Deck 2: Tools of Relationship Science

Question 1

You meet a number of students in a graduate program studying intimate relationships. The students describe their research to you. Which of the following students is conducting descriptive research?

A) Ahmed, who is investigating whether couples who cohabit before marriage have less conflict as newlyweds than couples who do not cohabit before marriage
B) Jeremy, who is interested in marital satisfaction following the birth of the first child
C) Humpreet, who is studying whether violations of expectations about the division of household chores lead to a decline in relationship satisfaction
D) All of the students are conducting descriptive research.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

You are designing an exploratory study on couples who have polyamorous relationships (i.e., they have multiple committed relationships at one time). There is very little research in this area, and not much is known about how these couples manage their relationships. What kind of measurement strategy would be the most appropriate for this new research area?

A) fixed-response scales
B) observational measures
C) global measures
D) open-ended questionnaires

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Andrea is studying the conditions under which people become attracted to each other. She invites male research participants to visit the lab and interact briefly with an attractive person (a paid research assistant). By flipping a coin, she places participants in one of two conditions: 1) The conversation occurs without incident, or 2) There is a brief blackout in the research lab during the conversation. At the end of each session, the attractive research assistant gives the research participant her home phone number and invites him to call her later. In this study, whether the research participant calls the number is the:

A) operationalization of the dependent variable.
B) operationalization of the independent variable.
C) control variable.
D) predictor variable.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Atiyeh is studying whether violations of expectations about the division of household chores lead to a decline in relationship satisfaction. This is an example of a(n) ________ research question.

A) descriptive
B) predictive
C) explanatory
D) conceptual

Question 5

Jacobson and Moore (1981) found that a spouseÕs rating of a partnerÕs behavior on the Spouse Observation Checklist often did not match the partnerÕs own rating of his or her behaviors. This study suggested that the Spouse Observation Checklist may have a problem with ________.

A) construct validity
B) operationalization
C) reliability
D) reactivity

Question 6

Which of the following statements regarding the role of the scientific method in relationship studies is true?

A) It helps self-correct erroneous conclusions.
B) It eliminates the risk of drawing erroneous conclusions.
C) It proves previously untested hypotheses.
D) It ensures the external validity of the findings.

Question 7

Daniella wants to know if the birth of a child is linked to lower marital satisfaction. This is an example of a(n) ________ research question.

A) descriptive
B) predictive
C) explanatory
D) conceptual

Question 8

A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it. She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction. Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable) and who is either friendly or aloof (the social warmth variable). After interacting with the target person under these conditions, participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is. In this study, the independent variables are:

A) similarity and interpersonal attraction.
B) similarity and social warmth.
C) social warmth and interpersonal attraction.
D) similarity, social warmth, and interpersonal attraction.

Question 9

Andy decides to use a measure of how many times per week research participants talk to their partners as a measure of relationship closeness. According to the chapter on research methods, ÒclosenessÓ is ________.

A) an imaginary construct
B) the operationalization of a psychological construct
C) the predictor variable
D) a psychological construct

Question 10

ÒDo couples who cohabit before marriage have less conflict as newlyweds than couples who do not cohabit before marriage?Ó This is an example of a(n) ________ research question.

A) descriptive
B) predictive
C) explanatory
D) predictive and descriptive

Question 11

A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it. She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction. Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable) and who is either friendly or aloof (the social warmth variable). After interacting with the target person under these conditions, participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is. In this study, similarity and social warmth are the ________ variables and interpersonal attraction is the ________ variable.

A) independent; dependent
B) dependent; independent
C) causal; control
D) control; outcome

Question 12

A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it. She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction. Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable) and who is either friendly or aloof (the social warmth variable). After interacting with the target person under these conditions, participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is. Which of the following is most likely the hypothesis in this study?

A) People who are attractive and similar to their interaction partner will be perceived as friendlier than people who are attractive and not similar to their interaction partner.
B) People who are aloof and not similar to their interaction partner will be perceived as less attractive than people who are friendly and similar to their interaction partner.
C) People who are unattractive will be perceived as less friendly than people who are attractive.
D) People who are not similar to their interaction partner will be perceived as less friendly than people who are similar to their interaction partner.

Question 13

Which of the following statements regarding the role of the scientific method in relationship studies is FALSE?

