Deck 2: Research Strategies

Question 1

Dr. Jenka wonders if the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have heightened children's fears and anxieties. This is an example of a

A) theory.
B) research method.
C) hypothesis.
D) research question.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

In event sampling, the observer records

A) all instances of a particular behavior during a specified time period.
B) all behaviors that occur during a specified time period.
C) whether certain behaviors occur during a sample of short time intervals.
D) similar behavior patterns in participants who are the same age.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

__________ is especially useful for studying behaviors that investigators rarely have an opportunity to see in everyday life.

A) Structured observation
B) Naturalistic observation
C) The structured interview
D) The clinical, or case study, method

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Before arriving in a kindergarten classroom, Dr. Banks prepared a questionnaire for interviewing children for her research. This is an example of a research

A) design.
B) question.
C) method.
D) hypothesis.

Question 5

When little or no theory exists on a topic of interest, investigators may start with a

A) research question.
B) developmental inquiry.
C) research design.
D) research method.

Question 6

Dr. Lector provides a full picture of a convicted criminal's psychological functioning by combining interviews, observations, test scores, and neurobiological assessments. Which of the following information-gathering methods is Dr. Lector likely using?

A) naturalistic observation
B) longitudinal research design
C) the clinical, or case study, method
D) ethnography

Question 7

In __________, findings cannot be applied to individuals other than the participant.

A) structured observation
B) a clinical interview
C) the clinical, or case study, method
D) naturalistic observation

Question 8

When researchers need information on only one or a few kinds of behavior, an efficient procedure is

A) the clinical, or case study, method.
B) neurobiological sampling.
C) event sampling.
D) ethnography.

Question 9

__________ permits greater control over the research situation than does __________.

A) Naturalistic observation; the clinical, or case study, method
B) Structured observation; naturalistic observation
C) Naturalistic observation; a structured interview
D) Naturalistic observation; a questionnaire

Question 10

An investigator is interested in capturing a culture's unique values and social processes. __________ is best-suited for this type of study.

A) The clinical interview
B) Naturalistic observation
C) Ethnography
D) The clinical, or case study, method

Question 11

In __________, every participant has an equal opportunity to display the response of interest.

A) structured observation
B) field experiments
C) clinical interviews
D) event sampling

Question 12

Marilyn wants to know how preschool children react to aggressive peers. To study their behavior, Marilyn will probably use

A) clinical interviews.
B) questionnaires.
C) the clinical, or case study, method.
D) naturalistic observation.

Question 13

Which of the following is a major limitation of neurobiological methods?

A) Researchers cannot control the conditions under which participants are studied.
B) The accuracy of the results may be reduced by observer bias.
C) Many factors besides those of interest to the researcher can influence a physiological response.
D) It reveals with certainty the meaning of autonomic or brain activity.

Question 14

Dr. Ramirez examined 100 brother-sister pairs for 10 minutes each, noting on a checklist the behaviors that occurred during 20 thirty-second intervals. This is an example of

A) event sampling.
B) time sampling.
C) a naturalistic observation.
D) a genetic experiment.

Question 15

Which of the following is a major limitation of naturalistic observation?

A) For each participant, responses may differ due to the manner of interviewing.
B) Researchers cannot expect that participants will behave in the laboratory as they do in their ?natural environments.
C) Findings cannot be generalized beyond the participants and settings in which the research was ?originally conducted.
D) Not all participants have the same opportunity to display a particular behavior in everyday life.

Question 16

Dr. Shigoka is interested in determining which central nervous system structures contribute to personality development. Dr. Shigoka will likely use

A) neurobiological methods.
B) event sampling.
C) the clinical, or case study, method.
D) ethnography.

Question 17

A __________ is a prediction of behavior drawn directly from a __________.

A) confirmation; fact
B) hypothesis; theory
C) theory; hypothesis
D) summary; study

Question 18

One major limitation of the ethnographic method is

A) it does not reveal a depth of information.
B) findings cannot be applied to individuals and settings other than the ones studied.
C) participant responses are subject to inaccurate reporting.
D) it does not reveal the participants' behavior in everyday life.

Question 19

In time sampling, the observer records

A) all instances of a particular behavior during a specified time period.
B) all behaviors that occur during a specified time period.
C) whether certain behaviors occur during a sample of short intervals.
D) similar behavior patterns in participants who are the same age.

Question 20

A strength of __________ is that it reflects participants' everyday behavior.

A) structured observation
B) naturalistic observation
C) the structured interview
D) the clinical interview

Question 21

A researcher interested in children's beliefs about God begins each interview with the same question, but subsequent questions are determined by the child's individual answers. This is an example of a

A) clinical interview.
B) data questionnaire.
C) structured interview.
D) case study.

