Q&A Hero

Q: A survey researcher chose to administer a survey using the Internet. This sample likely overrepresents people who own a computer and underrepresents people who don't own a computer. This problem in the researcher's survey is best described as A. low response rate. B. a stratified sample. C. selection bias. D. a spurious relationship.

Q: A city used property tax records of homeowners to identify a sample of people to ask about recreational services at local parks. This survey would most likely be criticized for A. population bias. B. selection bias. C. stratification bias. D. response rate bias.

Q: The problem of selection bias in survey research is similar to the problem of ________ in research using archival data. A. selection threat to internal validity B. selective deposit C. selective survival D. spurious relationships

Q: Suppose a recent issue of the campus newspaper reported a survey about students' attitudes toward proposed changes in the required curriculum. Which of the following would you need to focus on most to decide whether the survey results reported in the paper can be generalized to the entire population of students? A. representativeness of the sample B. distinctiveness of the sample C. number of students in the sample D. variability among students in the sample

Q: When selecting a sample to best represent the population, probability sampling is _________ than nonprobability sampling. A. more convenient B. more biased C. far superior D. far worse

Q: The ability to generalize the results from a survey sample to the population of interest depends most critically on the sample's A. stratification. B. representativeness. C. homogeneity vs. heterogeneity. D. correlations.

Q: A sample is said to be representative when A. a sponsoring organization uses the sample data to sell a product. B. researchers are interested only in the opinions of people in the sample. C. it exhibits the same distribution of characteristics as the population from which it was drawn. D. all of these

Q: Surveys play an important role in a type of research that is intended to assess the covariation of naturally occurring variables with the goal of identifying predictive relationships. This general type of research is called A. experimental research. B. analytical research. C. correlational research. D. qualitative research.

Q: The quantitative index of the direction and magnitude of a predictive relationship is called A. a correlation coefficient. B. convergent validity. C. a contingency statistic. D. a dependent variable.

Q: A professor wants to determine if students' final exam scores in a course can be predicted based on their scores on the first test. The quantitative index the professor is likely using in this situation is the A. prediction product. B. contingency score. C. covariation cross product. D. correlation coefficient.

Q: When a survey has been created and administered by a sponsoring organization, such as a company or institution, we should A. conclude the survey results will always be biased in favor of the sponsoring organization. B. examine whether the survey data have been selectively analyzed or reported. C. assume the research will be poor quality. D. automatically ignore the survey results.

Q: Which of the following characteristics do most surveys have in common? A. direct observation and coding B. interviewing and the use of focus groups C. limited scope and pragmatic purpose D. sampling and a set of predetermined questions

Q: In sampling, the specific list of the elements of the population is called the A. sample. B. sampling frame. C. survey set. D. representative sample.

Q: A sampling frame in survey research could be considered a(n) __________ of the population. A. operational definition B. biased sample C. representative sample D. probability sample

Q: An important goal of sampling is to identify a _______ that will be representative of the ________. A. population; sample B. sample; sampling frame C. sampling frame; sample D. sample; population

Q: Survey researchers are most interested in A. the responses of individuals in their sample. B. obtaining a very large sample size. C. generalizing responses from a sample to the population. D. predicting the size of the sampling frame based on the sample.

Q: Distinguish between probability sampling and nonprobability sampling. Name two types of probability samples and one type of nonprobability sample.

Q: Why is a longitudinal design preferred over a study using successive independent samples to assess the direction and extent of attitude change for individual respondents?

Q: Self-report measures of people's attitudes and feelings are reliable if they consistently yield similar results. How do researchers typically assess reliability?

Q: Identify the key features of a good questionnaire item.

Q: Suppose a researcher wishes to use stratified random sampling to select a representative sample of 100 people from a population that has the following characteristics: Suppose the researcher mails the survey to the 100 people in the representative sample and only 50 of the people return a completed survey. Can you state that this sample of 50 represents the population? Why or why not? We cannot conclude from this information whether the sample of 50 is representative of the population. We would need to know the extent to which the characteristics of the sample (women, men; married, single) match the population characteristics. The problem of low response rate in this mail survey, however, makes it unlikely that the sample represents the population.

Q: A researcher was interested in developing a reliable and valid measure of friendliness. That is, she wanted to distinguish between friendly and unfriendly people using her questionnaire. To determine whether she developed a good measure (called "Friend"), she administered her "Friend" questionnaire to a group of 300 people twice (Friend-Time 1 and Friend-Time 2), separated by six months. At the second testing session she also administered a similar questionnaire called "Nice," which previous research has shown to be a valid measure of people's ability to get along with people and to make friends. She also administered a questionnaire designed to measure art ability, which she predicted to be unrelated to friendliness. She observed the following correlations among the measures: Is the researcher able to conclude that she has developed a reliable and valid measure of friendliness?

