Formative Multiple Choice Questions Flashcards
Where can scientific theory be conducted?
Anywhere
What is one observation of empiricism?
Observations may not be representative.
What is one problem with using rationalism to obtain knowledge?
The premises may not be true.
Believing in something because the President tells you it is true is an example of …
Authority
Why are models useful?
They represent reality, they help us to organize knowledge and they help us to understand something that can be complex.
A theory is often judged on the basis of …
how useful it is in organizing the data.
The scale of measurement that is called the naming scale is the ..
nominal scale.
What is science characterised by?
A combination of induction and deduction.
Is age a construct?
No
Is the ego a construct?
Yes
Is intelligence a construct?
Yes
Is gravity a construct?
Yes
Statistical procedures that help determine the statistical significance of the observations are performed during…
The data-analysis phase
Measurements by ranked categories, such as class rankings or academic grades (A, B, C, D, F), provide examples of
An ordinal scale
According to Stevens’ (1946) classification, the four scales of measurement are…
nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio.
The lowest level of measurement is represented by the ________ scale.
Norminal
A researcher measures student’s attitudes towards test-taking in the following way: 1-fun; 2-very fun; 3-extremely fun. This is an example of a(n) ________ scale of measurement.
Ordinal.
Most psychological theories are …
Functional theories based on induction and deduction.
Both ordinal and interval scales have in common the mathematical properties of …
identity and magnitude.
The data produced by nominal scales are called ?
Categorical data
If a researcher uses inferred constructs as a basis on which to make a prediction about new and specific observations, he or she is engaging in…
Deductive reasoning
The differences between values or categories in nominal scales are …
Qualitative
Which of the following participant characteristics can be directly observed in scientific research?
Sex of the participant
Which variable can be directly manipulated by the experimenter?
The independent variable
The differences between consecutive values in ratio scales are…
at equal intervals
A researcher measures some participants on a measure that required concentration in a loud and distracting environment and others in a quiet environment. The researcher does not find the predicted relationship between performance on this measure and IQ. If you assume that such a relationship exists in reality, the failure to find it in this study may be due to…
Measurement error
Which type of reliability would provide an index of the stability of a variable?
Test-retest reliability
________ is a process of formulating specific questions and then finding answers in order to better understand nature
Scientific research.
Low-constraint research is particularly relevant if a scientist is …
Breaking new grounds in research.
What is a constraint?
A variable that does not vary.
The influence of extraneous variables can reduce a study’s methodological soundness or …
Validity.
What is the relationship between the reliability and the validity of a measure?
A valid measure must have reliability.
If an experimenter is interested in investigating the causal relationship between two variables, what would be the best strategy?
Operationally define one of the variables as a manipulated independent variable in an experimental design.
Which of the following represents data measured on an interval scale?
reaction time of air traffic controllers on a signal detection task
What is a variable?
Any characteristic that can take more than one value.