Question 22

A structured interview

A) yields a greater depth of information than does a clinical interview.
B) is too flexible and, therefore, yields too wide a variety of responses.
C) is more time consuming to conduct than is a clinical interview.
D) eliminates the possibility that an interviewer might press and prompt some participants more than others.

Question 23

Which of the following is a finding of Charles Nelson's studies on infants of diabetic mothers?

A) As a result of iron depletion in critical brain areas, a diabetic pregnancy places the fetus at risk for lasting memory deficits.
B) Early memory deficiencies found in infants of diabetic mothers are short-lived and do not last into the preschool years.
C) Infants of diabetic mothers responded to novel objects with a stronger temporal-lobe slow wave than did control babies.
D) Infants of diabetic mothers were more likely than control babies to recognize their mother's facial image.

Question 24

To minimize observer influence, researchers can

A) limit their observations to children over the age of 12.
B) tell participants what they are trying to study.
C) ask individuals who are part of the child's natural environment to do the observing.
D) tell participants that they must be serious and behave in a natural way.

Question 25

A researcher is likely to choose a structured interview over a clinical interview when he or she

A) is interested in more in-depth answers.
B) is concerned that observer influence might bias the findings.
C) plans to obtain written responses from an entire group of participants at the same time.
D) is interested in obtaining sensitive information about the participant.

Question 26

A major problem with systematic observation is

A) practice effects.
B) selective attrition.
C) biased sampling.
D) observer influence.

Question 27

Which of the following is a major limitation of the clinical interview?

A) Participants may make up answers that do not represent their actual thinking.
B) It does not provide much insight into participants' reasoning or ideas.
C) The questions are phrased the same for each participant, regardless of their comprehension.
D) It overestimates participants' intellectual capacities.

Question 28

Which of the following is a strength of the clinical interview?

A) It is accurate with respect to the participants' thoughts and experiences.
B) It can provide a large amount of information in a fairly brief period.
C) It permits comparisons of participants' responses.
D) It is not subject to observer influence or observer bias.

Question 29

In an electroencephalogram (EEG), researchers

A) examine brain-wave patterns for stability and organization.
B) detect the general location of brain-wave activity.
C) take three-dimensional computerized pictures of the entire brain.
D) beam infrared light at the brain.

Question 30

A major strength of the clinical interview is that it

A) permits people to display their thoughts in terms that are as close as possible to the way they think in ?everyday life.
B) provides highly objective data that can be generalized to a larger population.
C) accurately assesses participants who have low verbal ability and expressiveness.
D) assures that each participant is asked the same set of questions.

Question 31

Dr. Thompson uses an EEG to record the frequency and amplitude of brain waves in response to music in multiple areas of the cerebral cortex. Dr. Thompson is using

A) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
B) positron emission tomography (PET).
C) near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).
D) event-related potentials (ERPs).

Question 32

Neurobiological methods

A) are affected by inaccurate reporting.
B) help researchers infer the perceptions, thoughts, and emotions of infants.
C) do not show which nervous system structures contribute to individual differences.
D) bring together a wide range of information on one child, including interviews, observations, and test scores.

Question 33

Dr. Quinn uses neurobiological methods. She is interested in studying the relationship between __________ and __________.

A) genes; the environment
B) developmental functions; individual differences
C) neurological maladies; biological processes
D) nervous system processes; behavior

Question 34

The two most frequently used measures of brain functioning, __________ and __________, detect electric activity in the cerebral cortex.

A) EEG; fMRI
B) PET; ERPs
C) EEG;ERPs
D) fMRI; NIRS

Question 35

In a series of studies on infants of diabetic mothers, Charles Nelson and his collaborators used __________ to assess young infants' memory performance.

A) NIRS
B) ERPs
C) PET
D) fMRI

Question 36

For children under age 7 or 8, observer influence is

A) impossible to minimize.
B) usually present for the first 10 to 12 sessions.
C) generally limited to the first session or two.
D) rarely a concern.

Question 37

__________ are best suited to collect systematic observations.

A) Trained investigators
B) People who have little personal investment in the investigator's hypotheses
C) Parents and caregivers
D) People who know and understand the investigator's hypotheses

Question 38

When studying children's thinking, Piaget used

A) naturalistic observations.
B) event and time sampling procedures.
C) the clinical, or case study, method.
D) relatively unstructured clinical interviews.

Question 39

Clinical interviews that focus on __________ are particularly vulnerable to distortion.

A) current information and specific characteristics
B) past information and specific characteristics
C) past information and global judgments
D) current information and global judgments

Question 40

Because Dr. Frederickson's students are aware of the purposes of a study, they may see and record what they expect to see rather than what the participants actually do. This is known as

A) event influence.
B) observer bias.
C) a cohort effect.
D) internal validity.

