Deck 12: Descriptive Research Methods

Question 1

The "strange situation" was used to investigate parent-child attachments and is an example of

A) participant observation
B) unstructured naturalistic observation
C) archival study
D) laboratory observation

Answer 1

laboratory observation

Question 2

Crowley et al.'s observational study took place in a science museum. They found that

A) parents explained science more to older children than younger children
B) parents explained science more to male children than female children
C) Dads explained science more to boy children and Moms explained science more to girl children
D) parents tended to rely on museum staff to explain science to their children

Answer 2

parents explained science more to male children than female children

Question 3

Which of the following is true of observational research?

A) if done carefully, cause and effect conclusions can be drawn
B) subject reactivity is seldom a problem
C) results can support a theory, but cannot serve to raise questions about a theory
D) the descriptive information can provide hypotheses for more controlled studies

Answer 3

the descriptive information can provide hypotheses for more controlled studies

Question 4

Interobserver reliability is calculated for the purpose of

A) increasing the amount of data available
B) reducing observer bias
C) eliminating subject reactivity
D) substituting for event and time sampling

Question 5

All of the following are designed to reduce observer bias except

A) interobserver reliability
B) event sampling
C) behavior checklists
D) unobtrusive measures

Question 6

In a study on "identitiy maintenance strategies" in newer versus older homeless individuals,

A) the procedure could be described as naturalistic observation with minimal structure imposed by researchers
B) researchers used a longitudinal design
C) covert participant observation was used
D) a large sample size was used

Question 7

Reactivity can be reduced by

A) using unobtrusive measures
B) using time sampling procedures
C) using event sampling procedures
D) using naturalistic rather than participant observation procedures

Question 8

What does all observational research have in common?

A) it is descriptive in nature
B) there is no attempt to provide any structure to the situation being observed
C) the researcher joins the group being observed
D) the researcher remains completely hidden from those being observed

Question 9

________ occurs when the behavior of subjects is affected by their knowledge that they are being observed.

A) naturalistic observation
B) experimenter bias
C) reactivity
D) unobtrusive observation

Question 10

In an study of chimpanzees by Boesch-Achermann and Boesch, parents were observed teaching their offspring how to use tools. What does this finding illustrate about observational research?

A) it can call into question previously held beliefs (i.e., that such teaching does not occur)
B) that it can be used to identify the causes of behavior
C) that when studying animals, subject reactivity is a serious problem
D) that animals can learn from humans

Question 11

How is the problem of subject reactivity handled in naturalistic observations of animal behavior?

A) researchers remain completely hidden from the animals
B) researchers assume that animals become accustomed to their presence
C) researchers rely only on unobtrusive measures
D) researchers rely on video recording in zoos

Question 12

Researchers have measured the contents of people's trash and the bumper stickers that people put on their cars. These are two examples of

A) event sampling
B) unobtrusive measures
C) reactivity
D) double blind measures

Question 13

Naturalistic observation is to participant observation as ______ is to _____.

A) highly structured; unstructured
B) habituation; unobtrusive observation
C) objective; subjective
D) lower probability of reactivity; higher probability of reactivity

Question 14

Which of the following characterized Crowley et al.'s observational study in a science museum?

A) they used participant observation rather than naturalistic observation (because the parents were involved
B) unlike most naturalistic observation studies, they were able to obtain informed consent
C) because they used videotape, they did not need to determine interobserver reliability
D) they explained their results (parents explaining science more to boys than girls) by simply pointing out that the boys asked more questions than the girls did

Question 15

Which of the following is true about participant observation?

A) the participant observers can influence the behavior of the group
B) unlike naturalistic observation, experimenter bias is unlikely to play a role
C) researchers usually become emotionally involved and fail to record behavior objectively
D) the method won't produce data that can be analyzed statistically

Question 16

Festinger's famous study of a failed prophecy in a religious cult used which method?

A) participant observation
B) unstructured naturalistic observation
C) archival study
D) naturalistic observation within an experimenter-structured environment

Question 17

Observer bias can be reduced by using

A) predefined behavior checklists
B) participant instead of naturalistic observation
C) naturalistic instead of participant observation
D) animal instead of human subjects

Question 18

What is illustrated by Goodall's observations of chimps killing each other?

A) her observations were hopelessly biased by what she expected to see
B) observational research can serve the purpose of falsification
C) in naturalistic observation with animals, subject reactivity cannot be avoided
D) it's a good thing she didn't try participant observation

Question 19

Attempting to study the everyday behaviors of people, while remaining separate from them, is the goal of

A) naturalistic observation
B) participant observation
C) case studies
D) archival research

Question 20

Crowley et al.'s observational study took place in a science museum. Unlike most observational studies, this one was able to accomplish

A) informed consent
B) Interobserver reliability
C) operational definitions
D) reactivity

Question 21

The purpose of random sampling is to obtain a sample that is

A) large enough to be valid
B) representative of the population
C) smaller than the population
D) significantly different from the population

Question 22

Which of the following is true about the history of survey research?

