Deck 7: Experimental, quasi-Experimental, and Ex Post Facto Designs

Question 1

A meta-analysis is used when:

A)the researcher wishes to analyze the analyses of a number of existing studies.
B)there is little existing literature to use as a launching pad for a new study.
C)the researcher has no access to sophisticated statistical techniques.
D)several researchers jointly conduct a large-scale study.

Answer 1

the researcher wishes to analyze the analyses of a number of existing studies.

Question 2

In experimental design,the variable that is manipulated is the:

A)dependent variable.
B)independent variable.
C)confounding variable.
D)constant.

Answer 2

independent variable.

Question 3

Russell's study compared GPA of those students who volunteered for academic study skills training and those who did not elect to take the training.He found that those who had the training also had higher GPA.With which validity threat should Russell be most concerned?

A)Maturation
B)Instrumentation
C)History
D)Selection

Answer 3

Selection

Question 4

"There will be gender differences in degree of mood elevation seen in depressed clients after receiving cognitive-behavioral therapy." In this hypothesis,gender is the:

A)dependent variable.
B)independent variable.
C)confounding variable.
D)constant.

Question 5

Penny Poodle wanted to know which dog obedience training program was more effective: Puppy Pride,the approach she has been using for any years,or Doggie Do-Right,a new approach.Penny convinced 50 human companions of untrained dogs to participate in her study.The dogs and their humans were randomly assigned to complete the Puppy Pride or Doggie Do-Right course.At the end of the training programs,all of the dogs were scored on their level of obedience on a standardized dog obedience checklist (scores could range from 10 to 100).The design of this study is:

A)one-shot experimental
B)ex post facto
C)posttest-only control-group design
D)within subjects

Question 6

Dr.Dow Jones wants to know whether a problem-based approach to teaching economics will result in higher academic performance than his traditional method.Of the six sections of Economics 101 at his university,Dr.Jones randomly assigns three sections to the traditional method and three sections to the problem-based method.At the end of the semester,all students complete the same final exam.In this design,students studying under the traditional method constitute the:

A)placebo group.
B)treatment group.
C)sample.
D)control group.

Question 7

In Katia's remedial mathematics study,she collected pretest data from a group of participants.She divided the participants into three groups.One group received no treatment,one group received instruction by a teacher-delivered intervention,one group received peer tutoring on the same problems.After the intervention she tested their math skills.With which validity threat should Katia be most concerned?

A)Maturation
B)Testing
C)Instrumentation
D)Attrition

Question 8

Which of the following scenarios best exemplifies a multiple-baseline design?

A)Bryce is an occupational therapist working with Sandy,a brain-injured patient.Bryce has decided to test the effects of a graphing strategy with Sandy.He starts the graphing technique,while collecting data in the form of minutes of strength training per day.He discontinues the graphing technique still collecting minutes of strength training per day.Bryce then reintroduces the graphing technique.
B)Laura has developed a new treatment to increase spatial ability.She randomly assigns students to either her intervention or a control condition.In the treatment condition students engage in working puzzles for twenty minutes a day for 10 days.Unfortunately,students don't like her intervention and refuse to do puzzles for all of the days.
C)Mr.Matthews,the school psychologist,is called by the third-grade teacher because one of the students,Seamus,has been referred for a new behavioral intervention plan,in which the teacher uses nonverbal signals as a positive consequence when Seamus engages in appropriate behavior.Mr.Matthews observes Seamus's behavior in the regular classroom and in Art and Music class.He records off-task behavior,calling out,and touching others for eight days.
D)Ewa is an athletic trainer at the university.She conducts research on violence in sport.She has designed a study to examine the effects of a new sportsmanship class.She randomly assigns teams by sport to be in either her new class or not.That is,some teams are in the class and others are not.She then compares incidents of violence between groups.

Question 9

A researcher is studying the effectiveness of two different resident adolescent drug treatment programs.Program A is used at Summerhill adolescent facility.Program B is used at Winterdale adolescent facility.Because random assignment to treatments is not possible in this situation,what can the researcher do to minimize possible effects of sample bias?