A) It eliminates the risk of drawing erroneous conclusions.
B) It proves previously untested hypotheses.
C) It ensures the external validity of the findings.
D) All of the above are false.

Question 14

Andy decides to use a measure of how many times per week research participants talk to their partners as a measure of relationship closeness. According to the chapter on research methods, Òhow many times per week research participants talk to their partnersÓ is ________.

A) an imaginary construct
B) the operationalization of a psychological construct
C) the predictor variable
D) a psychological construct

Question 15

According to the chapter on research methods, which of the following is FALSE?

A) Operationalization refers to the translation of an abstract idea into something concrete and measurable.
B) A specific measure that does not represent a concept very well is said to lack construct operationalization.
C) If a specific measure represents an abstract concept well, it has high construct validity.
D) We cannot directly measure abstract ideas, so they must be made observable or concrete.

Question 16

U.S. divorce rates are nearly twice as high in low-income neighborhoods as in high-income neighborhoods. To learn why this association exists, we must ask ________ research questions.

A) conceptual
B) descriptive
C) predictive
D) explanatory

Question 17

You are designing an exploratory study on couples who have polyamorous relationships (i.e., they have multiple committed relationships at one time). There is very little research in this area, and not much is known about how these couples manage their relationships. Which research approach would be the most appropriate for this new research area?

A) qualitative research
B) observational research
C) correlational research
D) experimental research

Question 18

Specific predictions suggested by ________ are called ________.

A) theories; hypotheses
B) hypotheses; theories
C) theories; data
D) data; hypotheses

Question 19

You design a questionnaire where you first ask participants to briefly describe how they met their current romantic partners and then ask them to rate how satisfied they are in their relationships on a scale of 1 to 7. The first part of the questionnaire is an example of ________ and the second part is an example of ________.

A) a fixed-response scale; open-ended questions
B) open-ended questions; a fixed-response scale
C) open-ended questions; qualitative research
D) qualitative research; correlational research

Question 20

A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it. She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction. Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable) and who is either friendly or aloof (the social warmth variable). After interacting with the target person under these conditions, participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is. In this study, the dependent variable is:

A) similarity.
B) social warmth.
C) interpersonal attraction.
D) all of the above.

Question 21

In the 1970s, a number of studies suggested that over the course of a long marriage, spousesÕ relationship satisfaction generally followed a U-shaped curve: first declining, then remaining stable, and then increasing (presumably after children left home). In the 1990s, new research proved this idea wrong. Generally, marital satisfaction declines throughout the course of marriage. What was the difference between the earlier and the later research?

A) The early research was correlational, and the later research was experimental.
B) The early research suffered from attrition bias, and the later research did not.
C) The early research examined only American couples, and the later research examined cross-cultural samples.
D) The early research was cross-sectional, and the later research was longitudinal.

Question 22

Ajay wanted to learn more about how romantic partners share good news with each other. He asked sixty married couples to describe their conversations with their spouses and to rate their partnersÕ responses to any good news that was shared. The spouses also rated their relationship satisfaction. The questionnaires were completed every day before bed for 14 days. What kind of research design is this?

A) experimental
B) cross-sectional
C) daily diary approach
D) experience sampling

Question 23

Ravneet is doing a study on social support in romantic relationships and depression. He recruited a sample of undergraduates to complete his questionnaires, but would like to generalize his findings to anyone in a romantic relationship. What is one problem with his study?

A) It may lack internal validity.
B) It may suffer from attrition bias.
C) It may lack reliability.
D) It may lack external validity.

Question 24

Spouses who are experiencing a lot of stress in their lives also tend to experience more symptoms of depression. This is an example of a:

A) positive correlation.
B) negative correlation.
C) causal association.
D) descriptive association.

Question 25

Danica put spouses in separate rooms, asked them to complete relationship satisfaction ratings, and then videotaped all participants giving a brief speech, which she said their partners would later watch. After the speech, participants were provided with written false feedback presumably provided by their partners, and then they rated their relationship satisfaction again. Danica then assessed how evaluations of relationship satisfaction changed when participants received three different types of false feedback. In one condition, the feedback was positive and reassuring, in the second it was negative and critical, and in the third it was mixed. In this experiment, the independent variable is ________ and the dependent variable is ________.

