Midterm 1 Flashcards
A scatterplot is often used to display data from
A correlational observation
You are interested in whether couples who have racially mixed marriages have similar divorce rates to those having same race marriages. You look up the divorce documents in various county court houses to use as your data. What type of research are you doing?
Archival research
A neuropsychologist who extensively studies the behavior of a single patient having brain damage from an accident would be doing what type of research?
Case study
According to the text the most fundamental tasks of scientists are to
Establish relationships between circumstances and behaviors and fit these into a body of knowledge
Case histories that analyze the lives of famous figures are sometimes called
Psychohistories
In correlational observations it is sometimes difficult to know which variable might have caused any change in the other variable. This is sometimes called the directionality problem
True
If you search an existing data set in the library, you are doing survey research
False
Studying a detailed account of the events of a single person’s life is called a case history
True
One problem with the case history approach is that it requires sophisticated statistical analysis
False
Using of quantitative research techniques to investigate a particular topic makes it impossible to also use qualitative techniques
False
When you measure a person’s behavior in an experiment you are measuring a(n)
Dependent variable
If you are concerned with being able to generalize a result from one of your experiments to a larger population, then you are worried about
External validity
Suppose I choose my participants for each condition of my experiment by placing a bunch of names in a hat and drawing out the names. I have made participant assignment into a
Random variable
Suppose you wish to compare computer-aided instruction with traditional lectures. One year the course is presented traditionally and the next using computers. You discover that the students in the computerized course do better on the final exam but you also discover that admission standards at the school were tightened in the second year. You have a problem with ________ as a threat to internal validity
History
A firm wants to evaluate a leadership program. Upper-level managers are asked to evaluate the leadership of their mid-level managers and then pair up managers having about the same levels. One member of each pair is assigned to the program which consists of extreme physical exertion such as mountain climbing. Although only half of those selected completed the program, one year later those managers completing the program were compared on leadership ability to their matched pairs who had not taken the program. It was found that those completing the program were rated higher than their matched pairs. What threat to internal validity might be operating here?
Selection
A therapist believes that teaching anxious clients group interaction skills can lessen their anxiety. She gives an anxiety test, chooses the most anxious 10 percent of people, and then teaches them group interaction skills. On giving them a second anxiety test she discovers that their anxiety is significantly lower. If she concludes that the teaching has caused lessened anxiety she is ignoring _______ as a potential threat to internal validity
Statistical regression, or the movement of scores toward the mean for groups selected on the basis of extreme scores
I am interested in whether students from University A or from University B are bigger sports fans. I make up a questionnaire asking questions such as “What percentage of football games do you watch?” and give it to a group of 100 women from University A and 100 men from University B. Suppose I find that the first group scores statistically lower on the test than the second group. If I conclude that University B students are bigger sports fans than University A students, I might be wrong because
There is a confounding variable
I want to know whether drivers who drive with their headlights on in the daytime are less likely to have accidents. I require 100 drivers from a large company to drive with their lights on during the day and require another group of 100 drivers from the same company to keep their lights off. I then keep accident statistics for several years to see if there are any differences. Having the lights on or off in the daytime is
The independent variable
Suppose I am interested in the difference between first-year university students and seniors with respect to their attitudes toward student government. I take a list of all of the first-year students, drop the names in a hat, and draw out 100 names. I mail them a questionnaire about student government that I have made up. I repeat this process for the seniors. In this experiment the sex of the students is a ________ variable
Random
I am interested in whether students are more attentive in early morning classes or late morning classes. I use two classes with identical subject matter and the same instructor but one is taught at 8:05 AM and the other is taught at 11:20 AM. I videotape the class and have three judges rate the attentiveness of the students. In this experiment the independent variable is
The time of the class
If we want to know whether people respond faster to a high intensity light than to a low intensity light, our independent variable could be the time it takes people to push a button
False
If we set a circumstance at a particular level and do not allow it to vary during an experiment, we have made it into a control variable
True
If a second variable changes along with the levels of the independent variable, that second variable is a confounding variable
True
**Testing as a threat to internal validity refers to the fact that the test used may be deficient in its validity or reliability
False
If groups are chosen on the basis of particularly low scores or particularly high scores on a test, it is likely that when tested a second time the scores for the group will have moved closer to the mean. The threat to internal validity caused by this tendency is called testing
False
The best way to get an idea for an experiment is to
Observe the world around you
In order to get an idea for an experiment you might do vicarious observation. Where would you likely do it?
In a library
Einstein’s theory of relativity is
Quantitative theory