Question 41

Professor Nagini developed a measure to rate children's fears. To test inter-rater reliability, he

A) compared the level of agreement between two different observers who used his measure simultaneously.
B) used people who were part of children's natural environment to do the rating.
C) compared the degree to which children from different cohorts scored similarly.
D) compared the extent to which his measure correlated with neurobiological measures of distress.

Question 42

A strength of __________ is that it yields richly detailed case narratives that offer valuable insights into the many factors affecting development.

A) the clinical, or case study, method
B) ethnography
C) naturalistic observation
D) structured observation

Question 43

Ms. Allan developed a test intended to measure eighth-grade children's knowledge of mathematics. Although children who took the new test twice received similar scores on both occasions, the test contained only multiplication problems. Ms. Allan's test has __________ reliability and __________ validity.

A) high; low
B) low; low
C) high; high
D) low; high

Question 44

Which of the following procedures can be used to determine the reliability of ethnographic and clinical studies?

A) Responses to the same measures can be compared on separate occasions.
B) Researchers can measure the quantitative scores yielded by these two methods.
C) Answers on different halves of the same measure can be compared by judges.
D) Judges can see if they agree with the researcher that the patterns and themes identified are grounded in evidence and are plausible.

Question 45

Both __________ and __________ protect immigrant youths from delinquency, early pregnancy, drug use, and other risky behaviors.

A) family relationships; school achievement
B) collectivist values; extracurricular involvement
C) acculturation; assimilation
D) individualistic values; opportunities for peer mentoring

Question 46

Nearly one-fourth of U.S. children

A) were born in Latin America.
B) were born in Asia.
C) have foreign-born parents.
D) are illegal aliens.

Question 47

To study parental warmth in the Ethiopian culture, Dr. Jolie moves in with a family in an Ethiopian village. Which of the following information-gathering methods of research is Dr. Jolie using?

A) ethnography
B) the clinical, or case study, method
C) neurobiological methods
D) structured observation

Question 48

Dr. Sums developed a test of mathematical ability. To measure __________, he split the test in two and compared children's responses on both halves.

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

Question 49

Because __________ and __________ require that the participant lie as motionless as possible for an extended time, they are not suitable for infants and young children.

A) EEG; PET
B) ERPs; fMRI
C) NIRS; PET
D) PET; fMRI

Question 50

Which of the following research methods is an outgrowth of psychoanalytic theory?

A) naturalistic observation
B) structured observation
C) ethnography
D) the clinical, or case study, method

Question 51

Ethnographies reveal that immigrant parents view __________ as the surest way to improve life chances.

A) high socioeconomic status
B) education
C) speaking English in the home
D) severing ties with an ethnic community

Question 52

Immigrant parents of successful youths typically

A) do not share their children's views on the importance of education.
B) stress individual goals over allegiance to family and community.
C) develop close ties to an ethnic community.
D) allow their children to monitor themselves.

Question 53

Which of the following is a limitation of the clinical, or case study, method?

A) Investigators cannot assume that their conclusions apply, or generalize, to anyone other than the individual studied.
B) Information collected often lacks descriptive detail.
C) It does not provide evidence about the individual's current functioning.
D) It requires intensive study of participants' moment-by-moment behaviors.

Question 54

To be __________, observations and evaluations of people's actions cannot be unique to a single observer.

A) internally valid
B) generalizeable
C) reliable
D) externally valid

Question 55

Which of the following research methods would be the best suited for studying child prodigies?

A) structured interviews
B) questionnaires
C) the clinical, or case study, method
D) ethnography

Question 56

In North America, students who are first-generation and second-generation

A) are more likely than students of native-born parents to commit delinquent and violent acts.
B) are more likely than students of native-born parents to use drugs and alcohol.
C) generally have lower self-esteem than students of native-born parents.
D) often achieve in school as well as or better than students of native-born parents.

Question 57

A neuroimaging technique that works well in infancy and early childhood is

A) event-related potentials (ERPs).
B) near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS).
C) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).
D) positron emission tomography (PET).

Question 58

For research methods to have high validity,

A) they must yield consistent results over time.
B) observations cannot be unique to a single observer.
C) they must accurately measure characteristics that the researchers set out to measure.
D) the participants' responses must be similar when the same measures are given on a different occasion.

Question 59

Unlike the clinical, or case study, method, ethnographic research

A) is easily biased by the researcher's beliefs.
B) is aimed at understanding a single individual.
C) is a descriptive technique.
D) relies on participant observation.

Question 60

An intelligence test has high reliability if

A) it accurately predicts children's academic performance in school.
B) it yields similar results when given twice within a short period of time.
C) the content of the test is related to theoretical models of intelligence.
D) it is correlated with other established measures of intelligence.

Question 61

Dr. Story found that the children in two-parent homes had higher reading-test scores than those in one-parent homes. However, the children from two-parent homes had more siblings than those in one-parent homes. What is the confounding variable?

