practice questions Flashcards
Obtaining a Certificate of Confidentiality from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
is appropriate when the data could be a target of a legal subpoena.
The decision to select only individuals of a specific ethnicity for a research on a new medical treatment is most relevant to which ethical principal in the Belmont Report?
Justice
What is an Institutional Review Board (IRB)?
A group of scientists and nonscientists, members of the community, and legal specialists who review proposed research for ethical concerns.
When personal interviews are conducted as part of a research study, the identity of the participant might be known. In cases such as these, the researcher must
carefully store the data.
explain the procedures to the participants so there is no question concerning the confidentiality of the results.
carefully plan ways of coding the data.
Psychological studies must be reviewed for possible sources of
physical and psychological stress
A researcher asks male and female participants to rate the desirability of potential neighbors on the basis of the potential neighbor’s occupation. Which one of the following is a situational variable?
Potential neighbor’s occupation
In a monotonic relationship, the relationship between variables is
always positive or negative.
In graphing the results of an experiment, the independent variable is placed on the ________axis and the dependent variable is placed on the ________ axis.
horizontal; vertical
Dr. King asks student teachers to assign a punishment for misbehavior displayed by an attractive versus unattractive child. The response variable would be
assigned punishment.
A psychologist studied dependency by measuring how many times children in school asked an adult for help. A critic argued that asking for help is not a good measure of dependency. In fact, the critic said, asking for help shows resourcefulness and initiative. The critic in this situation was disputing the ________ of the dependency measure.
construct validity
Professor Brown found the more alone a person feels, the more time they spend watching television. This finding would be an example of a ______ relationship?
monotonic
Monotonic variables increase (or decrease) in the same direction, but not always at the same rate.
A monotonic relationship is a relationship that
as the value of one variable increases, so does the value of the other variable; or (2) as the value of one variable increases, the other variable value decreases.
Research is aimed at reducing random variability or error variance by identifying relationships between variables. This variability is called error because
we do not understand it.
An exercise physiologist examines the relationship between the number of sessions of weight training and the amount of weight a person loses in a month. If a curvilinear relationship exists, what should the results be like?
he more sessions of weight training, the more weight that is lost, followed by a decline in weight loss
The science of psychology strives to ________ behavior.
describe
In studies that involve concealed observation, researchers suggest that employing ______ keeps ethical problems to a minimum.
a. pilot studies
b. role-playing
c. discussions with potential participants
The Belmont Report’s principle of respect for persons or autonomy is best represented by which of the following applications?
Informed consent
In the Milgram obedience experiment, participants were deceived concerning the hypothesis when they were told that the purpose of the experiment was to study
memory and learning.
A researcher asks male and female participants to rate the guilt of a defendant on the basis of their physical attractiveness. Which of the following is a response variable?
Guilt ratings
Which of the following is NOT a major criticism of the use of role-playing?
Reading a description of some situation may dangerously immerse the participant in the role.
Mr. McDonald finds the lower the price of hamburgers in his restaurant, the more hamburgers he sells. This relationship can best be identified as a _____ relationship
negative linear
Observation of the world around us, is a good place to get ideas for research. Which of the following best illustrates a research idea that comes from the world around us?
he relationship of sexually degrading music lyrics and early sexual behaviors
The scientific approach requires that observations and findings be accurately reported. This requirement is important because
it advances the field of science.
it allows other to replicate the findings.
fabricating data is inherently unethical and is dealt with by strong sanctions.
Google Scholar is a specialized search engine that lets you _______________.
locate articles on a particular research topic from psychology and non-psychology related disciplines
Which reference sources are usually accessed together using the Web of Science computer database
Science Citation Index and Social Sciences Citation Index
Current ethical guidelines for both behavioral and medical researchers have their origins in
the Belmont Report.
A researcher asks male and female college students to rate the quality of the food offered in the cafeteria versus the food offered in the vending machines. Which one of the following is a participant variable?
Gender of the participant
A researcher makes the statement, “Breed of dog and ability to learn guide dog skills are related.” This statement is called
hypothesis.
Which is NOT a characteristic of scientific inquiry as described by Goodstein’s evolved theory of science?
Peer review of research is unnecessary with well designed studies.
An operational definition of the variable “anxiety” might be
physiological measure of sweating.
the score on the Taylor Manifest Anxiety Scale.
the number of “um’s” and “ah’s” in a person’s speech.
A theory
generates new knowledge by guiding our observations.
Which section of a research article includes the interpretation of a study’s findings?
Discussion
The fundamental characteristic of the scientific approach is
empiricism.
An advantage of using past research as a source of ideas for research is that
alternative explanations for results may be hypothesized.
as one becomes familiar with the research literature on a topic, one may see inconsistencies in research results that need to be investigated
new ideas are often generated from old ones.
Which one of the following would not be found when you search the PsycINFO abstracting system?
Complete article
A researcher measured how much violent television children watched at home. These children were also observed for their aggressiveness on the playground. The researcher found that as the amount of violence watched on TV increased, the amount of playground aggressiveness increased. The type of relationship found was
positive linear.
According to Health and Human Service regulations, informed consent is necessary when research places participants at greater than ________ risk
.minimal
Using opinions or beliefs as explanations for why people behave in the way they do is acceptable as long as
they are presented as opinions or beliefs.
b. they are scientifically testable.
c. All of these.
d. there is scientific evidence that relates to the opinion or belief.
