Deck 5: Variables

Question 1

Variables are related to theoretical constructs via ___________________

A) Statistical analysis
B) Causality
C) Operational definitions
D) The progressive nature of science

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Consider the following title of a research study: "The effect of physical distance on ratings of attraction." In this study the dependent variable is

A) physical distances
B) ratings of attraction
C) actual attraction
D) not stated in the title

Answer 2

B

Question 3

If we were to measure a dependant variable's frequency, we would

A) count the number of times it occurred
B) time how long it took to achieve
C) time how long between responses
D) measure the shape of the behavior

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Variables are ____________ while theoretical constructs are________________

A) Valid, Invalid
B) Tangible, Intangible
C) Quantitative, Qualitative
D) Continuous, Discrete

Question 5

Which one of the following independent variables represents a categorical variable?

A) dosage level of a drug to be administered
B) amount of positive or negative reinforcement
C) distance from sound source in a test of auditory acuity
D) rote versus conceptual method of teaching

Question 6

Suppose you have performed a study that showed a strong positive correlation between shoe size and intelligence. Since you can't be sure about cause and effect in this relationship, shoe size would be called

A) a subject variable
B) a dependent variable
C) an independent variable
D) a variable of interest

Question 7

Professor Smith studied the effect of giving either two, four, or eight pellets of reward to rats that ran a maze. He measured how fast they ran, and how many wrong turns they made. How many levels of the independent variable did he have?

A) one
B) two
C) three
D) can't tell

Question 8

Consider the following research title: "Cooperation among nursery school children under two types of instruction." In this study the independent variable is

A) cooperation
B) types of instruction
C) nursery school children
D) not stated in the title

Question 9

Which one of the following statements does not contain both an independent and dependent variable?

A) The effects of physical distance on ratings of attraction
B) Children's defensive and aggressive behaviors in a school setting
C) Cooperation among nursery school children under two types of instruction
D) Sexually coercive behavior of college males as a function of masculinity and attitudes toward women's rights

Question 10

Professor Jones studied the effect of two types of instructions on learning either nonsense words or real words by college sophomores. Which of the following is not a variable?

A) instructions
B) type of words
C) year in school
D) they are all variables

Question 11

Which one of the following variables represents a quantitative variable?

A) college major
B) political party affiliation
C) salary in dollars
D) type of life insurance owned

Question 12

All independent variables have at least _______ levels

A) 1
B) 2
C) 3
D) 4

Question 13

The term variable may best be defined as a

A) property of an event that can assume any of a range of values
B) label assigned to an observation
C) single number that allows one to summarize, analyze, or evaluate a group of observations
D) numerical value assigned to an observation

Question 14

The dependent variable in a study

A) Is a variable that is extraneous to the study
B) Is what is manipulated by the researcher
C) Reflects differences between subjects that cannot be controlled
D) Is the response that a subject makes

Question 15

To make sure that unintended variables do not confound a study, many potential variables

A) Are kept constant, or the same, across conditions
B) Can be made to co-vary with the independent variable
C) Are ignored
D) Are transformed into another measurement scale

Question 16

A confounded variable is one that

A) doesn't vary
B) varies with the dependent variable
C) varies with the independent variable
D) isn't correlated with either the independent or dependent variable

Question 17

A subject variable is aan)

A) incidental aspect of the study that is of no concern
B) confounded variable
C) dependent variable that the researcher does not measure
D) independent variable that the researcher does not manipulate

Question 18

If we measured the miles per hour that Yolanda traveled when running, we would actually be measuring the _____________ of her behavior

A) Frequency
B) Locus
C) Duration
D) Rate

Question 19

Consider the following research title: "Sexually coercive behavior of college males as a function of masculinity and attitudes toward women's rights." In this study the dependent variable is

A) sexually coercive behavior
B) masculinity
C) attitudes toward women's rights
D) not stated in the title

Question 20

The independent variable in a study

A) Is a variable that is extraneous to the study
B) Is believed to be responsible for the change in the dependent variable
C) Reflects differences between subjects that cannot be controlled
D) Is the response that a subject makes

Question 21

Which one of the following represents a continuous variable?