Question 10

PJ conducts an experimental study on the effects of soft music during high stakes science testing.He randomly assigns students at the school.In one condition he does not provide music for testing while in the other group he does provide the music.He administers a pretest at the beginning of the year and a posttest at the end of the year.PJ's design is best described as a:

A)Static group comparison
B)Pretest-posttest control group design
C)Control-group-time-series design
D)Nonrandomized control-group pretest-posttest design

Question 11

Kathy trains nurses.She designed a new assertive communication unit to include in her training.She administers a pretest and then randomly assigns nurses to her treatment or a control condition.She tests their communication skills after the treatment.She sees significant differences at immediate testing but after eight weeks she retests the nurses and finds no differences between her treatment and control students.Which of the following best represents the design of Kathy's study?

A)Non-equivalent groups
B)Solomon four group
C)Pretest-posttest control group
D)Post-test only control group

Question 12

The primary difference between the Solomon four-group design and the two-factor experimental design is that ONLY the two-factor experimental design:

A)involves four groups of participants.
B)requires random assignment of participants to groups.
C)has a measurement before initial treatment.
D)includes two different treatments.

Question 13

Dr.Robbins wants to know if there are different opinions regarding the value of public school education between Native Americans who have at least one relative who attended Indian Boarding School and Native Americans who have no family experience with Indian Boarding School.Dr.Robbins contacts 35 Native American participants in each group.He wants each group to include younger as well as older adults,and a mix of male and female participants.He asks each person to complete a survey about their attitudes toward public education.The design of this study is:

A)pre-experimental
B)factorial
C)true experimental
D)ex post facto

Question 14

Dr.Dow Jones wants to know whether a problem-based approach to teaching economics will result in higher academic performance than his traditional method.Of the six sections of Economics 101 at his university,Dr.Jones randomly assigns three sections to the traditional method and three sections to the problem-based method.At the end of semester all students complete the same final exam.In this design,students studying under the problem-based method constitute the:

A)placebo group.
B)treatment group.
C)sample.
D)control group.

Question 15

"There will be differences in degree of mood elevation seen in depressed clients after receiving either cognitive-behavioral or psychoanalytic therapy." During a test of this hypothesis,it was discovered that some of the participants lived with family members and others lived alone.This variable,living situation,is a/an ________.

A)independent variable.
B)dependent variable.
C)constant.
D)confounding variable.

Question 16

Dr.Dow Jones wants to know whether a problem-based approach to teaching economics will result in higher academic performance than his traditional method.Of the six sections of Economics 101 at his university,Dr.Jones randomly assigns three sections to the traditional method and three sections to the problem-based method for Unit 1 of the course.Then all sections switch instructional method for Unit 2.He plans to compare the performance of the two groups of sections on their Unit 1 and Unit 2 exams.The design of this study is:

A)within subjects (repeated measures)
B)quasi-experimental
C)true experimental
D)ex post facto

Question 17

Factorial designs allow researchers to study the effects of more than one independent variable simultaneously.Why is this advantageous? What information can factorial designs yield that nonfactorial designs cannot?
Chapter,your students will be introduced to qualitative research in its many forms.After reading the

Question 18

"There will be differences in degree of mood elevation seen in depressed clients after receiving either cognitive-behavioral or psychoanalytic therapy." In this hypothesis,mood elevation is the:

A)dependent variable.
B)independent variable.
C)confounding variable.
D)constant.

Question 19

As a secondary mathematics teacher,Hernandez conducted a study that explored whether giving children recess prior to testing helped their test performance.For one of the semesters,he sends half of his classes out for 10 minutes of recess prior to testing for the other half,he provides 10 minutes of free time after the test.Which of the following best represents the design of Hernandez's study?

A)Static-group comparison
B)Post-test only control group
C)Solomon four group
D)One-shot case study

Question 20

Millie is using a behavior checklist strategy as well as a prompted praise strategy when working with her second grade behavior disordered student,Kent.She uses both strategies within the same day going back and forth randomly between the two approaches,while recording his on-task behavior.Which of the following designs is Millie employing?

A)Multiple baseline
B)Alternating-treatments
C)Control group time series
D)Static group comparison