A) because research in early psychology used small N, surveys were not used until after World War I
B) the first survey research was Kinsey's pioneering sex surveys
C) Darwin and his cousin, Francis Galton, created the first surveys
D) the method of the "questionary" was vigorously promoted by William James

Question 23

The basic definition of ____________ is that all members of the population have exactly the same chance of being selected as participants.

A) cluster sampling
B) nonprobability sampling
C) convenience sampling
D) simple random sampling

Question 24

Hall developed the "questionary" in order to

A) discover the "contents of children's minds"
B) disprove Galton's ideas about the inheritance of intelligence
C) study facial expressions of emotion in different cultures
D) prove that growing up in a city was vastly superior to a country life

Question 25

In order to generalize from the results obtained with a sample to the population as a whole,

A) all members of the population must be tested eventually
B) each member of the population must have exactly the same probability of being selected, especially if stratified sampling is being used
C) the sample must be representative of the population
D) the exact values (on the trait being measured) for the population must be known

Question 26

If it is not feasible to have a complete listing of the members of the population, which probability sampling method can be used?

A) stratified
B) convenience
C) cluster
D) simple random

Question 27

Regarding the ethics of participant observation,

A) deception may be used if it is likely that consent would not be obtained
B) informed consent must be obtained from participants who are observed
C) debriefing is a required
D) deception may not be used

Question 28

A researcher who selects a probability sample that is 40% male and 60% female is most likely to be using __________ sampling.

A) cluster
B) stratified
C) convenience
D) purposive

Question 29

What was wrong with the survey done by Literary Digest in 1936?

A) their sample did not accurately reflect the proportions of Republicans and Democrats
B) they only had 10% of their surveys returned
C) they used simple random sampling instead of the more sophisticated cluster sampling
D) they used cluster sampling, when stratified sampling was required

Question 30

According to the APA ethics code,

A) there are no restrictions on observational research
B) naturalistic observation is OK, but participant observation has been deemed unethical
C) informed consent is not needed for unobtrusive observations in public environments
D) in naturalistic observation, debriefing is only considered important in animal studies

Question 31

The Kinsey Report of sexual behavior is a classic example of

A) case study research
B) archival research
C) survey research using a face-to-face interview format
D) electronic surveying

Question 32

When magazines report the results of reader surveys, what is the major weakness?

A) self selection
B) low number of returns
C) use of nonprobability rather than probability sampling techniques
D) they fail to survey the entire population

Question 33

All of the following characterize interview surveys except

A) cost can be a problem
B) the interviewer can clarify ambiguous questions
C) getting a representative sample is easier than with the other methods
D) they might be limited to a small geographical area

Question 34

All of the following are examples of probability sampling except

A) simple random
B) quota
C) cluster
D) stratified

Question 35

Compared to written surveys, the interview format

A) reduces the problem of question ambiguity
B) is a lot cheaper
C) is immune from interviewer bias problems
D) has more of a problem with return rate

Question 36

Compared to other methods found in Chapter 12, survey research

A) does not have a problem with reactivity
B) is more likely to use convenience sampling
C) has a greater need for the sample to be representative
D) will tend to have a smaller sample size

Question 37

What is the major strength of the interview format for conducting survey research?

A) it has fewer logistical problems than other methods
B) more in-depth information can be acquired than with other methods
C) unlike other methods, interviewer bias is seldom a problem
D) it is cheaper than other methods

Question 38

When should a stratified sample be used?

A) when probability sampling is not necessary
B) when identifiable subgroups of the population are of interest
C) when the population is too large for all of it to be tested
D) when a list of all population members is not available

Question 39

To study math achievement in West Virginia's third graders, a researcher randomly selects 5% of the state's school districts and gives all the students in each district a math test. What sampling procedure is being used here?

A) quota
B) stratified
C) cluster
D) none of the above (all the children in the selected districts are tested - therefore the entire population is being tested, not just a sample)

Question 40

Most research in psychology uses ________ sampling.

A) convenience
B) simple random
C) stratified
D) cluster

Question 41

Nonresponse bias occurs when

A) the population from which the sample is taken is too small
B) response rate is lower than anticipated
C) those returning a survey differ in some important way from the initial sample
D) those responding to a survey fail to answer a significant number of questions on the survey

Question 42

When survey items are all worded favorably , the result can be a response bias called

A) the Hawthorne effect
B) a social desirability bias
C) response acquiescence
D) nonresponse bias

Question 43

The best return rate will be for written surveys that are

A) surveying attitudes about sex rather than about politics
B) clearly unrelated to a sales pitch
C) filled with more open questions than closed questions
D) printed on colored paper than on white paper

Question 44

On surveys, subjects can try to present a positive image of themselves, a problem referred to as

A) experimenter bias
B) social desirability bias
C) question ambiguity
D) good subject bias

Question 45

In observational research, the observer's presence may cause ________ in those being observed.

Question 46

Phone surveys

A) usually need to be brief and to include few if any open questions
B) usually have very high response rates
C) avoid problems with experimenter bias
D) are limited to cluster samples only

Question 47

All of the following are problems with electronic surveying except

A) cost
B) debriefing
C) self selection bias
D) some sampling bias (middle and upper incomes)

Question 48

When using a written survey,

A) return rates will be higher if the survey uses more closed questions than open questions
B) a return rate of 5% is adequate if the survey is well planned
C) return rates will be higher if the survey uses more open questions than closed questions
D) experimenter bias is never a problem

Question 49

In the survey of student attitudes toward animal research by Plous, which sampling method was used?