A) noon temperature measured in Fahrenheit
B) number of freshmen college students enrolled in an introductory psychology course
C) number of shares traded on the New Stock Market on a given day
D) rankings of U. S. Army officers from lowest to highest

Question 22

If your instructor tells you that the average score on a 10 point test is between 7.5 and 8.5, the instructor has given you the _______________ of the test

A) Real limits
B) Apparent limits
C) Reliability
D) Validity

Question 23

Which one of the following is an example of a ratio level of measurement?

A) the number of times a laboratory monkey presses a bar in its experimental chamber during a one-hour period
B) the temperature in Celsius of a hospital patient
C) a racing-car driver's position at the end of a race
D) a patient' rating of his own anxiety level on a scale where l0 represents "low anxiety" and l00 represents "extreme anxiety"

Question 24

The term measurement may best be defined as

A) a numerical value assigned to an observation
B) a single number that allows one to summarize, analyze or evaluate a group of observations
C) a property of an event that can assume any one of a range of values
D) a number or label assigned to an observation according to a rule or system

Question 25

A researcher records the amount of light it takes to detect a small visual stimulus in a dark room. Luminance is the variable being measured and may be thought of here as physical energy. What level of measurement is most likely involved in making this observation?

A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio

Question 26

Which one of the following is an example of an interval level of measurement?

A) height in inches)
B) weight in pounds)
C) age in years)
D) temperature in degrees Fahrenheit)

Question 27

Suppose you develop a scale of measurement for your preferences on music, such that you give country music a rating of 10 on an open-ended scale, and classical music which you are neutral about) you give a rating of zero. Since you like pop music twice as much as you like country music, you give it a number twice as large, a rating of 20. Since you dislike Rap music, you give it a rating of -10, to show that you dislike Rap music as much as you like country music. This scale of measurement would be

A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio

Question 28

The fewest number of permissible transformations are found with the ___________ scale

A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio

Question 29

A test is valid if it

A) measures what it is supposed to measure
B) gives the same result on different occasions
C) correlates positively with a reliable test
D) b and c

Question 30

Which one of the following is an example of a nominal level of measurement?

A) reaction time of an adult male measured before and after drinking an ounce of alcohol
B) a high school senior's first, second, and third choice of colleges to attend
C) classification of psychiatric patients as either "neurotic" or "psychotic"
D) estimating the number of red blood cells in a laboratory sample

Question 31

Random error refers to change in the measurement of a variable that can be attributed to

A) confounding.
B) chance
C) systematic error
D) the amount of time between measurements

Question 32

A test is reliable if it

A) measures what it is supposed to measure
B) gives the same result on different occasions
C) gives valid results
D) a and b

Question 33

Which one of the following represents a continuous variable?

A) Number of books borrowed from the library
B) Number of students sharing a dorm room
C) The height of the average freshman college student
D) The siblings possessed by the average college student

Question 34

Which one of the following represents a discrete variable?

A) number of children per family
B) amount of water consumed daily by a laboratory rat
C) noon temperature measured in Celsius
D) rate of bar-pressing

Question 35

A test that measures the theoretical concept that it is designed to test has _______ validity

A) construct
B) face
C) content
D) criterion

Question 36

At a day care center a researcher asks children to list their five favorite toys from most favorite to least favorite. What level of measurement is represented in this example?

A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio

Question 37

The idea that a test appears to be measuring what it is supposed to be measuring relates to

A) face validity
B) construct validity
C) internal validity
D) both a and b

Question 38

A researcher measures the temperature of his laboratory room to the nearest degree, over a ten day period. He finds that the average is 68º Fahrenheit. In this example, temperature is a _____________ variable, and 68º represents the _________ limits of the measure.

