Deck 13: Quasi-Experiments and Small-N Designs

Question 1

The degree to which a quasi-experiment supports a causal claim depends on which of the following?

A)Its design and its results
B)Its duration and its sample size
C)Its importance and its external validity
D)Its statistical significance and its practical significance

Answer 1

Its design and its results

Question 2

RESEARCH STUDY 13.1: Dr. Fletcher is interested in whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale).
In addition to measuring the Body Concern of the participants who joined a fraternity/sorority both immediately before and immediately after they join, Dr. Fletcher measures them for the 3 weeks before and the 3 weeks after. This type of design is known as a(n):

A)nonequivalent control group design.
B)nonequivalent groups interrupted time-series design.
C)interrupted time-series design.
D)multiple-baseline design.

Answer 2

interrupted time-series design.

Question 3

A wait-list design is helpful in dealing with which of the following threats to internal validity?

A)Maturation
B)Selection
C)History
D)Attrition

Answer 3

Selection

Question 4

Which of the following is an advantage of using quasi-experimental designs?

A)They allow researchers to capitalize on random assignment.
B)They allow researchers to enhance external validity.
C)They allow researchers to disregard internal validity.
D)They are better suited to detect significant effects.

Question 5

Which of the following designs has elements of both a within-group design and an independent-groups design?

A)Nonequivalent groups interrupted time-series design
B)Nonequivalent control group design
C)Matched group factorial design
D)Multiple regression design

Question 6

RESEARCH STUDY 13.1: Dr. Fletcher is interested in whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale).
Suppose Dr. Fletcher was concerned that students who choose to join fraternities/sororities are more concerned with their appearance overall. How could he test whether this type of selection threat exists?

A)Collect appearance concerns at more time points throughout the year from his subjects.
B)Compare baseline levels of appearance concerns in fraternity/sorority students versus the average college student.
C)Check that none of his participants had exceptionally high levels of appearance concerns at the beginning of his study.
D)Examine whether any events occurred on campus that year that may influence appearance concerns for all students.

Question 7

RESEARCH STUDY 13.2: Dr. LaGuardia is a cognitive neuroscientist who is interested in the effect of brain concussions on the ability to recognize faces. He conducts a quasi-experimental study in which he examines football players before and after the regular season using the Benton Facial Recognition Test (a published, widely used measure of one's ability to recognize faces) to compare those who received concussions to those who did not. He finds that players who had concussions during the regular season performed worse on the Benton Facial Recognition Test than did players who did not experience concussions.
In interrogating the construct validity of Dr. LaGuardia's study, which of the following statements is accurate?

A)Because Dr. LaGuardia's participants actually experienced concussions, his independent variable appears to have construct validity.
B)Because Dr. LaGuardia did not use a true experiment, it is impossible to determine if his independent variable has construct validity.
C)Because Dr. LaGuardia studied real football players, his dependent variable appears to have construct validity.
D)Because Dr. LaGuardia did not use a true experiment, it is impossible to determine if his dependent variable has construct validity.

Question 8

RESEARCH STUDY 13.2: Dr. LaGuardia is a cognitive neuroscientist who is interested in the effect of brain concussions on the ability to recognize faces. He conducts a quasi-experimental study in which he examines football players before and after the regular season using the Benton Facial Recognition Test (a published, widely used measure of one's ability to recognize faces) to compare those who received concussions to those who did not. He finds that players who had concussions during the regular season performed worse on the Benton Facial Recognition Test than did players who did not experience concussions.
Which of the following makes Dr. LaGuardia's quasi-experimental study different from a correlational study?

A)He used a validated measure of the dependent variable.
B)He was able to confirm the occurrence of a concussion rather than relying on self-report.
C)He used a naturally occurring comparison group (i.e., players who did not suffer a concussion).
D)He used members of a real sports team rather than members of the general population.

Question 9

RESEARCH STUDY 13.1: Dr. Fletcher is interested in whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale).
In addition to measuring the group of participants who joined a fraternity/sorority, Dr. Fletcher decides to give the same measure to another group of 55 participants who decided to not join a fraternity/sorority. Doing this would help Dr. Fletcher address all of the following threats to internal validity EXCEPT:

A)Experimenter bias
B)Maturation
C)Selection
D)History

Question 10

Which of the following is a difference between true experiments and quasi-experiments?

