chapter 2 quis Flashcards
The variable that a researcher measures in an experiment to see if it has changed after a treatment is called the
dependent variable.
Which of the following is NOT an ethical principle for research participants in the United States?
You will not be deceived during the research study.
Which of the following types of studies allows the researcher to establish causality between an independent variable and a dependent variable?
experiments
One of the four main goals of science is explanation. The main goal of scientists addressing this goal is to explain
why a behavior occurs.
Socially desirable responding is a potential problem in research because it may
interfere with the integrity of data.
The process by which any deception used in a study is explained to a participant is called
debriefing.
If you created a scatterplot of your data, what type of statistic would you have computed?
correlation
When people are aware of being observed, they might change their behaviors. This phenomenon illustrates
reactivity.
Wilhelm randomly assigns participants to two groups and compares the group that receives a treatment with the group that receives no treatment. The group that gets the treatment is the ________ group.
experimental
Suppose a research study does a good job at making sure the results generalize to the real world, but does NOT do a good job preventing confounds. This research study
has external validity but not internal validity.
Researchers have found that taller people tend to have higher levels of self-esteem than shorter people. This pattern of data reflects
a positive correlation.
Clara is working on a study to examine shy children’s behavior with peers they have not met before. She is developing theories, forming hypotheses, and conducting research to determine if her theory is supported by the data. In what process is she engaged?
the scientific method
Suppose you just found out that you are required to participate in research as part of your psychology class, but you feel uncomfortable about it. What should you do?
Find out about alternative assignments you can do to fulfill the requirement.
When researchers collect data in a study, if they unconsciously code a person’s behavior to match their expectations, we say there is
an observer bias.
Something that can be measured or manipulated by an experimenter is considered
a variable.
Unintended differences between the groups in an experiment reflect ________ bias; these differences stem from a failure to follow the principle of random
selection; assignment
A study of the experiences of a synesthete (e.g., a person who experiences a visual sensation when hearing a sound) is likely to make use of
a case study.
Carlos reads an article looking for a measure of central tendency. Which of the following might he find?
the median
Suppose a researcher intended to study people’s levels of happiness by monitoring how often they smile or laugh when watching a movie. If this measurement truly indicates level of happiness, psychologists would say that the data are
valid
A researcher believes that presenting possible suspects in a lineup one at a time instead of in a group would lead to more accurate identification of the true suspect. This belief represents a(n)
hypothesis.
Unintended differences between the groups in an experiment may introduce confounds; these differences reflect a condition known as ________ bias.
selection
Dr. Sherman is studying marital relationships and wants to be able to determine which types of couples are at the highest risk for divorce. Which of the four primary goals of science is he addressing?
prediction
There is a correlation between depression and memory: When people suffer from depression frequently, they often display worse memory than people who suffer from depression less frequently. Genetics, however, may have an effect on a study participant’s depression and memory. This combination of factors is known as
the third variable problem.
When a researcher debriefs his or her participants, he or she
provides a detailed explanation of the study’s goals.
If a researcher defined happiness based on the number of times a person smiled in a 15-minute period, the number of smiles would be
the operational definition of happiness.
In observational studies, participants sometimes show reactivity. A related phenomenon in self-report studies is called
socially desirable responding.
How do theories reflect the law of parsimony?
Good theories tend to be the simplest explanations that fit the data.
If a research study is published in a peer-reviewed journal, you can assume that
the study was appropriately designed and conducted in an ethical manner.
According to the text, animal models may be considered ethical for psychological research i
concern for animals’ lives is balanced with concern for humanity’s future.
Students who study little for tests tend to make more errors on tests; students who study a lot tend to make fewer errors. If a researcher collected data on both amount of studying and test scores, he or she would likely spot a(n)
negative correlation.
Keisha has just analyzed her preliminary data and found an exciting result. How should she share her initial findings?
present her findings at a scientific conference or poster session
If you list a set of scores from the lowest value to the highest, then take the middle value to indicate what a typical score is, you are using the
median
If a researcher was denied permission to conduct a study because participants might suffer harm, that decision would have been made by the
institutional review board.
A store owner wants to make sure she has enough shirts in the right sizes in her inventory, so she buys a lot of shirts in the most popular size. In order to make this purchase, what type of statistic would she want to know?
mode
Jose is interested in manipulating genes that are linked to Alzheimer’s disease in mouse embryos. What must he consider before beginning his research?
whether the information he will obtain is important enough to justify the inclusion of animals
Miranda is statistically combining the results of all the published studies on the effects of the presence of a weapon on eyewitness accuracy. In other words, Miranda is performing a(n)
meta-analysis.
One of the four main goals of science is control. The main goal of scientists addressing this goal is to control
the causes of a phenomenon.
What is the main characteristic that sets case studies apart from other types of studies?
the number of people studied
In scientific research, a researcher’s expectations about a study can lead to systematic errors in observation. This phenomenon is called
observer bias.
Dr. Meyers is investigating the relationship between stress and obesity. In his latest study, he found that stress is often associated with overeating and has effects that slow metabolism. Which of the four primary goals of science is he addressing with his most recent work?
explanation
Which of the following statements is true regarding the use of deception in psychological research?
It is occasionally necessary to safeguard the validity of the research.
According to the textbook, which of the following lists the steps of the scientific method in the correct order?
form a hypothesis, conduct a literature review, design a study, conduct the study, analyze the data, report the results
If a participant always shows fast reaction times on a visual task not because she is good at the task but because she can hear the experimenter start the presentation and can get ready for the stimulus, her data will show a high level of
systematic error.
Operational definitions make it possible for researchers to
identify variables and record their quantities.
How do theories reflect the law of parsimony?
Good theories tend to be the simplest explanations that fit the data.
Socially desirable responding is a potential problem in research because it may
interfere with the integrity of data.
Casey is using statistical techniques to examine whether children with autism differ in the amount of self-esteem they report as compared to children without autism. She finds a significant difference, which suggests that the results of her analysis
would occur by chance less than 5 percent of the time
If a researcher’s data are reliable,
they still might involve a high level of systematic error.
Psychologist Jean Piaget observed children to see how they solved problems. Over the course of many studies, he was able to spot general patterns of behavior. This led him to connect different concepts and behaviors within a single
theory.
Dr. Brown is a psychologist who only uses college students as research participants. Her research does NOT involve
random sampling.
Another word for “hypothesis” is
prediction.
Pablo is conducting research and trying to determine whether he should monitor the presence versus the absence of a behavior or how long a behavior occurs. What approach to research is he most likely using?
observational research
The values in a data set span from 60 to 90. If a researcher knows this, then the researcher is aware
of the
range
According to the textbook, which of the following lists the steps of the scientific method in the correct order?
form a hypothesis, conduct a literature review, design a study, conduct the study, analyze the data, report the results
Bai is conducting a study on learning. When she manipulates an independent variable, it is possible that some other factor, such as noise in the hall, can affect learning in one of the groups but not in the other. This possibility reflects the presence of
a confound
Jordan designs a study to test whether theory A, B, or C offers a better explanation for human behavior. What process is he engaged in?
theory refinement
