Deck 7: Survey and Interview Approaches

Question 1

Jennifer is investigating people's attitudes towards social norms. She is considering using either an in-person interview or web-based survey to collect data. What is a potential research benefit of using the web-based survey compared to the in-person interview?

A) The web-based survey allows Jennifer to manipulate the phrasing of the survey items to obtain the results that she wants.
B) The web-based survey allows for participant anonymity, which makes it more likely for participants to reveal controversial attitudes about social norms.
C) The web-based survey allows for more questions to be asked, which makes it harder for the study to receive IRB approval.
D) The web-based survey allows for fewer fatigue effects, which makes it less likely that participants will drop out.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Jennifer is analyzing the data from her survey study on people's attitudes towards social norms. She discovers that a participant had chosen "strongly disagree" to all the items on the last page of the survey, even for contrasting items. For example, the participant chose "strongly disagree" for the items "I am outgoing and love attending parties" and "I generally prefer to be alone at home". The participant has likely displayed:

A) Social desirability bias
B) Motivated respondent bias
C) A response set
D) Attrition

Answer 2

C

Question 3

A psychologist wants to examine the effect of artificial light exposure on eating behavior. She recruits her clients from her private, upscale clinic as participants for this study and all of them agree to take part in it. Given only this information, which of the following is the largest problem with her study's design?

A) Selection bias
B) Self-selection
C) Non-response bias
D) Experimenter bias

Answer 3

A

Question 4

When participants are tired from responding to a survey, the data is always less likely to:

A) give the researcher significant findings.
B) give the researcher non-significant findings.
C) be valid.
D) obtained under ethical means.

Question 5

What is a common benefit shared by surveys that are short and surveys that have been customized based on each participant's responses, in contrast to longer surveys?

A) The participants are more likely to display a response set for short and customizable surveys.
B) The participants are less likely to exhibit social desirability bias.
C) There is less likely to be participant attrition.
D) The data are more likely to support the researchers' hypotheses.

Question 6

Gail sent out 50 surveys to students staying at her dormitory, asking them about their exercise behavior. After two weeks, she receives all fifty surveys back. Gail need not be worried about:

A) Self-selection bias
B) Social desirability bias
C) Response set
D) Experimenter bias

Question 7

In a study by Wells et al. (2012) on attitudes about carrying handguns, the researchers compared responses of students who completed a survey in class with those of students who were given the option to complete the survey online. They found that students who responded to the web survey were more extreme in their attitudes than the in-class sample. These findings could possibly be a result of:

A) Response set
B) Motivated respondent bias
C) Attrition
D) Social desirability bias

Question 8

As mentioned in the textbook, a 2005 Pew Research survey found that 51% of respondents favored "making it legal for doctors to give terminally ill patients the means to end their lives," but only 44% favored "making it legal for doctors to assist terminally ill patients in committing suicide". Anderson wants to show that his participants support euthanasia. Knowing the results of the Pew Research survey, he chooses to use the first phrasing in his survey to college students. As a result, Anderson's study is affected by:

A) Experimenter bias
B) Attrition
C) Motivated respondent bias
D) Social desirability bias

Question 9

When conducting surveys, an important consideration is how the phrasing of survey items influences participant responses. Researchers should avoid ______________ bias when writing survey items, which is an example of a __________________ effect.

A) motivated respondent; participation bias
B) motivated respondent; framing
C) experimenter; framing
D) experimenter; participation bias

Question 10

Consider the following scenario:
Item 47 of a 200-item questionnaire is "Please select Strongly Disagree". What is this item addressing?

A) Response set
B) Attrition
C) Experimenter bias
D) Participant bias

Question 11

In a survey on attitudes towards college cheating, the researcher would like to insert the item, "I always tell the truth". The responses are on a 5-point scale, Strong Agree, Agree, Neither Agree nor disagree, Disagree and Strongly Disagree. Esther claims that this item does not directly relate to cheating on tests, exams and assignments, however, Deena claims that including the item might be useful. Which of the following biases might this item help address?

A) Fatigue effect
B) Social desirability bias
C) Non-response bias
D) Motivated respondent bias

Question 12

Which of the following strategies best works to reduce the impact of social desirability bias on survey responses?

A) Inserting an item that requests participants to select "Strong disagree" for that particular item.
B) Asking participants to promise that they would answer each survey item honestly.
C) Discarding the survey data of participants who do not complete the survey.
D) Asking about controversial issues subtly by framing all responses as normal behavior.

Question 13

Julie is analyzing her survey data and suspects that a respondent has answered the second half of her survey in a response set. However, she is unable to prove it. What is the best course of action for Julie to take?

