RM/stats Flashcards
When using the A-B-A-B single-subject design:
A. there are two no-treatment phases and two treatment phases with the same treatment being applied in both treatment phases.
In a positively skewed distribution of scores, the __________ has the lowest value and the __________ has the highest value.
mode; mean
Statistical power is increased by all of the following except:
D. population heterogeneity on the dependent variable.
Which of the following best describes the variables included in a structural equation model?
B. Latent variables cannot be observed directly, and their influence is inferred from indicator variables.
The standard error of the mean increases in size as the:
C. population standard deviation increases and sample size decreases.
Changing alpha (the level of significance) from .05 to .10:
C. increases the probability of making a Type I error and decreases the probability of making a Type II error.
Alpha is equal to the probability of making a Type I error, and when alpha is increased from .05 to .10, the probability of making a Type I error increases. And, because there’s an inverse relationship between the probability of making a Type I error (rejecting a true null hypothesis) and a Type II error (retaining a false null hypothesis), the probability of making a Type II error decreases when alpha is increased.
type 1 error
rejecting the true null
type 2 error
retaining a false null
Psychology 101 students are assigned ranks based on their total scores on a 50-item midterm exam. The ranks represent a(n) _____ scale of measurement.
ordinal
To compare an obtained sample mean to a known population mean, you would use which of the following?
C. t-test for a single sample
When designing and conducting a research study, you can increase statistical power by doing which of the following?
D. using a parametric test when it’s appropriate to do so
When two variables are measured on a continuous scale and the relationship between the variables is nonlinear, you would use which of the following to determine the degree of association between the variables?
A. eta coefficient
Eta is the alternative to the Pearson r for calculating the correlation between two continuous variables when the variables have a nonlinear relationship.
An achievement test has been given to 1,000 middle-school students. The scores obtained by the students are normally distributed and have a mean of 150 and standard deviation of 15. Given this information, you can conclude that ____% of students obtained scores above 165.
16
in a normal distribution, 68% of scores fall between the scores that are one standard deviation below and above the mean, and the remaining 32% of scores are divided between the positive and negative tails of the distribution: 16% of scores are below the score that is one standard deviation below the mean and 16% are above the score that is one standard deviation above the mean. In the distribution described in the question, the score of 165 is one standard deviation above the mean, which means that 16% of scores fall above this score.
An advantage of conducting a single one-way ANOVA rather than separate t-tests when a study includes one independent variable with three or more levels is that the ANOVA:
B. controls the experimentwise error rate.
A researcher wants to evaluate the effects of virtual reality exposure for treating the storm, height, and spider phobias of a 34-year-old woman. The best single-subject research design for evaluating this treatment is which of the following?
A. multiple baseline
The primary characteristic that distinguishes true experimental research from quasi-experimental research is that, when conducting a true experimental research study, the researcher is able to:
B. randomly assign subjects to different treatment groups.
For a sample of middle school students with high IQs, the correlation between IQ scores and achievement test scores is .35. If the correlation between IQ scores and achievement test scores is calculated for a sample of middle school students whose IQs represent the full range of IQ scores, the correlation coefficient is likely to be:
B. larger than .35.
Which of the following is the appropriate bivariate correlation coefficient to use when the scores to be correlated are both reported as ranks?
Spearman
When measuring the relationship between Variable X and Variable Y, a restriction in the range of scores on the variables will most likely produce a correlation coefficient that:
A. underestimates the actual relationship between the variables.
A Type I error occurs when a researcher:
C. rejects a true null hypothesis.
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is best described as a type of:
B. action research.
You would use which of the following statistical tests to compare the number of adults living in a rural, urban, or suburban community who have received a diagnosis of a bipolar disorder, depressive disorder, or anxiety disorder?
B. multiple-sample chi-square test
When evaluating the effectiveness of an intervention to eliminate the head banging of a child with autism spectrum disorder, a researcher would be least likely to use which single-subject research design?
