Deck 11: Experimental Research: An Overview

Question 1

An experimental treatment is the term referring to the way an experimental variable is manipulated.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

An experiment can have only one experimental variable.

Answer 2

False
Experiments can have more than one independent (i.e,experimental)variable.

Question 3

In an experiment,effects are the characteristics of experiments that allow hypotheses to be tested.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

In experimental research,independent variables are created rather than simply measured.

Question 5

Experimental research attempts to find causal relationships among variables.

Question 6

Participants in experimental research are typically referred to as respondents.

Question 7

Covariates are categorical variables like a subject's gender or ethnicity.

Question 8

An experimental construct refers to one of the possible levels of an experimental variable manipulation.

Question 9

Often,the term linkage is used to refer to a treatment combination within an experiment.

Question 10

The people administering an experiment must be aware of the experimental hypotheses.

Question 11

Experiments in which an individual subject is exposed to more than one level of an experimental treatment are referred to as repeated measures designs.

Question 12

A confound is an experimental deception involving a false treatment.

Question 13

A control group is one in which an experimental treatment is administered.

Question 14

Factorial experimental designs are the least sophisticated type of experimental design.

Question 15

A confound in an experiment means that there is an alternative explanation beyond the experimental variables for any observed differences in the dependent variable.

Question 16

When subjects guess the purpose of an experiment,this creates a confound known as a bias effect.

Question 17

People are the most common test units in most marketing experiments.

Question 18

The most common procedure to try to ensure that experimental and control groups do not differ from each other in important ways at the beginning of a research study is random assignment of subjects to treatment and control groups.

Question 19

In an experiment,the researcher manipulates the dependent variable and measures its effect on the independent variable.

Question 20

One way to reduce demand characteristics is to tell subjects the purpose of the experiment so they will be more willing to participate honestly.

Question 21

Categorical variables like a subject's gender or ethnicity are known as which type of variable in experimental research?

A)blocking variables
B)covariates
C)main variables
D)confounds

Question 22

Monica is conducting an experiment where all subjects see all of the ads she is testing.This type of experiment in which an individual subject is exposed to more than one level of an experimental treatment is called:

A)between-subjects
B)repeated measures
C)redundant manipulation
D)randomization

Question 23

"Does package size affect consumption rates in snack products?" is a typical question in what type of research design?

A)descriptive research
B)time-series research
C)experimental research
D)phone surveys

Question 24

The experimental difference in means between the different levels of any single experimental variable is referred to as a(n):

A)interaction effect
B)primary effect
C)main effect
D)confound

Question 25

Between-subjects designs involve repeated measures because with each treatment the same subject is measured.

Question 26

A maturation effect in an experiment is a function of time and the naturally occurring events that coincide with growth and experience.

Question 27

When a test market is conducted in five retail stores in Erie,Pennsylvania,this is an example of a laboratory experiment.

Question 28

Field experiments tend to have less external validity than laboratory experiments.

Question 29

Which of the following is the term used to refer to a treatment combination within an experiment?

A)level
B)link
C)cell
D)unit

Question 30

The group receiving an experimental treatment is called the:

A)primary group
B)experimental group
C)control group
D)unit of analysis

Question 31

Which term refers to an experimental design element that unintentionally provides subjects with hints about the research hypothesis.

A)demand characteristic
B)Hawthorne effect
C)testing effect
D)confounding effect

Question 32

Which of the following means that there is an alternative explanation beyond the experimental variables for any observed differences in the dependent variables?

A)confound
B)interaction
C)randomization
D)repeated measures

Question 33

A researcher is conducting an experiment in which one group of people is exposed to an advertisement and another group is exposed to another advertisement.He is examining the effect of headline font sizes on consumers' attitude toward the brand advertised.The participants in this experimental research are referred to as:

A)respondents
B)elements
C)factorials
D)subjects

Question 34

All of the following are experimental design issues EXCEPT:

A)selection and assignment of subjects to treatments
B)control over extraneous variables
C)manipulation of the independent variable
D)manipulation of the dependent variable

Question 35

Which of the following occurs if the sampling units in an experimental cell are somehow different than the units in another cell,and this difference affects the dependent variable?

