Deck 11: More About Correlational Studies

Question 1

When a variable that is not of interest in a study may explain the results of a study is a ______.

A) high internal validity
B) third variable problem
C) experimenter bias
D) low reliability

Answer 1

third variable problem

Question 2

Most of the research showing a link between smoking and long-term health in humans has involved ______ studies.

A) correlational
B) descriptive
C) predictive
D) analytical

Answer 2

correlational

Question 3

A research question that asks about the presence of behavior, how frequently it is exhibited, or whether there is a relationship between different behaviors is a ______ research question.

A) positive
B) negative
C) descriptive
D) predictive

Answer 3

descriptive

Question 4

In a correlational study, the variable that is used to predict the outcome variable is called the ______ variable.

A) dependent
B) predictor
C) confounding
D) third

Question 5

The strong ______ correlations between age and incidence of Alzheimer's disease found in many studies seem to indicate a 50% likelihood of getting Alzheimer's disease by age 85.

A) positive
B) negative
C) causal
D) predictive

Question 6

In correlational research multiple measures are collected from ______ group(s) of subjects to determine if those measures co-vary.

A) one
B) two
C) three
D) four

Question 7

In many studies related to ______, correlational studies are the only options because we cannot subject someone to factors that may negatively harm them for ethical reasons.

A) behavior
B) health
C) weather
D) animals

Question 8

Of the following, the ______ represents the correlational research design.

A) two groups of participants (those who are left handed and those who are right handed) are asked to perform a speeded cognitive task to compare performance for the two groups
B) participants take a handedness questionnaire with score indicating the degree of right- and left-handedness to look for a relationship between handedness score and time to complete a cognitive task
C) participants are randomly assigned to conditions where a cognitive task is given with speeded or non-speeded instructions to determine if there is an effect of instruction type of task performance

Question 9

Important information can be gained from correlational studies about the likelihood of an event based on the relationship with another event, but this relationship may or may not be ______.

A) positive
B) negative
C) causal
D) predictive

Question 10

In ______ studies, researchers examine two or more measures to determine if those measures are related.

A) correlational
B) descriptive
C) predictive
D) analytical

Question 11

A correlational study ______ provide causal information about the relationship between the measures, it can only describe the relationship between the behaviors.

A) can
B) cannot
C) sometimes
D) will always

Question 12

A relationship between variables characterized by an increase in one variable that occurs with an increase in the other variable is called ______.

A) a positive relationship
B) a negative relationship
C) a causal relationship
D) a predictive relationship

Question 13

Groups of subjects are not compared in a correlational study as they are in ______ experiments.

A) quasi
B) analytical
C) descriptive
D) predictive

Question 14

Suppose that a researcher found that as introversion (as measured on a standardized questionnaire) of participants goes up, number of social activities attended per week goes up. This finding represents ______.

A) a positive relationship
B) a negative relationship
C) no relationship
D) a flawed study

Question 15

A relationship between variables characterized by an increase in one variable that occurs with a decrease in the other variable is called a ______.

A) positive relationship
B) negative relationship
C) causal relationship
D) predictive relationship

Question 16

Correlational studies are not well-suited for answering ______ research questions.

A) causal
B) descriptive
C) predictive
D) outcome

Question 17

The ______ analyses allow predictions.

A) regressions
B) t tests
C) ANOVAs
D) ANCOVAs

Question 18

Suppose that a researcher found that as introversion (as measured on a standardized questionnaire) of participants goes up, the number of social activities attended per week goes down. This finding represents ______.

A) a positive relationship
B) a negative relationship
C) no relationship
D) a flawed study

Question 19

In a correlational study, the variable that is predicted by the predictor variable is called the ______ variable.

A) outcome
B) dependent
C) confounding
D) third

Question 20

A research question that asks if one behavior can be predicted from another behavior to allow predictions of future behavior is a ______ research question.

A) positive
B) negative
C) descriptive
D) predictive

Question 21

Only a(n) ______ study has an independent variable.

A) experimental
B) positive correlational study
C) negative correlational study
D) correlational study

Question 22

Manipulating a variable to test for a causal relationship often times is ______.

A) difficult or impossible
B) unnecessary or wasteful
C) time consuming or costly
D) unethical or disallowed

Question 23

Correlational studies can provide good tests of causal research questions.

Question 24

A researcher would like to study the effects of smoking on respiratory functioning. There are two groups: participants who smoke one pack a day and participants who smoke two. This is a ______ study

A) correlational
B) quasi-experimental
C) independent variables
D) true experimental

Question 25

For a variable to be an independent variable, it must be ______.

