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Research Methods--Practice Test 3, Spring 2008

Multiple Choice
Identify the letter of the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question.
 

 1. 
Sometimes research participants in treatment groups have diverse perspectives when providing subjective ratings, so differences between groups might occur because of those perspectives rather than to an experimental treatment.  You can reduce this problem by using
a.
complete counterbalancing designs.
b.
between subjects designs.
c.
nonequivalent control groups designs.
d.
repeated measures designs.
 

 2. 
When you are interested in studying subject variables, you must choose
a.
a between groups design.
b.
a repeated measures design.
c.
a matched groups design.
d.
a completely counterbalanced design.
 

 3. 
If a participant experiences treatment A then treatment B, his or her performance could be better on B because something learned in treatment A leads to improved performance.  When treatment B comes first, though, it doesnt help improve performance on A.  When this pattern occurs, there is a problem with
a.
statistical regression effects.
b.
baseline effects.
c.
latency effects.
d.
sequence effects.
 

 4. 
When early behavior in a research project affects later behavior in an experiment, there is a problem with
a.
counterbalancing.
b.
baseline effects.
c.
pairing effects.
d.
transfer effects.
 

 5. 
When a researcher randomly assigns participants to conditions, the design is called
a.
quasi-experimental.
b.
a static-group control design.
c.
experimental.
d.
a counterbalanced design.
 

 6. 
Changes in people over time, not the effect of the independent variable, may cause them to respond differently at various points in an experiment.  The threat to internal validity in this case would involve
a.
selection.
b.
maturation.
c.
statistical regression.
d.
history.
 

 7. 
Mechanical equipment sometimes needs to be calibrated so it functions accurately.  If a researcher fails to do this, data may suffer from low validity due to
a.
selection.
b.
instrumentation.
c.
statistical regression.
d.
history.
 

 8. 
The advantage of adding the pretest in the nonequivalent control group design is that it
a.
guarantees that the maturation threat to internal validity will not be a problem.
b.
lets the researcher know if the selection threat to internal validity has resulted in groups that differ at the start of the study.
c.
lets a researcher adjust the sample if there is a high level of attrition among participants.
d.
increases the validity of the design by allowing for counterbalancing of groups.
 

 9. 
If researchers wanted to see if subliminal messages (which generally have no effect on any behaviors) in stores would be useful in reducing shoplifting, an investigator could monitor the degree of shoplifting in each of three weeks in an initial phase, then begin the subliminal messages, and monitor shoplifting following introduction of the subliminal stimuli for three more weeks.  This kind of design would is a
a.
static-group comparison design.
b.
time series design.
c.
nonequivalent control group design.
d.
one-group pretest-posttest design.
 

 10. 
A group of researchers studied a smoking cessation program on TV by tracking smoking before a the program and then at several points over the next year.  This design involvedd.     
a.
a static-group comparison design.
b.
an interrupted time series design.
c.
a nonequivalent control group design.
d.
a one-group pretest-posttest design.
 

 11. 
Data collection that involves every member of the population of interest is called a
a.
sampling frame.
b.
survey.
c.
census.
d.
targeted survey.
 

 12. 
When considering the ethics of survey research, an investigator should
a.
insure that all responses are anonymous and confidential.
b.
let respondents know from the very beginning that once they begin their participation, they need to continue with the project
c.
remember that if the researcher makes a big point of assuring confidentiality and anonymity, it may needlessly arouse suspicions among respondents.
d.
avoid asking questions of a sensitive nature.
 

 13. 
A survey item on which respondents must choose from a set of answers provided on a questionnaire is
a.
generally subject to high levels of response bias.
b.
not susceptible to social desirable bias.
c.
a closed-ended question.
d.
less prone to nondifferentiation than other types of items.
 

 14. 
By the time a person is near the end of a questionnaire, the responses
a.
have probably shifted from optimizing to acquiescence.
b.
will no longer show telescoping.
c.
will be affected by how the respondent answered earlier questions.
d.
will show high levels of self-deception positivity.
 

 15. 
When respondents make up an attitude on the spot while answering a question,
a.
the researcher can find out by asking the respondent to answer the question again.
b.
the respondents respond more quickly when they have a pre-existing attitude.
c.
they usually claim to hold that attitude firmly and deeply.
d.
they may engage in impression management tactics.
 

 16. 
When respondents give the same or nearly the same value in a rating task, they are engaged in
a.
satisficing.
b.
optimizing.
c.
response bias.
d.
nondifferentiation.
 

 17. 
If you create survey items that are easy to understand to answer, you can reduce the chance that respondents will
a.
acquiesce.
b.
satisfice.
c.
engage in impression management.
d.
show self-deception positivity.
 

 18. 
With respect to ethical issues in internet survey research, investigators have concluded that
a.
ethical issues in internet research are no different than for any other survey methodology.
b.
the invasion of informational privacy when additional email is sent to respondents is a potential problem.
c.
the issue of sending a survey to minors is not a problem because it is not something that the researcher can control.
d.
the best way to contact people is through their email at work.
 

 19. 
When people can go online or call an 800-number to participate in a survey, this situation leads to samples that involve
a.
hidden populations.
b.
respondent-driven sampling.
c.
snowball sampling.
d.
self-selected samples.
 

 20. 
When researchers contact individuals who know a lot about a hidden population and find out about that population from those individuals, the sampling technique is known as
a.
key informant sampling.
b.
snowball sampling.
c.
targeted sampling.
d.
probability sampling.
 

 21. 
Research that involves identifying relationships among variables but not causation is known as
a.
correlational research.
b.
experimental research.
c.
descriptive research.
d.
case study research.
 

 22. 
After you have discovered that two variables are correlated, you might be able to make a good estimate of the value of one variable if you were given the value of the other.  This approach involves a
a.
description study.
b.
prediction study.
c.
criterion study.
d.
factorial study.
 

 23. 
Students who are interested in a subject may spend more time studying that subject, so there is a relationship between these two variables.  We don’t know if the interest in the topic leads to more studying or if more studying generates greater levels of interest.  This uncertainty illustrates the
a.
path analysis problem.
b.
third variable problem.
c.
restricted range problem.
d.
directionality problem.
 

 24. 
The Pearson product-moment correlation will give an accurate depiction of the strength of the relation between two variables if the relation is
a.
latent.
b.
directional.
c.
linear.
d.
factorial.
 

 25. 
The Pearson product-moment correlation and the Spearman correlation both involve
a.
higher order correlations.
b.
multiple regression.
c.
bivariate correlations.
d.
nonlinear correlations.
 

 26. 
Psychologists Todd and Worrell (2000) investigated why some women are more resilient than others, recovering from adversity well.  They found that important variables included the number of problematic people in their levies and how the women compared themselves to others around them.  In predicting resilience from the number of problematic people around the women and how the women evaluate others around them, the appropriate data analysis would involve
a.
the Pearson product-moment correlation.
b.
multiple regression.
c.
confirmatory factor analysis.
d.
tests of association
 



 
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