Deck 10: True Experiments, Part 1 Single-Factor Designs

Question 1

Dr. Schreiber is performing a within-subjects visual search experiment, which is a little like a video game. People seem to get a good deal better at the task after about 10 practice trials. What should be a concern for his experimental design?

A) Order effects
B) Sequence Effects
C) Random allocation to groups
D) Mortality

Answer 1

A

Question 2

A well-designed experiment will

A) rule out all possible threats to reliability
B) provide the result that corresponds to the hypothesis
C) adequately control for threats to validity
D) None of these are true

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The conditions of a true experiment allow a researcher to infer

A) Reliability
B) Causality
C) Validity
D) Manipulation

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The two basic elements of a true experimental design are

A) a control group and random allocation of subjects to conditions
B) a control group or a control condition and random allocation of subjects to groups
C) random selection of subjects and random allocation of subjects to conditions
D) random selection of subjects and each subject experiences every condition

Question 5

An experiment always has at least

A) One independent variable
B) Two independent variables
C) Three levels
D) Three conditions

Question 6

Random allocation of subjects to groups

A) Insures that the groups will be equal before the experimental manipulation
B) Improves experimental reliability
C) Occurs in a within-subjects design
D) Interferes with a comparison between the experimental and the control group

Question 7

Which one of the following procedures is an appropriate way to control for order effects in a within-subjects experiment? Arrange so that each condition

A) follows every other condition an equal number of times
B) occurs equally often in each ordinal position
C) is presented once to each group
D) occurs only once

Question 8

Dr. Pritts is trying to determine whether elevated levels of a particular hormone alter rats' spatial ability. She injects rats either with the hormone or a saline solution, then times how long it takes them to find the hidden platform in a Morris Water Maze. In this problem,

A) The time to find the platform is the dependent variable
B) The platform is a factor in the experiment
C) The hormone level is a factor in the experiment
D) The saline solution is the experimental treatment

Question 9

An independent variable is also referred to as a

A) level
B) condition
C) factor
D) treatment

Question 10

Participants in a within-subjects experiment are performing an odor identification task in which the smell of vinegar is presented at a particularly high concentration. The smell that follows the presentation of the vinegar is always poorly identified, regardless of which odorant it is. What should be a concern for this experimental design?

A) Order effects
B) Sequence Effects
C) Random allocation to groups
D) Mortality

Question 11

Which one of the following variables is most experimentally manipulable?

A) athletic ability
B) student ability
C) socioeconomic level
D) teaching method

Question 12

In a well-designed experiment, selection bias is controlled by

A) The existence of a control condition
B) The independent variable
C) Random allocation of subjects to conditions
D) Using a within-subjects design

Question 13

A __________ is a particular value of an independent variable.

A) level
B) condition
C) factor
D) treatment

Question 14

The way in which subjects are treated in an experiment is referred to as the

A) factor
B) condition
C) treatment
D) both b and c

Question 15

Which one of the following procedures is an appropriate way to control for sequence effects in a within-subjects experiment? Arrange so that each condition

A) follows every other condition an equal number of times
B) occurs equally often in each ordinal position
C) is presented once to each group
D) occurs only once

Question 16

An independent variable always has at least two

A) levels
B) conditions
C) factors
D) all of these

Question 17

A research procedure in which the scientist has complete control over all aspects of the study is called:

A) A quasi-experiment
B) A survey
C) A true experiment
D) An archival study

Question 18

Professor Johns is performing an experiment to test hypnosis as a treatment for smoking. He is trying to decide which type of experimental design will be appropriate for the study. Which would you suggest?

A) He should use a non-experimental design
B) He should use a within-subjects design
C) He should use a between-subjects design, so that each subject can act as their own control
D) He should use a between-subjects design because of carryover effects

Question 19

Order effects result from

A) which condition follows which
B) the ordinal position of the condition
C) between subjects designs
D) control group designs

Question 20

In a well-designed between-subjects experiment, the participants would

A) Be assigned to conditions depending upon their gender
B) Be randomly allocated to conditions
C) Experience each condition at least once
D) Take a pre-test prior to allocation to groups

Question 21

Counterbalancing involves arranging conditions such that each condition

A) follows every other condition an equal number of times
B) occurs equally often in each ordinal position
C) is presented once before any condition is repeated
D) occurs only once

Question 22

Dr. James wants to perform a within-subjects experiment that involves four levels of an independent variable. He wants to control for order and sequence effects using complete counterbalancing within a group of subjects. What is the minimum number of subjects that he will need?

A) 2
B) 4
C) 24
D) 120

Question 23

If counterbalancing within subjects does not seem possible in a within-subjects experiment, the you may consider controlling for order and sequence effects

A) By giving everyone the same sequence in the same order
B) With a Latin-square design
C) Through reverse reliability
D) Within the group

Question 24

Multiple-condition experiments are employed to

A) compare more than one variable
B) determine the shape of a function
C) rule out more than one rival hypothesis
D) All of these are true.

