of confidentiality by addressing the survey to no one in particular ("Dear occupant"). B. making sure the survey requires minimal effort from the respondents. C. making sure the respondents are not aware of the survey topic. D. all of these

Q: A researcher adjusted the wording of a question to guide a respondent's answer and recorded only selected portions of a respondent's answers. What survey problem does this represent? A. interviewer bias B. response bias C. selection bias D. respondent bias

Q: In a simple random sample, every individual in the population A. completes the survey. B. has an equal chance of being selected to be in the sample. C. decides to participate in the survey if it is convenient for them. D. none of these

Q: The decision of how many people needed in a random sample to represent the population should be based on the A. number of people available and willing to participate in the survey. B. financial resources available to the researcher for completing the survey. C. the availability of an adequate sampling frame. D. degree of variability in the population.

Q: Stratified random sampling is especially useful when the researcher is interested in A. making specific statements about individual respondents. B. making general statements about the population as a whole. C. making comparisons with previous studies that have used simple random sampling. D. making general statements about specific portions of the population that has been sampled.

Q: The best approach for obtaining a representative sample when using stratified random sampling is to A. sample so that there is an equal number of respondents in the different strata. B. use random-digit dialing. C. sample so that the proportion of respondents in the different strata represents the proportions in the population. D. eliminate people from the sampling frame who are unlikely to return a completed survey.

Q: A TV reporter interviewed several dozen people at the scene of a political demonstration about their opinions regarding the demonstration. The reporter searched for people on both sides of the issue. In the terminology of survey research, the reporter has gathered a A. convenience sample. B. sampling frame of reference. C. random sample. D. stratified random sample.

Q: In a survey of 500 randomly selected respondents, 360 respondents (72%) said they want the United Nations (U.N.) headquarters to remain in the United States. A TV news show conducted a call-in survey and asked the same question. Of the 186,000 who phoned in their response, 124,620 people (67%) said they want the U.N. out of the United States. The most reasonable statement about these different findings is that A. the call-in survey results should be believed because of the larger number of people who responded they want the U.N. out of the United States. B. the large sample size for the call-in survey indicates it is a more representative sample. C. the findings for the randomly selected sample more likely represent the views of the population. D. call-in surveys lead to more reliable findings.

Q: Which of the following survey methods is best for dealing with highly personal or embarrassing topics, especially when the anonymity of respondents is preserved? A. mail survey B. personal interview C. telephone interview D. successive survey

Q: Mail surveys are particularly vulnerable to a problem that arises when not all respondents complete and return the survey. This problem is called A. selection bias. B. reactivity. C. low response rate. D. social undesirability.

Q: Which of the following samples would be representative of a population that is 75% women and 25% men? A. 60 women, 20 men B. 75 women, 25 men C. 225 women, 75 men D. all of these

Q: When the distribution of characteristics in a sample is systematically different from that of the target population, the sample is called a A. biased sample. B. stratified sample. C. representative sample. D. distorted sample.

Q: Which of the following samples would represent a biased sample if a population comprised 40% freshmen, 20% sophomores, 20% juniors, and 20% seniors? A. 200 of each class year (a total sample of 800 students) B. 80 freshmen, 40 sophomores, 40 juniors, 40 seniors C. 40 freshmen, 20 sophomores, 20 juniors, 20 seniors D. 8 freshmen, 4 sophomores, 4 juniors, 4 seniors