A)Quasi-experiments do not use random assignment.
B)Quasi-experiments do not involve manipulated variables.
C)Quasi-experiments cannot have comparison groups.
D)Quasi-experiments cannot have pretest measures.

Question 11

RESEARCH STUDY 13.1: Dr. Fletcher is interested in whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale).
Suppose Dr. Fletcher finds that joining a fraternity/sorority reduces self-esteem about one's appearance. Who could his study generalize to?

A)Students in fraternities/sororities
B)College students
C)All individuals with low self-esteem
D)University graduates who were in fraternities/sororities

Question 12

Which of the following is a within-groups quasi-experimental design?

A)Interrupted time-series design
B)Nonequivalent control group design
C)Matched group factorial design
D)Multiple regression design

Question 13

In conducting quasi-experimental designs, researchers tend to give up some in exchange for .

A)internal validity; external validity
B)internal validity; statistical validity
C)statistical validity; external validity
D)construct validity; statistical validity

Question 14

RESEARCH STUDY 13.1: Dr. Fletcher is interested in whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale).
If Dr. Fletcher is interested in a causal relationship between joining a fraternity/sorority and attractiveness/appearance concern, why doesn't he conduct a true experiment?

A)It is not possible to study private organizations, like fraternities/sororities.
B)It is not possible to measure body concern.
C)He was unable to recruit an equal number of males and females.
D)He was unable to randomly assign participants to join a fraternity/sorority.

Question 15

Why do quasi-experiments tend to have very good construct validity for the independent variable?

A)The manipulations have been previously validated in the lab.
B)They use real-world manipulations/experiences.
C)They tend to use more participants.
D)They also have good construct validity for the dependent variable.

Question 16

RESEARCH STUDY 13.1: Dr. Fletcher is interested in whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale).
Which of the following would Dr. Fletcher need to do to his current study design to make it an interrupted time-series design?

A)Recruit a group of participants who joined a fraternity/sorority at a different school
B)Take measurements of body concern before and after joining a fraternity/sorority
C)Measure body concern using a different measure than the Body Concern Scale
D)Add an additional variable, such as self-esteem

Question 17

RESEARCH STUDY 13.1: Dr. Fletcher is interested in whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale).
In addition to measuring the group of participants who joined a fraternity/sorority, Dr. Fletcher decides to give the same measure to another group of 55 participants who decided to not join a fraternity/sorority. This type of design is known as a(n):

A)interrupted time-series design.
B)nonequivalent control group design.
C)nonequivalent groups interrupted time-series design.
D)reversal design.

Question 18

Which of the following is an independent-groups quasi-experimental design?

A)Interrupted time-series design
B)Nonequivalent control group design
C)Nonequivalent groups interrupted time-series design
D)Stable-baseline design

Question 19

RESEARCH STUDY 13.1: Dr. Fletcher is interested in whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale).
In addition to measuring the group of participants who joined a fraternity/sorority, Dr. Fletcher decides to give the same measure to another group of 55 participants who decided to not join a fraternity/sorority. After conducting the study, Dr. Fletcher finds out that the people who joined a fraternity/sorority all saw a documentary on body image sponsored by the InterGreek Council the night before recruitment began. This threat to internal validity is known as a:

A)selection threat.
B)selection-history threat.
C)history threat.
D)testing threat.

Question 20

RESEARCH STUDY 13.1: Dr. Fletcher is interested in whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale).
In addition to measuring the Body Concern of the participants who joined a fraternity/sorority both immediately before and immediately after they join, Dr. Fletcher measures them for the 3 weeks before and the 3 weeks after. This type of design would be able to better address which of the following threats to internal validity?

A)History
B)Testing
C)Selection-history
D)Experimenter bias

Question 21

Seeing stability in a stable-baseline design can help rule out which of the following threats to internal validity?

