Exam 10: Quasi-Experiments and Evaluation Research

If a participant's eye gaze is directed toward one particular stimulus rather than other stimuli involved in the study, this is likely an indicator of:

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Question 1

Correct Answer:

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A,C,D

The reliability coefficient for a measure can reflect: (circle all that apply)

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Question 2

Correct Answer:

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A,C

In City A, researchers investigated high school students' alcohol use patterns after the police captain announced a new task force charged with curbing underage drinking. The researchers wanted to determine whether underage drinking actually decreased after this announcement, and realized that City B, a city that was quite similar to City A, had not made any such announcement. If the researchers were to use a comparison time-series design, what potential problems would they be avoiding by not using a simple time-series design. In other words, (a) what additional information does a comparison time-series design provide over a simple time series design? (b) Furthermore, provide two examples for the variables and data that would be included in a comparison time-series design, with one example comparing City A and City B, and the other example only using City A.

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Question 3

Correct Answer:

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(a) A comparison time-series design provides additional information over a simple time-series design by allowing researchers to compare the effects of an intervention or event in one group (City A) with a similar group that did not experience the intervention or event (City B). This helps to control for external factors that may influence the outcome, and allows for a more accurate assessment of the impact of the intervention.

(b) Example 1: Variables and data for a comparison time-series design comparing City A and City B could include the frequency of underage drinking incidents before and after the police captain's announcement in City A, as well as the frequency of underage drinking incidents in City B during the same time period. Other variables could include demographic information of the high school students, such as age, gender, and socioeconomic status.

Example 2: Variables and data for a comparison time-series design using only City A could include the frequency of underage drinking incidents before and after the police captain's announcement, as well as data on any other interventions or events related to underage drinking prevention that occurred during the same time period. Additional variables could include data on alcohol sales to minors, enforcement efforts by the police task force, and public awareness campaigns.

Which of the following cognitive processes or components is NOT involved in the processing experienced by a participant completing the Implicit Association Test (IAT)?

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Question 4

The nation's obesity epidemic is declining! Or so two researchers claimed after analyzing their longitudinal data on the inherited aspects of people's self-reported weight. Specifically, they found that the heaviest 10 percent of the country tend to have slightly less heavy children. Therefore, if we extrapolate this effect out to three or four generations, even the heaviest people will much lighter than their great great grandparents, and considerably closer to the nation's average (healthy) weight. (a) Is this conclusion warranted - why or why not? (b) What other explanations might there be for this observed decrease in people's weight? (c) Explain whether this is a regression artifact or a regression fallacy.

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Question 5

Having participants complete a series of sentence unscrambling tasks containing words meant to induce a certain mood is an example of:

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Question 6

Research that uses recall tasks:

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Question 7

Why are propensity scores any better than post-hoc matching? Isn't a propensity score just an aggregate of many matched characteristics? Would we obtain the same results if we used post-hoc matching across 10 variables and if we created a propensity score for those 10 variables - why or why not? Would pairing propensity scores that are not exactly equal be effectively the same as pairing two participants that are matched on nine out of 10 variables?

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Question 8

What are the main goals of "program efficacy" studies? (circle all that apply)

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Question 9

Propensity scoring is often preferred when using a matching design for all of the following reasons, EXCEPT:

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Question 10

Program evaluation research differs from strictly experimental research in which of the following ways? (circle all that apply)

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 11

What are some situations in which matching may be necessary? What are some potential pitfalls of using matching techniques?

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Question 12

Which of the following is true regarding regression toward the mean?

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Question 13

What are some of the most prominent forms of program evaluation? How do they differ in terms of the goals of the evaluation?

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Question 14

The underlying logic of _________ tasks is that positive primes should facilitate the evaluation of positively viewed target stimuli, while positive primes should inhibit judgment of negatively viewed stimuli.

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Question 15

There are many types of longitudinal or quasi-experimental designs that assess data patterns over time. ___(a)_ are concerned with differences in change between those who fall directly below a cutoff point to those who fall directly above the cutoff in terms of an outcome; _(b)___ are concerned with the shape or pattern of the data across multiple time points.

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Question 16

A nonprofit organization wanted to implement its new, revolutionary program for addressing homelessness. As part of the series of evaluation studies that assessed this planned program, evaluators conducted a pilot study that resulted in several suggestions for revising the general procedures for introducing the program to homeless populations, changing some of the wording of questionnaires, and adding another treatment condition to provide greater insight into the nuances of the treatment effects. This type of evaluation study would be considered:

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 17

The correlation between Time 1 and Time 2 assessments of the same measure was r = 0.90. (a) Explain what this correlation has to do with reliability. (b) What information does this number tell us about participants' "true scores" on that measure? (c) How much variation in scores can be attributed to true score differences, and explain why you can draw this conclusion.

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Question 18

This form of psychophysiological measurement is concerned with understanding the relationship between oxygen flow in the brain and various processes and emotional states; use and interpretation of this measure requires a deep understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the different brain regions.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 19

Not all social programs are amenable to basic comparison group designs, particularly if they involve an entire population. One alternative design that assesses the effect of a quasi-experimental treatment is a time series design. Researchers used a time series design to assess the impact of a new tax on fatty foods. They concluded that prior to the tax implementation on January 1, fatty food consumption was very high; after the tax went into effect, fatty food consumption declined considerably. Data were collected every four months. Before their conclusion can be accepted, what other factors are particular concerns for time series designs that must be taken into account? (circle all that apply)

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 20

Showing 1 - 20 of 31

If a participant's eye gaze is directed toward one particular stimulus rather than other stimuli involved in the study, this is likely an indicator of:

The reliability coefficient for a measure can reflect: (circle all that apply)

Which of the following cognitive processes or components is NOT involved in the processing experienced by a participant completing the Implicit Association Test (IAT)?

Having participants complete a series of sentence unscrambling tasks containing words meant to induce a certain mood is an example of:

Research that uses recall tasks:

What are the main goals of "program efficacy" studies? (circle all that apply)

Propensity scoring is often preferred when using a matching design for all of the following reasons, EXCEPT:

Program evaluation research differs from strictly experimental research in which of the following ways? (circle all that apply)

What are some situations in which matching may be necessary? What are some potential pitfalls of using matching techniques?

Which of the following is true regarding regression toward the mean?

What are some of the most prominent forms of program evaluation? How do they differ in terms of the goals of the evaluation?

The underlying logic of _________ tasks is that positive primes should facilitate the evaluation of positively viewed target stimuli, while positive primes should inhibit judgment of negatively viewed stimuli.

Basic Concepts

Internal and External Validity

Measurement Reliability

Measurement Validity

Designing Experiments

Constructing Laboratory Experiments

External Validity of Laboratory Experiments

Conducting Experiments Outside the Laboratory

Nonexperimental Research

Survey Studies

Systematic Observational Methods

Interviewing

Content Analysis

Questionnaire Design and Scale Construction

Indirect and Implicit Measures of Cognition and Affect

Scaling Stimuli

Methods for Assessing Dyads and Groups

Synthesizing Research Results

Social Responsibility and Ethics in Social Research

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