A) the false feedback; the relationship satisfaction
B) the relationship satisfaction; the false feedback
C) the speech; the false feedback
D) the speech; the relationship satisfaction

Question 26

Sagga, a researcher studying couples who have been married for 20 years, finds a negative correlation between depression and relationship satisfaction: spouses who are more depressed are less satisfied in their marriages. How might Sagga interpret his findings?

A) Being depressed leads people to become less satisfied with their marriages.
B) Being dissatisfied with oneÕs marriage leads people to become depressed.
C) Some other factor, such as family background, is responsible both for peopleÕs levels of depression and for peopleÕs relationship satisfaction.
D) All of the above are possible interpretations of SaggaÕs findings.

Question 27

Kahni has developed a measure of conflict and she is using participantsÕ frequency of conflict to predict their relationship satisfaction. She is assessing relationship satisfaction with the Marital Adjustment Test, which is a self-report measure of satisfaction that taps in to how spouses resolve disagreements, how much spouses confide in each other, and how much spouses agree about various topics. Which of the following is NOT a potential problem with using the Marital Adjustment Test in KahniÕs study?

A) poor construct validity
B) reactivity
C) social desirability effect
D) sentiment override

Question 28

Ravneet is doing a study on social support in newlyweds and depression. He would like to collect data from a representative sample. This means Ravneet should:

A) recruit couples at bridal shows so he can ensure that couples will be newly married when they enter his study.
B) ensure that the couples in his sample are similar to the population of newlywed couples to which he would like to generalize.
C) make sure there arenÕt any college student couples in his study, because these couples have been overrepresented in relationship research.
D) give up nowÑthere is no way he will be able to find a representative sample of newlywed couples.

Question 29

Carly and Joan are very happy in their relationship and have been together for a long time. When asked how often Joan says ÒI love you,Ó Carly responds that Joan says it almost every day. This is surprising; Joan tells you that she rarely says ÒI love you,Ó because she keeps those words for special occasions. Why might CarlyÕs report be so different from JoanÕs?

A) social desirability effect
B) sentiment override
C) prospective bias
D) reactivity

Question 30

Harker and Keltner (2001) examined womenÕs yearbook photos from 30 years ago. They examined how womenÕs facial expressions in the photos predicted whether or not they were more or less likely to marry, and how happy they were if they stayed married. What kind of research is this an example of?

A) archival
B) experimental
C) longitudinal
D) observational

Question 31

Which of the following is FALSE regarding research methods used to understand relationships?

A) Ideally, any method of data collection leads to the same results.
B) Data often reflect not only the phenomena of interest but also the method used to collect the data.
C) It is difficult to reliably quantify thoughts, emotions, and behaviors in intimate relationships, so relationship researchers instead rely on self-report data.
D) Direct observation provides unique information about interpersonal processes that cannot be captured from self-report data.

Question 32

The measurement of agreement between independent observers when studying behaviors that require some interpretation on the part of the observer is called ________.

A) reactivity
B) construct validity
C) correlation
D) reliability

Question 33

A researcher is surveying men about partner behaviors that are potentially annoying. When presented with a list of possibly annoying behaviors and asked to rate their tolerance of these behaviors that have occurred in the current relationship, respondents indicate a high level of tolerance for all behaviors, even the most annoying ones. What phenomenon might these responses illustrate?

A) inaccurate recall
B) reactivity
C) social desirability effect
D) cognitive editing

Question 34

Which of the following is NOT a crucial element of a true experiment?

A) dependent variable
B) random assignment
C) random sampling
D) control

Question 35

For SallyÕs study, one member of a set of married couples carried voice-activated digital recorders for two weeks and both spouses made relationship satisfaction ratings at the end of each day. The recordings contained a lot of meaningless information, but they also contained daily conversations that the spouses had with each other. Sally analyzed the conversations and examined whether the positive and negative behaviors on each day predicted the relationship satisfaction ratings on subsequent days. What kind of research is this?

A) home-based observational and cross-sectional
B) home-based observational and experimental
C) home-based observational and correlational
D) daily diary approach and experimental

Question 36

You have decided to conduct a research study examining the relationship between depression and relationship satisfaction. To do this you have collected a sample of 120 newlywed couples. In 40 of the couples, neither partner is depressed; in 40 of the couples, one partner is depressed; in the remaining 40 couples, both partners are depressed. You plan to assess both members of each couple on relationship satisfaction and depression every 6 months for the first 5 years of marriage. What type of design is this study?