A) continuous variable, real limits
B) discrete variable, real limits
C) continuous variable, apparent limits
D) discrete variable, apparent limits

Question 39

Error variance is variability in

A) the dependent variable that is associated with the independent variable
B) the dependent variable that is not associated with the independent variable
C) the independent variable
D) either variable

Question 40

A variable that falls into a distinct category is referred to as a

A) physical variable
B) nonphysical variable
C) discrete variable
D) dependent variable

Question 41

In each of the following examples, identify the independent and dependent variables. Discuss which independent variables are manipulated variables.
a. The comparative effectiveness of programmed instruction on the computational skills of 9th graders.
b. The effect of self paced versus teacher pacing instruction on self-concept of 4th, 5th, and 6th graders.
c. The effect of employment status of mothers on school absenteeism of their children
d. The effect of sex on algebra achievement

Question 42

What variable or variables) might you use as a basis for your observations if you are interested in studying:
a. The relationship between the crime rate and unemployment in a certain city
b. Overcrowding in mental institutions
c. The relationship between smoking and health
d. Attitudes of U.S. citizens toward government-supported loans for higher education
e. The effect of rehearsal on memorization of foreign language words

Question 43

When choosing the levels of the independent variable, it is important

A) not to have more than two or three
B) to focus on the higher levels
C) to focus on the lower levels
D) to cover as much of the range as possible

Question 44

Face validity is

A) lacking in the Rorschach test
B) more of a public relations question than a scientific one
C) unrelated to a test's actual validity
D) All of the these are true

Question 45

In within-subjects designs subject experiences all stimuli in one session) it is important

A) not to have more than two or three stimuli
B) to present at least seven stimuli, if possible
C) to choose higher levels of the independent variable
D) to focus on lower levels of the independent variable

Question 46

_____________ concerns whether the same measure would yield the same results on another occasion

A) validity
B) test-retest reliability
C) internal consistency
D) internal validity

Question 47

Systematic error is

A) random error that is often associated with the independent variable
B) consistent error that is generally not associated with the independent variable
C) another name for error variance
D) generally more serious than error variance

Question 48

For each variable listed above, decide whether each variable is continuous or discrete.

Question 49

The Kuder-Richardson-20 is a measure of

A) validity
B) test-retest reliability
C) internal consistency
D) internal validity

Question 50

The extent to which the items on a test are representative of the domain they are supposed to represent relates to

A) face validity.
B) content validity
C) criterion validity
D) external validity

Question 51

Criterion validity measures

A) measures the theoretical concept it supposedly tests
B) measures the full range of behaviors represented by the concept
C) correlates with other valid tests of the same theoretical concept
D) All of the these are true

Question 52

Systematic error can be a very serious problem for an experiment if it is

A) Associated with the independent variable
B) Not associated with the independent variable
C) Associated with error variance
D) Is associated with a continuous variable

Question 53

The extent to which scores on a test can be used to predict an individual's likely standing on some other test relates to

A) face validity
B) content validity
C) criterion validity
D) construct validity

Question 54

You are interested in researching the effects of rewards on exercise. Determine how you would measure your dependent variable using at least four of the ways of measuring behavior.

Question 55

If test of leadership ability actually measures extraversion, then the test is low in

A) Reliability
B) Construct validity
C) Progressive validity
D) Discrete validity

Question 56

When choosing the levels of the independent variable, it is important

A) to choose equal intervals
B) not to have more than two or three
C) to have no more than one for any experiment
D) to space the stimuli close enough such that overlooking any interesting relationship between the stimuli is unlikely

Question 57

Two types of criterion validity are

A) concurrent and predictive
B) correlative and causative
C) content and construct
D) formative and summative

Question 58

Content validity concerns whether the test

A) measures the theoretical concept it supposedly tests
B) measures the full range of behaviors represented by the concept
C) correlates with other valid tests
D) All of the these are true

Question 59

_________________ concerns whether all of the items on a test measure the same thing

A) validity
B) test-retest reliability
C) internal consistency
D) internal validity