A)Regression to the mean
B)Placebo effects
C)Attrition
D)Observer bias

Question 22

RESEARCH STUDY 13.3: Dr. Anderson is a nutritionist who helps clients lose weight prior to surgery. She is working with W. J., a male client who is planning on undergoing a heart transplant. He currently eats more than 3,500 calories a day and has been asked by his doctor to cut the number of calories to about 1,800 (400 for breakfast, 600 for lunch, and 800 for dinner). She is curious as to whether a food journal will help W. J. reduce the number of calories he eats. A food journal is used to record everything a person eats to help patients be more aware of what they're eating. W. J.'s wife also recorded the food he consumed at each meal to have complete data before introducing the journal. Dr. Anderson decides to phase in the food journal gradually, initially only having W. J. record what he ate at breakfast during the first three days after baseline (days 4-6). During days 7-9, the journal is used at lunch, too, and during days 10-12, it also is used during dinner. The data for Dr. Anderson's study are below.

In interrogating the statistical validity of Dr. Anderson's study, which of the following might be asked?

A)By what margin did W. J.'s calorie intake improve?
B)How accurate was W. J.'s wife in her calculation of the calories consumed at each meal?
C)Was the number of calories consumed by W. J. going to decrease before surgery anyway?
D)Was Dr. Anderson qualified to analyze the data?

Question 23

If a researcher is concerned about external validity, which of the following would you recommend with regard to conducting small-N designs?

A)Do not conduct small-N designs if you are concerned about external validity.
B)Compare the results of a small-N design with other studies.
C)Conduct only reversal designs.
D)Use only one's own clients/patients/students.

Question 24

RESEARCH STUDY 13.3: Dr. Anderson is a nutritionist who helps clients lose weight prior to surgery. She is working with W. J., a male client who is planning on undergoing a heart transplant. He currently eats more than 3,500 calories a day and has been asked by his doctor to cut the number of calories to about 1,800 (400 for breakfast, 600 for lunch, and 800 for dinner). She is curious as to whether a food journal will help W. J. reduce the number of calories he eats. A food journal is used to record everything a person eats to help patients be more aware of what they're eating. W. J.'s wife also recorded the food he consumed at each meal to have complete data before introducing the journal. Dr. Anderson decides to phase in the food journal gradually, initially only having W. J. record what he ate at breakfast during the first three days after baseline (days 4-6). During days 7-9, the journal is used at lunch, too, and during days 10-12, it also is used during dinner. The data for Dr. Anderson's study are below.

In interrogating the construct validity of Dr. Anderson's study, which of the following might be asked?

A)By what margin did W. J.'s calorie intake improve?
B)How accurate was W. J.'s wife in her calculation of the calories consumed at each meal?
C)Was the number of calories consumed by W. J. going to decrease before surgery anyway?
D)Was Dr. Anderson qualified to analyze the data?

Question 25

RESEARCH STUDY 13.3: Dr. Anderson is a nutritionist who helps clients lose weight prior to surgery. She is working with W. J., a male client who is planning on undergoing a heart transplant. He currently eats more than 3,500 calories a day and has been asked by his doctor to cut the number of calories to about 1,800 (400 for breakfast, 600 for lunch, and 800 for dinner). She is curious as to whether a food journal will help W. J. reduce the number of calories he eats. A food journal is used to record everything a person eats to help patients be more aware of what they're eating. W. J.'s wife also recorded the food he consumed at each meal to have complete data before introducing the journal. Dr. Anderson decides to phase in the food journal gradually, initially only having W. J. record what he ate at breakfast during the first three days after baseline (days 4-6). During days 7-9, the journal is used at lunch, too, and during days 10-12, it also is used during dinner. The data for Dr. Anderson's study are below.

What type of small-N design has Dr. Anderson used with W. J.?

A)Interrupted time-series design
B)Stable-baseline design
C)Multiple-baseline design
D)Reversal design

Question 26

RESEARCH STUDY 13.3: Dr. Anderson is a nutritionist who helps clients lose weight prior to surgery. She is working with W. J., a male client who is planning on undergoing a heart transplant. He currently eats more than 3,500 calories a day and has been asked by his doctor to cut the number of calories to about 1,800 (400 for breakfast, 600 for lunch, and 800 for dinner). She is curious as to whether a food journal will help W. J. reduce the number of calories he eats. A food journal is used to record everything a person eats to help patients be more aware of what they're eating. W. J.'s wife also recorded the food he consumed at each meal to have complete data before introducing the journal. Dr. Anderson decides to phase in the food journal gradually, initially only having W. J. record what he ate at breakfast during the first three days after baseline (days 4-6). During days 7-9, the journal is used at lunch, too, and during days 10-12, it also is used during dinner. The data for Dr. Anderson's study are below.