A)systematic or nonsampling error
B)sampling error
C)experimenter bias
D)subject bias

Question 36

If the level of advertising expenditures is compared to the number of units sold at the end of a four-month period,the independent variable is ____ while the dependent variable is ____.

A)advertising expenditure level;units sold
B)customer satisfaction;advertising expenditure level
C)units sold;advertising expenditure level
D)none of the above

Question 37

Which of the following are possible test units in a marketing research study?

A)people
B)sales territories
C)retail stores
D)all of the above

Question 38

The question as to whether the experimental treatment was the "sole cause" of the changes in the dependent variable is the basic issue in external validity.

Question 39

Which of the following is a way for a researcher to equally distribute the effects of extraneous variables to all conditions in an experiment?

A)confounding
B)split sampling
C)repeated measures
D)randomization

Question 40

Experimental results that show that consumers purchased more when a store had a blue color with bright lights than they did when a store was orange with bright lights but no difference when the lighting was low is an example of which type of effect?

A)main
B)interaction
C)confound
D)synergistic

Question 41

When high school students who take the ACT in their junior year perform better on that exam during their senior year because they know better how to take the exam because of what they experienced on the first exam,this is an example of a(n):

A)mortality effect
B)testing effect
C)history effect
D)instrumentation effect

Question 42

Which experimental research design involves repeated measures?

A)within-subjects design
B)between-subjects design
C)squared-subjects design
D)interdependent-subjects design

Question 43

A researcher is interested in the level of consumers' understanding of product nutrition labels.He is interested in how the amount of time spent looking at the label influences understanding,so he's using a device that controls the amount of time a subject is exposed to the label.This device is called a:

A)pupilometer
B)psychgalvanometer
C)tachistoscope
D)rotoscope

Question 44

Which of the following is a special case of the history effect and refers to a change in the dependent variable that occurs because members of one experimental group experienced different historical situations than members of other experimental groups?

A)cohort effect
B)Hawthorne effect
C)testing effect
D)instrumentation effect

Question 45

When subjects in an experiment in which the they were exposed to varying price levels for a product are asked how low they believe the price of the product to be so that the researcher can determine whether or not the subjects perceived "high" and "low" conditions,this is an example of a:

A)manipulation check
B)reliability assessment
C)factor analysis
D)surrogate manipulation

Question 46

All of the following are ways to reduce demand characteristics EXCEPT:

A)use an experimental disguise
B)administer multiple experimental treatment levels to each subject
C)use a "blind" experimental administrator
D)isolate experimental subjects

Question 47

When a food company tests a new product by having one group of experimental subjects taste this product first and then taste a competitor's product second,while a second group of experimental subjects tastes these two products in the reverse order,the experimental design has been:

A)counterbalanced
B)reversed
C)confounded
D)validated

Question 48

Research projects involving experimental manipulations that are implemented in a natural environment are called:

A)laboratory experiments
B)field experiments
C)primary experiments
D)secondary experiments

Question 49

Which of the following is a function of time and the naturally occurring events that coincide with growth and experience?

A)history effect
B)testing effect
C)selection effect
D)maturation effect

Question 50

In which experimental research design does each subject receive only one treatment combination?

A)within-subjects design
B)between-subjects design
C)squared-subjects design
D)independent-subjects design

Question 51

When subjects in all experimental groups are exposed to identical conditions except for the differing experimental treatments,this is called:

A)the Hawthorne effect
B)confounding
C)constancy of conditions
D)compounding

Question 52

Which experimental design involves manipulating a single independent variable to observe its effect on a single dependent variable?