Q: Researchers conducted a content analysis in which they coded how males and females are depicted in work settings on TV. They included programs with a story line and all commercials, but they excluded documentaries, news broadcasts, and sports shows. Which characteristic of the researchers' sample is likely to be most affected by these decisions? A. reactivity B. homogeneity C. representativeness D. internal validity

Q: When observers are asked to use a rating scale to measure a psychological dimension such as aggressiveness or anxiety, the researchers must decide whether these ratings represent A. a nominal or an interval scale. B. a nominal or an ordinal scale. C. an ordinal or an interval scale. D. an interval or a ratio scale.

Q: When many observations of the same children in a classroom are made it is possible to determine the frequency of certain behaviors, such as how many times children speak in class. Which scale of measurement do these frequency data represent? A. nominal B. ordinal C. interval D. ratio

Q: The process of abstracting and summarizing behavioral data from narrative records, including identifying categories and themes, is called A. data abstraction. B. coding. C. data reduction. D. summative analysis.

Q: One step in the analysis of narrative records consists of identifying units of behavior according to specific criteria. This process is called A. coding. B. chunking. C. filing. D. classifying.

Q: Which of the following would be an example of coding a narrative record during the process of data reduction in qualitative data analysis? A. calculating interobserver reliability B. classifying behaviors from an observation record into different categories C. displaying the data using a graph or a chart D. obtaining a mean number of behaviors after classifying the behaviors into categories

Q: A researcher examines the number of "family-size" products on supermarket shelves in America and France, and concludes that Americans prefer larger-sized portions than do the French. A second researcher concludes that the number of members in a typical family is larger in American than in France. These different interpretations indicate that A. both researchers are wrong. B. the researchers are making inferences about controlled-use traces. C. the validity of unobtrusive measures must be examined carefully. D. time sampling should have been used.

Q: Two types of archival records are A. running records and episodic records. B. natural-use records and controlled-use records. C. selective-deposit records and selective-survival records. D. none of these

Q: A researcher uses archival records to investigate whether divorce rates in a city change following major catastrophes (e.g., hurricane, terrorism). This represents the use of A. physical traces. B. qualitative data analysis. C. selective survival. D. natural treatments.

Q: Researchers who analyze postings on Facebook to understand human behavior are aware that the information people choose to display about themselves may be biased. In terms of archival data, this represents the problem of A. spurious relationship. B. unobtrusive measurement. C. selective deposit. D. selective survival.

Q: Advice columnists respond to only a fraction of the letters they receive. If a researcher were to analyze only the columnists' printed letters to describe the everyday problems people face, which problem likely will affect the researcher's findings? A. selective survival B. selective deposit C. spurious relationship D. situation sampling

Q: A researcher observes that the frequency of traffic accidents increases in warmer weather. This researcher need to consider whether there are more cars on the road when it is warmer. This "number of cars" variable must be considered to determine if the relationship between traffic accidents and temperature is A. due to selective survival. B. spurious. C. a causal relationship. D. due to physical traces.

Q: When a more or less faithful reproduction of behavior as it originally occurred is recorded in either written form or through the use of audio or video recording, the resulting description of behavior in an observation study is called a A. physical trace. B. data transcript. C. complete file. D. narrative record.

Q: For both physical and psychological measurement, the lowest scale of measurement involves categorizing the stimulus into one of a number of discrete categories (e.g., whether or not someone makes eye contact). This level of measurement is called A. an ordinal scale. B. a nominal scale. C. a ratio scale. D. an interval scale.

Q: A state's education director received a report listing the school rankings in terms of high school students' graduation rates. Which scale of measurement is represented in this report? A. nominal scale B. ordinal scale C. interval scale D. ratio scale

Q: A researcher measures participants' speed to push a button on the computer when a stimulus is presented on the computer screen. Which of the following measurement scales describes this reaction time measure? A. nominal scale B. ordinal scale C. interval scale D. ratio scale

Q: Which of the following dependent variables is most likely to represent a ratio scale of measurement? A. duration of eye contact B. rank ordering of amount of eye contact C. occurrence of eye contact (present/absent) D. observers' ratings of the intimacy of eye contact

Q: Research studies have examined evidence of past human behavior, including works of art, television shows, and bumper stickers, to test various hypotheses. This source of unobtrusive evidence is called A. human artifacts. B. use effects. C. cultural evidence. D. products.

Q: In a field experiment, the investigator A. always uses narrative records for recording behavior. B. never manipulates an independent variable, but observes behavior in a natural setting. C. always uses qualitative data analysis. D. always manipulates an independent variable in a natural setting.

