Psyc 3890 Exam 1 Practice Questions

what does empiricism rely on?

data, experiments, scientific method

what does intuition rely on?

personal judgement, anecdotes, common sense

what 5 things make a good theory?

1. supported by data

2. falsifiable

3. parsimonious

4. promotes scientific progress

5. consistent with existing knowledge

what are the 3 reasons you can’t say “prove” in science?

it is tentative, uses probabilities, and is solely well-supported by evidence

why can press release be a source of distortion?

it may oversimplify, cherry-pick, or dramaticize results

why can news and social media be a source of distortion?

it lacks context and has misleading headlines

why can a peer-reviewed article be a source of distortion?

it can be hard for general audiences to understand

what are the problems with relying on experience instead of research?

there is no comparison group, it is confounded, and is not generalizeable

what is the typical 7-part structure of research articles?

1. title page

2. abstract

3. introduction

4. method

5. results

6. discussion

7. references

what 3 things do we need to know before evaluating construct validity?

1. are there clear definitions for variables

2. do measures distinguish between people

3. is it reliable

construct validity is important for which types of claims?

frequency, association, causal

what 2 things do we need to know before evaluating external validity?

1. who were the participants

2. when/where/how did the study take place

external validity is important for which types of claims?

frequency and association

what do we need to know before evaluating internal validity?

presence/absence of a 3rd variable that could explain the results

internal validity is important for which types of claim?

causal

descriptive statistics are used in which type of claim?

frequency

inferential statistics are used in which types of claims?

association and causal

what p-value indicates a statistically significant result?

p < 0.05

what are the 3 things that make a study important?

it is interesting, socially relevant, and well-designed

does a lower p-value mean a study is more or less likely to replicate?

more likely

what are the 3 questionable research practices?

1. underreported null findings/file drawer problem

2. harking

3. p-hacking

why does open science practice require sharing materials and data?

so that researchers can replicate or re-analyze studies

why does open science practice require reporting all variables and results found?

it reduces the file drawer problem

why does open science practice require preregistering methods, hypotheses, and analyses ahead of time?

to avoid harking and p-hacking

what is the downside of meta-analysis?

it could cause the file drawer problem

what were the ethics violations in the tuskegee syphilis study?

participants were not treated respectfully, participants were harmed, participants were a targeted/disadvantaged social group

what were the ethical concerns in the milgram obedience studies?

debriefing, balancing risk and benefit

what were the ethical concerns in the stanford prison experiment?

informed consent, participant harm, researcher bias

what groups require special protection under the respect for persons principle?

children, prisoners, people with cognitive disabilities

what 4 things must be listed in the informed consent form?

1. contact information for the IRB

2. confidentiality notice

3. compensation without coercion

4. full explanation of the study, risks/benefits

what risks would be considered under the beneficence principle?

harmful procedures, invasion of privacy, breach of confidentiality

what groups could be protected under the justice principle?

prisoners, people with disabilities, singled-out groups (ex. social media users)

what are the 5 APA ethical guidelines?

1. no coercion

2. informed consent

3. confidentiality

4. debriefing

5. no lasting harm

what are the 4 APA ethical guidelines for animals?

1. clear scientific purpose

2. humane

3. legally acquired

4. limit suffering

what are the 3 types of research misconduct?

1. data fabrication

2. data falsification

3. plagiarism

what are the 3 types of quantitative variables?

1. ordinal scale

2. interval scale

3. ratio

what are the 2 scales of measurement?

nominal/categorical and quantitative

college major and type of learning strategy demonstrate which scale of measurement?

nominal/categorical

the order that runners finish a race and education level demonstrate which scale of measurement?

quantitative ordinal

temperature and choices on a happiness scale demonstrate which scale of measurement?

quantitative interval

exam scores, height, and weight demonstrate which scale of measurement?

quantitative ratio

what does the NOIR acronym for scales of measurement stand for?

Nominal - name/category/type

Ordinal - order/ranking

Interval - equal/meaningful intervals between items

Rati0 - meaningful zero

how do we know when operationalization of a variable is appropriate?

when it has reliability and validity

what are the 2 types of construct validity?

subjective and empirical

what are the 2 types of subjective construct validity?

face and content

what are the 3 types of empirical construct validity?

criterion, convergent, discriminant

what question do face validity and content validity ask?

does it look like a good measure?

what question does criterion validity ask?

does it correlate with key behaviors?

what question do convergent validity and discriminant validity ask?

does the pattern make sense?