Deck 5: Quasi-Experiments and Non-Experiments

Question 1

1) In the chapter 3 exercises we encountered a study where 20 children were shown a film in which several adults acted quite aggressively. The children were then allowed to play on a bouncy castle; the play was observed and the number of aggressive responses produced was counted. A second group of 20 children served as controls and were shown a non-violent nature film. They also played on the bouncy castle. Children were allocated to conditions at random. This is an example of a:

A) Quasi-experiment
B) Natural experiment
C) Non-experiment
D) True experiment

Answer 1

D

Question 2

2) Participants are given a perceptual task to perform. Based on their scores on this task, they are divided into three groups: strong visualisers, moderate visualisers and weak visualisers. They are then given a memory task to complete in which they have to use concrete imagery in order to retain and recall a list of items. As predicted, strong visualisers are found to recall most items in the memory task.
This is an example of:

A) A true experiment
B) A quasi-experiment
C) A natural experiment
D) A non-experiment

Answer 2

D

Question 3

3) Babies are presented with two sets of stimuli. One set are coloured and the other set are not. Observers record how many times they choose to look at either coloured or plain stimuli. This design is a:

A) True experiment
B) Quasi-experiment
C) Natural experiment
D) Non-experiment

Answer 3

A

Question 4

4) Wallets containing information about their owner are dropped in a railway station. Half the wallets indicate that the owner is fairly wealthy. The others indicate the opposite. The number of wallets returned is counted and the prediction is that fewer 'wealthy owner' wallets will be returned. The design here is a:

A) True experiment
B) Quasi-experiment
C) Natural experiment
D) Non-experiment

Question 5

5) It is part of a centre's policy to allocate its clients at random to one of their two drug rehabilitation group therapy days. One of the groups is about to come under the supervision of a new therapist who wishes to trial a new type of therapy. A psychologist decides to take before and after (6 months' therapy) measures of both groups. This would be an example of a:

A) True experiment
B) Natural experiment only
C) Quasi-experiment only
D) Quasi-experiment and natural experiment

Question 6

6) Mundane realism can be said to occur in an experiment:

A) That attempts to mimic real life as closely as possible
B) Which is so attention grabbing that it compensates for artificiality in its design
C) Where the realistic element is boring
D) Where the environment is extremely artificial

Question 7

7) Which of the following pairs are both essential for a true experiment:

A) Experimenter control of the independent variable and a naturalistic setting
B) Random allocation of participants to conditions and experimenter control of the independent variable
C) Random allocation of participants to conditions and an independent samples design
D) Experimenter control of the independent variable and a laboratory setting

Question 8

8) A field experiment is:

A) An experiment carried out in a field
B) An experiment carried out on a new topic of research
C) An experiment carried out in another researcher's laboratory
D) An experiment carried out in a natural setting away from the researcher's laboratory

Question 9

9) The strict control of variables in a laboratory:

A) Is necessary in order to isolate cause and effect
B) Is used because scientists like to keep things tidy
C) Is likely to produce confounding variables
D) Is used because psychologists want the scientific credibility of hard sciences

Question 10

10) One important disadvantage of research conducted in a laboratory is that:

A) Variables are strictly operationalised and controlled
B) Participants' behaviour might be affected by the strangeness and artificiality of the environment
C) Cause and effect cannot be isolated
D) Expensive equipment must be used