Q: When individuals are not aware of the presence of an observer, as when data from physical traces or archival records are analyzed, the observation is described as A. reactive. B. unobtrusive. C. spurious. D. a natural treatment.

Q: The problem of reactive measurement is _________ when indirect (unobtrusive) observation is used. A. eliminated B. unchanged C. decreased D. increased

Q: The remnants, fragments, and products of past behavior that provide unobtrusive measures of behavior are called A. subtle traces. B. archival records. C. physical traces. D. anecdotal evidence.

Q: The degree to which a young child's dolls show signs of wear might indicate which dolls the child likes the best. This potential physical trace measure would be described as a A. physical product. B. running archival record. C. natural-use trace. D. controlled-use trace.

Q: Researchers studying factors that influence how much people eat gave college students potato chips to eat while watching a movie. The potato chips were stacked in tubes. In some of the tubes, researchers inserted colored chips at regular intervals (e.g., every 7th chip). Other tubes contained no colored chips. In this study, the use of potato chip stacks with colored chips represents A. disguised observation. B. a controlled-use trace. C. a natural-use trace. D. a product.

Q: The distinction between natural-use traces and controlled-use traces is similar to the distinction between A. correlations and spurious relationships. B. observations without intervention and observations with intervention. C. qualitative analysis and quantitative analysis. D. physical traces and archival records.

Q: The primary reason why Rosenhan (1973) used participant observation to study psychiatric diagnosis in the context of a psychiatric hospital by having "pseudopatients" seek admission was to A. establish a comparison by manipulating an independent variable to determine its effect on behavior. B. investigate the limits of an organism's response by varying systematically the qualities of a stimulus event. C. precipitate or cause an event that occurs infrequently in nature. D. gain access to a situation or event that is generally not open to scientific investigation.

Q: Under which of the following circumstances is a participant observer more likely to have a significant effect on the behavior of the subjects being observed? A. when the group under observation is small and the activities of the participant observer are disguised B. when the group under observation is small and the activities of the participant observer are prominent C. when the group under observation is large and the activities of the participant observer are prominent D. when the group under observation is large and the activities of the participant observer are disguised

Q: A researcher interested in "inattentional blindness" has a confederate walk across a stage holding a large sign during the first class of an introductory psychology course. At the end of the class, assistants ask departing students if they know what the sign said. This is an example of A. structured observation. B. a field experiment. C. qualitative research. D. undisguised participant observation.

Q: In order to conduct a structured observation or a field experiment, researchers make use of ________ to create the observation situation. A. narrative records B. participant observers C. independent variables D. confederates

Q: Clinical psychologists who make behavioral assessments of parent-child interactions are likely making use of an observation technique called A. low-intervention observation. B. quasi-controlled observation. C. structured observation. D. disguised participant observation.

Q: The research method that represents a middle ground between the passive nonintervention of naturalistic observation and the systematic control when manipulating independent variables is called A. structured observation. B. participant observation. C. quasi-observation. D. nonreactive measurement.

Q: One main disadvantage of structured observation is A. observations that are made using structured observation are made under conditions that are less natural than those imposed in the laboratory. B. failure to follow similar procedures each time an observation is made may make it difficult for other observers to obtain similar results. C. the degree of control in structured observations unduly constrains the flexibility needed by researchers. D. the compromise between the passive nonintervention of naturalistic observation and the precise control of laboratory methods has not proven to be effective.

Q: Researchers conducted a study on "inattentional blindness" in the central gathering plaza of a university campus to determine whether individuals would notice unusual events. For half of the observation periods, a clown rode a unicycle in the plaza; in the other half of the observation periods, two costumed confederates acted a scene from Hamlet. Trained research assistants asked individuals who had walked through the plaza if they had noticed anything unusual. What type of observational study does this study represent? A. field experiment B. structured observation C. naturalistic observation D. reactive observation

Q: Of the following observational methods, which one does not use intervention by the researcher? A. naturalistic observation B. participant observation C. structured observation D. field experiment

Q: Which of the following is the most likely reason that a researcher studying aggressiveness of children would choose to use naturalistic observation? A. Naturalistic observation would allow for the most precise operational definition of aggressiveness and thus the highest degree of internal validity. B. Naturalistic observation would allow for the greatest control over the setting in which the observations were made. C. Naturalistic observation is the preferred method when moral and ethical limitations apply to the topic under investigation. D. Naturalistic observation is the preferred method when systematic manipulation of independent variables is required.

