Deck 7: Designing Experimental Research

Question 1

What is the name of the potential problem caused by the pretest in the pretest-posttest randomized control group design?

A) sensitization or reaction effect
B) testing fatigue
C) participant mortality
D) trained monkey effect

Answer 1

A

Question 2

In a diagram for an experimental design, the symbol O stands for what?

A) the hypothesis
B) the participants
C) the testing
D) the results

Answer 2

C

Question 3

What is a potential drawback to the Solomon randomized four-group design?

A) works less well with larger numbers of participants
B) requires sophisticated statistical analysis
C) needs roughly 48 or more participants
D) does not allow for a pretest

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following is a true experimental design?

A) posttest-only randomized control group design
B) pretest-posttest randomized control group design
C) Solomon randomized four-group design
D) all of the above

Question 5

Suppose an experimental group is being taught letters of the alphabet as a treatment. At about the same time, the students are watching an educational program on television, from which they learn the names of the letters. What is the name of the threat that this problem illustrates?

A) instrumentation
B) selection
C) history
D) maturation

Question 6

What is the name of the threat posed by nonrandom assignment of participants to experimental and control groups?

A) instrumentation
B) selection
C) history
D) maturation

Question 7

If infants naturally improve in visual acuity and thus perform better at the end of an experiment than at the beginning, what threat is operating?

A) instrumentation
B) selection
C) history
D) maturation

Question 8

If observers are more tired and less astute when making posttest observations than when making pretest observations, what threat is operating?

A) instrumentation
B) selection
C) history
D) maturation

Question 9

What can researchers use to overcome all the threats to internal validity?

A) true experimental design
B) statistical regression
C) intact groups
D) mixed methods triangulation

Question 10

What is the name of the threat that warns researchers to be careful in generalizing the results to a population when an experiment is conducted on a nonrandom sample?

A) reactive effect of experimental setting
B) reactive effect of testing
C) Multiple-treatment interference
D) selection bias

Question 11

Suppose a single random sample of workers in a factory is exposed to five different reward systems in succession, with each system being used for one month. What is the name of the threat that reminds researchers that the research results for the last reward system may not generalize to the population of workers?

A) reactive effect of experimental setting
B) reactive effect of testing
C) Multiple-treatment interference
D) selection bias

Question 12

Suppose an experimental classroom has research observers present at all times. What is the name of the threat that reminds researchers that the results may not generalize to other classrooms without observers?

A) reactive effect of experimental setting
B) reactive effect of testing
C) Multiple-treatment interference
D) selection bias

Question 13

If a pretest causes a change in participants' sensitivity to a treatment, what threat is operating?

A) reactive effect of experimental setting
B) reactive effect of testing
C) Multiple-treatment interference
D) selection bias

Question 14

Which of the following factors is primarily responsible for limitations in identifying cause and effect relationships using pre-experimental designs?

A) poor internal validity
B) poor external validity
C) poor reliability
D) selection bias

Question 15

A researcher administers a standardized test to the students in a school testing a new program as well as to students in a similar school as a control group. To what extent is comparison of the average scores for the two groups of students useful for determining the effects of the program?

A) not at all useful, as it is not a true experimental design
B) of limited usefulness as a pilot study but has many threats to validity
C) very useful, as the similarity of the schools eliminates threats to validity
D) a statistical regression is needed to determine its usefulness

Question 16

What is the name of the type of pre-experimental design described in the previous question?

A) true experimental design
B) one-shot case study
C) static-group comparison design
D) one-group pretest-posttest design

Question 17

In a single-group design in which treatments are alternated (ABAB design), what is the purpose of conducting multiple initial observations before any treatment is given?

A) pretest researcher assumptions about the study sample
B) establish a baseline for comparison post-treatment
C) establish which group gets the initial "A" treatment
D) to gather information for modifying the treatment

Question 18

What is a major advantage of the equivalent time-samples design?

A) the study can be completed faster
B) treatments are identical across participants
C) experimental participants and control participants are identical
D) easier participant recruitment

Question 19

What is a major threat created by equivalent time-samples design?

A) reactive effect of experimental setting
B) selection bias
C) participant mortality
D) multiple-treatment interference

Question 20

What is a "confound" in an experimental study?

A) an extra variable that could explain result differences between groups
B) the tendency of a control group to mimic the experimental group
C) a control group that receives special attention
D) an experimental group that fails to respond to treatment

Question 21

What is the placebo effect?

A) improvement based on awareness of treatment
B) observer bias against a control group
C) improvement based on awareness of being in a control group
D) observer bias in favor of a treatment group

Question 22

What is the "John Henry" effect?

A) improvement based on awareness of treatment
B) observer bias against a control group
C) improvement based on awareness of being in a control group
D) observer bias in favor of a treatment group

Question 23

Which of the following can be used to limit the "Hawthorne Effect" of participants changing behaviors because of their awareness of being observed?

A) an experimental group
B) a control group that receives attention
C) a control group that receives no special attention
D) all three of the groups above