A) correlational and cross-sectional
B) correlational and longitudinal
C) experimental and cross-sectional
D) experimental and longitudinal

Question 37

Why would you choose to design a longitudinal study rather than conduct an experiment?

A) We can have greater control of participant variables in longitudinal studies.
B) Some relationship factors cannot be manipulated in experiments.
C) Longitudinal studies are less time intensive than experiments.
D) Longitudinal studies allow us to make stronger causal claims than experimental studies.

Question 38

Wei-Chin designed a self-report inventory to measure how intimate partners express affection and hostility toward each other. The inventory is a list of positive behaviors (e.g., back rubs, holding hands) and negative behaviors (e.g., slamming doors, raising voices). After a wide range of couples completed the inventory, Wei-Chin found that happy couples endorsed all the affection items and unhappy couples endorsed all the hostile items. Which of the following problems prevents Wei-Chin from concluding that happy couples exchange more affectionate behaviors than unhappy couples?

A) sentiment override
B) item-overlap problem
C) correlation does not imply causation
D) social desirability effect

Question 39

Vinci is conducting a study comparing conflict strategies in newlyweds and couples who have been married for 20 years. She has chosen to use laboratory-based observation. A disadvantage of this choice is that:

A) because there are fewer distractions in the lab, couples in her study might use more negative conflict strategies than they would have if she had observed them in their homes.
B) because the lab is an unusual setting, couples in her study might restrain their negative conflict strategies, leading Vinci to underestimate the amount of negativity that goes on in their relationships.
C) laboratory-based observation is very intrusive because it disrupts a coupleÕs standard routines and habits.
D) her observations will have low reliability because the couples in her study will behave differently than they would have if she had observed them in their homes.

Question 40

Which of the following is a limitation of self-report data in the study of couples?

A) Self-report questionnaires are generally unreliable.
B) Self-report questionnaires are often invalid.
C) Self-report questionnaires cannot capture interactions between partners.
D) When asked to report on their relationship, partners often agree about their interactions.

Question 41

Why is it important to maintain the confidentiality of our research participants?

A) Revealing information about them to others could violate the principle of protecting from harm.
B) Revealing information about them to others could make our research findings invalid.
C) People will not volunteer in research studies unless we promise confidentiality.
D) Revealing information about them to others would violate the principle of respect for persons.

Question 42

An effect that is large enough to occur less than 5 percent of the time if the null hypothesis were true is called a:

A) meaningful statistical effect.
B) statistically important effect.
C) statistically significant effect.
D) meta-analytic effect.

Question 43

Michael has obtained the results from all the published and unpublished studies he can find on the association between cohabitation prior to marriage and later marital functioning. He combined the studies and analyzed them to determine whether cohabitation has a negative effect on later relationship satisfaction. This is an example of:

A) a statistically significant effect.
B) a meta-analysis.
C) disconfirmation of the null hypothesis.
D) a research review.

Question 44

What is the null hypothesis?

A) There is an effect.
B) There is no construct validity.
C) There is no external validity.
D) There is no effect.

Question 45

1.Your friend Mathilda learns that you are taking a course on the scientific study of relationships. She scoffs that it isnÕt possible to study relationships scientifically. Explain to Mathilda how the scientific method can be applied to the study of intimate relationships.

Question 46

2.Describe some of the pros and cons of using physiological measurement in relationship research.

Question 47

Patrice randomly assigns thirty couples to a problem-solving skills training group and another thirty couples to a group where they have group discussions about their relationship problems, but no specific training is provided. She assesses positive and negative problem-solving behavior before and after the groups, and she finds that after the groups, couples in the skills training group have higher positive and lower negative behavior scores than couples in the discussion group. What can Patrice conclude from this?

A) Patrice can conclude nothing; she has to conduct statistical analyses to determine whether there is a significant difference between her groups.
B) Patrice can conclude that her skills training program improves behavior because she conducted a controlled experiment.
C) Patrice can conclude nothing until she conducts a meta-analysis of her results.
D) Patrice can conclude that the skills training program improves behavior, and that this finding is not due to chance.

