Lecture 11

Question 1

When we are unable to randomly assign participants to groups but find an existing group that appears similar to the experimental group we can use ___ ___ ___ design.

Answer 1

Nonequivalent comparison groups

Question 2

A research design having some but not all of the characteristics of a true experiment is called a ___-___

Answer 2

Quasi-experiment

Question 3

In most quasi-experimental designs, what is the missing element?

Answer 3

The random assignment of subjects to the control and experimental groups

Question 4

What design does this represent?

O1 x O2
O1 O2

Answer 4

Quasi-experimental design

Question 5

True or false: because of not randomly assigning research groups, quasi-experimental design is not as rigorous as experimental designs

Answer 5

True

Question 6

True or false: Because treatment and control groups may not be comparable at the beginning of a design (baseline), quasi-experimental designs are not as rigorous as experimental designs

Answer 6

True

Question 7

True or false: quasi-experimental designs are not as feasible or flexible as experimental for social studies

Answer 7

False

Question 8

What is one way to strengthen the internal validity of the nonequivalent comparison groups design?

Answer 8

The use of multiple pretests

Question 9

True or false: By using the same pretest at a different time point before intervention begins, we can detect whether one group is already engaged in a change process while the other is not.

Answer 9

True

Question 10

What is this a representation of?

O1 O2 x O3
O1 O2 O3

Answer 10

Quasi-experiment

Comparison group pre-test/post-test

Question 11

A ___-___ design is when a single population group is studied over a period during which an intervention takes place. It may be a simple pre-test/post-test design, or several measurements that are made both before and after an intervention.

Answer 11

Time-series

Question 12

A simple time-series design is also called a ___ ___ design, with no control (comparison) group. It can be a group or a ___ (one person).

Answer 12

single case; case

Question 13

This is an example of what design?

O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 x O6 O7 O8 O9 O10

Answer 13

A time-series (single case) design

Interrupted time series design

Question 14

What is the purpose of using more tests in the time series design?

Answer 14

Mitigates threats to internal validity

Question 15

By adding time-series analysis to the nonequivalent comparison groups, multiple time-series designs are ____ than single time-series designs.

Answer 15

stronger

Question 16

What design is this an example of?
O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 x O6 O7 O8 O9 O10
O1 O2 O3 O4 O5 O6 O7 O8 O9 O10

Answer 16

Multiple time-series design

Question 17

A ___-___ study examines the phenomenon by taking a ___-___ of it as one point in time.

Answer 17

cross-sectional; cross-section

Question 18

True or false: because simple correlations at one point in time do not produce causal inference, using cross-sectional designs may help to rule out the alternative explanations through multivariate statistical procedures

Answer 18

True

Question 19

True or false: case-control designs are not a type of quasi-experimental design

Answer 19

False

Question 20

Case-control designs compare groups of cases that have had contrasting outcomes and then collect ____ data about past differences that might explain the differences in outcomes.

Answer 20

retrospective

Question 21

This is an example of what design:
A study trying to find that people who smoke (the FACTOR) are more likely to be diagnosed with lung cancer (the OUTCOME). The experimental group (CASES) were people with lung cancer, the control group (COMPARISON) were people without lung cancer, and some of each group were smokers. If a larger proportion of the cases with cancer smoke then the control group, than it implies that the hypothesis that smoking cases cancer is valid.

Answer 21

Case-control

Question 22

What was a great triumph of the case-control study developed through the efforts of many scientists, including Doll, in the 1950s?

Answer 22

Demonstration of the link between smoking and lung-cancer.

Question 23

What did Doll’s case control study concerning smoking and lung cancer show?

Answer 23

A significant correlation between the two in large case control studies. (Tobacco companies had argued for years that this type of study cannot prove causality. Eventually the results of double-blind prospective studies confirmed the causal link which the case-control studies suggested)

Question 24

It is now generally believed that smoking accounts for __% of lung cancer deaths in the U.S.

a) 67%
b) 97%
c) 87%

Answer 24

c) 87%

Question 25

What are the practical pitfalls of carrying out experiments and quasi-experiments in social work agencies? (4)

Answer 25

1. FIDELITY of the intervention
2. CONTAMINATION of the control condition (the control group and the experiment group interact)
3. RESISTANCE to the case assignment protocol
4. PROBLEMS in client recruitment and retention

Question 26

Qualitative methods offer a number of techniques that researchers can use to observe research pitfalls. They are:

1. ___ shadowing (following along and observing the intervention practice)
2. ___ observation during training or group supervision (to identify differences between the stated intervention and what is actually done)
3. ___ conversations with agency staff (to identify compliance problems with research protocols)
4. ___ or ___ practitioner-client sessions (assess the fidelity of the intervention)
5. ___ logs and ___ logs (to assess the fidelity of the intervention and identify major organizational changes that may impede the compliance with the research protocols

Answer 26

1. Ethnographic
2. Participatory
3. Informal
4. Videotaping; audiotaping
5. Practitioner; event

Question 27

True or false: An experimental design or quasi-experimental design is not more likely to derive a more robust estimate of the effect of an intervention that a non-experimental design

Answer 27

False (it is more likely to do so)

Question 28

True or false: in experimental and quasi-experimental designs we can test the intervention variables one by one. This is not a holistic approach.

Answer 28

True

Question 29

This is a description of the limitations of what?

X1 ----------- Y
X2
...
...
Xn

Answer 29

Testing intervention variables one by one