PSY 450 Advanced Research Methods Exam 3

Ch. 5, 10, 12-14. Textbook = 1-61, Notes = 62+.

Ch.5: Dr. Near conducts an experiment on memory for individuals who are above the age of 65. Although there are millions of people above the age of 65, she selects a group of 25 to participate in the experiment. What name is given to the group of 25?

a. A sample

Ch.5: What name is given to the group of individuals from which researchers actually select participants for research studies?

a. The accessible population

Ch.5: For situations in which the researcher cannot know the complete list of potential participants, what kind of sampling is necessary?

d. Nonprobability sampling

Ch.5: If each person in a large group has an equal chance of being included in an experiment, then what kind of sampling is being used?

b. Random sampling

Ch.5: A teacher obtains a sample of children from a fifth-grade classroom by randomly selecting the third, fifth, and eighth rows and taking all the students in those rows. What kind of sampling is being used?

c. Cluster sampling

Ch.5: A researcher would like to describe and compare the attitudes of four different ethnic groups of students at a local state college. What kind of sampling would be best to obtain participants for the study?

b. Stratified random sampling

Ch.5: A researcher recruits a sample of 25 preschool children for a research study by posting an announcement in a local daycare center describing the study and offering a $10 payment for participation. What kind of sampling is the researcher using?

d. Convenience sampling

Ch.5: Which of the following sampling techniques is most likely to result in a biased sample?

b. Convenience sampling

Ch.5: A researcher would like to select a sample of 50 people so that five different age groups are equally represented in the sample. Assuming that the researcher does not know the entire list of people in the population, which sampling technique should be used?

a. Quota sampling

Ch.10: A nonexperimental design

a. makes no attempt to minimize threats to validity.

Ch.10: Which of the following is an example of a nonexperimental study?

a. A study comparing self-esteem scores for children with a learning disability versus scores for children without a learning disability

Ch.10: For which of the following studies does the researcher not control which individuals are assigned to which group?

c. Nonequivalent group design

Ch.10: Which of the following is the primary threat to internal validity for nonequivalent group designs?

d. Individual differences between treatment groups

Ch.10: Which research design is used by a researcher comparing self-esteem scores for children from divorced families versus scores for children from families with no divorce?

a. Differential research design

Ch.10: Which of the following is the primary advantage of a pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design, in comparison to other nonequivalent group designs?

c. The pretest scores can help reduce the threat of individual differences between groups.

Ch.10: What design is being used by a researcher comparing depression scores before and after treatment in one group of clients?

c. Pre–post design

Ch.10: Which of the following is common in within-subjects experimental designs but is impossible in a pre–post design?

b. Counterbalance order of treatments

Ch.10: A clinical psychologist measures body satisfaction for a group of clients diagnosed with anorexia nervosa each day for 1 week before and for 1 week after the psychologist begins a series of group therapy sessions. What kind of design is being used?

a. Time-series

Ch.10: What can a researcher determine by using a series of observations before treatment?

d. If scores are influenced by some factor unrelated to the treatment.

Ch.10: A research study evaluates changes in behavior related to age by examining different groups of individuals with each group representing a different age. What is the name for this research design?

c. A cross-sectional developmental design

Ch.10: A research study evaluates changes in behavior related to age by examining one group of participants who are all roughly the same age, at different times. What is the name for this research design?

d. A longitudinal developmental design

Ch.10: A cross-sectional developmental design is an example of which general category of research designs?

a. Nonequivalent group designs

Ch.10: What is the appropriate statistical analysis for comparing non-numerical data for a differential design comparing samples representing two populations?

d. Chi-square test for independence

Ch.10: What is the appropriate statistical analysis for evaluating the after treatment mean difference for a posttest-only nonequivalent control group design?

a. Independent-measures t test

Ch.10: In a differential research design, what term is used identify the participant variable that is used to define the groups?

c. Quasi-independent

Ch.12: Which of the following is a defining characteristic of the correlational research strategy?

c. The intent is to demonstrate the relationship between variables.

Ch.12: Which of the following commonly occurs in a correlational study?

b. Two variables are measured.

