Ch 3. Research Methods And Study Design Flashcards
A team of researchers measures a negative correlation between income and length of labor time in a group of pregnant women. It is expected that as income increases, labor time:
A) decreases.
B) increases.
C) stays the same.
D) The change in labor time cannot be determined.
A
A negative correlation suggests that as the value measured for one variable increases, the other decreases, and vice versa. Therefore, as income increases, labor time is expected to decrease (choice A is correct). Labor time would increase if the correlation were positive (choice B is wrong). There was a result measured, so the measurement would not stay the same (choice C is wrong) and the direction of change is known because the type of correlation is given in the question stem (choice D is wrong).
Due to scheduling and logistical limitations, researchers conducting a study could only conduct the study on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 7pm and 9pm. They were therefore limited to individuals who were available at this time to participate in the study. This set up would have created issues in:
A) external validity, due to the selection criteria.
B) internal validity, due to a potential Hawthorne effect.
C) external validity, due to the lack of a control group.
D. internal validity, due to impression management.
A
This question can be attacked more quickly with the observation that the second part of the answer choices cuts the set of choices in half. The first step is to determine if the situation described in the question stem is a threat to internal or external validity. The recruitment method is problematic because the experiment will not sample individuals who have different schedules and are not available at that time. A sample that is not representative of the population is a threat to external validity (choice B and choice D are wrong). Selection criteria are the processes used to select participants for an experiment. This describes the scheduling issue presented in the question stem (choice A is correct). A lack of control group is a threat to internal validity, since this attribute is related to how well-designed the study is and to what extent researchers can draw conclusions based on findings (choice C is wrong).
Researchers want to explore the experience of subjects as they engage in the Stroop task, a task in selective attention that measures the ability to distinguish between discordant stimuli. The researchers are not merely interested in response time but want to know qualitative details about the subjects’ internal experiences. Which of the following methodologies should the researchers implement?
A) Correlational method
B) Observational method
C) Survey method
D) Phenomenological method
D
The phenomenological method is a technique used to evaluate the experience of some phenomenon and often obtain more introspective details about an event than is possible with other methods. This method is also usually qualitative, or descriptive, as the question stem suggests (choice D is correct). The correlational method is a quantitative measure of the relationship between two variables (choice A is wrong). The observational method involves observation and minimal interference by the researcher. It would be very difficult to know about subjects internal experiences by simply observing them (choice B is wrong). The survey method tends to give general characteristics of an event or experience, since it contains general questions that are tested on numerous individuals. This characteristic would make it difficult to know about subjects unique internal experiences. The survey method is also quantitative in most cases, since subjects often provide a numerical assessment of their self-reported beliefs or feelings (choice C is wrong)
Which of the following is a limitation of the ethnographic method?
A) Cultural validity is low, since the observer is not a member of the society of interest
B) External validity is low, because the experimental conditions do not match the real world
C) External validity is low, because only one culture is sampled
D) Construct validity is low, since the instruments have not been checked for reliability
C
External validity is an issue in ethnographic studies, mainly because the methodology involves deep exploration of a single culture or subculture, so it provides limited information on how the results might apply to other cultures (choice C is correct). Cultural validity is not a type of validity checked for by researchers (choice A is wrong). Experimental conditions in ethnographic research are usually very close to the real world, since the researcher makes every attempt to not disrupt the environment. The goal of ethnographic research is to observe the culture in a naturalistic setting (choice B is wrong). Ethnographic researchers do not usually use surveys, but deep analysis, in their evaluations of the cultures they study, so construct validity is very unlikely to be a consideration. Construct validity most usually applies to psychometric instruments such as surveys (choice D is wrong).
A team of researchers finds that there is a complex between IQ and sociability. Measures of
sociability were found to be high for individuals within one standard deviation of the mean for intelligence, and gradually decreased for individuals with both very high and very low IQ scores. Which of the following correlations would be measured in this instance?
A) Positive
B) Negative
C) No correlation
D) A correlation cannot be determined
C
The results described in the question are curvilinear in nature. They do not represent a linear relationship and would show up as a bell on a graph. Correlational research does not pick up nonlinear trends (choice C is correct; choices A, B, and D are wrong).
In a study of the impact of personality type on the interpretation of a social symbol, which of the following rig is a possible operational definition of the independent variable?
A) Personality type is the independent variable, so it can be defined as results on a questionnaire designed to measure five- factor model personality traits.