Question 25

The control condition in the experiment described in question 38 is

A) the drug
B) the placebo
C) blood glucose level
D) not present

Question 26

In a study of preference for four different clothing styles, each participant is asked to evaluate all four styles in a reverse counterbalanced order. What type of design does this study represent?

A) Multiple conditions within-subjects design
B) Multiple conditions between subjects design
C) Between-subjects factorial design
D) Mixed factorial design

Question 27

Craik and Tulving 1975) designed a study to examine methods of processing words on memory. In the first part of the experiment, they asked a question regarding the visual processing, acoustic processing, or semantic processing of the word before the subject was presented with the word. Each subject in their study experienced all three types of questions. In the second part of the study, the researchers asked people to recognize the words that had been presented from a list containing the original words and many distractor words. What is the best description of the design of Craik and Tuliving's experiment?

A) pre-test, post-test
B) multiple conditions, between subjects
C) single condition, between subjects
D) multiple-conditions, within subjects

Question 28

Reverse counterbalancing cannot control for _______ effects

A) nonlinear
B) order
C) sequence
D) within-subjects

Question 29

Block randomization involves which one of the following procedures?

A) Randomly assigning subjects to treatment blocks
B) Presenting the conditions in order the first time and then in reverse order
C) Presenting subjects with each condition in a different order from other subjects
D) Presenting each condition once before any condition is repeated

Question 30

The advantage of the Latin Square technique over complete counterbalancing is that

A) It better controls for carryover effects
B) It is more easy to assign people to groups
C) It has all possible permutations of the conditions
D) It permits more flexibility in choosing the number of subjects

Question 31

Three experimental conditions are to be compared in a within-subjects experiment. Each condition requires 15 minutes, and a total of one hour is available for testing each subject. Which of the following procedures can be used to control for order and sequence effects?

A) counterbalancing
B) reverse counterbalancing
C) block randomization
D) none of these

Question 32

Dr. Knasko is performing a within-subjects experiment in which she is interested in whether the presence of an odor will affect performance on a videogame task. She has three odor conditions: Peppermint, lavender, and a no odor control. Dr. Knasko wants to use a Latin Square design to present her conditions. Which ordering reflects a Latin Square?

A) Subject 1: ABC, Subject 2: BCA, Subject 3: CAB
B) Subject 1: ABC, Subject 2: CBA, Subject 3: ABC
C) Subject 1: CAB, Subject 2: CBA, Subject 3: BCA
D) Subject 1: BAC, Subject 2: BCA, Subject 3: CAB

Question 33

Which of the following is a true experimental design?

A) one group posttest-only
B) posttest-only with nonequivalent control groups
C) one group pretest-posttest
D) two conditions tested within subjects

Question 34

A drug and a placebo are compared for treating diabetes. A random half of the subjects receive the drug, while the other half receives the placebo. Blood glucose level is tested in all of the subjects several times a day. What type of design does this study represent?

A) Single-factor within-subjects
B) Single-factor between subjects
C) One-group pretest-posttest
D) Posttest-only design with nonequivalent control groups

Question 35

The Latin-square design controls for

A) order but not sequence
B) sequence but not order
C) both order and sequence
D) neither order nor sequence

Question 36

The independent variable in the experiment described in question 38 is

A) the drug
B) the placebo
C) blood glucose level
D) not present

Question 37

Dr. Small wanted to perform an experiment using fMRI that had three conditions: A, B, and C. She wanted to present them to her subjects in the following order: ABCCBA. This type of presentation of conditions is called

A) Complete counterbalancing
B) Reverse counterbalancing
C) A Latin Square
D) Block Randomization

Question 38

Which one of the following is the simplest true experimental design?

A) two-conditions, within-subjects design
B) two-conditions, between subjects design
C) one-group pretest-posttest design
D) multiple conditions, within-subjects design

Question 39

Reverse counterbalancing involves which one of the following procedures?

A) randomly assigning subjects to treatment blocks
B) presenting each condition once before any condition is repeated
C) presenting the condition in order the first time and then in reverse order
D) presenting the conditions in reverse order the first time and then in order the next time.

Question 40

In which one of the following situations would the Latin square technique be appropriate? When it

A) is not possible to control for order and sequence effects within subjects
B) is possible to control for order and sequence effects within subjects
C) is not possible to do a within-subjects experiment
D) is not possible to present subjects with each condition in a different order from other subjects

Question 41

Two types of psychotherapy are compared for treating depression. A random half of the subjects receive each of the treatments. What type of design does this study represent?