ABAB
To evaluate a brief intervention for improving the social skills of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder, a researcher administers a measure of social skills to a sample of adolescents with this diagnosis, chooses the adolescents with the lowest scores on this measure to participate in the intervention, and then re-administers the measure of social skills one week after the adolescents have participated in the intervention. The biggest threat to the internal validity of this study is:
D. statistical regression.
The analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) is used to:
A. statistically remove the effects of an extraneous variable on the dependent variable.
Which of the following is the appropriate technique for using measures of severity of depression, anxiety, drug/alcohol use, and cognitive impairment to classify individuals with major depressive disorder as being at risk or not at risk for suicide?
D. discriminant function analysis
A psychologist designs a study to compare the effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) and mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) on the anxiety symptoms of clinic patients who have just received a diagnosis of social anxiety disorder. The study will involve randomly assigning patients to one of the two treatments and measuring their level of social anxiety during the first treatment session and one week, one month, and three months following the end of treatment. The psychologist is using which of the following research designs?
mixed
Which of the following types of qualitative research is likely to be most useful for gaining an understanding of the daily experiences of family members after one member receives a diagnosis of schizophrenia?
phenomenology
The reliable change index (RCI) is useful for determining if a change in a client’s scores on an outcome measure administered before and after the client receives treatment is:
D. attributable to measurement error.
To compare the effectiveness of two brief treatments for social anxiety disorder, you obtain a sample of individuals who have received this diagnosis, determine the severity of each subject’s social anxiety, match the subjects in pairs based on the severity of their symptoms, and randomly assign one member of each pair to one of the treatments and other member to the other treatment. To compare the scores subjects in the two groups receive on a measure of symptom severity after they receive treatment, you will use which of the following?
A. t-test for correlated samples
You obtain the data you need from a sample of licensed psychologists to calculate a correlation coefficient for their EPPP score and yearly salary five years after taking the exam. If you square the correlation coefficient, you will obtain a(n) _______________, which indicates the amount of variability in yearly salary that’s accounted for by EPPP score.
B. coefficient of determination
The Solomon four-group design is used to:
A. evaluate the effects of pretesting.
To evaluate the effectiveness of a stress reduction technique for alleviating test anxiety, a psychologist administers a measure of test anxiety to Psychology 101 undergraduates, chooses the 50 students with the highest scores on the test, administers the intervention to the students, and then readministers the measure of test anxiety. The biggest threat to this study’s internal validity is:
C. statistical regression.
When using Bayes’ theorem:
C. the posterior is derived from a synthesis of the prior and likelihood function.
The numerator of the F-ratio produced by a one-way ANOVA is referred to as ______ and is a measure of __________.
B. MSB; treatment effects plus error
A test has a mean of 60 and standard deviation of 5, and test scores are normally distributed. Based on this information, you can conclude that about 95% of scores fall between scores of:
B. 50 and 70.
When designing a research study, you would use the double-blind technique to reduce which of the following?
A. experimenter expectancy
A scatterplot is constructed from the scores obtained by a sample of employees on a newly developed selection test (X) and a measure of job performance (Y). The scatterplot indicates that the variability of Y scores is about the same for all scores on X. Which of the following terms describes this situation?
homoscedasticity
Changing alpha from .05 to .01 has which of the following effects?
B. It decreases the probability of making a Type I error when the null hypothesis is true and increases the probability of making a Type II error when the null hypothesis is false.
Which of the following is a type of counterbalanced design?
B. Latin square
You have developed a battery of five tests that will be used to determine which of six entry-level jobs is most appropriate for recent high school graduates. Which of the following multivariate techniques will be most useful in this situation?
D. discriminant function analysis
The best way to reduce the effects of differential selection on the results of a research study is to:
B. randomly assign subjects to the treatment groups.
A research study involves comparing the short- and long-term effects of three brief behavioral treatments for social anxiety disorder by randomly assigning clinic patients who have just received the diagnosis to one of the three treatments and assessing their symptoms before treatment and then one week, four weeks, 12 weeks, and 24 weeks following treatment. Which of the following research designs is being used in this study?
mixed
To determine the relationship between cigarette smoking and absence from work, Dr. Nunez obtains a sample of employees who are either smokers or nonsmokers and determines the number of days each employee was absent from work the previous year. Dr. Nunez will use which of the following to calculate the correlation between these two variables?
C. point biserial coefficient
In the context of research design, external validity refers to:
generalizability
To compare the mean achievement test score obtained by a sample of sixth-grade students in one school district in California to the mean achievement test score of all sixth-grade students in California, you would use which of the following?