Ch.12: A researcher would like to examine the relationship between self-esteem and academic performance for high school students. Instead of a correlational study, what other kind of study could the researcher use?

a. A differential study comparing academic performance scores for a group of high self- esteem students and a group of low self-esteem students

Ch.12: A college professor reports that students who finish exams early tend to get better grades than students who hold on to exams until the last possible moment. The correlation between exam score and amount of time spent on the exam is an example of

b. a negative correlation.

Ch.12: A researcher reports that there is no consistent relationship between grade point average and the number of hours spent studying for college students. Which of the following is the best description for the correlation between grade point average and the number of hours studying?

c. A correlation near zero

Ch.12: What is measured by the Pearson correlation?

c. The degree of linear relationship

Ch.12: Dr. Jones hopes to demonstrate that children who eat a more nutritious breakfast tend to have more academic success than their peers. If this result is obtained, then ______________ would be the predictor variable and __________ would be the criterion variable for the study.

a. the nutrition in the breakfast; the level of success

Ch.12: Which research design is commonly used to help establish the reliability or validity of a mea surement procedure?

d. The correlational design

Ch.12: A researcher uses a correlation to demonstrate that a new 5-minute test for intelligence produces scores that are strongly related to the scores from traditional IQ tests. What is the researcher attempting to demonstrate about the new 5-minute test?

b. Validity

Ch.12: The results from a correlational study show a positive relationship between aggressive behavior for 6-year-old children and the amount of violence they watch on television. Based on this relationship, which of the following conclusions is justified?

c. Children who watch more TV violence exhibit more aggressive behavior

Ch.12: A researcher reports a positive relationship between sugar consumption and activity level for a group of 8-year-old children. However, the researcher cannot be sure whether the extra sugar is causing the children to be more active or whether the extra activity is causing the children to eat more sugar. Which of the following is demonstrated by this example?

b. The directionality problem

Ch.13: A researcher conducts a survey to determine the average number of text messages that college students send or receive during a typical 1-hour class. Which research strategy is being used?

a. The descriptive research strategy

Ch.13: How does the descriptive research strategy differ from the experimental or nonexperimental research strategies?

b. It does not concern relationships between variables.

Ch.13: During a study using the behavioral research strategy, it is common to have two observers record behavior simultaneously. What is the purpose for this procedure?

a. It is used to ensure the objectivity of the measurements.

Ch.13: In an observational study of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, you record how much time each child spends playing alone during a 30-minute observation period. Which method of quantifying behavior is being used?

b. Duration

Ch.13: When researchers use behavioral observation techniques to measure behaviors in movies, what is the measurement process called?

c. Content analysis

Ch.13: Which technique would probably be used by a researcher who wanted to observe behaviors in a private social club?

b. Participant observation

Ch.13: Although surveys can be used with a variety of different research strategies, which of the following is the defining characteristic of the survey research design?

b. The intent is simply to describe behaviors.

Ch.13: The multiple-choice questions in an exam are examples of which type of survey question.

b. Restricted

Ch.13: What is an advantage to administering a survey over the Internet?

b. Survey can be individualized based on responses

Ch.13: Which of the following accurately describes the idiographic approach to research?

c. The intensive study of one individual

Ch.13: Which of the following is typically examined in case study?

d. A single individual

Ch.13: What kind of research was used to study the brain surgery patient H. M. who lost the ability to store new memories?

d. Case study research

Ch.14: How are single-case designs similar to other experimental designs?

b. They are capable of determining cause-and-effect relationships.

Ch.14: Why do single-case designs use a series of observations of the same individual under the same conditions?

b. To ensure that the observed behavior is not being influenced by outside variables

Ch.14: In a single-case design, what is the series of observations called when no treatment is being administered?

b. Baseline phase

Ch.14: Which of the following is the definition of a treatment phase?

a. A series of observations made when a treatment is being administered

Ch.14: How are the results from a single-case study typically evaluated?

c. Visual inspection of a graph

Ch.14: What name is given to a single-case design consisting of the following four phases in the order given: baseline, treatment, baseline, treatment?

c. ABAB design

Ch.14: Which of the following is an ethical concern for the ABAB design?

c. Removing the treatment after it has already been shown to be effective

Ch.14: Which of the following would cause a researcher who planned to use an ABAB design to switch to a more complex phase-change design.

b. The participant shows no change in behavior when the treatment is introduced.

