Exam 7: The Basics of Experimentation

Evaluating Operational Definitions Psychologists can evaluate ____ when they administer the MMPI-2 twice to the same subjects two weeks apart.

Operational Definitions The experimental operational definition used in quasi-experiments is a

Independent and Dependent Variables If a memory researcher presents three levels of an independent variable (e.g., problem difficulty), there must be ___ different treatment conditions.

Evaluating Operational Definitions Which kind of reliability can be measured when several psychologists score the same subject's essay for aggressiveness?

Evaluating Operational Definitions When a researcher constructs a multiple-item questionnaire to measure a single construct like anxiety, she can measure ____ to evaluate the scale's internal consistency.

Operational Definitions In Candace's study of the effect of facial piercing on hiring decisions, she instructed subjects to rate job candidates, with and without facial piercings, on a scale from 1 (reject) to 7 (hire immediately).This scale, along with her instructions, constituted the ____ of the dependent variable.

Evaluating Operational Definitions Researchers should anticipate the possibility of a ____ threat when they assign subjects to conditions using extreme test scores and retest these subjects after administering a treatment.

Operational Definitions Since brightness can be directly measured using a light meter, brightness is a(n)

Operational Definitions Ward, Leventhal, and Love (1988) selected subjects based on their scores on a written test of repressive coping style.The ____ in this quasi-experiment included a description of the test and the cut-off scores used to place subjects into repressor or nonrepressor groups.

Evaluating Operational Definitions An experiment is internally valid if

Evaluating Operational Definitions An operational definition is ____ when it measures what we intend it to measure.

Independent and Dependent Variables In a study of how childhood exposure to attachment figures affects teenage violence, an experimenter ____ the independent variable and ____ the dependent variable.

Operational Definitions In the play, The Devil and Daniel Webster, Webster agreed to plead for his client's soul before a jury composed of "the quick and the dead." His criteria for jury selection implied a ____ scale of measurement.

Independent and Dependent Variables Robin studied the age at which Alzheimer's symptoms were first diagnosed in men and women who reported high or low mental activity and high or low socioeconomic status during their adult lives.Which were the subject variables in this ex post facto study?

Evaluating Operational Definitions If a team of observers gradually changes its criteria for judging the aggressiveness of children's play as they became more familiar with the procedure, the study's internal validity could be jeopardized by a(n) _____ threat.

Introduction An experimenter manipulates the ____ in an experiment to assess its effect on behavior.

Evaluating Operational Definitions A procedure has ____ if it yields information that enables us to forecast actual behavior.

Operational Definitions Schachter (1959) defined the high-anxiety condition in terms of the presence of electrical equipment in the room, Dr.Zilstein's ominous behavior, and the explicit statement that subjects should expect painful shocks.These were all elements of the

Operational Definitions All of the following could qualify as hypothetical constructs except

Formulate an experimental operational definition for each independent variable in question 2.