Which of the following aspects of Dr. Anderson's study might be susceptible to observer bias?

A)The use of the food journal to track calories consumed
B)The conversion by Dr. Anderson of the food journal entries into calories consumed
C)The use of only one manipulation (e.g., the food journal)
D)The use of only one dependent variable

Question 27

RESEARCH STUDY 13.3: Dr. Anderson is a nutritionist who helps clients lose weight prior to surgery. She is working with W. J., a male client who is planning on undergoing a heart transplant. He currently eats more than 3,500 calories a day and has been asked by his doctor to cut the number of calories to about 1,800 (400 for breakfast, 600 for lunch, and 800 for dinner). She is curious as to whether a food journal will help W. J. reduce the number of calories he eats. A food journal is used to record everything a person eats to help patients be more aware of what they're eating. W. J.'s wife also recorded the food he consumed at each meal to have complete data before introducing the journal. Dr. Anderson decides to phase in the food journal gradually, initially only having W. J. record what he ate at breakfast during the first three days after baseline (days 4-6). During days 7-9, the journal is used at lunch, too, and during days 10-12, it also is used during dinner. The data for Dr. Anderson's study are below.

Dr) Natchez, a colleague of Dr. Anderson, questions whether W. J. simply wrote down less in his journal as the study went on because he grew tired of completing this "measure." Dr. Natchez believes he has uncovered which of the following threats to internal validity?

A)Instrumentation threat
B)Experimental demand
C)Testing threat
D)Observer bias

Question 28

RESEARCH STUDY 13.2: Dr. LaGuardia is a cognitive neuroscientist who is interested in the effect of brain concussions on the ability to recognize faces. He conducts a quasi-experimental study in which he examines football players before and after the regular season using the Benton Facial Recognition Test (a published, widely used measure of one's ability to recognize faces) to compare those who received concussions to those who did not. He finds that players who had concussions during the regular season performed worse on the Benton Facial Recognition Test than did players who did not experience concussions.
In analyzing the data, Dr. LaGuardia finds that there was no pretest difference in Benton Facial Recognition scores. However, he does find that the football players who received concussions had worse visuo-spatial awareness before the study. Which of the following threats to internal validity should he be concerned with?

A)Regression to the mean
B)History threat
C)Design confounds
D)Maturation threat

Question 29

RESEARCH STUDY 13.2: Dr. LaGuardia is a cognitive neuroscientist who is interested in the effect of brain concussions on the ability to recognize faces. He conducts a quasi-experimental study in which he examines football players before and after the regular season using the Benton Facial Recognition Test (a published, widely used measure of one's ability to recognize faces) to compare those who received concussions to those who did not. He finds that players who had concussions during the regular season performed worse on the Benton Facial Recognition Test than did players who did not experience concussions.
Which of the following is true regarding external validity in Dr. LaGuardia's study?

A)Because Dr. LaGuardia selected participants who actually experienced concussions, the study has strong external validity.
B)Because Dr. LaGuardia's study is a quasi-experiment, it is impossible to obtain external validity.
C)Because Dr. LaGuardia's dependent variable was assessed in the laboratory, the study has limited external validity.
D)Because Dr. LaGuardia selected a widely used measure, his study generalizes to other applications of this measure.

Question 30

RESEARCH STUDY 13.3: Dr. Anderson is a nutritionist who helps clients lose weight prior to surgery. She is working with W. J., a male client who is planning on undergoing a heart transplant. He currently eats more than 3,500 calories a day and has been asked by his doctor to cut the number of calories to about 1,800 (400 for breakfast, 600 for lunch, and 800 for dinner). She is curious as to whether a food journal will help W. J. reduce the number of calories he eats. A food journal is used to record everything a person eats to help patients be more aware of what they're eating. W. J.'s wife also recorded the food he consumed at each meal to have complete data before introducing the journal. Dr. Anderson decides to phase in the food journal gradually, initially only having W. J. record what he ate at breakfast during the first three days after baseline (days 4-6). During days 7-9, the journal is used at lunch, too, and during days 10-12, it also is used during dinner. The data for Dr. Anderson's study are below.

Which of the following is evidence that would allow Dr. Anderson to conclude that keeping a food journal caused weight loss in W. J.?