A) Include the data, because it is ultimately a completed survey
B) Discard the data, because they are potentially invalid
C) Include the data, as long as there is no experimenter bias
D) Discard the data, because of attrition

Question 14

A web-based survey that offers respondents full anonymity without any direct connection between researcher and respondent could offer the benefit of _________________________ but also poses the problem of __________________________.

A) increased social desirability bias; attrition
B) reduced social desirability bias; careless respondents
C) increased social desirability bias; motivated respondents
D) reduced social desirability bias; evaluation apprehension

Question 15

Jaime is checking her survey data for instances where respondents had answered inconsistently for similar items. She is checking for:

A) Careless responding
B) Self-selection bias
C) Attrition
D) Experimenter bias

Question 16

In interviews with some special populations, researchers may use the Mini-Mental State Examination to quickly assess cognitive functioning. What does this assessment serve in the context of research?

A) It ensures that individuals understand the interview questions so that the data obtained is valid.
B) It ensures that individuals answer the interview questions honestly so that the data obtained is valid.
C) It reduces the chances that individuals would respond to interview questions based on a private agenda.
D) It reduces the chances that individuals would respond to interview questions based on what they think the researcher wants to hear.

Question 17

Which of the following is the best definition of acquiescence bias?

A) It is the tendency for respondents to respond affirmatively to answer any question when in doubt during interviews only.
B) It is the tendency for respondents to respond affirmatively to answer any question when in doubt during interviews and surveys.
C) It is the tendency for respondents to respond in accordance to what they think the interviewer would like to hear.
D) It is the tendency for respondents to respond in accordance to what they think their peers would like to hear.

Question 18

Diana is running a study where she wants to find out the general impact of IQ on an individual's success in graduate school. She wants to exclude any effect of an individual's socio-economic status (SES) on their graduate school success. In her analysis, SES would be…

A) a dependent variable.
B) an independent variable.
C) a control variable.
D) a confound variable.

Question 19

Which of the following is not a benefit of using an existing survey instrument as compared to coming up with your own?

A) Using an existing survey is more efficient than constructing a new one.
B) Existing surveys usually have validity and reliability measures that are important in determining whether the survey would work well for your research.
C) Using an existing survey will help you to formulate your research questions to suit the survey items.
D) Using an existing survey helps comparison between studies that use similar measures.

Question 20

Boris is concerned that existing, established surveys in the field of health psychology do not directly address his research question. He decides to write his own survey. Which of the following is true about Boris' constructed survey?

A) It is less likely to relate to his hypotheses than other established surveys.
B) It is less likely to get approval from the IRB committee than other established surveys.
C) It is more likely to face questions about validity than other established surveys.
D) It is more likely to enable Boris to obtain significant results than other established surveys.

Question 21

Which of the following is the best definition of a Likert Scale?

A) A single survey item with at least three response options.
B) The sum of responses to multiple questions intended to measure the same variable.
C) Any survey that includes both close-ended and open-ended response formats.
D) Multiple questions measuring a range of different constructs that use a scale with a mid-point.

Question 22

Which of the following is the least likely goal of pilot testing a survey scale?

A) Developing more tightly-worded survey items.
B) Measuring the internal consistency of the scale.
C) Determining the variables to be measured in the survey.
D) Assessing respondent fatigue and likelihood of attrition.

Question 23

David has developed a scale to examine social media addiction. He is concerned about whether the items in his scale are actually measuring the same thing. David is concerned with the ___________________ of his scale.

A) internal consistency
B) external validity
C) test-retest reliability
D) internal validity

Question 24

David's scale measuring social media addiction has a Cronbach's alpha of 0.86. Edison's scale that also measures social media addiction has a Cronbach's alpha of 0.17. Which of the following is true when comparing the Cronbach's alpha of both scales?

A) David's scale has poorer internal consistency than Edison's scale.
B) David's scale has poorer test-retest reliability than Edison's scale.
C) David's scale has better internal consistency than Edison's scale.
D) David's scale has better test-retest reliability than Edison's scale.

Question 25

Which of the following is not an example of instrument reliability?

A) Respondents who take a survey the second time produced similar responses as compared to when they took it the first time.
B) Survey items are carefully worded to accurately measure the construct of interest.
C) Two separate versions of the same survey give similar results from the same respondents.
D) The responses on both sets of items are similar when the items of a survey are regrouped into two different sets.

Question 26

List and explain three general benefits of using surveys over other research methods in psychology.

Question 27

What are three ways to reduce the effect of respondents who answer surveys fraudulently?

Question 28

What are an advantage and a disadvantage of using interviews over surveys to conduct research?

Question 29

Megan would like to investigate the effect of eating habits on physical health in a culture that has never been studied this way. What should Megan be mindful of if she decides to use an established survey that she has found investigating this research question?

Question 30

List three strategies that contribute to the construction of a good survey. Provide an example for each strategy.