Question 1

Pre-experimental designs are subject to various threats to internal validity.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 2

An experiment is conducted to assess the effects of two types of reading improvement lessons: speed reading versus comprehension training. The subjects, high school seniors, are divided into two groups. Members of one group receive comprehension training from their high school English teacher, while at the same time the other group receives speed reading training from a local college instructor. What variables are confounded in this study?

Accepted Answer

A)  speed reading and comprehension training 
B)  type of improvement lesson and the particular instructor 
C)  type of improvement lesson and year in school 
D)  year in school and the particular instructor 
A)  speed reading and comprehension training 
B)  type of improvement lesson and the particular instructor 
C)  type of improvement lesson and year in school 
D)  year in school and the particular instructor

Question 3

The major deficiency of most quasi-experimental designs is the absence of a pretest.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 4

Which of the following would not be a potential threat to the internal validity of a static-group comparison design?

Accepted Answer

A)  testing 
B)  history 
C)  selection 
D)  differential attrition 
A)  testing 
B)  history 
C)  selection 
D)  differential attrition

Question 5

What are the three ways that rival explanations are ruled out in quasi-experimental designs? Describe one application of each of these techniques in (a) the Clore and co-workers camp study and (b) the Campbell and Ross study of the Connecticut speeding crackdown.

Accepted Answer

In quasi-experimental designs, rival exp

Question 6

True experimental designs control for maturation and history.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 7

"Pre-experimental designs" refer to studies involving direct observation rather than manipulation of the independent variable.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 8

Instrumentation is a threat to internal validity whenever subjects are pretested.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 9

__________ occurs in an experiment when one group of subjects is more sensitive to the independent variable (or treatment) than another group.

Accepted Answer

A)  History-treatment interaction 
B)  Selection-treatment interaction 
C)  History-maturation interaction 
D)  Selection-history interaction 
A)  History-treatment interaction 
B)  Selection-treatment interaction 
C)  History-maturation interaction 
D)  Selection-history interaction

Question 10

"Selection" refers to systematic differences among subjects who are assigned to different experimental conditions.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 11

A study of the effects of the children's television program Sesame Street showed that preschoolers with the lowest initial academic skills (e.g., ability to recognize letters of the alphabet) gained more over a season of viewing than other children. The effects of the program in this study are most likely to be confounded with the effects of

Accepted Answer

A)  differential attrition. 
B)  selection. 
C)  testing. 
D)  statistical regression. 
A)  differential attrition. 
B)  selection. 
C)  testing. 
D)  statistical regression.

Question 12

The absence of random assignment is common in quasi-experimental designs.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 13

Statistical regression may be a threat to validity when subjects are selected on the basis of their high or low scores on the dependent variable.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 14

__________ may occur when a pretest sensitizes subjects to the independent variable so that they react differently to the treatment than they would have had they not been pretested.

Accepted Answer

A)  A testing effect 
B)  Testing-X interaction 
C)  An instrumentation effect 
D)  Selection bias 
E)  Selection-X interaction 
A)  A testing effect 
B)  Testing-X interaction 
C)  An instrumentation effect 
D)  Selection bias 
E)  Selection-X interaction

Question 15

Use of multiple time-series can rule out the threat of history.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 16

In Campbell and Ross's analysis of the effect of the Connecticut crackdown on speeding, they were able to eliminate the threat of history by using a __________ design, which showed that the same decline in traffic fatalities did not occur in four neighboring states.

Accepted Answer

A)  separate-sample pretest-posttest 
B)  nonequivalent control group 
C)  interrupted time-series 
D)  multiple time-series 
A)  separate-sample pretest-posttest 
B)  nonequivalent control group 
C)  interrupted time-series 
D)  multiple time-series

Question 17

Counterbalancing controls for selection effects in between-subject designs.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 18

History is basically a problem of external validity rather than internal validity.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 19

A weakness of the pretest-posttest control group design is that it lacks random assignment.

Accepted Answer

A) True 
 B)False

Question 20

If "history" or some other factor threatens the internal validity of a research design, this means that the possible effects of an extraneous variable are confounded with the

Accepted Answer

A)  effects of the independent variable. 
B)  effects of random assignment. 
C)  measurement of the dependent variable. 
D)  constancy of experimental conditions. 
A)  effects of the independent variable. 
B)  effects of random assignment. 
C)  measurement of the dependent variable. 
D)  constancy of experimental conditions.

