Deck 2: A: Research Methods in Psychology

Question 1

Which statement about psychological theories is true?

A)They should be simple.
B)They should be complex.
C)They should avoid making claims about causal factors.
D)They should generate new ideas and hypotheses.

Answer 1

They should generate new ideas and hypotheses.

Question 2

Which statement best captures the basic idea underlying the experimental method?

A)Sample participants carefully,observe their behaviour,and report the results.
B)Describe and measure behaviour under a wide variety of conditions.
C)Manipulate an independent variable to determine an effect on a dependent variable.
D)Manipulate a dependent variable to determine an effect on an independent variable.

Answer 2

Manipulate an independent variable to determine an effect on a dependent variable.

Question 3

All events,physical,mental and behavioural,are the result of,or are determined by,specific causal factors.Which term best captures this belief?

A)causation.
B)replication.
C)generalization.
D)determinism.

Answer 3

determinism.

Question 4

If a researcher defines variables or conditions in terms of the specific procedures used to determine their presence,what type of definition is being used?

A)unbiased
B)dependent
C)operational
D)hypothetical

Question 5

What is the primary reason why psychological researchers use the experimental method?

A)To make claims concerning causality.
B)To observe changes in behaviour.
C)To detect possible confounding variables.
D)To determine if two variables are related.

Question 6

A store owner is conducting an experiment to determine how much advertising increases overall profit.What type of variable is the amount of advertising?

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

Question 7

In what ways are theories and hypotheses interrelated?

A)Hypotheses are more important than theories.
B)Theories are more important than hypotheses.
C)When a hypothesis derived from a theory is not validated,the theory must be modified.
D)Theories are not of fundamental importance in generating new hypotheses,except when a theory has been proven.

Question 8

"If an athlete imagines having a good performance,then that athlete is more likely to be successful in an event." What is being described by this statement?

A)a theory.
B)determinism.
C)a hypothesis.
D)a non-causal relationship.

Question 9

What happens after a psychologist has generated a hypothesis?

A)it becomes a theory.
B)researchers are likely to accept it as valid.
C)research is needed to verify the if-then link.
D)researchers are likely to generate concurrent hypotheses.

Question 10

A research assistant who is working in a psychologist's laboratory learns the importance of keeping complete records of observations and data analyses.What is the primary purpose of such procedures?

A)To increase objectivity.
B)To increase subjectivity.
C)To adhere to institutional policies and procedures.
D)To decrease liability claims.

Question 11

A researcher finds a new cancer drug to be effective,but other scientists cannot replicate the original findings.What is the best explanation for the original results?

A)faulty equipment.
B)determinism.
C)observer bias.
D)poor methodology.

Question 12

When carrying out an experiment,which variable does the researcher manipulate?

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

Question 13

A psychologist hypothesizes that viewing pornographic material increases aggressive behaviour in males.What is the dependent variable in this study?

A)aggressive behaviour.
B)the age of the participants.
C)viewing pornographic material.
D)the gender of the participants.

Question 14

What is observer bias?

A)an "educated guess" about what will happen.
B)the direct result of the context of discovery.
C)the direct result of the context of justification.
D)an error due to personal motives and expectations.

Question 15

Which scenario indicates that a research study has been confounded?

A)If the experimenter's interpretation of the data has not been supported.
B)If participants do not respond in the way the experimenter has expected.
C)If a participant's behaviour has resulted solely because of the independent variable.
D)If a variable other than the independent variable has influenced a participant's behaviour.

Question 16

What do psychological researchers rely on when they are ready to put their hypotheses to the test?

A)intuition.
B)the scientific method.
C)common sense.
D)subjective judgments.

Question 17

Which belief is most likely to be held by individuals conducting psychological research?

A)Human behaviour is unpredictable and random.
B)Behaviour follows discoverable,lawful patterns.
C)Most explanations of behaviour are to be found in the environment.
D)Human behaviour is the result of predetermined forces acting upon the individual.

Question 18

A researcher hypothesizes that boys are more aggressive than girls.Support for the hypothesis is gained by personally watching children at the playground.What should the researcher consider when determining the validty of the data collected?

A)observer bias.
B)standardization.
C)dependent variables.
D)independent variables.

Question 19

In an anecdote presented in the textbook,Hugo Munsterberg,a leading psychologist around the beginning of the 20th century,describes the various reported reactions to a speech he gave on peace.What did the reactions illustrate?

