PSYC 3003 Midterm Exam Week 6 – Question and Answers

PSYC 3003 Midterm Exam Week 6 – Question and Answers • Question 1 2 out of 2 points Before a study begins, when differences exist between the kinds of individuals in one group of an experiment and those in another, there is a potential threat to internal validity called Selected Answer: d. selection. Correct Answer: d. selection. • Question 2 2 out of 2 points A limitation of program evaluation research is its Selected Answer: b. lack of random assignment to conditions. Correct Answer: b. lack of random assignment to conditions. • Question 3 2 out of 2 points In comparison to the single-group before-after design, the comparison-group before-after design Selected Answer: c. helps control for threats caused by history. Correct Answer: c. helps control for threats caused by history. • Question 4 2 out of 2 points Which of the following three approaches are used to reduce the amount of data that needs to be recorded in naturalistic observation? Selected Answer: d. Time, individual, and event sampling Correct Answer: d. Time, individual, and event sampling • Question 5 2 out of 2 points In a study involving altruism in restaurants, Elena focused only on the helping behaviors that each restaurant employee demonstrated (and not on any other types of behaviors). This is an example of which of the following sampling methods? Selected Answer: a. Event Correct Answer: a. Event • Question 6 2 out of 2 points Which of the following is an example of a single-group research design? Selected Answer: d. A group of patients who are spending time in a mental health facility are interviewed. Correct Answer: d. A group of patients who are spending time in a mental health facility are interviewed. • Question 7 2 out of 2 points Helen and her team of observers were hired by a corporation to examine work productivity. Each observer focused on a single worker for a period of 30 minutes before moving on to observe another worker. This is an example of which of the following sampling methods? Selected Answer: d. Time Correct Answer: d. Time • Question 8 2 out of 2 points Buchanan, Tranel, and Kirschbaum (2009) compared three groups of participants, one of which had damage to the hippocampus, one that had similar brain damage but not to the hippocampus, and a control group of participants. The researchers assessed responses of the three groups both before and after they were exposed to stress. The hippocampus group showed less change in cortisol response to stress than the other two groups. What research design was used in this research? Selected Answer: c. Comparison-group before-after. Correct Answer: c. Comparison-group before-after. • Question 9 2 out of 2 points Which of the following is least likely to be a threat to validity in a single-group before-after design? Selected Answer: d. Selection Correct Answer: d. Selection • Question 10 2 out of 2 points Case studies are frequently based on a descriptive record of Selected Answer: d. one or two individuals who have abnormal experiences. Correct Answer: d. one or two individuals who have abnormal experiences. • Question 11 2 out of 2 points Quasi experimental designs are usually analyzed using Selected Answer: a. ANOVA. Correct Answer: a. ANOVA. • Question 12 0 out of 2 points Which of the following observational research methods is most likely to create ethical problems? Selected Answer: c. Unacknowledged experimenter Correct Answer: b. Unacknowledged participant • Question 13 2 out of 2 points A student gets a 99 out of 100 on her first quiz in a psychology class but gets only a 91 on the next quiz. This is a likely example of which of the following? Selected Answer: b. Regression to the mean Correct Answer: b. Regression to the mean • Question 14 2 out of 2 points Which of the following is NOT a quasi-experimental research design? Selected Answer: c. Matched-participant Correct Answer: c. Matched-participant • Question 15 2 out of 2 points A study of parenting styles across generations samples groups of participants at ages 5, 15, and 20 at the same time. Which of the following terms best describes this design? Selected Answer: d. Cross-sectional Correct Answer: d. Cross-sectional • Question 16 2 out of 2 points An advantage of a single-participant design is that Selected Answer: b. behavior changes can be observed over time. Correct Answer: b. behavior changes can be observed over time. • Question 17 2 out of 2 points In order to reduce observer bias in an observational research design, a researcher might Selected Answer: c. specify ahead of time who will be observed and for how long. Correct Answer: c. specify ahead of time who will be observed and for how long. • Question 18 2 out of 2 points A researcher who plans ahead of time exactly what observations he is going to be looking for is using Selected Answer: c. systematic observation. Correct Answer: c. systematic observation. • Question 19 0 out of 2 points Quasi-experimental research designs are so named because Selected Answer: d. they involve comparing an indefinite number of groups. Correct Answer: b. the independent variable involves a grouping. • Question 20 2 out of 2 points A researcher who simply watches behavior at a public children’ playground to learn about toddler play behavior is using which of the following techniques? Selected Answer: a. Unacknowledged observer Correct Answer: a. Unacknowledged observer • Question 21 2 out of 2 points An experimenter is interested in the influence of taking a one-semester-long test preparation course on performance on the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT). She contacts high school students who have and who have not taken the course and compares their scores on the SAT exam. She finds that the students who have taken the course score significantly higher on the test. The research design is Selected Answer: c. comparison-group. Correct Answer: c. comparison-group. • Question 22 2 out of 2 points A researcher is unable to retest some of his participants in a before-after design because they have dropped out of the program. This is an example of a(n) ________threat. Selected Answer: a. attrition Correct Answer: a. attrition • Question 23 2 out of 2 points When it comes to control over the conditions in the experiment or over assignment of participants to groups in the experiment, a researcher in a natural setting is likely to have Selected Answer: c. less control than a researcher in a laboratory setting. Correct Answer: c. less control than a researcher in a laboratory setting. • Question 24 2 out of 2 points In quasi-experimental research that is conducted over a period of time, the participants naturally get older. If the researcher is not interested in the effects of age on the dependent variable, then the changes in age pose which of the following threats to the validity of the research? Selected