In which section of a research article would a reader find a description of what was done in the past and why the present study is being conducted?
Introduction
A theory
a. helps organize and explain specific facts.
b. guides our observations of the world.
c. is used to generate research hypotheses.
When a minor is asked to participate in a research study, written consent by the parent or guardian is generally required. In addition, the minor is also asked to agree to participate. This agreement by the minor is referred to as
Assent.
Which of the following goals of science is most important for changing behavior?
Determination of cause
When a researcher presents a graph of her results, the ______________ should appear on the horizontal axis
independent variable
A psychological process that is responsible for the effect of an independent variable on a dependent variable is referred to as a(n) _____ variable.
Mediating
To assess the strength of relationship between beer sales and outdoor temperatures, Adolph would want to
calculate a correlation coefficient.
Under what circumstances is a researcher absolutely obligated to fully disclose all the particulars about the study? Full disclosure must be made
whenever there are major risks of participation.
Determining the cause of behavior is an important goal of science because
it is important to know the cause of behavior if we want to change a behavior.
Juan has written a section of a research report that describes who participated in the research along with a description of how the study was conducted. Juan has most likely written the _____ section.
Method
One advantage of using Social Science Citation Index as a source of locating previous research is it
allows you to search for subsequent articles that have cited your “key article.”
The process of clearly identifying how a variable is measured or manipulated is referred to as the _______ of the variable
operational definition
Zimbardo’s Stanford prison study was an example of a(n) _____.
simulation study
Which one of the following statements would be appropriate for the discussion section of a research report?
The present findings suggest that evaluation of the seriousness of an alcohol-related crash may be influenced by the severity of the injuries received by the victim.
A(n) ______ is a statement about the expected relationship between variables. A(n) ______ is a statement about the outcome of a particular experiment.
hypothesis; prediction
Which of the following would a researcher least likely do to find prior research on a specific topic?
Randomly select a psychological journal and search the table of contents for the topic
A general rule to help detect pseudoscience is to be highly ______ when scientific assertions are made by evidence that is _____
skeptical; vague
One advantage of using PsycINFO over the Social Science Citation Index as a method for obtaining past research is
it will give you abstracts of the research articles
Which section of a research article includes a description of prior findings in the area of study?
Introduction
Dr. Pentel conducts research to determine whether or not an after-school program improves school performance in fifth-grade children. Dr. Pentel is most likely engaged in _____.
a program evaluation
A(n)_______ consists of a systematic body of ideas about a particular topic or phenomenon.
theory
In a monotonic relationship, the relationship between variables is
always positive or negative
Research in psychology has impacted legal decisions including_________?
a. Sentencing of juveniles
b. Procedures for law enforcement agencies
c. All of the above
d. U.S. Supreme Court decisions
To find out how many authors have cited a particular article in the years since it was published, you would consult
Social Science Citation Index.
As Joan becomes familiar with the literature examining the influence of physical attractiveness on judgments of criminal behavior, she notes inconsistencies in the results. She concludes that this area of study needs to be further investigated. This example best represents ______ as a source of ideas for research.
past research
Ethical concerns are especially important with special populations of participants such as _____ because _____.
mental patients; they are not as capable of refusing to participate if they don’t want to
Which of the following is not true of variables?
an example is female
The Health and Human Service (HSS) regulations define “no risk” research as
research involving public behavior and public records that does not identify participants.
In which section of a research article would a reader find an explanation for the findings?
Discussion
Determining the cause of a behavior is difficult because
a. explanations that are initially satisfying may turn out to be inadequate.
b. satisfactory explanations may be discarded or revised as new evidence is gathered.
c. it is difficult to know the true cause or all causes of behavior.
d. All of these.
Which one of the following periodicals publishes articles that summarize recent developments in various areas of psychology?
Annual Review of Psychology
One problem with the use of informed consent is
a. providing too much information could invalidate the results of the study.
b. sample bias due to differences between participants and refusers.
c. that knowledge of the research will alter participants’ behavior.
d. All of these
Using the Boolean operator OR in PsycINFO will
expand your search.
Which statement best illustrates the scientific goal of describing behavior?
Jurors judge attractive defendants more leniently than unattractive defendants.
An aviation researcher wants to examine the best location for warning lights on an airplane’s instrument panel. He varies the location of the lights in the cockpit of a plane. He then has pilots sit in the cockpit, and measures the time it takes for them to respond to the warning lights. This research procedure would illustrate
a simulation.
When conducting a search for previous literature using PsychINFO, you
a. must specify the search terms that you want the computer to use.
b. can narrow the search to specific sources of publications (e.g., journal articles).
c. should use standard psychological terms.
d. All of these
When an interesting discovery, such as Pavlov’s phenomenon of classical conditioning, is a result of an accident or luck, this finding can be attributed to
serendipity.
Victor has written a section of a research report that shows how past research and theory are connected to the current research problem and expected results. Victor has most likely written the _____ section.
introduction
Scientists use intuition and their positions of authority
to generate ideas for research.
Which factor below helps keep scientific fraud to a minimum?
Scientific method relies on replication of findings from many different laboratories.
Because of tension between the police department and the citizens of Metropolis, the city council surveys residents for suggestions on how to improve police-community relations. This example best illustrates _____ as a source of research ideas.
practical problems
