Exam 4: How Psychologists Use the Scientific Method: Data Collection Techniques and Research Designs

Videotaping individuals at work to look for off-task behaviors is an example of ______ observation technique.

A ______ relationship means that the values on the variables change in the same direction (up and down) at the same time.

Using a validated survey typically gives a researcher observations of behavior that are a step ahead of the other techniques discussed because the validity and reliability of a survey will already have been tested and the survey revised (if necessary) to maximize its accuracy.

In a scatterplot, one variable is placed on the x-axis, and the other variable is placed on the r-axis.

The research design that allows researchers to gain a lot of descriptive information about a single individual or institution is a(n) ______.

The Beck Anxiety Inventory is an example of ______ research.

Describe an experiment that tests the effect of amount of caffeine consumption on work productivity. Be sure to label the independent and dependent variables in the study and include your operational definition for "work productivity."

The primary difference between case studies and small-n designs is the goal of the researcher.

The research design that allows researchers to answer descriptive and predictive questions about the relationship between different measured variables is a(n) ______.

The third-variable problem is the reason researchers cannot determine causation from correlational studies.

The primary disadvantage of using surveys to collect data is that ______.

A researcher who examines the relationship between individuals' tooth flossing frequency and the incidence of heart disease in these individuals is using the ______ research design.

A ______ relationship indicates that as values on one variable increase, the values on the other variable decrease.

Numerical data is considered to be ______.

When surveys are used, participants are often asked to use a response scale or response category (e.g., often, sometimes, not very often, never) that matches how they feel about a behavior or how likely they are to exhibit the behavior. This is called a(n) ______ response scale.

A researcher who examines the difference in anxiety level between individuals who smoke and those who do not smoke is using the ______ research design.

For the instruction type study in the above question (19), the dependent variable is ______.

Measuring how quickly individuals can perform a scrambled sentence task is an example of ______ observation technique.

A negative relationship indicates that as values on one variable increase, the values on the other variable decrease.

A researcher who examines the causal relationship between amount of exercise (randomly assigned as 30 minutes per day or none) and memory abilities is using the ______ research design.