A)Lunch calories decreased on Day 3.
B)Breakfast calories decreased on Day 2.
C)Dinner calories decreased on Day 10.
D)Calorie intakes for the three meals differed on Day 1.

Question 31

According to the textbook, which of the following ethical questions might be posed specifically in reference to a reversal design?

A)Is it ethical to remove an effective treatment?
B)Is it ethical to treat only one person?
C)Can confidentiality be assured?
D)Can consent be given?

Question 32

RESEARCH STUDY 13.3: Dr. Anderson is a nutritionist who helps clients lose weight prior to surgery. She is working with W. J., a male client who is planning on undergoing a heart transplant. He currently eats more than 3,500 calories a day and has been asked by his doctor to cut the number of calories to about 1,800 (400 for breakfast, 600 for lunch, and 800 for dinner). She is curious as to whether a food journal will help W. J. reduce the number of calories he eats. A food journal is used to record everything a person eats to help patients be more aware of what they're eating. W. J.'s wife also recorded the food he consumed at each meal to have complete data before introducing the journal. Dr. Anderson decides to phase in the food journal gradually, initially only having W. J. record what he ate at breakfast during the first three days after baseline (days 4-6). During days 7-9, the journal is used at lunch, too, and during days 10-12, it also is used during dinner. The data for Dr. Anderson's study are below.

If Dr. Anderson wanted to change the study to a stable-baseline design, which of the following would she change?

A)The time she introduces the intervention
B)The dependent variable
C)The type of intervention
D)How frequently she measures the dependent variable

Question 33

RESEARCH STUDY 13.3: Dr. Anderson is a nutritionist who helps clients lose weight prior to surgery. She is working with W. J., a male client who is planning on undergoing a heart transplant. He currently eats more than 3,500 calories a day and has been asked by his doctor to cut the number of calories to about 1,800 (400 for breakfast, 600 for lunch, and 800 for dinner). She is curious as to whether a food journal will help W. J. reduce the number of calories he eats. A food journal is used to record everything a person eats to help patients be more aware of what they're eating. W. J.'s wife also recorded the food he consumed at each meal to have complete data before introducing the journal. Dr. Anderson decides to phase in the food journal gradually, initially only having W. J. record what he ate at breakfast during the first three days after baseline (days 4-6). During days 7-9, the journal is used at lunch, too, and during days 10-12, it also is used during dinner. The data for Dr. Anderson's study are below.

In examining the external validity of her study, Dr. Anderson is probably most concerned about making sure her study generalizes to:

A)all men.
B)all transplant recipients.
C)all overweight people.
D)She is probably not very concerned about external validity.

Question 34

Which of the following CANNOT typically be applied to a small-N experiment?

A)Experimental control
B)Manipulation of variables
C)Inferential statistics
D)Replication

Question 35

Which of the following is NOT a small-N design?

A)Interrupted time-series design
B)Stable-baseline design
C)Multiple-baseline design
D)Reversal design

Question 36

RESEARCH STUDY 13.3: Dr. Anderson is a nutritionist who helps clients lose weight prior to surgery. She is working with W. J., a male client who is planning on undergoing a heart transplant. He currently eats more than 3,500 calories a day and has been asked by his doctor to cut the number of calories to about 1,800 (400 for breakfast, 600 for lunch, and 800 for dinner). She is curious as to whether a food journal will help W. J. reduce the number of calories he eats. A food journal is used to record everything a person eats to help patients be more aware of what they're eating. W. J.'s wife also recorded the food he consumed at each meal to have complete data before introducing the journal. Dr. Anderson decides to phase in the food journal gradually, initially only having W. J. record what he ate at breakfast during the first three days after baseline (days 4-6). During days 7-9, the journal is used at lunch, too, and during days 10-12, it also is used during dinner. The data for Dr. Anderson's study are below.

Which of the following is NOT a trade-off of Dr. Anderson's use of a small-N design?

A)She will have limited ability to generalize to other patients.
B)Inferential statistical tests probably cannot be used to examine whether food journals is an effective way to reduce weight.
C)It will be harder to interpret the size of the effect.
D)She will have to use graphs to represent quantitative changes.

Question 37

In which of the following ways are correlational designs similar to quasi-experimental designs?

