Exam 6: Thinking As Hypothesis Testing

Research has indicated that as the amount of television viewing increases, children's vocabulary decreases. These findings describe a

You are interested in examining how viewing Sesame Street is related to preschoolers' language skills. Which of the following is a confounding variable in your study?

The set of observations about which a researcher wants to draw conclusions is called

One reason why cause-and-effect relationships cannot be inferred from correlations is because

One problem with retrospective research is that memory is biased.

Overconfidence in judgments is called __________, and it results from

The Rorschach (ink blot) Test has been criticized because of the problem of illusory validity.

Explain how and why operational definitions are used, including specific examples (i.e., how would you measure certain variables?)

A statement that describes a supposed relationship between variables is called a

Explain how the characteristics of a sample of participants and how they were selected to be participants affect the generalization of research results. Include a discussion of convenience samples.

In scientific research, the development of sound predictive models requires a/an __________ examination of the relationships among variables.

Give an example of a simple three-stage experimental design.

Explain the law of large numbers and the law of small numbers. Use them to explain the following statement: "My granddad smoked tobacco, drank gin, and ate bacon for breakfast every day of his life, and he lived to be 92! So, smoking, drinking, and eating high cholesterol foods can't be bad for you.

It is a good idea to find a therapist who has had the same problems as you have because this person will have especially good insight on how to overcome the problems.

A careful report from a single individual whom you know is often more reliable than a study that used many subjects.

A/an __________ tells us how to recognize and measure concepts we are interested in.

The children in Ms. Jones' first-grade class are described to her by the principal as "hard-working, very cheerful." The principal describes the new students to Mr. Russell as "very slow, not very bright." At the end of the year, Ms. Jones' students have earned much higher grades and higher scores on standardized achievement tests. It seems likely that the teachers and children experienced a/an

A negative correlation is undesirable because it shows the negative effect that one variable has on the other.

The subset of the population observed by the researchers is the __________, which must be __________.

Great Brands Co. is trying to see if its institution of "personal days" for workers is effective for reducing worker absenteeism. Which of the following is the independent variable they are examining?