A)the potential effect of observer bias.
B)the rationale for the use of operational definitions.
C)how Munsterberg created the concept of the scientific method.
D)the importance of the within-subjects design.

Question 20

In carrying out psychological research,what is the basic concept underlying the use of standardization?

A)all research participants are treated uniformly.
B)research participant are randomly selected.
C)operational definitions are general in nature.
D)each research procedure includes both an independent variable and a dependent variable.

Question 21

Sample is to population as

A)part is to whole.
B)large is to small.
C)valid is to invalid.
D)representative is to not representative.

Question 22

A psychologist has collected data on the physical agility of young adults and now wishes to collect similar responses from elderly people.The psychologist is working within a limited budget.On the basis of sampling theory,which participants should the psychologist attempt to recruit?

A)Elderly acquaintances.
B)Elderly people who are athletic.
C)Elderly individuals that are not known to the psychologist.
D)A representative sample of elderly people.

Question 23

Which research design uses each participant as his or her own control?

A)double-blind
B)within-subjects
C)between-subjects
D)randomly assigned

Question 24

A researcher assigns the first fifty people who sign up to participate in a study to the experimental condition and the next fifty to the control condition.Why would the interpretations drawn from the study be severely limited?

A)A within-subjects design should have been implemented.
B)Random assignment to conditions was not implemented.
C)A greater number of participants should have been selected.
D)Another control condition should have been included.

Question 25

Dr.Norton is using a research technique in which neither the research participants nor the research assistants are aware of which participants receive which treatment.Which approach has Dr.Norton most likely employed?

A)placebo control.
B)between-subjects design.
C)single-blind control technique.
D)double-blind control technique.

Question 26

A researcher is testing if caffeine makes people more talkative.Some of the participants are given regular coffee to drink and some are given warm milk.The assistant then interviews the participants and counts the number of words each speaks during the interview.What seems to be missing from the design?

A)a hypothesis
B)a placebo control
C)a dependent variable
D)an independent variable

Question 27

In Robert Rosenthal's study of the effects of expectations,some students were led to believe that the rats they were training were maze-bright and other students were told that their rats were maze-dull.In reality,the rats were all the same.What did Rosenthal find in the study?

A)The rats labeled as bright were found to be much better learners.
B)The students became suspicious of how the rats were labeled.
C)Surprisingly,the rats labeled dull were found to be much better learners.
D)There was no relationship between the way the rats were labeled and whether students found their rats to be good or bad learners.

Question 28

When does a placebo effect occur?

A)When an experimenter finds what he or she expected to discover.
B)When participants have not been randomly assigned to experimental and control conditions.
C)When participants change their behaviour because of their belief that a treatment has had an effect.
D)When both participants and experimental assistants are unaware of which participants get which treatment.

Question 29

In the context of conducting psychological research,what is the purpose of control procedures?

A)To increase the likelihood that the experimenter's hypothesis will be supported.
B)To hold constant variables and conditions other than those related to the hypothesis.
C)To encourage participants to respond in a manner consistent with their own expectations.
D)To ensure that participants are affected equally by both independent and dependent variables.

Question 30

In a between-subjects design,which participants are NOT exposed to the experimental treatment?

A)control
B)experimental
C)within-subjects
D)randomly-assigned

Question 31

A researcher reports to his colleagues that he belongs to a secret scientific society,where no one but the researcher will ever know about the studies the society members are doing.Which principle is being violated?

A)determinism.
B)generalizability.
C)open-mindedness.
D)public verifiability.

Question 32

To measure the effects of task complexity on an individual's perception of time,a researcher has one group of participants do simple addition problems and another group solve complex mathematical formulas.Both groups are then asked to estimate the time elapsed since they began the task.Later,the researcher finds out that the participants given the complex task were in a room with higher noise levels than the other group.In this study,which term best describes the noise level?

A)the placebo effect.
B)a dependent variable.
C)a confounding variable.
D)an independent variable.

Question 33

A research assistant is conducting an experiment designed to assess the verbal abilities of boys and girls.In preparing for the experiment,the assistant reads a research study that found higher verbal abilities in girls than in boys.This information about gender unknowingly led the assistant to communicate to the girls in the experiment that they should do better than the boys.What term best describes this phenomenon?