A)They both use nonrandom samples.
B)They both suffer from possible threats to internal validity.
C)They both use random assignment.
D)They both use small numbers of participants.

Question 38

A small-N design that involves providing treatment and then removing treatment is known as a(n):

A)interrupted time-series design.
B)stable-baseline design.
C)multiple-baseline design.
D)reversal design.

Question 39

RESEARCH STUDY 13.2: Dr. LaGuardia is a cognitive neuroscientist who is interested in the effect of brain concussions on the ability to recognize faces. He conducts a quasi-experimental study in which he examines football players before and after the regular season using the Benton Facial Recognition Test (a published, widely used measure of one's ability to recognize faces) to compare those who received concussions to those who did not. He finds that players who had concussions during the regular season performed worse on the Benton Facial Recognition Test than did players who did not experience concussions.
If Dr. LaGuardia had instead been interested in conducting a small-N design, which of the following might he have done?

A)He would not have compared participants' performance on the Facial Recognition Test to other groups.
B)He would have collected fewer types of data.
C)He would have likely collected other additional dependent measures.
D)He would have likely selected a topic where he expected a small effect size.

Question 40

Which of the following is true of small-N experiments?

A)Small-N designs determine whether a finding is replicable by doing a test of statistical significance.
B)Data from small-N designs are presented as averages.
C)Data from small-N designs are grouped together.
D)Each person in a small-N design is treated as a separate experiment

Question 41

How does a researcher who conducts a small-N design address external validity concerns about his study?

A)Triangulates his findings with other findings
B)Runs more small-N studies with similar participants
C)Runs more small-N studies with the same participants
D)Runs a large-N study before running a small-N study

Question 42

In quasi-experimental designs, the researcher does not have experimental control over the independent variable and does not randomly assign participants to conditions. This results in which of the following?

A)The researcher being unable to rule out any threats to internal validity
B)A study that is no different than a correlational design
C)A weaker causal claim than a true experiment
D)An unethical study

Question 43

Which of the following is a difference between small-N and large-N designs?

A)Large-N designs have the power to detect large effect sizes, while small-N designs can only detect small effects.
B)Statistical validity is stronger in large-N designs, while generalizability is more important in small-N designs.
C)Large-N studies typically gather less information about participants than small-N designs.
D)It is not possible to maintain experimental control in small-N studies, whereas it is in large-N studies.

Question 44

Which of the following is a difference between participants in small-N designs compared to large-N designs?

A)Large-N designs only generalize to the population from which participants are drawn, whereas small-N designs generalize to the larger population.
B)Large-N designs benefit from having diverse populations, while small-N designs typically use normative samples.
C)Large-N designs prioritize having a large sample over sampling procedures, while small-N designs focus on sampling procedures.
D)Large-N designs are more concerned with selecting representative participants, while small-N designs focus on unique cases.

Question 45

List the three differences between small-N and large-N designs.

Question 46

In small-N designs, each participant is treated:

A)with multiple interventions.
B)by a clinical psychologist.
C)as a data point.
D)as a separate experiment.

Question 47

Provide a reason a researcher might want to conduct a small-N design. Provide a reason why a researcher might want to avoid conducting a small-N design.

Question 48

Which of the following people would be of most interest for a small-N design?

A)A college student
B)A person suffering from a cold
C)A person diagnosed with schizophrenia
D)A psychology student

Question 49

RESEARCH STUDY 13.4: Dr. Fletcher is interested in understanding whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale, where higher scores indicate higher body concerns).
As the study is described, explain a selection threat that may be present in Dr. Fletcher's study. What could Dr. Fletcher do to address this threat?

Question 50

In a nonequivalent control group interrupted time series design, the independent variable is studied as:

A)a dependent variable as well.
B)both a repeated measures variable and an independent-groups variable.
C)a guarantee of internal validity.
D)frequently as possible.

Question 51

Researchers may be interested in how a variable changes over the course of a major event that is scheduled outside of experimental control. This is called:

A)nonequivalent control group design.
B)wait-list design.
C)reversal design.
D)interrupted time-series design.

Question 52

Which of the following topics would be especially well suited to a quasi-experimental design?

A)Does therapy improve coping skills following exposure to a natural disaster?
B)Does watching violent movies cause increases in acceptability of aggression?
C)Does parent-training therapy lead to better parenting skills?
D)Do people diagnosed with a mental illness have poorer social abilities?