A)primary experimental design
B)basic experimental design
C)factorial experimental design
D)counterbalanced experimental design

Question 53

When subjects act differently because they are aware that they are in an experiment,this is called the:

A)history effect
B)Hawthorne effect
C)maturation effect
D)repeated measures effect

Question 54

When a competitor introduces a 15 percent price cut in order to blunt the effect of a test marketing study,this is an example of a:

A)maturation effect
B)testing effect
C)history effect
D)cohort effect

Question 55

Caroline is participating in an experimental study in which she is taking an herbal supplement and the researcher measures her perceived energy levels for several weeks.Although she doesn't know it,the supplement she is given in the study does not contain any of the herb of interest in the study.However,Caroline feels as though she has more energy than before,and she attributes it to the herbal supplement.This effect due to the psychological impact that goes along with knowledge that a treatment has been administered is called a(n):

A)maturation effect
B)false positive
C)counterbalancing effect
D)placebo effect

Question 56

Which of the following is present when the person administering experimental procedures influences the subjects' behavior or sways them to slant their answers to cooperate with him or her?

A)experimenter bias
B)response bias
C)Type I error
D)Type II error

Question 57

The question as to whether the independent variable was the sole cause of the change in the dependent variable is the basic issue in:

A)a repeated measures study
B)internal validity
C)a matching study
D)external validity

Question 58

If a soft-drink company performs an experiment with a new type of soft drink in which experimental subjects always taste this new product first and then taste a competitor's product second,the study has an error in design termed a(n):

A)history effect
B)maturation effect
C)order of presentation effect
D)guinea pig effect

Question 59

When an experiment is conducted on the premises of a marketing research organization,this is an example of a:

A)static group design
B)laboratory experiment
C)field experiment
D)controlled store test

Question 60

When salespeople are tested one year after a sales training program and perform better on the exam,not because of the training program,but because they have gained one year's experience in sales,this is an example of a:

A)selection effect
B)maturation effect
C)history effect
D)cohort effect

Question 61

If subjects in the experimental group are administered the treatment in the afternoon while the subjects in the control group participate in the experiment in the morning,the study is said to experience ____________________ error.

Question 62

An experimental deception that involves a false treatment is called a(n)____________________.

Question 63

The random assignment of subject and treatments to groups is called ____________________.

Question 64

Which of the following is critical when conducting experimental research because it allows researchers to return subjects to normal?

A)manipulation check
B)cohort analysis
C)debriefing
D)deception

Question 65

When subjects in an experiment perform differently because they realize that they are participating in an experiment,this is called the ____________________ effect.

Question 66

When subjects in all experimental groups are exposed to identical conditions except for the differing experimental treatments,we say that ____________________ has occurred.

Question 67

A continuous variable that is expected to show a statistical relationship with the dependent variables is known as a(n)____________________.

Question 68

When the researcher unintentionally provides the subjects with hints about what he wants them to say in the study,this is an example of a(n)____________________.

Question 69

In an experiment,the change in the ____________________ variable is presumed to be the cause of the results.

Question 70

When different interviewers are used in a pretest from those used in the posttest and this produces different results in the study,this is an example of a(n):

A)history effect
B)mortality effect
C)instrumentation effect
D)cohort effect

Question 71

A ____________________ effect is a nuisance effect occurring when the initial measurement or test alerts or primes subjects in a way that affects their response to the experimental treatments.

Question 72

When a researcher tries to say that the results of a test market in Indianapolis,Indiana will hold in a national rollout of the new product,this researcher is concerned with:

A)internal validity
B)the repeated measures effect
C)constant error
D)external validity

Question 73

In an experiment,the treatment is administered to the ____________________ group.

Question 74

When a research organization conducts a taste test in its offices located in a shopping mall,this is an example of a(n)____________________ experiment.

Question 75

When the experimenter's comments influence the subjects' behavior so that they give answers that they think the experimenter wants to hear rather than their true feelings,we say that ____________________ has occurred.

Question 76

When Procter & Gamble conducts a test market for a new shampoo in Kansas City and St.Louis,this is an example of a(n)____________________ experiment.

Question 77

Which of the following is a threat to the internal validity of experiment using a repeated measures design?

A)instrumentation effect
B)redundancy effect
C)cohort effect
D)attrition effect

Question 78

In an experiment,the ____________________ variable is manipulated and its effect is measured on the ____________________ variable.

Question 79

When some subjects exit the experiment before it is completed and this effects the results of the study,this is an example of a(n):

A)mortality effect
B)history effect
C)instrumentation effect
D)confounding effect

Question 80

Experimental difference in means between the different levels of any single experimental variable is referred to as a(n)____________________.