Deck 8: Nonexperimental Research, Part I: Observational,

Question 1

A news magazine sends a questionnaire to a representative sample of voters to determine voting preferences in an upcoming election. This is an example of ________ research.

A) survey
B) naturalistic
C) observational
D) archival

Answer 1

A

Question 2

An in-depth description of the emotions of victims of tornados would be an example of __________ research

A) case study
B) naturalistic
C) observational
D) archival

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Naturalistic observation is also called ________ research

A) unobtrusive
B) nonreactive
C) participant-observer
D) Both a and b are true.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Because researchers using naturalistic observation make an effort not to intrude upon the behavior that they are studying, this methods is sometimes called

A) Unobtrusive
B) Unethical
C) Reactive
D) Participant

Question 5

What makes nonexperimental research correlational is that it

A) computes a correlation between two variables
B) requires a scattergram of two variables for interpretation
C) determines a cause-effect relationship between two variables
D) does not manipulate an independent variable

Question 6

The finding that people who drink red wine have better health is the result of __________ research.

A) experimental
B) correlational
C) archival
D) case study

Question 7

A study of existing records is called ____________ research

A) survey
B) naturalistic
C) observational
D) archival

Question 8

The concept of hermeneutics is concerned with

A) finding better ways to record behavior
B) finding better ways to observe behavior
C) interpreting themes as opposed to causes
D) interpreting reasons as opposed to causes

Question 9

All of the following are true of nonexperimental research except:

A) No attempt is made to manipulate an independent variable.
B) The researcher cannot assign subjects to groups.
C) Data collection procedures often compromise some degree of control.
D) The researcher is unable to specify the probability of a subject being included in the sample.

Question 10

Experimental research typically has a higher level of ____________ than nonexperimental methodology.

A) Validity
B) Reliability
C) Control
D) Randomization

Question 11

"___________________" is an example of a question that might be asked by someone performing qualitative research

A) Do pesticides cause cancer?
B) How do people writing blogs understand themselves?
C) What is the effect of music during studying on test scores?
D) Does the presence of laughter affect emotion?

Question 12

The hermeneutic approach

A) seeks reasons, not causes
B) seeks causes, not reasons
C) avoids interpretation
D) Both b and c are true

Question 13

Which one of the following scenarios best demonstrates the use of physical trace measures?

A) Researchers examine the drawings of a group of four and five year old children for evidence of trauma or sexual abuse.
B) A researcher compares the final exam scores of two groups of college freshman students enrolled in two separate reading courses.
C) A classroom reading teacher examines the books on her classroom reading shelf for signs of wear to see what ones are read most.
D) Researchers blind to experimental conditions observe and record the behavior of two groups of schizophrenic patients who have been given two different experimental drugs.

Question 14

In a comparison of the social interaction patterns of gorillas, a scientist spends several months observing and recording behavior of gorillas in each group of her samples. This is an example of _______ research.

A) participant observation
B) naturalistic observation
C) survey
D) case study

Question 15

Which one of the following scenarios best demonstrates the concept of hermeneutics?

A) A parole officer obtains urine specimens from several parolees and has them analyzed for evidence of substance abuse.
B) Guards in a prisoner-of-war camp analyze the out-going mail of prisoners to determine if an escape attempt is being plotted.
C) A supervisor of graduate student teachers administers a questionnaire to students to determine the effectiveness of student-teachers.
D) The director of a day care center observes and records the interactions among the children to identify potentially aggressive ones.

Question 16

If a researcher watches shoppers for signs of anxiety during checkout via television monitoring, the researcher is performing a _________________ study

A) survey
B) naturalistic
C) observational
D) archival

Question 17

If a researcher performs an experiment where half of the participants perform a memory task in the presence of distracting noise such as a jack hammer) while the other half do not, the researcher has

A) Assigned the independent variable of memory task outcome
B) Manipulated the dependent variable of memory task outcome
C) Manipulated the independent variable of noise level
D) Assigned the dependent variable of noise level

Question 18

In a study of the relation between creativity and intelligence, a researcher administers a creativity test to fourth, sixth, and ninth grade students whose intelligence has just been measured. This is an example of _________ research.

