Exam 13: The Descriptive Research Strategy

In contrived observation, the researcher joins the individuals to be observed and engages in activities with them.

Roshenhan's study in which individuals were admitted to psychiatric hospitals in order to observe patients and patient-staff interactions, is an example of contrived observation.

Which type of question is a Likert-type question?

Describe the primary distinction between descriptive research and other research strategies.

A political scientist uses a survey to determine whether college students' sleeping habits are related to their grade point averages. This researcher is using the descriptive survey research design.

A researcher has pairs of college student participants play a card game in the laboratory. However, the game is rigged to ensure that one participant experiences a long losing streak so that the researcher can observe how the losing students behave when they are frustrated. For this study, what kind of behavioral observation is being used?

A researcher who wanted to observe behaviors in a private social club would probably need to use ____.

In an observational study of children in a day care setting, you select one participant at a time for observation. This is an example of using ____.

Content analysis involves using behavioral observation techniques to record behaviors that ____.

One disadvantage of open-ended questions is that the responses can be very difficult to summarize and analyze.

Outline the major advantages and disadvantages of administering a survey on the Internet.

What type of question allows participants the greatest flexibility in deciding how to answer?

Describe the three types of sampling that can be done in observational research and explain why sampling is helpful.

A researcher conducting a study on a single person with multiple personality disorder is an example of ____.

The ____ method for quantifying observations involves counting the number of times a behavior occurs in a specified period of time.

Essay questions on an exam are examples of ____ items.

One advantage of Likert-type rating scale questions is that they produce numerical scores that can be evaluated with standard statistical methods such as computing means.

Which observational research design has the greatest risk that the observer will influence the behaviors being observed?

In the observational study of adolescents at the mall, you count the number of social interaction behaviors that occur within a one-hour observation period. This is an example of the ____ method of quantifying behavior.

In an observational study of children in a day care center, you alternate one minute of observation with one minute of recording behavior. This is an example of ____ sampling.