B) Personality type is the independent variable, so it can be defined as degree of sympathetic arousal and amygdala activation when seeing a symbol.
C) Symbol interpretation is the independent variable, so it can be defined as average ranking, from positive to negative, of a series of neutral symbols.
D) Symbol interpretation is the independent variable, so is it can be defined as degree of sympathetic arousal and amygdala activation when seeing a symbol.
A
This question can be resolved more quickly by noticing that the first part of the answer choices is divided in half. The first step is to determine whether personality type or symbolic interpretation is the independent variable. The study described is designed to measure how personality affects symbolic interpretation. Therefore, the independent variable - the variable manipulated by the researcher - is personality type (choices C and D are wrong).
The five factor model is a common measure of personality (choice A is correct). Sympathetic arousal and amygdala activation do not define personality type (choice B is wrong).
Attrition, or subjects dropping out of a study before its Im completion, is a threat to:
A) internal validity, because it introduces a potential cofounding variable.
B) internal validity, because the group may no longer be representative.
C) external validity, because it introduces a potential confounding variable.
D) external validity, because the group may no longer be representative.
A
Attrition is primarily a threat to internal validity, because there may be some non-trivial reason that subjects are dropping out. This would present a confounding variable, because if the reason for attrition were related to the hypothesis, it could provide an alternative expla-ed or be nation for the results (choice A is correct). Non-representative samples are a threat to exter-nal, not internal validity (choice B is wrong). Confounding variables are a threat to internal, not external validity (choice C is wrong). It is less likely that enough subjects drop out to threaten the external validity of the study. Also, if participants began to drop out, internal validity would be threatened first, such that it would be difficult to draw a conclusion that would then be applied to the external population (choice D is wrong).
Which of the following research methodologies would best explore the development of human memory over time?
A) Case study
B) Longitudinal study
C) Observational study
D) Archival study
B
Longitudinal studies are best for exploring how variables develop over time. They involve conducting periodic measurements of the same individuals over many years to see how certain variables change. This is the ideal methodology for exploring the question presented in the stem (choice B is correct). Case studies are best for understanding individuals in a comprehensive way. This would be an ideal methodology for understanding one person’s memory development, but would not allow for generalization to human memory (choice A Da is wrong). An observational study could meet the criteria, but observational studies do not specifically deal with the development of variables over a long period of time. This study methodology usually involves observing events in a naturalistic setting, and although this could be done over time intervals, this is not usually a feature of observational research (choice C is wrong). Archival studies would be best for exploring how a phenomenon was different many years ago, to use as a comparison with other epochs. However, archival research would not be ideal for understanding how age evolved for groups of individuals, since it is impossible to control for variables with data taken many years ago, and there are often gaps in the data available (choice D is wrong).
Which of the following pairs represents a qualitative and quantitative variable, respectively?
A) Reaction time and coping ability
B) Reaction time and depression score
C) Type of coping response and level of depression
D) Attending fluidity ability and reaction time
C
The correct answer choice will pair a qualitative variable with a quantitative variable. Type of coping response suggests that coping responses will be broken into categories, a sign that it is a qualitative variable, since it would not involve a numerical continuum but rather placement into one of several different coping styles. Depression level can be measured quantitatively, since “level” suggests a score along a scale (choice C is correct). Reaction time is a quantitative variable (choice A and choice B are wrong). Attending fluidity ability suggests a measure along a continuum. Most variables along a continuum tend to be quantitative in nature, whereas most categorical variables tend to be qualitative. Since attending fluidity ability suggests a range of abilities along a single variable, attending fluidity, this suggests a quantitative variable (choice D is wrong).
Each of the following could be an operational definition of the dependent variable EXCEPT:
A) depression inventory score.
B) sympathetic nervous system arousal.
C) size of social media network.
D) time attending to distracting variables.
C
For except/not/least questions, evaluate each answer choice and eliminate the answer choices that are true. A dependent variable is an outcome variable measured by the researchers to test the extent of effect of the manipulation in the study. Depression is one of the dependent, or measurement, variables (choice A is true, therefore wrong). Sympathetic nervous arousal is related to anxiety, one of the dependent variables (choice B is true, therefore wrong). Size of social media network is related to how much time an individual spends using digital me-dia, which is an independent, not dependent, variable in the study (choice C is false, therefore true). Attention and ability to tune out distracting variables is a dependent variable in the study (choice D is false, therefore true).