A)Placebo effect
B)Expectancy effect
C)Double-blind effect
D)Between-subjects effect

Question 34

What is the primary purpose of randomly assigning participants to experimental and control groups?

A)To help eliminate confounding variables related to individual differences.
B)To help minimize observer bias.
C)To reduce the likelihood of the placebo effect.
D)To ensure that the results are generalizable.

Question 35

Why do research designs often include a control condition?

A)to ensure that there are enough participants for meaningful statistical analyses.
B)to serve as a baseline against which the experimental effect is evaluated.
C)to reduce experimenter expectancy effects.
D)to meet the requirements of the scientific method.

Question 36

According to the text book,what percentage of patients who use a treatment with no genuine medical effects show a good or excellent outcome?

A)10
B)30
C)50
D)70

Question 37

A researcher theorizes that people are likely to perspire more when telling embarrassing stories than when telling funny stories.Volunteers are asked to record a memory of an embarrassing or a funny incident and their perspiration is measured.On some days,but not others,the lab where the recordings are done is very hot.Based on this information,what should be of most concern to the researcher?

A)placebo effects.
B)experimenter expectancy effects.
C)the presence of a confounding variable.
D)determining an operational definition of embarrassment.

Question 38

A psychologist is doing research for a pharmaceutical company.The drugs that are being tested are numbered so that the psychologist does not know what they are,nor does the psychologist know which participants are receiving which drugs.Participants are also unaware of differences in treatments.Which phenomenon is being described?

A)within-subjects design.
B)correlational method.
C)double-blind control.
D)random assignment.

Question 39

When planning a study,the researcher determines that of the one hundred participants,fifty will be randomly assigned to the experimental condition and the other fifty to the control condition.Which type of experimental design is being used?

A)placebo control
B)single-subject
C)within-subjects
D)between-subjects

Question 40

One study described in the text book examined the effects of ginkgo biloba as aanswer to one's memory problems.The study highlighted the importance of utilizing which one of the following controls?

A)single-blind control
B)double-blind control
C)placebo control
D)counter-balancing control

Question 41

What is the most likely correlation between shoe size and intelligence in human adults?

A)near zero.
B)strongly negative.
C)strongly positive.
D)impossible to determine.

Question 42

Which correlation coefficient must be a mistake?

A)0)0
B)-0.7
C)+1.0
D)+1.4

Question 43

As outlined in the textbook,researchers studied the effectiveness of audiotapes that contained subliminal messages.The researchers cleverly anticipated the placebo effect by adding another independent variable to the experiment.How was this achieved?

A)Participants listened to tapes that were mismarked.
B)Participants were paid to show the desired behaviour.
C)Participants were told that the tapes would be ineffective.
D)Participants heard messages that were clearly audible.

Question 44

As an assignment for an Experimental Psychology class,students have been asked to conduct a study that will yield a causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables.What type of research method must be used to complete this assignment?

A)experimental
B)observational
C)correlational
D)case study

Question 45

A student is asked to participate in a study.First,the student is asked to rate how angry a person appears in a photograph.Then the student is asked to think of angry thoughts and to rate the same photograph again.What type of research design is being implemented?

A)correlational
B)case study
C)within-subjects
D)between-subjects

Question 46

Given the following correlation coefficients,what is the weakest correlation?

A)+0.10
B)-0.06
C)-0.10
D)-0.60

Question 47

A psychologist believes that music affects a person's mood.Some participants listen to waltzes and others listen to military marches.Each participant's mood is measured with a paper-and-pencil test.What are the independent and dependent variables?

A)The waltz music is the independent variable and the military march music is the dependent variable.
B)The type of music is the independent variable and the participant's mood is the dependent variable.
C)The participant's mood is the independent variable and the type of music is the dependent variable.
D)The participant's mood is the independent variable and the scores on the paper-and-pencil test are the dependent variable.

Question 48

A researcher computes a correlation coefficient and determines that it is zero.What does this finding indicate?

A)That a perfect correlation exists.
B)That there is no relationship between the variables.
C)That the researcher has made an error in the computation.
D)That as one variable increases,the other variable decreases.

Question 49

What is one of the most important functions of correlational research?

A)One can be certain about the causes of behaviour.
B)One can draw conclusions based on relatively weak data.
C)Once can observe human behaviour as it takes place in the natural environment.
D)One can make predictions about one variable based upon information from another variable.