A) cluster
B) simple random
C) convenience
D) stratified

Question 50

In the box describing the case of the female journalist who was fired on the basis of a survey, which of the following occurred?

A) the survey was not actually completed; the data were manufactured
B) even though an elaborate (and appropriate) statistical analysis was done, the survey itself was hopelessly biased
C) there was an inappropriate statistical analysis
D) it a well-designed and fair survey, but used a biased sample

Question 51

What were the results of the Plous survey of attitudes toward animal research?

A) students strongly supported the use of animals for research
B) students were not very concerned about any pain that might be experienced in animal research
C) students supported the research even more strongly than psychologists
D) the idea of using animals for educational purposes was not supported by students

Question 52

Which of the following was true about the survey by Plous on attitudes toward animal research?

A) he used a simple random sample
B) his return rate was very high-over 90%
C) he found large differences in attitude between students and psychologists
D) the male-female proportion in his sample was very close to the population proportion

Question 53

Which of the following is true about return rates for mailed surveys?

A) anything less than 100% creates problems for interpretation
B) researchers are happy with return rates between 70% and 85%
C) as long as the total number of replies is large (>100), the rate is return is irrelevant
D) if less than 80%, representativeness is a serious problem

Question 54

Recommendations about survey wording include all of the following except

A) negatively phrased questions are useful because they force respondent's to pay attention
B) always opt for simplicity over complexity when wording survey items
C) avoid the use of jargon that might not be understood by respondents (e.g., "summative")
D) when asking for opinion, use "do you support or oppose…" rather than "do you oppose…"

Question 55

A major problem with phone surveying is

A) sampling; too many people have unlisted numbers
B) cost; face-to-face interviews are much cheaper
C) logistics; it is difficult to collect a lot of data per unit of time
D) selling disguised as surveying (sugging)

Question 56

Demographic information includes

A) how knowledgeable a person is about some topic
B) information about the income level of the respondent
C) someone's opinion about democracy (or related issues)
D) all of the above

Question 57

When should DK ("don't know") alternatives be used?

A) when collecting demographic information
B) never-they will be overused by respondents
C) whenever you are surveying people with moderate to low IQs
D) when there is good reason to believe that some respondents will genuinely not know an answer

Question 58

What was the lesson derived from the example of the marketing campaigns for the Whopper and the Big Mac?

A) some surveys have self selection problems
B) be careful of writing survey items that have double-barreled questions
C) beware of leading questions
D) some items use words that are linguistically ambiguous

Question 59

All of the following are closed questions except

A) Is this a closed question?
B) Is this an open question?
C) How is a closed question different from an open question?
D) Is this a poor multiple choice question?

Question 60

Zezima reported that while nearly 100% of people reported that they wash their hands after using public restrooms, however actual observations of public hand washing behavior demonstrated much lower percentages. This illustrates

A) invasion of privacy
B) question ambiguity
C) biased sampling
D) a social desirability bias

Question 61

To reduce bias in observational research, more than one observer is sometimes used, and ___________ is calculated.

Question 62

What methodological and ethical problems faced Festinger in his participant observation study of a religious cult?

Question 63

Phone surveys should occupy a relatively brief amount of the respondent's time; this reduces the tendency for phone survey researchers to use ________ questions.

Question 64

Describe the varieties of observational research. What are the benefits and what are the problems to be overcome in observational research?

Question 65

With ________, a specific set of events for observation is selected and other behaviors are ignored.

Question 66

Describe the "hamburger ads" controversy, as a way of highlighting the possibility of bias in the wording a surveys.

Question 67

Studying the contents of trash or smudges on glass cases in museums are both examples of __________ measures.

Question 68

Distinguish between open and closed questions and give an example of each.

Question 69

Distinguish between naturalistic and participant observation. What problems are unique to each and what problems do they share?

Question 70

In depth questioning and follow-up questions can be most easily accomplished when using a(n) _________ survey format.

Question 71

What are the advantages and disadvantages of collecting survey data through face-to-face interviews?

Question 72

On a survey, subjects sometimes respond the way they think they should respond, rather than in terms of how they truly feel; that is, they show a(n) _______ bias.

Question 73

Describe the two varieties of electronic surveying.

Question 74

What is a DK alternative and when should it be used?

Question 75

Describe what is meant by reactivity in observational research and explain how researchers try to counter the problem?

Question 76

In _____________, the investigator becomes a part of the group being observed.

Question 77

What is meant by nonresponse bias and how can it affect the interpretation of survey data?

Question 78

On a survey about interracial dating, a researcher is worried that the people choosing to return the survey might be different in some important way from the initial group that was sampled; that is, there could be a problem with __________.

Question 79

In survey research, the ___________ is the final list of individuals from whom a sample is drawn.

Question 80

Describe how observer bias can affect the validity of observational research. What measures can be taken to reduce bias?