A) number of siblings
B) reading test scores
C) type of reading test used
D) type of home

Question 62

A major limitation of correlational studies is that

A) researchers cannot study how conditions of interest currently exist.
B) researchers cannot infer cause and effect.
C) there is no way to measure the strength of a positive relationship between variables.
D) negative relationships between variables cannot be measured.

Question 63

Dr. Bayor found a correlation of -.89 between music lessons and levels of adolescent delinquency. This correlation is __________ and __________.

A) moderate; positive
B) low; negative
C) high; negative
D) high; positive

Question 64

The dependent variable is the one the investigator expects to

A) be influenced by the independent variable.
B) influence the independent variable.
C) cause changes in another variable.
D) remain stable throughout the experiment.

Question 65

A researcher who flips a coin to determine in which treatment group participants will be assigned is using

A) a confounding variable.
B) matching.
C) a natural, or quasi-, experiment.
D) random assignment.

Question 66

Dr. Perry can increase the chances that participants' characteristics will be equally distributed across the treatment groups by

A) carefully assigning the participants to the treatment groups according to their medical histories.
B) adding confounding variables to the experiment.
C) randomly assigning the participants to the treatment groups.
D) manipulating the dependent variable when exposing the participants to treatment conditions.

Question 67

In a correlational design, researchers

A) gather information on individuals, generally in natural life circumstances, and make no effort to alter their experiences.
B) use an evenhanded procedure to assign people to two or more treatment conditions.
C) can infer cause and effect.
D) manipulate changes in the independent variable.

Question 68

Professor Atari is designing a study to determine if playing video games that require mental rotation of visual images fosters success on spatial reasoning tests. What is the best method of inferring cause and effect?

A) Choose a group of children who scored low on spatial reasoning tests and a group who scored high and compare the number of video game play hours for each group.
B) Calculate a correlation between spatial reasoning test scores and the number of video game play hours by one group of children.
C) Select a group of children who play a lot of video games and a second group who have never played video games and compare their scores on spatial reasoning tests.
D) Randomly choose half of the children to play video games and half to play no video games and compare spatial reasoning measures for each group.

Question 69

Which of the following statements is true about correlation coefficients?

A) The sign of the number refers to the strength of the relationship.
B) A negative correlation coefficient means that the two variables are not related to each other.
C) A positive correlation coefficient implies that as one variable increases, the other also increases.
D) The magnitude of the number shows the direction of the relationship.

Question 70

Dr. Blume is interested in methods for lowering blood pressure. He recruits 120 adults with high blood pressure and assigns them to one of three treatment groups-one group will take a daily pill, one group will be placed on a special diet, and one group will participate in an exercise boot camp. The independent variable is __________ and the dependent variable is __________.

A) the participants with high blood pressure; blood pressure
B) treatment type; blood pressure
C) blood pressure; treatment type
D) the daily pill; the participants with high blood pressure

Question 71

A zero correlation coefficient indicates __________ relationship.

A) a strong positive
B) a strong negative
C) a weak positive or negative
D) no

Question 72

A correlational coefficient can range in value from _____ to _____.

A) -100; +100
B) -1.00; 0
C) 0; +1.00
D) -1.00; +1.00

Question 73

The __________ variable is the one the investigator expects to cause changes in another variable.

A) practice
B) independent
C) dependent
D) confounding

Question 74

One way to assess the validity of a new measure of second-grade children's mathematical knowledge is to

A) compare the children's answers on different halves of the same test.
B) test for inter-rater reliability.
C) compare the children's answers on different forms of the same measure.
D) compare the children's scores with how well they do on their math assignments in school.

Question 75

If, during any phase of an investigation, participants' behavior is influenced by factors unrelated to the hypothesis, then the __________ of the study is in doubt.

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

Question 76

Sometimes researchers combine __________ with __________ to deliberately make characteristics equivalent that are likely to distort the results.

A) confounding variables; random assignment
B) systematic assignment; matching
C) matching; confounding variables
D) random assignment; matching

Question 77

Ensuring that samples, tasks, and contexts for conducting research represent the real-world people and situations that the investigator aims to understand is key to

A) inter-rater reliability.
B) test-retest reliability.
C) internal validity.
D) external validity.

Question 78

Which of the following research methods permits inferences about cause-and-effect relationships?

A) structured interview
B) naturalistic observation
C) experimental design
D) correlational study

Question 79

The two main designs used in all research on human behavior are __________ and __________.

A) correlational; coefficient
B) correlational; experimental
C) dependent; independent
D) laboratory; field experiments

Question 80

Dr. Clinton measures children's intelligence ahead of time and then assigns an equal number of high- and low-scoring children to each treatment condition. Dr. Clinton is using

A) a confounding variable.
B) matching.
C) a natural, or quasi-, experiment.
D) random assignment.