Question 50

A student has been asked to determine if there is a relationship between musical ability and mathematical ability.What type of research design would be best suited to this task?

A)between - subjects experiment.
B)case study.
C)correlational study.
D)naturalistic observation.

Question 51

In company A,the relationship between motivation and worker productivity is +.60,while in company B,the relationship between motivation and worker productivity is -.90.Based upon this knowledge,which of the following observations is true?

A)The ability to accurately predict worker productivity from worker motivation is greater in company A.
B)The ability to accurately predict worker productivity from worker motivation is greater in company B.
C)The ability to accurately predict worker productivity from worker motivation will be the same in both companies.
D)One cannot predict worker productivity from worker's motivation using correlational data.

Question 52

A researcher is interested in the relationship between brain damage and the ability of humans to plan their behaviour.What type of research design would be most appropriate to implement?

A)naturalistic observation
B)experimental
C)correlational
D)within-subjects

Question 53

Which statement is true of the within-subjects experimental design?

A)It is a subtype of the between-subjects design.
B)There are no comparison conditions in this design.
C)There are two experimental groups and one control group.
D)Each participant serves in all conditions of the experiment.

Question 54

After collecting data,a researcher determines that places that have instituted a death penalty have shown a decrease in murders.Assuming that the data are accurate,what can be safely concluded?

A)The relationship has been determined by another variable.
B)Places that do not have a death penalty should consider instituting one as a deterrent to violent crime.
C)There are fewer murders in places that have a death penalty.
D)It is likely that violent criminals have moved to places that do not yet have a death penalty.

Question 55

A teacher is trying to see if smiling at her students will increase the number of questions they ask.In the first and third weeks of the study,the number of questions students ask is recorded.In the second week,the teacher smiles at her students,and the number of questions is also recorded.What type of research design is being used?

A)within-subjects
B)correlational
C)placebo control
D)between-subjects

Question 56

A seafood distributor hires a researcher to determine whether eating oysters makes one more passionate.The researcher collects data that show that the people who eat the most oysters have the most active love lives.What can be concluded from this research?

A)Eating oysters makes one passionate.
B)Being passionate causes a craving for oysters.
C)People with active love lives consume more oysters.
D)Nothing can be concluded from this study about the relationship between eating oysters and being passionate.

Question 57

The more classes students miss,the lower their test grades tend to be.Which term best describes this phenomenon?

A)expectancy effect.
B)positive correlation.
C)negative correlation.
D)observer bias.

Question 58

Which scenario illustrates the use of a within-subjects design?

A)The artistic abilities of males are compared to the artistic abilities of females.
B)Children at three different age levels are given a test of their motor coordination.
C)Participants are given a spelling test,asked to meditate for ten minutes,and then given another spelling test.
D)One group of participants is given a compliment before solving problems and a second group is criticized before solving problems.

Question 59

What is the most likely correlation between height and weight?

A)zero.
B)positive.
C)negative.
D)unpredictable.

Question 60

You read in a health magazine that the more people drink alcohol and smoke cigarettes,the greater the number of emotional problems they are likely to have.What does this relationship illustrate?

A)cause and effect.
B)a zero correlation.
C)a positive correlation.
D)a negative correlation.

Question 61

A researcher is interested in documenting the relationship between internal psychological states such as a person's motivation to succeed and his or her feelings of self-confidence.Which type of measure would most likely be used?

A)behavioural
B)self-report
C)physiological
D)naturalistic observational

Question 62

Which scenario best lends itself to naturalistic observation?

A)Individuals performing night-time grooming.
B)Individuals taking morning medications.
C)Individuals having dreams.
D)Individuals showing courtesy when approaching a busy intersection in a car.

Question 63

While conducting a naturalistic observation study of children's play behaviour,the researcher asked the children to limit their play activity to only one area in the playground in order to make more accurate observations.How does this approach fail to meet the criteria for naturalistic observation?

A)The study took place in a public setting.
B)The play behaviour was not naturally occurring.
C)Only one observation was made of the children's play behaviour.
D)Naturalistic observational studies cannot be easily conducted with humans.

Question 64

A good interviewer must try to create a positive social relationship with the respondent in order to facilitate trust and open communication.What is the interviewer attempting to establish?

A)rapport.
B)empathy.
C)confidence.
D)a common language.

Question 65

If a test has been shown to be valid,what conclusions can likely be drawn?

