Research Report [Practice]

Question 1

A report of an empirical study usually includes an introduction and sections called Method, Results, and:

a. Statistics.
b. Bibliography.
c. Discussion.
d. Statement of the Problem.

Answer 1

c. Discussion

Question 2

The abstract of an article should:

a. report rather than evaluate.
b. be a brief, comprehensive summary of the contents of the article.
c. be dense with information.
d. do all of the above

Answer 2

d. do all of the above.

Question 3

What question should the introduction section of a research report attempt to answer?

a. What are the theoretical implications of the current research?
b. Why is this problem important?
What is the logical ink between the problem and the research design?
d. All of the above are correct.
e. Only a and c of the above are correct.

Answer 3

d. all of the above are correct.

Question 4

The Method section should:

a. include enough detail to make replication of the experiment possible for the reader.
b. briefly describe the method to the reader, omitting details about subjects and apparatus.
c. fully describe all statistical testing procedures used.
d. explain why the study was done.

Answer 4

a. include enough detail to make replication of the experiment possible for the reader.

Question 5

The Results section should include:

a. dates defining the periods of recruitment and follow up and primary sources of the potential subjects.
b. adverse events and/or side effects, if interventions were studied.
c. baseline demographic and/or clinical characteristics of each group.
d. research design
e. all of the above except d.

Answer 5

e. all of the above except d

Question 6

In reporting your data

a. do not mention results that run counter to expectation.
b. include all individual scores and raw data.
c. do not discuss implications of the results.
d. do not assume your reader has a professional knowledge of statistical methods.

Answer 6

c. do not discuss implications of the results.

Question 7

A sufficient set of statistics usually includes:

a. cell standard deviations
b. observed cell means
c. per-cell sample sizes
d. all of the above

Answer 7

d. all of the above

Question 8

What causes the following segment of a student’s research report to lack smoothness of expression?

“According to the research of Savin-Williams (1988), how gay men publicly revealed their sexual orientation is correlated with the stability of their mental health. He finds that well-adjusted gay men reveal early to trusted others.”

a. intransitive inferences
b. too much jargon
c. abrupt changes in verb tense
d. misplaced modifiers

Answer 8

c. abrupt changes in verb tense

Question 9

Speculation is in order in the Discussion section when it is:

a. identified as speculation
b. logically related to empirical data or the theory being tested
c. expressed concisely
d. all of the above
e. none of the above

Answer 9

c. expressed concisely

Question 10

When a verb concerns the action of the author-experimenter, the:

a. third person and passive voice should be used
b. third person and active voice should be used
c. first person, active voice should be used
d. third person should be used in all scientific writing to ensure objectivity

Answer 10

c. first person, active voice should be used

Question 11

Which of the following examples demonstrates correct use of capitalization?

a. Trial 3 and Item 4
b. trial n and item x
c. Chapter 3
d. Table 2 and Figure 3
e. All of the above are correct.

Answer 11

e. All of the above are correct.

Question 12

Edit the following for capitalization:

“When the hermit crabs listened to classical music, they were significantly more likely to retreat back into their shells than when they listened to rock-and-roll music. However, there was no music x shell interaction effect.”

a. leave as is
b. The interaction term music (italicized) x shell should be Music (italicized) x Shell.
c. Statistical terms such as significantly (italicized) should be capitalized.
d. Interaction effect (italicized) should be Interaction Effect (italicized).

Answer 12

b. The interaction term music (italicized) x shell should be Music (italicized) x Shell.

Question 13

According to the APA style rules regarding italics,

a. only Greek letters such as statistical symbols are italicized
b. all letters used as statistical symbols except Greek letters should be italicized.
c. letters used as statistical symbols are never italicized in print
d. a and c of the above are correct

Answer 13

b. all letters used as statistical symbols except Greek letters should be italicized.

Question 14

Numerals should be used at all times for:

a. numbers in the abstract of a paper or in a graphical display within a paper
b. ratios, arithmetical manipulations, and series of four or more numbers
c. fractional or decimal quantities, scores and points on a scale, and units of measurement of time
d. all of the above

Answer 14

d. all of the above

Question 15

Edit the following for the expression of numbers:

“It would be wrong to estimate absentees for the week by taking the number of absentees on Monday and multiplying by 5.”

a. leave as is
b. It would be wrong to estimate absentees for the week by taking the number of absentees on Monday and multiplying by five.
c. It would be wrong to estimate absentees for the week by taking the number of absentees on Monday and multiplying by five (5).

Answer 15

a. leave as is

Question 16

Edit the following for the expression of numbers:

“The authors identified 7 different groups of personality theories.”

a. leave as is.
b. The authors identified seven different groups of personality theories.
c. The authors identified seven (7) different groups of personality theories.

Answer 16

b. The authors identified seven different groups of personality theories.

Question 17

Edit the following for the expression of numbers:

“Large financial responsibility was defined as responsibility for an annual budget in excess of five million dollars.”

a. leave as is
b. Large financial responsibility was defined as responsibility for an annual budget in excess of $5 x 10^6.
c. Large financial responsibility was defined as responsibility for an annual budget in excess of $5,000,000.
d. Large financial responsibility was defined as responsibility for an annual budget in excess of $5 million.

Answer 17

d. Large financial responsibility was defined as responsibility for an annual budget in excess of $5 million.

Question 18

Edit the following for the expression of ordinal numbers:

“The students were all in their second year of graduate school.”

a. leave as is
b. The students were all in their second (2nd) year of graduate school.
c. The students were all in their 2nd year of graduate school.

Answer 18

c. The students were all in their 2nd year of graduate school.

