Deck 7: Experience Carefully Planned: Experimental Research Designs

Question 1

People are able to recognize the word "nurse" faster than usual if they have just been exposed to the word "doctor." This is an example of:

A)sampling error
B)semantic priming
C)selection bias
D)sampling confound

Answer 1

semantic priming

Question 2

An advantage of conducting a true experiment in the laboratory (as opposed to conducting a true experiment in the field)is that in the laboratory,it is somewhat easier to:

A)use random assignment
B)maximize external validity
C)maximize attrition
D)eliminate confounds

Answer 2

eliminate confounds

Question 3

In comparison with Tripletts' study involving highly trained bicyclists,his study involving fishing reels was probably higher in:

A)restrictive validity
B)construct validity
C)external validity
D)internal validity

Answer 3

internal validity

Question 4

According to the text,the simplest way to avo________ confounds is to allow the manipulated variable (i.e. ,the variable of interest)to vary while holding all other variables constant.

A)person
B)procedural
C)experimental
D)operational

Question 5

In addition to the use of manipulation,true experiments must also make use _______.

A)statistical testing
B)matching
C)random assignment
D)control groups

Question 6

If you were interested in identifying the precise psychological mechanisms behind a well-documented phenomenon (e.g. ,the connection between heat and aggression),you would probably be better off conducting:

A)a laboratory experiment
B)a field experiment
C)a non-experimental laboratory study
D)a passive observational study

Question 7

If Tanisha made use of random assignment,this means that every participant in her study:

A)had an equal chance of being assigned to any particular condition of her study
B)was perfectly matched with another participant in the study
C)participated in every condition of the study
D)was assigned to a different control condition in the study

Question 8

In the early days of psychological research,researchers tried to ensure that experimental and control groups were identical to one another by using:

A)randomization
B)manipulation
C)counterbalancing
D)matching

Question 9

Operational confounds represent a clear threat ______ validity.

A)construct
B)external
C)statistical
D)operational

Question 10

Designing a laboratory study that is high ______ will usually require the use of at least some amount of deception.

A)mundane realism
B)experimental realism
C)objective realism
D)subjective realism

Question 11

Isen and Levin's (1972)study involved giving people cookies to put them in good moods to see if they would be more willing to help a student in distress.What type of confound did this introduce into the experiment?

A)operational
B)procedural
C)person
D)experimental

Question 12

In a study of alcohol and judgment,MacDonald,Zanna,and Fong (1995)convinced some of their participants that they had consumed alcohol when they actually had not.Which technique(s)did they use to achieve this goal?

A)By spraying alcohol into the air of the room in which the study was run
B)By using a confederate who appeared to be mildly drunk
C)By showing participants a fake breathalyzer reading
D)The researchers did all of the above

Question 13

The te_______ confound is the non-experimental equivalent of the experimental term procedural confound.

A)operational
B)experimental
C)environmental
D)person

Question 14

Compared with other research designs (e.g. ,correlational designs),true experiments provide researchers with superior information about:

A)experimental artifacts
B)group differences
C)procedural confounds
D)causality

Question 15

In which of the following ways is noise different than confounds?

A)Noise is distributed evenly across experimental conditions.
B)Noise influences the independent variable.
C)Noise and confounds can never appear in the same experiment.
D)It is important to reduce confounds but not noise.

Question 16

_______are important because they identify the limiting conditions of a specific theory.

A)Deceptions
B)Random assignments
C)Interactions
D)Experiments

Question 17

What advantage(s)does random assignment have over matching?

A)allows for greater internal validity
B)precision
C)easier than matching
D)all of these

Question 18

Asch's laboratory studies involving conformity in people's judgments of the lengths of lines appear to have been low _____ but very high ______.

A)mundane realism;experimental realism
B)experimental realism;mundane realism
C)internal validity;external validity
D)objective realism;subjective realism

Question 19

According to the text,the two most important advantages of true experiments are that they:

A)minimize attrition and maximize mundane realism
B)solve the problem of individual differences and help to minimize confounds
C)solve the problem of induction and maximize statistical power
D)maximize both internal and external validity

Question 20

Reifman,Larrick,and Fein's (1991)research on temperature and aggression among baseball pitchers is an example of:

A)archival research
B)observational research
C)unobtrusive observational research
D)survey or interview research

Question 21

Which of the following tips is NOT one of the "six commandments of being a good experimenter" discussed in the text?

A)"be suave"
B)"be honest"
C)"be a good liar"
D)"be punctual"

Question 22

Dr.Sekaquaptua conducted an experiment on the effects of alcohol consumption on helping behavior.To make certain that participants in her sober and intoxicated conditions were,in fact,sober and intoxicated,she measured her participants' blood alcohol levels using a breathalyzer.This assessment of blood alcohol levels was a:

A)dependent measure
B)secondary dependent measure
C)manipulation check
D)pilot assessment

Question 23

In comparison with an original study,a replication study usually:

A)tests a new hypothesis by making use of technology that was not available in the past
B)makes changes in operational definitions without changing the constructs being studied
C)reveals potential problems such as restriction of range
D)helps a researcher to identify new predictors of a phenomenon

Question 24

Stephen is a researcher who shows up at the laboratory on his skateboard in a dirty old t-shirt to meet his research participants.Which of the "six commandments of being a good researcher" does Stephen need to improve?

A)"being suave"
B)"acting like an adult"
C)"being honest"
D)"being educated"