A) correlational
B) archival
C) survey
D) case study

Question 19

If a researcher is observing how students in two already existing classes at a college learn, then the researcher has not ___________ participants to groups.

A) Assigned
B) Delegated
C) Correlated
D) Manipulated

Question 20

Nonexperimental research sometimes has to forfeit ______________ in return for obtaining the data

A) Money
B) Control
C) Variability
D) Analysis

Question 21

Alex the parrot's remarkable facility for language was reported in a journal article. What type of research technique was used?

A) Archival
B) Participant-Observer
C) Survey
D) Case Study

Question 22

Theory development in observational or archival research

A) should be more formal and deductive than other research
B) is to be avoided in favor of gathering data and generating hypotheses
C) should be done before the data are collected
D) None of these are true.

Question 23

As part of a research project on factors promoting group leadership, a psychology graduate student joins a campus social club. This is an example of ________ research.

A) naturalistic-observation
B) participant-observer
C) case study
D) archival

Question 24

A major limitation of archival research is that

A) most archival data are nonscientific
B) archival data are not always factual
C) records and data are often difficult to obtain
D) biases may be present in the records or data

Question 25

The principle characteristic of case studies is that they examine

A) Past records that are often publicly available
B) Individual instances of some phenomenon
C) The differences between groups
D) The results of questionnaires

Question 26

In case-study investigations, the researcher:

A) generally uses a single, reliable method of data collection
B) usually establishes the problem and hypothesis in advance
C) investigates a real-life problem within its real-life context
D) establishes clear boundaries between the phenomenon and the context in which the phenomenon takes place

Question 27

A first hand story reflecting the meaning experienced by the teller is called a

A) survey
B) participant-observer study
C) narrative case study
D) naturalistic observation study

Question 28

In comparison to those that use experimental techniques, observational researchers often use a process of testing hypotheses that is more

A) Formal
B) Flexible
C) Deductive
D) Hypothesis driven

Question 29

A researcher Phillips, 1977) analyzed the records of all motor vehicle fatalities in California in an effort to see whether some of them might actually be suicides. What research technique was he using?

A) Archival
B) Participant-Observer
C) Survey
D) Case Study

Question 30

One of the problems inherent in participant-observer research is a difficulty with

A) Reliability
B) Validity
C) Objectivity
D) Instrumentation

Question 31

Collett and Marsh 1974) videotaped instances when two people met in a hallway to avoid collision. This type of research is called

A) naturalistic observation
B) participant-observer
C) case study
D) archival

Question 32

Participant-Observer research is most appropriate when:

A) little is known about the group
B) studying a group that is isolated from the population
C) the group's behavior is generally not accessible to public scrutiny
D) all of these

Question 33

A researcher decides to go through police records in an effort to find out whether there is any evidence of racial profiling. What research technique is being used?

A) Participant-Observer
B) Survey
C) Archival
D) Case Study

Question 34

A major disadvantage of observational research is that

A) standardized observational instruments are not very reliable
B) only overt behaviors can be observed
C) observers may make biased reports
D) the presence of the observer may affect the behavior that is to be observed

Question 35

In observational research, threats to validity may be controlled

A) Mathematically
B) With a well-developed hypothesis
C) Through a thorough understanding of the problem at hand
D) With a deductive process

Question 36

One of the challenges of performing archival research is

A) Finding the archives that contain the information
B) Locating an appropriate subject
C) Return rate
D) Figuring out statistical analysis

Question 37

In a research project investigating power relationships in speech, first-semester college freshman and college seniors were invited to a laboratory in equal numbers. There, they were asked to chat and get to know each other before the real experiment began. The researchers actually analyzed the number of interruptions that people made in the course of a conversation. This is an example of __________ research.