Question 19

When using numbers less than one,

a. a zero is always used before the decimal point (0.05).
b. a zero is never used before the decimal point (.05).
c. the author should check with the editor of each specific journal, as this is a highly controversial topic.
d. a zero is used before the decimal point (0.05) except when the number cannot be greater than 1 (e.g. correlations, proportions, and levels of statistical significance; r(24) = -.43, p = .028).

Answer 19

d. a zero is used before the decimal point (0.05) except when the number cannot be greater than 1 (e.g. correlations, proportions, and levels of statistical significance; r(24) = -.43, p = .028).

Question 20

Edit the following for the expression of numbers:

“Days I and IV were baseline days, and Days II and III were treatment days.”

a. leave as is
b. Days One and Four were baseline days, and Days Two and Three were treatment days.
c. Days 1 and 4 were baseline days, and Days 2 and 3 were treatment days.
d. Days I and Four were baseline days, and Days II and III were treatment days.

Answer 20

c. Days 1 and 4 were baseline days, and Days 2 and 3 were treatment days.

Question 21

Which example if the correct way to use commas and spacing when presenting statistics in text?

a. F,(24, 1000)
b. F(24, 1,000)
c. F(24, 1000)
d. F(24 1,000)

Answer 21

c. F(24, 1000)

Question 22

Which of the following metric units is correctly expressed?

a. 33 cms.
b. 3 mm.
c. 13 cm
d. 3cms

Answer 22

c. 13 cm

Question 23

Edit the following for the citation of a statistic in text:

“A 4 x 3 analysis of variance (Woodworth, 2005) was conducted on the preference scores.”

a. leave as is
b. A 4 x 3 analysis of variance (see any standard statistics text) was conducted on the preference scores.
c. 4 x 3 analysis of variance was conducted on the preference scores.

Answer 23

c. 4 x 3 analysis of variance was conducted on the preference scores.

Question 24

When presenting statistical information in the text, to clarify the nature of effects (i.e., mean differences and the direction of mean differences),

a. give only the inferential statistics
b. always give descriptive and inferential statistics
c. give inferential and descriptive statistics only when presenting correlational data
d. give inferential statistics for experiments with more than one independent variable and descriptive statistics for correlational research

Answer 24

b. always give descriptive and inferential statistics

Question 25

When reporting confidence intervals,

a. use the format 95% CI [LL, UL], where LL is the lowest unit of confidence interval and UL is the upper limit.
b. always report the level of confidence.
c. do not repeat 95% CI when a sequence of confidence intervals are repeated in a series if the level remains unchanged and the meaning is clear.
d. all of the above.

Answer 25

d. all of the above.

Question 26

Edit the following for the use of statistical symbols:

“In the group therapy condition, 16 percent of the clients did not return for the second session and another 8 percent did not return for the third session.”

a. leave as is
b. In the group therapy condition, 16% of the clients did not return for the second session and another eight percent did not return for the third session.
c. In the group therapy condition, 16% of the clients did not return for the second session and another eight % did not return for the third session.
d. In the group therapy condition, 16% of the clients did not return for the second session and another 8% did not return for the third session.

Answer 26

d. In the group therapy condition, 16% of the clients did not return for the second session and another 8% did not return for the third session.

Question 27

Which of the following should be used to designate the number of cases or observations in a total sample?

a. N (italicized)
b. N
c. n (italicized)
d. n

Answer 27

a. N (italicized)

Question 28

Edit the following for numbering of figures. Assume that this is the first time the figures are presented.

“Results
The predicted social facilitation effects were observed. As can be seen in Figure 2, a video-camera increased errors with the difficult task and deceased errors with the easy task. As can be seen in Figure 1, the presence of an evaluative audience produced the same pattern of results.”

a. leave as is
b. Figure 2 should be Figure II
c. Figure 2 should be Figure Two
d. Figure 2 should be Figure 1 and vice versa.

Answer 28

d. Figure 2 should be Figure 1 and vice versa.

Question 29

Of the following possible titles for Table 17 (see Question 32), which would not be clear and explanatory?

a. Mood and Exercise
b. Mean Changes in Mood of Subjects Prior to and Following a Variety of Nonaerobic and Aerobic Physical Activities
c. A Comparison of Physical Activities
d. All of the above titles are poorly written

Answer 29

d. All of the above titles are poorly written

Question 30

Identify a column spanner in Table 17 (see Question 32):

a. Bird watching
b. Cycling
c. Mood
d. Aerobic

Answer 30

c. Mood

Question 31

In Table 17 (See Question 32), identify a column heading:

a. Nonaerobic
b. Skiing/skating
c. Before
d. Mood

Answer 31

c. Before

Question 32

A specific note to a table

a. refers to a particular column or individual entry
b. is indicated by a superscript lowercase letter
c. is placed below the table
d. does all of the above
e. does none of the above

Answer 32

d. does all of the above

Question 33

Tables, including titles and headings, should be

a. triple-spaced
b. double-spaced or single-spaced
c. single-spaced
d. any of the above

Answer 33

b. double-spaced or single-spaced

Question 34

A good figure:

a. conveys only essential facts
b. is easy to understand
c. is prepared in the same style as similar figures in the same article
d. does all of the above

Answer 34

d. does all of the above

Question 35

When presenting electrophysiological or event-related brain potential data, it is essential to include:

a. clear labeling
b. direction of negativity
c. scale of the response
d. all of the above

Answer 35

d. all of the above

Question 36

Where should figures be placed in a submitted manuscript?

a. at the end
b. at the beginning
c. in an appropriate place in text
d. None of the above is correct.

Answer 36

a. at the end

Question 37

A running head to be used in a research report should be typed:

a. centered at the bottom of the title page in all uppercase letters
b. flush left at the top of the title page
c. centered at the bottom of the title page in uppercase and lowercase letters
d. flush right at the bottom of the title page

Answer 37

b. flush left at the top of the title page