Question 1

The extent to which a measure actually assesses what it is believed to measure is referred to as:

Accepted Answer

A)  face validity 
B)  construct validity 
C)  criterion validity 
D)  all of the above

Question 2

I am interested in whether different types of therapy result in faster recover. I follow 7 different therapists using a different type of therapy and 20 patients in each condition and I record how long it takes for them to be cured. As you can imagine, I cannot determine who goes to which therapist and thus there is no random assignment of patients. What kind of research method am I using?

Accepted Answer

A)  case study 
B)  observational research 
C)  experimental research 
D)  quasi-experimental research

Question 3

Variables that can be placed on a continuum, such as the degree of happiness or the amount of income, are referred to as:

Accepted Answer

A)  dependent variables 
B)  independent variables 
C)  categorical variables 
D)  continuous variables

Question 4

I vary the distance of a sound-producing object and measure the ability of observers to accurately report the distance of the sound source. The distance of the sound source is what kind of variable?

Accepted Answer

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

Question 5

A test that yields relatively similar scores for the same individual over time has which ONE of the following types of reliability?

Accepted Answer

A)  test-retest reliability 
B)  interrater reliability 
C)  interitem reliability 
D)  contextual reliability

Question 6

Although I ran an elegant study, which produced significant differences between groups in my lab, my results don't actually predict what people do in the real world. My study is very low in

Accepted Answer

A)  external validity 
B)  practicality 
C)  test-retest reliabilty 
D)  criterion validity

Question 7

The more tightly a researcher controls what participants experience, the less the situation may resemble life outside the laboratory. This balance is known as

Accepted Answer

A)  the experimenter's dilemma 
B)  a win-lose scenario 
C)  an empirical paradox 
D)  the Orlacchio paradigm

Question 8

Having a strong correlational coefficient means that

Accepted Answer

A)  knowing one variable will allow you to confidently predict the other variable 
B)  there is likely to be a true relationship between the two variables in the real world 
C)  there are likely to be significant differences between the two groups 
D)  having a high amount on one variables means you probably have a high amount on the other variable as well

Question 9

As can be imagined, no research method is perfect. For that reason, identify the five methods of research discussed in Chapter 2 and state the limitations of each. What do you see as the best research method? Why do you think that?

Accepted Answer

The answer of As can be imagined, no research method...

Question 10

Findings that can be generalized from the laboratory to the real world have:

Accepted Answer

A)  external reliability 
B)  internal reliability 
C)  external validity 
D)  internal validity

Question 11

Jane Goodall's studies of apes in Africa are an example of the:

Accepted Answer

A)  method of naturalistic observation 
B)  experimental method 
C)  quasi-experimental method 
D)  survey method

Question 12

I decide to simply describe behavior rather than to manipulate variables. Therefore, I should use which type of research?

Accepted Answer

A)  descriptive 
B)  experimental 
C)  longitudinal 
D)  cross-sectional

Question 13

A systematic way of organizing and explaining observations is known as a

Accepted Answer

A)  theory 
B)  inferential statistic 
C)  experimental method 
D)  educated guess

Question 14

The major problem with survey methods is that:

Accepted Answer

A)  most people don't want to talk about themselves 
B)  it is hard to question people in their natural environments 
C)  they rely on participants to report on themselves truthfully and accurately 
D)  all of the above

Question 15

In the 1960's, Stanley Milgram conducted a series of now classic studies designed to study:

Accepted Answer

A)  the effect of punishment on learning 
B)  obedience to authority 
C)  cross-cultural differences in intelligence 
D)  memory

Question 16

A hypothesis is best characterized as:

Accepted Answer

A)  a procedure that precedes a theoretical framework 
B)  any phenomenon that can change from one situation to another 
C)  a systematic way of organizing and explaining observations 
D)  a tentative belief about the relationship between two or more variables

Question 17

James Pennebaker found that college students made fewer visits to health services if they:

Accepted Answer

A)  ate a well-balanced meal 
B)  maintained an active exercise program 
C)  exercised little during the weekdays but 5-8 hours on the weekend 
D)  wrote their deepest thoughts and feelings

Question 18

If a researcher studies students at Tiger University in order to learn about students at all universities, then the student body of Tiger University comprises a:

Accepted Answer

A)  population 
B)  cohort 
C)  sample 
D)  subculture

Question 19

You decide to run an experiment where a person pretends to be a subject and at one point refuses to participate in the experiment anymore. You want to see how others react. The person who pretends to be just another subject is commonly referred to as a/an:

Accepted Answer

A)  confederate 
B)  dissociative identity 
C)  pseudo-subject 
D)  pseudo-experimenter

Question 20

A subgroup of the population that is likely to be representative of the population as a whole is known as

Accepted Answer

A)  a culture 
B)  a sample 
C)  a population 
D)  a subculture

Exam 2: Research Methods in Psychology