A) Single-factor within-subjects
B) Single-factor between subjects
C) One-group pretest-posttest
D) Posttest-only design with nonequivalent control groups

Question 42

A researcher would like to know whether his new dog training program is effective. He tests a group of dogs before they start the program, and then again afterwards. What research design has he used?

A) one-group pretest-posttest design
B) pretest-posttest control group design
C) posttest only control group design
D) nonequivalent control group design

Question 43

A psychology professor wants to test the effectiveness of providing students in his introductory experimental psychology class with an outline of his weekly lecture notes. He forms two groups within his class, each containing 24 students. The experimental group receives an outline of the professor's weekly lectures, and the control group receives no outline. Grades at the end of the course are compared between the two groups. On the basis of this description, discuss what flaw is most evident in the design of the experiment. Identify and design and discuss an alternative procedure that might eliminate the flaws.

Question 44

A researcher plans a study to test the effectiveness of the discussion method in an introductory research methods course at the college level. One instructor will use the discussion method in her class several times during the semester. Another instructor will teach the same content, but without using the discussion method. The researcher will collect the following data: student scores on mid-term and final exams and on a scale measuring attitudes toward instruction. Discuss at least three recommendations that you can provide to improve this experimental design.

Question 45

O X O O represents the

A) pretest-posttest control group design
B) posttest-only control group design
C) multiple conditions design
D) nonequivalent control group design

Question 46

The experiment by Braun, Ellis, and Loftus 2002) on the effect of a Disney advertisement on memory for visiting a theme park was done between subjects because

A) it would have taken too much time to run the same subjects in both conditions
B) two condition experiments are always done between subjects
C) if they experienced both conditions of the study they would no longer naive about the independent variable
D) they were trying to rule out more than one alternative hypothesis

Question 47

O X O represents the

A) pretest-posttest control group design
B) one-shot case study
C) posttest-only control group design
D) one-group pretest-posttest design

Question 48

To determine the effect of counseling on the self-esteem of divorced women, a researcher measures the self-esteem of a group of women before and after they have received counseling and compares the before and after measurements. What type of design does this study represent?

A) pretest-posttest control group design
B) posttest only control group design
C) one-group pretest-posttest design
D) nonequivalent control group design

Question 49

Consider the posttest-only design with nonequivalent control groups. Can you think of an experimental situation in which this design might be necessary? How could you potentially strengthen the experimental design?

Question 50

You decide that you want to see whether a popular motivational program "Optimize Your Life!" actually works. You survey the participants after they have taken part in the study. This experimental design is called a

A) Single-factor within-subjects
B) Single-factor between subjects
C) One-group pretest-posttest
D) One-group posttest-only design

Question 51

R O X O O represents the

A) nonequivalent control group design
B) multiple conditions design
C) pretest-posttest control group design
D) posttest only control group design

Question 52

If productivity increased in a factory after all of its employees were switched to a work schedule consisting of four 10-hour days, should management really credit the schedule switch with the improvement?

A) Yes
B) Yes, but only if no workers had left the factory
C) No. There are too many threats to validity to draw that conclusion
D) No. You would need to conduct a survey to be sure.

Question 53

You survey a group of people who have just finished college, most of whom say that the experience was worthwhile and that they learned a lot. What experimental design does this represent?

A) Archival
B) Single-factor within-subjects
C) One-group posttest-only design
D) Posttest-only with nonequivalent control groups

Question 54

The one-group posttest-only design should be avoided because

A) All experimental designs have to have more than one group
B) There are many uncontrolled threats to validity
C) It produces unreliable results
D) It will not be possible to code the data

Question 55

A researcher wonders about the memory performance of people with Parkinson 's disease, so he recruits 25 patients and gives them the CVLT, a standard memory test. He then gives 25 college students the same test, and compares the performance. What experimental design has he used?

A) one-group pretest-posttest design
B) pretest-posttest control group design
C) posttest only control group design
D) posttest only with nonequivalent control group design

Question 56

You have a hypothesis that sugar decreases the ability to remember lists of words, and that this impairment increases with the amount of sugar that is administered. Design a between groups single factor true experiment to test this idea. Be sure to define your independent and dependent variables. How will you recruit subjects? How will you allocate subjects and conditions?

Question 57

X O represents the

A) one-group pretest-posttest design
B) one-shot case study
C) posttest control group design
D) one-group posttest only design

Question 58

A doctor prescribes a new drug for a sick patient. The patient gets well. Should the doctor believe that the drug made the patient well?

A) Yes. This is a single-factor experiment.
B) No. This represents a single-factor experiment
C) No. There are too many threats to reliability to draw that conclusion
D) No. There are too many threats to validity to draw that conclusion

Question 59

The experiment by Pinel on exploration as a function of Electroconvulsive Shock-learning interval used a multiple-condition design to

A) rule out alternative hypotheses
B) determine the shape of a function
C) determine the effect of repeated ECS on the same rats
D) None of these is true.