Deck 6: Experimental Design

Question 1

A(n) ______ design is a research design where the researcher manipulates an independent (causal) variable and observes changes in the dependent (outcome) variable.

A) pre-experimental
B) experimental
C) posttest
D) control group

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which type of variable explains or causes the change in the dependent variable?

A) dependent
B) determinate
C) independent
D) indeterminate

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Which of the following is a variable being explained or caused?

A) dependent
B) determinate
C) independent
D) indeterminate

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What letter is used to represent an independent variable?

A) x
B) y
C) t
D) l

Question 5

What letter is used to represent a dependent variable?

A) x
B) y
C) t
D) l

Question 6

Which of the following is the relationship between cause and effect?

A) dependence
B) causation
C) extraneous relationship
D) causality

Question 7

______ variables have an effect on the dependent and independent variables but are not included in a study.

A) Extraneous
B) Extemporaneous
C) Effect
D) Experimental

Question 8

Which letter represents an extraneous variable?

A) x
B) y
C) z
D) q

Question 9

To establish a cause and effect relationship, the independent and dependent variables must be empirically ______.

A) interdependent
B) correlated
C) opposite
D) linked

Question 10

Collecting data prior to the intervention is called conducting a(n) ______.

A) posttest
B) pretest
C) observation
D) pre-experiment

Question 11

Collecting data after the intervention is called conducting a(n) ______.

A) posttest
B) pretest
C) test
D) retest

Question 12

When conducting a pretest, researchers are collecting what knowledge a subject has ______ the intervention.

A) before
B) during
C) after

Question 13

To assess the impact of an intervention, what two tests should be compared?

A) pretest and intervention test
B) intervention test and posttest
C) intervention test and retest
D) pretest and posttest

Question 14

Can a researcher study the impact of two simultaneous interventions within one study?

A) No, they would need to study the impact of three or more simultaneous interventions.
B) No, this would make it impossible to know which one caused the change.
C) Yes, this increases the odds that the desired result would occur.
D) Yes, this would allow subjects to choose which intervention they wanted to receive.

Question 15

Why are participants randomly assigned to research groups?

A) to give participants equal chance at receiving the intervention
B) some funding sources require this procedure
C) to prevent participants from knowing others in their research group
D) for the benefit of making it easier for researchers

Question 16

When participants are randomly assigned, what does a change to the group indicate?

A) happy participants
B) the impact of the researchers on the participants
C) the impact of the intervention
D) unhappy participants

Question 17

Why are experimental designs useful for informing social work practice?

A) They offer new ideas.
B) They establish causality.
C) They directly raise money for social work education.
D) They provide good jobs for researchers.

Question 18

When must a researcher collect data to determine whether the independent variable is associated with the dependent variable?

A) before and after the intervention
B) before and during the intervention
C) during and after the intervention
D) only after the intervention

Question 19

In a pre-experimental design, which of the following is manipulated in order to observe changes?

A) independent variable
B) dependent variable
C) interdependent variable
D) determinate variable

Question 20

In a pre-experimental design, which of the following is the dependent variable?

A) pretest results
B) the outcome
C) the cause
D) posttest results

Question 21

Which of the following types of research are well suited for pre-experimental designs?

A) investigatory
B) reactionary
C) explanatory
D) exploratory

Question 22

The research participants in a study using a pre-experimental design are usually selected via a purposeful sampling or ______ sampling strategy.

A) predetermined
B) convenience
C) one-shot
D) random

Question 23

Data from pre-experimental designs are analyzed using inferential statistics such as ______.

A) a-tests
B) q-tests
C) z-tests
D) x-tests

Question 24

The ______ focuses on assessing the difference between the means for the groups.

A) z-test
B) t-test
C) x-test
D) q-test

Question 25

A(n) ______ case study is a research design where there is only one group, one intervention, and no pretest.

A) two-short
B) one-short
C) one-shot
D) two-shot

Question 26

Why is a cut-off score useful to researchers?

A) It tells funding sources how many people they can cut from the research results.
B) It caps the number of participants at 60.
C) It keeps too many subjects from entering the research program.
D) It allows them to categorize subjects.

Question 27

If a researcher is not sure whether their intervention caused any change in the dependent variable, why is this a problem?

A) The research must be flawed.
B) It fails to establish internal validity.
C) The researcher is bad at their job.
D) Someone mixed up the research results and this costs money to fix.

Question 28

When might maturation impact a study?

A) if the researcher has a birthday during the research process
B) if the participants become older during the research study
C) if the researcher gets bored during the length of the study
D) if the participants become wiser over the passage of time in a lengthy study

Question 29

Which of the following would most likely create a history threat?

A) The weather changes between the time of the pretest date and the posttest date.
B) A person grows older between the time of the pretest date and the posttest date.
C) One of the test administrators dies between the time of the pretest date and the posttest date so the posttest is given by someone different than the pretest.
D) Research subjects learn that they are all being evicted from their homes between the time of the pretest date and the posttest date.

Question 30

Social work researchers should engage in ethical decision-making at ______ stage(s) of the research process.

A) the first
B) the last
C) every
D) periodic

Question 31

Having research participants in a comparison or control group where they are not receiving treatment is ______.

A) unethical
B) acceptable
C) appropriate
D) intentional

Question 32

Random assignment ensures that the groups are the same at the outset of the experiment.

Question 33

A researcher flips a coin to assign each participant to either A group or B group. This is considered random assignment.

Question 34

In a posttest-only design with nonequivalent groups, the researcher measures the dependent variable after the intervention has been implemented for both groups.

Question 35

Posttest-only designs with nonequivalent groups are appropriate when people are naturally grouped.

Question 36

In a one-shot case study, there is not posttest.

Question 37

Why is random assignment done?

Question 38

How does a researcher assess whether the intervention impacted the participants?

Question 39

How can the data from the posttest-only control group design be analyzed?

Question 40

What is a wait-list control design or wait-list comparison design?

Question 41

Why might a participant participate in research?