A) Naturalistic observation
B) Participant observer
C) Laboratory observation
D) Archival

Question 38

Case-study research

A) is the study of an existing situation
B) requires examining factual information in existing records
C) follows a standardized format
D) is typically well planned in advance

Question 39

Which one of the following methods of analysis requires the least interpretation?

A) unobtrusive observation
B) latent content
C) physical trace
D) hermeneutics

Question 40

Many case studies result from

A) Problems that must be studied quickly, or else the chance to study them is lost
B) Studies of magnetic resonance imaging
C) Careful assignment of participants to groups
D) Careful reading of police records

Question 41

Discuss some of the problems of dealing with archival data, such as police records. Under what conditions would such data be preferable to performing an experiment?

Question 42

Any good researcher, especially one performing observational research, needs to

A) Have a clearly articulated hypothesis
B) Look for evidence that could prove wrong the theory being tested
C) Be able to deduce the predicted outcome of the study
D) All of the above

Question 43

The step of changing a procedure to a protocol involves

A) Going from a logical plan to a practical one
B) Reviewing the literature
C) Analyzing the data
D) Explaining results

Question 44

If a researcher watches episodes of old TV shows and codes them for social attitudes toward women, the researcher is coding for

A) Validity
B) Reliability
C) Latent content
D) Manifest content

Question 45

An effective method of increasing the reliability of content analysis is to

A) use a standardized coding scheme
B) use a single coder to interpret the data
C) use two or more coders to interpret the data
D) a and c

Question 46

Prior to beginning your field observations, you should

A) Determine the length of your observation intervals
B) Clearly define your behaviors of interest
C) Determine your total observation period
D) All of the above

Question 47

The term procedure

A) means the same as method
B) includes the design of the study
C) describes the logical plan of the study
D) describes the steps in carrying out the design

Question 48

What is the hermeneutic approach to research, and how does it differ from the general approach to understanding behavior?

Question 49

The manifest content of a text is

A) found by objective measure
B) found by subjective interpretation
C) a less reliable measure than its latent content
D) is always preferable to latent content analysis

Question 50

One of the problems associated with content analysis is

A) Reliability
B) Instrumentation
C) Mortality
D) History

Question 51

What is the difference between manifest and latent content analysis? When is it appropriate to use these different methods?

Question 52

Recording methods in nonexperimental research can present a number of problems because

A) There are no hypotheses in nonexperimental research
B) Hypotheses are too formally defined in nonexperimental research
C) You may not know how to define instances of what you're looking for
D) Hypotheses are too deductively generated in nonexperimental research

Question 53

The protocol of a study is

A) the exact steps in dealing with a participant
B) the safeguards taken to keep the participant from feeling awkward
C) another way to describe the procedure
D) another word for the proposal

Question 54

The main problem with using a camcorder to record your observations electronically is

A) You must review your records in real time
B) Camcorders are too expensive
C) Camcorders are unethical
D) Animals can smell camcorders

Question 55

If you are performing an content analysis in which the analysis is to count the frequency of the occurrence of the word, "kiss" in a given text, you are actually coding for

A) Latent content
B) Manifest content
C) Validity
D) Reliability

Question 56

Which of these is NOT advisable in making field notes?

A) Be systematic.
B) Record everything you can.
C) Make use of recording devices.
D) Select what you are going to record ahead of time

Question 57

When a researcher reads a passage of text and codes it for a particular theme, the researcher is actually coding for

A) Latent content
B) Manifest content
C) Validity
D) Reliability

Question 58

A researcher is interested in the possible relationship between delinquency in junior high school students and family instability as evidenced by divorce. How would one go about investigating such a relationship? What else besides divorce might contribute to delinquency and be correlated with divorce?

Question 59

A pilot study

A) is mostly for inexperienced researchers
B) is required for all studies
C) helps find the bugs in a design
D) reduces the credibility of the later study because the researcher has tested the design in advance