Question 53

Which of the following is an advantage of small-N designs over large-N designs?

A)Small-N designs take advantage of unique cases.
B)Small-N designs have better experimental control.
C)Small-N designs generalize to larger groups of individuals.
D)Small-N designs have fewer threats to internal validity.

Question 54

RESEARCH STUDY 13.4: Dr. Fletcher is interested in understanding whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale, where higher scores indicate higher body concerns).
In addition to measuring the group of participants who joined a fraternity/sorority, Dr. Fletcher decides to give the same measure to another group of 55 participants who decided to not join a fraternity/sorority. Based on the results below, explain whether Dr. Fletcher should be concerned about a history threat to internal validity.

Question 55

RESEARCH STUDY 13.4: Dr. Fletcher is interested in understanding whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale, where higher scores indicate higher body concerns).
Explain why Dr. Fletcher is conducting a quasi-experimental design rather than a true experiment.

Question 56

Explain why quasi-experiments offer a trade-off between internal validity and external validity.

Question 57

Lara is conducting a study for her research methods class. She is curious if participating in a collegiate study-abroad program causes people to become more accepting of other cultures. Provide an example of an independent-groups quasi-experimental design and an example of a within-groups quasi-experimental design using Lara's research question.

Question 58

Explain why quasi-experiments and correlational studies can be seen as similar but why quasi-experiments are superior.

Question 59

RESEARCH STUDY 13.4: Dr. Fletcher is interested in understanding whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale, where higher scores indicate higher body concerns).
In addition to measuring the group of participants who joined a fraternity/sorority, Dr. Fletcher decides to give the same measure to another group of 55 participants who decided to not join a fraternity/sorority. Based on the results below, explain whether Dr. Fletcher should be concerned about a maturation threat to internal validity.

Question 60

RESEARCH STUDY 13.4: Dr. Fletcher is interested in understanding whether joining a fraternity/sorority causes people to become more concerned about their attractiveness and appearance. He recruits a group of 55 freshmen (25 males, 30 females) who are planning to go through fraternity/sorority recruitment on his campus. After they join, he gives them a measure of attractiveness concern/appearance concern (the Body Concern Scale, where higher scores indicate higher body concerns).
In addition to measuring the body concern of the participants who joined a fraternity/sorority immediately before and immediately after they join, Dr. Fletcher measures them for the 3 weeks before and the 3 weeks after. Based on the results below, explain whether Dr. Fletcher should be concerned about a testing threat to internal validity.

Question 61

RESEARCH STUDY 13.5: Layne is trying to watch less television. Her friend Ryan is a psychologist who agrees to help her. He creates a treatment plan that involves giving Layne $5 for every day that she watches fewer than 90 minutes of television. He monitors her television watching for 3 days, treats her for 3 days and monitors her, and then just monitors her for 3 more days.
Imagine that Ryan and Layne's study finds the following pattern of results. Explain why the data below are especially convincing because of the second baseline/reversal. Name a specific threat that these data address.

Question 62

Explain how interrogating the statistical validity of a small-N design is different from interrogating the statistical validity in a large-N design.

Question 63

List three small-N designs and explain how these designs address maturation.

Question 64

RESEARCH STUDY 13.5: Layne is trying to watch less television. Her friend Ryan is a psychologist who agrees to help her. He creates a treatment plan that involves giving Layne $5 for every day that she watches fewer than 90 minutes of television. He monitors her television watching for 3 days, treats her for 3 days and monitors her, and then just monitors her for 3 more days.
What type of design is Ryan using to change Layne's behavior? Name a threat to internal validity that this design is well suited to address.

Question 65

RESEARCH STUDY 13.5: Layne is trying to watch less television. Her friend Ryan is a psychologist who agrees to help her. He creates a treatment plan that involves giving Layne $5 for every day that she watches fewer than 90 minutes of television. He monitors her television watching for 3 days, treats her for 3 days and monitors her, and then just monitors her for 3 more days.
Imagine that Ryan and Layne's study finds the following pattern of results. Explain whether Ryan and Layne should conclude that the $5 treatment is effective at decreasing television viewing and whether they should be concerned by an instrumentation threat. (In the graph, B indicates baseline and T indicates treatment.)