Question 48

4.Imagine that you wanted to learn more about how couples communicate about hurt feelings, whether and how they forgive each other for interpersonal transgressions, and how these behaviors relate to relationship quality. How would you design your study? Comment on what measurement strategy and what type of design you would use and why.

Question 49

3.Describe some of the pros and cons of using self-reports in relationship research.

Question 50

The goal of gathering data in relationship research is ultimately to:

A) confirm our hypotheses.
B) disconfirm the null hypothesis.
C) confirm the null hypothesis.
D) develop hypotheses.

Question 51

A sample that is recruited solely because it is easy to find is called a ________ sample.

A) representative
B) valid
C) biased
D) convenience

Question 52

Informed consent involves:

A) telling participants the hypothesis and procedure of the study in advance of their participation.
B) guaranteeing participant confidentiality but not necessarily anonymity.
C) an explanation of the research procedures and what participants can expect.
D) none of the above.

Question 53

8.Why would a researcher choose to conduct a longitudinal study rather than an experiment to understand relationship processes?

Question 54

What is a positive consequence of choosing a representative sample?

A) It will result in high external validity.
B) It will result in larger differences between groups.
C) It will be easier to collect than a nonrepresentative sample.
D) It will reduce the effects of social desirability.

Question 55

5.Many studies of intimate relationships use the correlational method to describe associations among variables. Distinguish positive correlation from negative correlation and provide an example of each. (Do not worry if your examples are supported by actual research.)

Question 56

Which is an example of the Òshowing respect for personsÓ principle?

A) maintaining confidentiality
B) asking nontrivial questions
C) publishing only part of the data that couples have provided
D) not harming the research participants

Question 57

6.Parminder has just finished a 4-year study of engaged couples. Her intention was to find out how relationships with in-laws and the changes in family structures were related to the success or failure of couplesÕ relationships. During the 4 years, about 20 percent of the couples dropped out of the study. Is this a problem for Parminder? Why or why not?

Question 58

7.Why would a researcher choose to conduct an experiment rather than longitudinal research to understand relationship processes?

Question 59

________ means not sharing participantsÕ information with people not directly involved with the research, whereas ________ means that, if it were inadvertently released, participantsÕ information could not be linked to them.

A) Anonymity; confidentiality
B) Confidentiality; informed consent
C) Anonymity; informed consent
D) Confidentiality; anonymity

Question 60

A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it. She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction. Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable) and who is either friendly or is aloof (the social warmth variable). After interacting with the target person under these conditions, participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is. What is the null hypothesis in this study?

A) Similarity and social warmth have no effect on interpersonal attraction.
B) Similarity and social warmth have a positive effect on interpersonal attraction.
C) Similarity has a positive effect on interpersonal attraction, but social warmth does not.
D) Similarity has no effect on interpersonal attraction, but social warmth has a positive effect.

Question 61

10.What are the pros and cons of using archival research?

Question 62

9.David conducted an experiment where he assigned one group of couples to go on weekly dates and to do something that neither spouse had ever done before or had not done very often (e.g., rollerblading, opera, cooking class); he called this the ÒnovelÓ group. He assigned a second group of couples to go on a date every Saturday but to do the same activity every week; David called this the ÒroutineÓ group. The couples were asked to go on their date nights every Saturday for 6 weeks. The couples completed relationship satisfaction questionnaires prior to starting the date nights and again at the end of the 6 weeks. This allowed David to see whether the couples in the novel activity group were happier in their relationships at the end of the study compared to the couples in the routine group. When couples volunteered to be in the study, David asked them which group they would prefer to be in because he thought if couples could choose their own group they would be more likely to complete the 6-week study, and thus David could avoid attrition bias. What is the problem with DavidÕs study, and why is it a concern?

Question 63

13.When conducting research, it is critical to adhere to the highest ethical standards. Describe the two ethical principles discussed in your text and why it is important to adhere to them.

Question 64

11.In a review of 280 studies published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, over half of all the studies sampled college students. What are the pros and cons of using samples of college students in relationship research?

Question 65

14.Distinguish participant confidentiality from participant anonymity, and explain how each can be maintained in the research process.

Question 66

12.In your study on how relationship satisfaction predicts changes in weight, you find that couples who are happy weigh less than couples who are unhappy. Why would you conduct statistical analyses rather than simply describing your data?