UNCFSU PSY652 Test 4

Question 1Which of the following is NOT a quasi-experimental design?

 nonequivalent control group pretest-posttest design

 interrupted time series design

  multiple baselines design

 control series design

 Question 2To examine how a reward influences a desired behavior, a mother first counts the number of times her son makes his bed over a two-week period. For the next two weeks, she gives him a reward every time he makes his bed. Following this period, she stops rewarding him and again counts the number of times he makes his bed. This procedure is an example of a(n) ________ design.

posttest-only

baseline treatment

control series

ABA

Question 3If a researcher wants to use an interrupted time series design to examine whether lowering the legal limit of blood alcohol level (BAL) for driving under the influence affects the frequency of arrests, the researcher would

   compare a state with a higher BAL to one with a lower BAL.

measure the number of arrests just before and immediately after the passing of a law lowering BAL.

measure an extended period of time before and after the passing of a law lowering BAL.

 correlate the amount of alcohol consumed by an individual and the number of times they have been arrested.

 Question 4A researcher wants to test the effect of alcohol on driving performance. Participants first drive through an obstacle course before drinking any alcohol. The participants then drink 8 ounces of alcohol and drive the course again. After each trial, the number of traffic cones hit is recorded. The researcher finds that the number of traffic cones hit is greater before rather than after the participants drank the alcohol. Which of the following best accounts for the change in performance?

   maturation effects

 history effects

 testing effects

 instrument decay

 Question 5Which of the following is a variation of the multiple baseline design?

across subjects

 across treatments

 across effects

 across experiments

 Question 6Jon studies the number of deaths caused by a particular disease in a county for six months before releasing a new medicine and six months after releasing the medicine. During the same period, he measures the number of deaths caused by the disease in three other counties where this medicine was not introduced. This research design is an example of a(n)

Solomon four-group design.

 posttest-only design.

 interrupted time series design.

 control series design.

 Question 7A human resources psychologist is interested in the effect of work schedules on job satisfaction. She compares satisfaction scores of workers who have already been working five 8-hour shifts with workers who have been working four 10-hour shifts. Which of the following types of design has the manager employed?

one-group pretest-posttest design

nonequivalent pretest-posttest design

nonequivalent control group design

 one-shot case study

 Question 8In the context of the one-group pretest-posttest design, testing effects occur when

taking a pretest changes a participant's behavior.

a participant becomes bored or fatigued.

 a confounding event occurs at the same time as the experimental manipulation.

the basic characteristics of the measuring instrument change over time.

Question 9Which of the following describes a sequential design?

studying a group of 5-year-olds over a 10-year period

comparing the reasoning abilities of 5-, 8-, and 10-year-olds

 measuring the motor abilities of a child when she is 2 years old and then measuring her abilities again when she is 5 years old

 studying groups of 10- and 15-year-olds and then studying these individuals again two, four, and six years later

Question 10In order to study the effects of watching violent programs on children's aggressiveness, a researcher observes children's behavior after they watch 30 minutes of violent programs on television. The researcher concludes that television violence causes aggressiveness. A problem in this research is that

there is no control group.

 the children's behavior is not observable.

the researcher should have had the children watch at least 60 minutes of violent programs on television.

 there is no independent variable.

 

Question 11Over time, human observers may become fatigued or change the standards on which observations are based. When this change in measurement occurs over time, a researcher might attribute it to

history effects.

regression toward the mean.

testing effects.

 instrument decay.

 Question 12From an ethical viewpoint, the ABAB design is preferred over the ABA design because

   the ABAB design more powerfully rules out chance fluctuations and coincidental events.

 the ABAB design is less expensive and less time-consuming.

 a single reversal, in most cases, tends to be extremely powerful evidence for the effectiveness of the treatment.

 it does not seem right to end the design with the withdrawal of a treatment that may be beneficial to the participant.

 Question 13Jennifer studies the number of crimes committed in a district for seven years before and after the passage of a new law that increased police presence on the streets. Jennifer's research design would be classified as a(n)

posttest-only design.

 repeated measures design.

 control series design.

 interrupted time series design.