A) manipulated
B) held constant
C) measured by nominal scale
D) dichotomous

Question 26

It is ______ that parental influences have a causal relationship with both the number of hours of TV their children watch and their grades.

A) not possible
B) possible
C) highly improbable
D) too hard to tell

Question 27

Hypothesized relationships are typically tested using correlational analyses such as ______.

A) Pearson r
B) Pearson b
C) Pearson f
D) Pearson t

Question 28

Unlike experiments, correlational studies cannot control for ______.

A) observational techniques
B) extraneous/confounding variables
C) negative associations
D) inconsistent findings

Question 29

Researchers typically must rely on correlational studies to learn about factors that influence one's ______.

A) behavior
B) health
C) weather
D) animals

Question 30

Many ______ studies use surveys to measure behavior.

A) experimental
B) quasi-experimental
C) non-experimental
D) correlational

Question 31

Correlation ______ equal(s) causation.

A) most of the time
B) always
C) does not
D) typically

Question 32

It is ______ to conduct a study where some participants are assigned to a condition that may be harmful to them.

A) unethical
B) sometimes ethical
C) completely ethical
D) sometimes unethical

Question 33

Correlational studies provide information that allows researchers to determine which variables should be considered when they design tests of ______ relationships.

A) normative
B) equal
C) causal
D) descriptive

Question 34

A causal relationship can be tested using ______.

A) correlational research
B) experimental research
C) diagnostic research
D) analytical research

Question 35

Most correlational study designs involve ______ data collection techniques.

A) experimental measures
B) archival records
C) natural observation
D) survey administration

Question 36

Whenever a strong relationship exists between variables, prediction of one variable from other variables ______.

A) is impossible
B) is possible
C) cannot be determined
D) is rarely possible

Question 37

Assigning one group of participants to smoke and another group not to smoke is ______.

A) unethical
B) sometimes ethical
C) completely ethical
D) sometimes unethical

Question 38

In a scatter plot of a correlational study data set, each dot represents ______.

A) one individual's data
B) one level of a condition
C) one variable of interest
D) one scale of measure

Question 39

Regardless of the type of observational technique used to measure behavior, the goal of any correlational study is to examine relationships between ______ or more measures of behavior.

A) one
B) two
C) three
D) four

Question 40

At times, correlational studies are the only options because we cannot subject study participants to factors that may negative impact their health for ______.

A) confidentiality reasons
B) anonymity reasons
C) ethical reasons
D) recruitment issues

Question 41

The direction of the cause and effect relationship cannot be determined from a correlational study because none of the variables are manipulated in the study.

Question 42

Suppose a study was conducted to examine the relationship between how often people exercise and how happy they are with their lives. Participants in this study were asked to report how many times a week they exercise for 30 minutes or more at a time and to complete a questionnaire with items that measure their quality of life (e.g., How many times in the past week do you remember feeling happy?). A positive relationship is found between the number of times per week people exercise and their quality of life score.
Discuss why we cannot conclude a causal relationship between frequency of exercise and degree of happiness.

Question 43

Explain the difference between a descriptive research question and a predictive research question. Provide an example of each type of research question.

Question 44

A correlational study showed that men who had one or more servings of tomatoes a week were 60% less likely to get prostate cancer. This means that tomatoes cause the reduction in cancer rates.

Question 45

Correlational studies never involve naturalistic observations or systematic observations.

Question 46

If two factors simply co-occur, this indicates a causal relationship.

Question 47

Correlational studies provide information that allows researchers to determine which variables should be considered when they design tests of causal relationships.

Question 48

Third-variable problem can decrease the internal validity of the study.

Question 49

Explain why correlational studies do not provide the best test of a causal research question.

Question 50

Pearson r test is used to determine whether a linear relationship exists between two variables measured on an ordinal scale.

Question 51

Explain the difference between a predictor and an outcome variable.

Question 52

Correlational studies are designed to examine relationships between measured variables.

Question 53

How are correlational studies different from quasi-experiments?

Question 54

A researcher may conduct a correlational study with the ultimate goal of predicting one behavior from another behavior.

Question 55

Most survey research involves a correlational study.

Question 56

Correlation equals causation.

Question 57

Correlational studies are used to answer descriptive and predictive research questions.

Question 58

A negative relation is shown by a downward slope of the cluster of data points in a graph of the data set.

Question 59

Explain what a third-variable problem is and give an example.

Question 60

ACT/SAT scores are considered college performance predictor variables.