Pre-experimental designs are subject to various threats to internal validity.

The major deficiency of most quasi-experimental designs is the absence of a pretest.

Which of the following would not be a potential threat to the internal validity of a static-group comparison design?

What are the three ways that rival explanations are ruled out in quasi-experimental designs? Describe one application of each of these techniques in (a) the Clore and co-workers camp study and (b) the Campbell and Ross study of the Connecticut speeding crackdown.

True experimental designs control for maturation and history.

"Pre-experimental designs" refer to studies involving direct observation rather than manipulation of the independent variable.

Instrumentation is a threat to internal validity whenever subjects are pretested.

__________ occurs in an experiment when one group of subjects is more sensitive to the independent variable (or treatment) than another group.

"Selection" refers to systematic differences among subjects who are assigned to different experimental conditions.

The absence of random assignment is common in quasi-experimental designs.

Statistical regression may be a threat to validity when subjects are selected on the basis of their high or low scores on the dependent variable.

__________ may occur when a pretest sensitizes subjects to the independent variable so that they react differently to the treatment than they would have had they not been pretested.

Use of multiple time-series can rule out the threat of history.

In Campbell and Ross's analysis of the effect of the Connecticut crackdown on speeding, they were able to eliminate the threat of history by using a __________ design, which showed that the same decline in traffic fatalities did not occur in four neighboring states.

Counterbalancing controls for selection effects in between-subject designs.

History is basically a problem of external validity rather than internal validity.

A weakness of the pretest-posttest control group design is that it lacks random assignment.

If "history" or some other factor threatens the internal validity of a research design, this means that the possible effects of an extraneous variable are confounded with the

Introduction

The Nature of Science

Research Ethics

Elements of Research Design

Measurement

Sampling

Experimentation

Survey Research

Survey Instrumentation

Field Research

Research Using Available Data

Multiple Methods

Data Processing and Elementary Data Analysis

Multivariate Analysis

Writing Research Reports

Filters

Exam 8: Experimental Designs

Pre-experimental designs are subject to various threats to internal validity.

The major deficiency of most quasi-experimental designs is the absence of a pretest.

Which of the following would not be a potential threat to the internal validity of a static-group comparison design?

What are the three ways that rival explanations are ruled out in quasi-experimental designs? Describe one application of each of these techniques in (a) the Clore and co-workers camp study and (b) the Campbell and Ross study of the Connecticut speeding crackdown.

True experimental designs control for maturation and history.

"Pre-experimental designs" refer to studies involving direct observation rather than manipulation of the independent variable.

Instrumentation is a threat to internal validity whenever subjects are pretested.

__________ occurs in an experiment when one group of subjects is more sensitive to the independent variable (or treatment) than another group.

"Selection" refers to systematic differences among subjects who are assigned to different experimental conditions.

The absence of random assignment is common in quasi-experimental designs.

Statistical regression may be a threat to validity when subjects are selected on the basis of their high or low scores on the dependent variable.

__________ may occur when a pretest sensitizes subjects to the independent variable so that they react differently to the treatment than they would have had they not been pretested.

Use of multiple time-series can rule out the threat of history.

In Campbell and Ross's analysis of the effect of the Connecticut crackdown on speeding, they were able to eliminate the threat of history by using a __________ design, which showed that the same decline in traffic fatalities did not occur in four neighboring states.

Counterbalancing controls for selection effects in between-subject designs.

History is basically a problem of external validity rather than internal validity.

A weakness of the pretest-posttest control group design is that it lacks random assignment.

If "history" or some other factor threatens the internal validity of a research design, this means that the possible effects of an extraneous variable are confounded with the

Introduction

The Nature of Science

Research Ethics

Elements of Research Design

Measurement

Sampling

Experimentation

Survey Research

Survey Instrumentation

Field Research

Research Using Available Data

Multiple Methods

Data Processing and Elementary Data Analysis

Multivariate Analysis

Writing Research Reports

Filters