Answer: b. Maturation Correct Answer: b. Maturation • Question 25 2 out of 2 points A scientist wants to study the behaviors of factory workers under stressful working conditions. She takes a job in a factory where no one knows her true identity. Which research approach is being used? Selected Answer: b. Unacknowledged participant Correct Answer: b. Unacknowledged participant • Question 26 2 out of 2 points Nancy and her team of observers wish to collect data on “aggressive play” that occurs on an elementary school playground during recess. Rather than trying to record all of the children’s behaviors on the playground, each member on Nancy’s team is randomly assigned one child on the playground to observe for the entire duration of the recess. This is an example of which of the following sampling methods? Selected Answer: b. Individual Correct Answer: b. Individual • Question 27 2 out of 2 points Regression to the mean causes interpretive difficulties when Selected Answer: b. there is not initial equivalence between the groups. Correct Answer: b. there is not initial equivalence between the groups. • Question 28 0 out of 2 points It is most accurate to say that Selected Answer: d. quasi-experiments are less scientific than other types of research designs. Correct Answer: c. although they will generally have some threats to internal validity, quasi-experiments can sometimes be used to draw inferences about the causal relationships among variables. • Question 29 2 out of 2 points Which of the following are most likely to be used in naturalistic research? Selected Answer: c. Observations Correct Answer: c. Observations • Question 30 2 out of 2 points Jamal decides to compare the lyrics of rock and roll songs in the 1950s and the 1990s. He selects from the top 10 lists for each time period, and compares the lyrics. Jamal’s research method is based upon Selected Answer: c. archival data. Correct Answer: c. archival data. • Question 31 2 out of 2 points A design in which behavior is initially measured during a baseline period, measured again after the intervention of interest begins, and then measured once more after the intervention is removed is called a Selected Answer: a. reversal design. Correct Answer: a. reversal design. • Question 32 2 out of 2 points Which of the following statements is true about quasi-experimental designs? Selected Answer: d. Because the independent variable is measured, not manipulated, they are best considered as correlational research. Correct Answer: d. Because the independent variable is measured, not manipulated, they are best considered as correlational research. • Question 33 2 out of 2 points In quasi-experimental research, longitudinal designs are to cross-sectional designs as Selected Answer: b. before-after designs are to comparison-group designs. Correct Answer: b. before-after designs are to comparison-group designs. • Question 34 0 out of 2 points Joe decides to study how insects behave in their everyday life. He watches some ladybugs in his back yard and codes whether they are either living alone, living in groups, or living in pairs. Joe’s observational system is based on the use of which of the following? Selected Answer: b. Content coding Correct Answer: c. Behavioral categories • Question 35 2 out of 2 points A design in which behavior is initially measured during a baseline period and then measured again after the intervention of interest begins is called a Selected Answer: d. single group before-after design. Correct Answer: d. single group before-after design. • Question 36 2 out of 2 points Which of the following could not represent a participant variable? Selected Answer: b. Manipulated mood state Correct Answer: b. Manipulated mood state • Question 37 0 out of 2 points Students were given a pretest when their math class began and a posttest at the end of the semester. The students’ math performance increased. The teacher learned near the end of the semester, however, that in their science classes the students were using new computer software that included much of the math the teacher was covering in his course. Which of the following threats to internal validity does the new computer software represent? Selected Answer: d. Maturation Correct Answer: c. History • Question 38 2 out of 2 points In clinical trials involving tests of new medical treatments it may be extremely difficult to get patients to agree to be randomly assigned to either the treatment or the control group. In these situations researchers can use Selected Answer: d. quasi-experimental designs. Correct Answer: d. quasi-experimental designs. • Question 39 2 out of 2 points Coding large amounts of information into systematic categories is known as Selected Answer: a. content analysis. Correct Answer: a. content analysis. • Question 40 2 out of 2 points What type of research method assesses changes in behavior in one group of subjects at more than one point in time? Selected Answer: a. Longitudinal Correct Answer: a. Longitudinal • Question 41 2 out of 2 points Fowler, Lilienfield, and Patrick (2009) studied the extent to which observers agreed on judgments of psychopathy after viewing “thin slices” (short glimpses) of the behavior of prisoners. The researchers based their findings on which of the following? Selected Answer: c. Interrater reliability Correct Answer: c. Interrater reliability • Question 42 2 out of 2 points Buchanan, Tranel, and Kirschbaum (2009) compared three groups of participants, one of which had damage to the hippocampus, one that had similar brain damage but not to the hippocampus, and a control group of participants. The researchers assessed responses of the three groups both before and after they were exposed to stress. The hippocampus group showed less change in cortisol response to stress than the other two groups. What research design was used in this research? Selected Answer: c. Comparison-group before-after. Correct Answer: c. Comparison-group before-after. • Question 43 2 out of 2 points When individuals’ performance on a posttest differs from their initial testing not because of a treatment but because of familiarity with the measure a __________ threat to internal validity is likely. Selected Answer: b. retesting Correct Answer: b. retesting • Question 44 0 out of 2 points Which of the following represents the greatest limitation to drawing conclusions from a single group quasi-experimental design? Selected Answer: a. The variables may not be adequately measured. Correct Answer: c. They cannot be used to draw conclusions about the how the experience influenced the participants. • Question 45 2 out of 2 points Research designed to study intervention programs with the goal of determining whether the programs are effective in helping the people who make use of them is called Selected Answer: d. program evaluation research. Correct Answer: d. program evaluation research.