Deck 6: Nonexperimental Research Designs

Question 1

The most important difference between a census and a population survey is that a census:

A)doesn't test a psychological theory
B)can only be conducted every ten years
C)requires researchers to sample an entire population
D)requires researchers to oversample members of minority groups

Answer 1

requires researchers to sample an entire population

Question 2

Analyses of the specific injury that Phineas Gage suffered,along with careful analyses of his behavior after the injury have helped to:

A)document the plasticity and flexibility of the brain
B)establish the role of the prefrontal cortex in emotional regulation
C)document how speech can be impaired by specific kinds of brain damage
D)provide clues to curing or rehabilitating patients who undergo such injuries

Answer 2

establish the role of the prefrontal cortex in emotional regulation

Question 3

Using conventional probability values,what would it mean if a survey finding that shows that 75% of American college students own a laptop has a 4% margin of error?

A)We are 95% sure that the actual proportion of American college students that own a laptop is 75%.
B)We are 91% sure that the actual proportion of American college students that own a laptop is 75%.
C)We are 95% sure that the actual proportion of American college students that own a laptop is 75%,plus or minus 4%.
D)We are 75% sure that the actual proportion of American college students that own a laptop is 95%.

Answer 3

We are 95% sure that the actual proportion of American college students that own a laptop is 75%,plus or minus 4%.

Question 4

The most important difference between case studies and casual (unscientific)analyses of behavior is that case studies:

A)are usually conducted with the goal of theory construction or theory testing
B)usually supplement casual analyses with statistical analyses
C)rely on careful scientific measurements and report only observable states
D)are based on converging evidence taken from multiple research participants

Question 5

Occasionally a researcher will make use of highly sophisticated sampling techniques and still draw incorrect conclusions about the properties of a population.This is possible because of:

A)sampling error
B)the problem of induction
C)clustering
D)an operational confound

Question 6

Marketing research is a specific form of:

A)audience sampling research
B)archival research
C)observational research
D)public opinion research

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT a drawback to case studies?

A)difficult to use operational definitions
B)difficult to perform statistical analyses
C)not well-respected in some scientific circles
D)can inspire researchers to ask the right questions about an illness or other area

Question 8

The stories of Peter Tripp and Randy Gardner (two different people who each endured extremely long periods of sleep deprivation)suggest that:

A)extreme sleep deprivation invariably leads to a very specific set of symptoms (e.g. ,hallucinations,breakdowns in judgment)
B)an advantage of case studies is that a lot of general information about human beings can be gathered from studying only one or two people
C)a drawback of case studies is that different case studies often yield different results
D)case studies often fail to use basic safeguards against biased observations

Question 9

Which of the following is not usually an example of single-variable research?

A)archival research
B)public opinion research
C)research on judgment and decision-making
D)epidemiological research

Question 10

In a study of divorce rates in different U.S.states,Frankie observed strong correlations between crime rates and divorce rates (e.g. ,divorce rates are higher in states with higher crime rates).Based on these results,Frankie concluded that crime causes divorce.Which of the following represents a potential environmental confound in Frankie's study?

A)people who watch a lot of aggressive television are more likely to commit crimes
B)people who are more aggressive are more likely to commit crimes
C)the average temperature varies greatly from state to state
D)the proportion of urban residents varies greatly from state to state

Question 11

A great deal of early research on judgment and decision-making was:

A)archival research
B)single-variable research
C)public opinion research
D)observational research

Question 12

Tulving's case study of K.C.(the man with an extreme form of amnesia)suggests that:

A)people can possess a clear sense of what traits they possess without being able to remember any specific thing they have ever done
B)people can remember episodic information without having any memory for semantic information
C)human memory is organized into a basic perceptual vs.cognitive dichotomy
D)long term memory can be destroyed without any loss of short-term memory

Question 13

_________ allows researchers to draw reasonable inferences about large groups of people on the basis of a relatively small sample.

A)debriefing
B)convenience sample
C)census
D)population survey

Question 14

According to the text,an operational confound occurs when a measure:

A)fails to assess some of the features that define a construct
B)assesses another construct (in addition to what the researcher intended to measure)
C)assesses a construct whose causes are poorly understood
D)does not make sense to some of the participants in a study

Question 15

A researcher who wants to know if average yearly temperature and a city's crime are related would most likely use what type of study?

A)correlational study
B)random sample
C)controlled experiment
D)survey

Question 16

Instead of doing marketing research on people's fishing behavior,Billy Jay simply asked some of his fishing buddies how many days they thought the average person spent fishing each year.As a result,Billy Jay greatly overestimated the size of the market for his fishing tackle business.This shortcoming in Billy Jay's assessment is probably grounded in:

A)spreading of alternatives
B)miscalibration
C)nonresponse bias
D)false consensus

Question 17

Obtaining a representati_____ is one of the most important factors in conducting a single-variable research.

A)measurement
B)participant
C)population
D)sample

Question 18

Early research on the conjunction fallacy is best described as:

A)archival research
B)research on judgment and decision-making
C)observational research
D)survey or interview research

Question 19

Research designs in which researchers produce careful analyses of the experiences of a single person or group are referred to as:

A)archival studies
B)singular studies
C)case studies
D)delineation studies

Question 20

Which of the following best describes cluster sampling?

A)People who possess some specific background characteristic are sampled.
B)People are sampled using groupings from a larger population.
C)People are selected on the basis of convenience to the researcher.
D)All or almost all of the members of a population are sampled.

Question 21

In comparison with designs that only gather data on one occasion,longitudinal designs usually allow researcher to deal more effectively with the problem of:

A)environmental confounds
B)operational confounds
C)reverse causality
D)person confounds

Question 22

Maria Elena conducted a study of depressive symptoms and self-esteem.She found that people who were low in self-esteem were more likely to suffer from depression.She would like to argue that low self-esteem contributes to depression.What prevents her from being able to make a strong claim of this sort?

A)the person confound problem
B)the multi-causality problem
C)the concurrent measurement problem
D)all of these prevent her from making a strong claim

Question 23

If it is impossible to conduct experimental research on a topic,what do good researchers usually try to do to reduce confounds in correlational research?

A)search the research literature for independent replications of their findings
B)measure and statistically control for likely confounds
C)use statistics that can uncover time sequences in cross-sectional data
D)choose dependent measures that are not prone to confounds

Question 24

What is usually the best kind of observational research?

A)archival measurement
B)case study
C)unobtrusive observations
D)census

Question 25

Archival research refers to research in which investigators:

A)make their data available to the public for replication and critical analysis
B)use field methods with the goal of extending research to new populations
C)borrow data from other researchers that they then combine with their own data
D)examine naturally existing public records to test a theory or hypothesis