Q: When a researcher plays an active and significant role in the situation in which behavior is being recorded and when the researcher conceals the fact that observations are being made, the study represents A. a disguised structured observation. B. a disguised participant observation. C. an undisguised naturalistic observation. D. an unobtrusive field experiment.

Q: When people change their usual behavior because they know they are being observed, the problem of ______________ has occurred. A. selective deposit B. spurious relationship C. reactivity D. demand characteristics

Q: Time sampling and situation sampling are used to increase which of the following characteristics of observational findings? A. efficiency B. external validity C. interobserver reliability D. internal validity

Q: Researchers use time sampling to obtain A. a representative sample of behavior. B. an internally valid set of observations. C. as many observation intervals as possible. D. the highest possible interobserver reliability.

Q: In using time sampling to gain a representative sample of behavior, the intervals in which the observations are to be made should be selected A. economically. B. only randomly. C. only systematically. D. either randomly or systematically, or both.

Q: Time sampling is not an effective method for sampling behavior that occurs infrequently. To observe behaviors in situations that occur infrequently, researchers choose A. event sampling. B. defined sampling. C. random sampling. D. field sampling.

Q: Researchers who studied beer drinking among college students made their observations in five town bars, a student center, and a fraternity party. They were better able to generalize their findings because they used A. condition sampling. B. situation sampling. C. participant observation. D. structured observation.

Q: A researcher seeks to describe behavior at an airport security screening area during a busy holiday travel time. Because there are far too many people for the researcher to observe effectively, she should use A. naturalistic observation. B. situation sampling. C. running records. D. subject sampling.

Q: Define observer bias and describe the best way to reduce this problem in a research study.

Q: Two observers observe a child in the classroom every 30 minutes to record whether he is behaving aggressively. They use two categories for their observations: yes (aggressive) or no (not aggressive). Using the data presented below, answer the following question. Do you think the observers demonstrated acceptable interobserver reliability? Why or why not?

Q: Read this description of a study and answer the question that follow. A reporter at a university newspaper sought to gather evidence about the quality of teaching at the university. For one week at the beginning of the semester she attended 5 different, large-lecture classes each day, each with a different instructor. She asked 4 other reporters to do this too (they all attended different classes), and she trained them regarding the ratings they would make. The reporters pretended to be students, but sat in the back of class so the instructor wouldn't notice their observations. Using 10-point rating scales, they rated each instructor on five dimensions: interesting, organized, informative, friendly, and respectful. They summarized their findings and reported that, in general, the quality of teaching at the university is very good. Based on this reporter's procedures, are you confident that the quality of teaching at the university is "very good." Why or why not?

Q: Which one of the following statements does not characterize scientific observation? A. The observations are made in a systematic manner with careful record keeping. B. Observations are made under precisely defined conditions. C. Researchers rely heavily on their memory when recording their observations. D. Every effort is made to observe behavior objectively by avoiding personal and situational biases.

Q: In psychological research, investigators sample individuals' behavior at different times or in different situations. The goal of sampling behavior is to A. obtain as many observations as possible. B. infer causes of people's behavior. C. insure the highest possible interobserver reliability. D. obtain a representative sample of behavior.

Q: The extent to which findings from a study can be used to describe different populations, settings, and conditions is referred to as A. sampling. B. internal validity. C. external validity. D. the multimethod approach.

Q: Identify the four measurement scales and provide an example of each measurement scale.

Q: Identify one factor that decreases interobserver reliability and one factor that increases interobserver reliability.

Q: Students conducted a research project in which they hypothesized that women, more than men, would stop studying and look at each person who enters a library study room. Results indicated that women did make more head movements than men when people entered the library. To be confident about these results, we would want to make sure their results are not affected by A. unobtrusive measures. B. desensitization. C. demand characteristics. D. expectancy effects.

Q: Probably the most important control over observer bias is A. the use of a detailed checklist. B. informing observers about the purpose of the study. C. restricting observations to the public domain. D. the awareness that observer bias might be present.

Q: In order to minimize observer bias, researchers should A. fully explain the research hypothesis to observers so there is no confusion. B. limit the amount of information observers have about the hypothesis. C. ask observers to code which of their observations are biased and which are not. D. make sure that observers read all of the previously published research on the behavior they're observing.

Q: To avoid observer bias, researchers may not tell the observers why observations are being made or the goals of the study. In this situation the observers are said to be A. blind. B. habituated. C. desensitized. D. nave.

Q: Define and explain the reason for using time sampling and situation sampling in naturalistic observation.

Q: (p. 99-100, 101, 103, 105) Describe the primary goals of naturalistic observation, participant observation, structured observation, and field experiments.

Q: (p. 106-108, 110) Describe the two main methods for indirect (unobtrusive) observation and the important advantage these methods have over direct observation.