 Question 14The serious flaw associated with the nonequivalent control group design is that ________ occur.

selection differences

 data variances

 participant dropouts

 maturation effects

 Question 15Single-case experiments were developed from a need to

   have a design that examines a measurement at only one point in time.

 measure only a single dependent variable.

  determine whether an experimental manipulation has an effect on a single research participant.

 overcome selection differences that occur in nonequivalent control group designs.

Question 16A multiple baseline design is often used when

it is impossible or unethical to effect a reversal of treatment.

 random assignment of subjects to groups was done incorrectly.

 the researcher wants to correlate several behaviors with the one of interest.

 the chances of a high mortality rate among the participants are high.

 Question 17To study personality development, a researcher studies the same individuals at 11, 14, 21, and 30 years of age. In this case, the researcher is using the ________ method.

longitudinal

 sequential

 cross-sectional

 time analysis

 Question 18Which of the following best describes a cross-sectional study on children's development?

Children who are 2, 6, and 8 years old are tested simultaneously.

 The same children are tested at 1, 3, 5, and 9 years of age.

  Children who are 1, 3, and 5 years of age are tested again when they are 3, 5, and 7, respectively.

 The performance of children who performed well in a test given to them when they were 5 years old is measured continuously until adulthood.

 Question 19Why is the cross-sectional method more common than the longitudinal method?

The results are obtained relatively quickly and it is less expensive.

 The developmental change is observed directly among the same group of people.

 The differences among groups of different ages reflect developmental age changes.

 The results observed are based on comparisons among different cohorts of individuals.

 Question 20A researcher studies one group of children when they are 2, 6, and 9 years old and another group of children when they are 11, 13, and 15 years old. In the context of developmental research designs, the researcher has used the ________ method.

control series

 sequential

multiple baseline

 panel study

 Question 21Three celebrity judges rank the finalists of a reality show on the basis of their musical talents. The judges rank the contestants in the order of the most talented to the least talented. Which type of measurement scale does this scenario exemplify?

a ratio scale

 an interval scale

 an ordinal scale

 a nominal scale

 Question 22The general form of a regression equation is Y = a + bX. In this equation, Y is the score we wish to predict and X is the known score. What is a?

It is a constant.

 It is a weighting adjustment factor that is multiplied by X.

It is the slope of the line created with this equation.

 It is the difference between X and Y.

Question 23The ________ indicates the average deviation of scores from the mean.

linearity deviation

 median

 standard deviation

 central tendency

 Question 24A professor at a university ranks subjects based on students' preferences identified through a survey. Science is ranked first, mathematics second, and management third. In this scenario, which of the following types of measurement scale has the professor employed?

a nominal scale

an ordinal scale

 an interval scale

 a ratio scale

Question 25The ________ is an appropriate measure of central tendency when scores are on an ordinal scale.

mean

median

  mode

meridian

Question 26________ variance is the deviation of the individual scores in each group from their respective group means.

Error

 Systematic

 Inferential

Alpha

Question 27The larger the F ratio, the more likely the results are

significant.

 invalid.

 dissimilar.

 manipulated.

 Question 28Inferential statistics

are used to generally describe data.

 are used to make conclusions about data.

 focus mainly on scales of measurement.

 focus mainly on standard deviations.

Question 29Which of the following is used to determine whether the results held up if an experiment was conducted repeatedly, each time with a new sample?

   descriptive statistics

 inferential statistics

 the research hypothesis

 the null hypothesis

 Question 30Which statistical test would be most appropriate for examining the relationship between temperature and the number of ice cream cones sold?

chi-square test

analysis of variance

 t test

Pearson correlation

 Question 31What does a Solomon four-group design assess?

the possible impact of taking a pretest

 the significance of a simple factorial design

 the limitations of the external validity of a study

 the impact of independent variables under highly controlled settings

 Question 32Which of the following statements about research conducted with nonhuman animals is true?

   More than 50% of psychological research is conducted with nonhuman animals.

 The studies conducted on nonhumans are not of much value because the research does not apply to human biological or behavioral patterns.

The applications of research conducted with nonhuman animals include sexual behavior, choice behavior, and drug addictions.

 Most research with other species is not focused on gathering information that may help with the survival of endangered species.