A)It is also reliable.
B)It may or may not be reliable.
C)It may be used for many purposes.
D)It can be used with any population.

Question 66

A professor is trying to determine if the number of questions students ask in class is related to their class performance.The number of questions students ask is then compared to performance on the next test.How would the number of questions asked be classified?

A)The product of behaviour
B)The process of behaviour
C)The outcome of behaviour
D)The antecedent of behaviour

Question 67

What does it mean if the results of an experiment are reliable?

A)the experiment measured what it was intended to measure.
B)the experiment is free from observer bias.
C)if the experiment is repeated,the same results will be achieved.
D)the results of the experiment can be generalized to other situations.

Question 68

Which of the following is an open-ended question?

A)How much did you earn last year?
B)Do you live in an urban or rural environment?
C)Are your political views left-wing or right-wing?
D)What are the benefits of having a college education?

Question 69

A researcher is using the observational technique to study the relationship between student classroom behaviour and academic performance.In this context,what is a good measure of a behavioural process?

A)student quiz grades
B)The students' responses on mid-term course evaluations
C)student final grades
D)The amount of time students spend looking at the teacher during instructional time

Question 70

A researcher who is trying to develop a test of musical aptitude is overheard to say,"I want to make sure that the test that I am developing gives similar results time after time." Which term best captures this goal?

A)validity.
B)reliability.
C)generalizability.
D)standardization.

Question 71

A student is interested in the kinds of movies young people enjoy watching.The student develops a simple questionnaire that asks the youth about their attitudes toward different film genres and then records which films they actually attend.How is this measurement technique best described?

A)self-report measure.
B)behavioural observation.
C)naturalistic observation.
D)a combination of self-report and behavioural observation.

Question 72

Which of the following terms is closest to the concept of psychological measurement?

A)control
B)validation
C)qualification
D)quantification

Question 73

Which topic of discussion would likely include the terms,"process," "products," "direct," and "naturalistic" ?

A)interviews.
B)self-reports.
C)observations.
D)questionnaires and surveys.

Question 74

In a study conducted in England by Haddock,participants were asked how much they were interested in politics.Then the questionnaire continued in one of four ways.One version asked the participants to list two positive characteristics for Prime Minister Tony Blair.A second version asked participants to list five positive characteristics for the prime minister.The remaining two versions of the questionnaires asked for two or five negative characteristics.What did the results reveal for the subset of participants who were relatively uninterested in politics?

A)their ratings of Tony Blair were relatively more negative when they attempted to recall two negative characteristics.
B)their ratings of Tony Blair were relatively more positive when they attempted to recall five negative characteristics.
C)their ratings of Tony Blair were relatively more positive when they attempted to recall positive characteristics.
D)there was no link between the generation of either positive or negative characteristics and the participants' liking or disliking Tony Blair.

Question 75

How does an interview primarily differ from a questionnaire?

A)the interviewer should be able to take the perspective of the respondent.
B)the interviewer does not need to ask the questions in a completely standardized manner.
C)the interviewer should be sensitive to the social interaction with the respondent.
D)an effort should be made by the interviewer to encourage trust on the part of the respondent.

Question 76

An elementary school teacher is interested in measuring the amount of time a young student in class is working productively versus chatting with classmates.What approach to data collection should the teacher take?

A)A questionnaire.
B)A behavioural measure.
C)A self-report measure.
D)A face-to-face interview.

Question 77

On the basis of carefully controlled research on subliminal messages,what did the authors of the textbook conclude?

A)subliminal messages on CDs offer nothing more than placebo effects.
B)consumers must be careful because only some CDs are effective.
C)nearly 75% of adults who listen to subliminal CDs show benefits.
D)subliminal messages on CDs can have opposite effects to those that are intended.

Question 78

Which scenario would be classified as a self-report measure?

A)if a person laughs at a joke
B)the number of errors made by a rat in a maze
C)a person's written response to a questionnaire
D)the speed with which a person can press a button

Question 79

With respect to the concepts of reliability and validity,what can be concluded?

A)if a test is reliable,then it also must be valid.
B)if an experiment is reliable,then it also must be valid.
C)tests or experiments can be reliable without being valid.
D)a test,but not an experiment can be reliable without being valid.

Question 80

An instructor develops a test for introductory psychology students that contains ten analytical geometry problems.What is this test clearly lacking?

A)validity.
B)reliability.
C)accuracy.
D)clarity.