Ch.14: Which of the following accurately describes the two baseline phases in a multiple-baseline design?

a. They are started simultaneously but ended at different times.

Ch.14: Under what circumstances is a component-analysis design appropriate?

c. When a treatment consists of several distinct elements.

Ch.14: Which of the following is a strength of the multiple-baseline design?

d. All of the above.

Ch.14: Single-case research studies tend to have

a. practical significance even though they do not have statistical significance.

Ch.14: Which of the following is an advantage of single-case designs compared to traditional group designs?

d. The other three choices are all advantages of single-case designs.

Population

The entire set of individuals of interest to a researcher.

Sample

The small set of individuals who participate in the study.

Accessible Population

A portion of the target population consisting of individuals who are accessible to be recruited as participants in the study.

Law of large numbers

A large sample will probably be more representative of the population than a small sample.

Limitation: Lots of conditions require lots of participants. Unique populations may limit sample size

Probability Sampling

Each individual in the population has a specified probability of selection.

Nonprobability Sampling

Odds of selecting a particular individual are unknown

Simple Random Sampling

Participants are randomly selected form a list of the total population.

Equality

Each individual has an equal chance of selection.

Independence

choice of one individual does not bias the probability of choosing another individual.

Sampling with replacement

An individual selected is returned to the population before the next selection.

Sampling without replacement

Removes each selected individual from the population before the next selection is made.

Limitations: It is possible (although unlikely) to obtain a distorted sample.

Systematic Sampling

Every nth participant is selected from a list of the total population.

Stratified Random Sampling

The population is divided into subgroups (strata) equal numbers are randomly selected from each of the subgroups.

Limitation: Overall sample is usually not representative of the population.

Proportionate stratified random sampling

Proportions in the sample correspond to the proportions in the population.

Cluster Sampling

Clusters (preexisting groups) are randomly selected from a list of all the clusters that exist within the population.

Combined-strategy sampling

Two or more sample strategies are combined to select participants.

Convenience sampling

Individual participants are obtained by selecting those who are available and willing.

Limitation: A higher likelihood of biased selection.

Quota Sampling

Similar to stratified sampling except that convenience sampling is used to fill subgroups rather than random sampling.

Limitation: A higher likelihood of biased selection.

Referral Sampling

Current participants are encouraged to refer other potential participants.

Limitation: A higher likelihood of biased selection.

Nonexperimental design

clearly unable to fully control all confounds and threats to internal validity.

Quasi-experimental design

Makes attempts, but full control is still not guaranteed. Neither can establish cause-and-effect.

Nonequivalent group designs

Different groups of participants are formed under circumstances that do not permit the researcher to control the assignment of individuals to groups.

Differential Research Design

A nonexp. Design with nonequivalent groups. Also called an ex post facto design.

Posttest-only nonequivalent control group design

a nonexp. Design with non-equivalent groups, also uses preexisting groups and only one observation per group.

Pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design

a quasi-exp. Design with nonequivalent groups. - Compares two non-equivalent groups

Interrupted time-series design

When the intervening event is not manipulated by the researcher

Pre-post design

A series of observations are made over time, before and after treatment of some sort

Correlational Research

One group of participants with two scores from each individual.

Differential research (nonexperimental designs)

Involves multiple groups of scores and focuses on the differences between groups.

Cross-section developmental research design

A between-subjects nonexperimental research design.

Correlation Coefficient

Describes the relationship between two variables such as direction, form, consistency or strength.

Positive relationship

Two variables change in the same direction.

Negative relationship

Two variable change in the opposite directions.

Linear relationship

The data points in the scatter plot tend to cluster around a straight line

Nonlinear relationship

A relationship that is consistently one-directional, either positive or negative.

Correlation Coefficient

The sign of the direction of the relationship, type of correlation, and the numerical value.

Differential Method

Use the non-numerical variable to organize the scores into separate groups.

Coefficient of Determination (r2)

The squared value of a correlation coefficient. The percentage of variability in one variable that is accounted for or predicted by the other variable.

Reliability

The consistency or stability of the measurements