 Question 33A failure to replicate could mean that the

original results are invalid.

 replication attempt is flawless.

 research findings are generalizable.

 experimenter is unbiased.

 Question 34A researcher replicates a past study that manipulates the physical attractiveness of a defendant by using photographs instead of written descriptions. This technique is an example of a(n) ________ replication.

procedural

 abstract

   exact

 conceptual

 Question 35What is most likely to be true of a study conducted on a group of males to analyze the effects of room temperature on their task performance?

  

The study has high external validity.

 

  

Temperature does not affect men's task performance.

 The findings of the study cannot be generalized to females.

 Task performance is a confounding variable in the study.

 Question 36Elaine reads a number of studies examining the effect of physical attractiveness on the judgment of an individual's personality. She then writes a paper in which she summarizes the findings and draws conclusions based on her summaries of these studies. In this scenario, Elaine has most likely conducted a

   categorization analysis.

 meta-analysis.

 literature review.

 meta-categorization.

 Question 37An alternative to traditional literature reviews for comparing a large number of studies in a research area is

science citation analysis.

critical theory.

meta-analysis.

conceptual replication.

Question 38What is the broadest issue of generalization as described by Miller in 1969 and Zimbardo in 2004?

   encouraging more students to pursue careers in research psychology

 being able to replicate psychology research studies across races

  applying what is learned about human behavior to many people in all areas of everyday life

 advancing the use of psychology research and lessons to the medical fields

 Question 39Identify the risk associated with a pretest.

It does not necessarily enable a researcher to assess mortality effects.

 It does not accurately depict whether the people who withdrew were any different from those who completed the study.

 It tends to cause subjects to behave differently than they would without the pretest.

 It fails to provide accurate scores, although intuitively pretesting seems like a good idea.

 Question 40

When findings are replicated using ________, one's confidence in the generalizability of the findings ________.

 college students; decreases

 statistical interactions; increases

 pretests; decreases

multiple methods; increases

 Question 41The use of only college students, volunteers, or participants from one locale ________ the ________ validity of a study.

enhances; internal

weakens; external

enhances; external

 weakens; internal

Question 42Which of the following statements is true regarding narrative literature reviews and meta-analyses?

A narrative literature review allows statistical, quantitative conclusions, whereas a meta-analysis provides directions for future study.

 Unlike a traditional literature review, a meta-analysis begins with a body of previous research on a topic.

Both narrative literature reviews and meta-analyses provide valuable information and in fact are often complementary.

 Without conducting a meta-analysis, a background in meta-analysis alone is not beneficial when reviewing research findings.

Question 43A ________ identifies trends in the literature, whereas a(n) ________ allows statistical, quantitative conclusions about the research.

conceptual replication; narrative literature review

narrative literature review; meta-analysis

meta-analysis; exact replication

 meta-analysis; conceptual replication

 Question 44In a ________, the researcher combines the actual results of a number of studies; the analysis consists of a set of statistical procedures that employ effect sizes to compare a given finding across many different studies.

combined assignment

 field experiment

 literature review

meta-analysis

 Question 45What are the two types of replications?

procedural and exact replications

   conceptual and strategic replications

exact and conceptual replications

 strategic and procedural replications

 Question 46In their comprehensive study on various ways in which volunteers differ from nonvolunteers, Rosenthal and Rosnow (1975) reported that volunteers tend to be

   less educated.

 of a lower socioeconomic status.

   more in need of approval.

more social.

Question 47Conceptual replications are extremely important in the social sciences because

   they allow statistical conclusions and identify trends in the literature.

 they take into consideration the fact that prior findings are a prerequisite for the replications to occur.

they allow researchers to precisely replicate the procedures of a study to see whether the same results are obtained.

the variables used are complex and can be operationalized in different ways.

 Question 48Which of the following is most likely to produce better external validity in a study?

using a random sample

 employing nonequivalent groups

 including only male subjects

 having a single experimenter

  Question 49According to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, a literature review provides information that does all of the following EXCEPT

summarize what has been found.

inform the reader about the findings that are strongly supported.

point out inconsistent findings.

analyze data from several reported studies.

Question 50What is external validity?

the adequacy of an experimental design

the effectiveness of the manipulation of an independent variable

   the generalizability of research findings

the practical application of research findings