D. t-test for a single sample
Counterbalancing is most useful for controlling which of the following threats to external validity?
C. multiple treatment interference
A researcher would use the split-plot ANOVA to analyze the data she collected in her research study when:
C. her study included one between-subjects independent variable and one within-subjects independent variable.
Like the AB single-subject design, the __________ group design involves measuring the dependent variable measure multiple times before and after applying the independent variable.
D. time-series
You would use the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to analyze the data you obtain in a research study when:
D. your study includes two or more dependent variables that are measured on an interval or ratio scale.
The central limit theorem predicts that, regardless of the shape of the population distribution of scores, a sampling distribution of means increasingly approaches the shape of:
D. a normal distribution as the sample size increases.
Bayes’ theorem allows researchers to update prior knowledge about a parameter using:
B. previous knowledge and current (observed) data.
Which of the following is not a type of nonrandom sampling?
C. cluster sampling
convenience, quota, snowball sampling are
A Cohen’s d of .60 indicates a _________, and it’s interpreted in terms of __________.
B. medium effect; standard deviation units
A sociologist proposes that the reason why people living below the poverty level have worse outcomes even for relatively minor health problems is because they have little or no access to adequate healthcare. In this situation, lack of access to healthcare is a(n) __________ variable.
mediator
A psychologist finds that the relationship between physiological arousal and motor performance for a sample of athletes is .40. This means that ___% of variability in motor performance is explained by variability in physiological arousal.
16
To determine which combination of health-related predictors (e.g., exercise, diet, stress) best predicts which combination of health-related outcomes (e.g., physical fitness, emotional adjustment, quality of life), you would use which of the following?
C. canonical correlation
To help ensure that differential selection doesn’t threaten the internal validity of a research study, an investigator will:
D. randomly assign participants to different levels of the independent variable.
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) is best described as a type of:
B. action research.
A __________ can be used to visually summarize the nominal data collected in a research study.
C. bar graph
In a negatively skewed distribution of scores, the __________ is the lowest score and the __________ is the highest score.
B. mean; mode
A distinguishing characteristic of community-based participatory research (CBPR) is that community members who take part in CBPR act as:
D. equal research partners who participate in all phases of the research.
An advantage of using the Bonferroni procedure and the Tukey HSD test and other post hoc tests is that they:
C. reduce the probability of making a Type I error.
Dr. Bashir conducts a study to compare the effects of in vivo exposure, imaginal exposure, and virtual reality exposure for clinic clients with claustrophobia on three physiological measures of arousal and a self-report measure of anxiety. Which of the following statistical tests is Dr. Bashir most likely to use to analyze the data she obtains?
MANOVA
MANOVA (multivariate analysis of variance) is the appropriate statistical test when a study includes one or more independent variables and two or more dependent variables.
An advantage of the multiple baseline across behaviors design over the ABAB design is that it:
B. doesn’t require the researcher to withdraw a treatment from a behavior during the course of the study once it’s been applied to that behavior.
When two variables are measured on an interval or ratio scale and their relationship is nonlinear, you would use which of the following correlation coefficients to assess their degree of association?
eta
An advertising agency has been hired by a dog food company to re-design the labels for its products. The agency prepares seven different labels for canned dog food and, to determine which label customers prefer, has a sample of 300 dog owners choose the label they like the most. Which of the following is the appropriate statistical test to use to determine if there’s a significant difference in the number of dog owners who chose each label?
A. single-sample chi-square test
A __________ can be used to visually summarize the nominal data collected in a research study.
C. bar graph
The central limit theorem predicts that the sampling distribution of means increasingly approaches normal as the:
B. size of the sample increases regardless of the shape of the population distribution.
To obtain a sample for her study, a researcher randomly selects 25 schools from the 90 schools in a single school district and then interviews all teachers in each selected school. The researcher has used which of the following sampling methods?
B. cluster sampling
Structural equation modeling (SEM) is used to test models of the relationships among:
C. observed and latent variables.
A psychologist conducts a study to evaluate the effects of type of workshop (face-to-face and online) and level of motivation (high, average, and low) on mock EPPP scores. The results indicate that there are statistically significant main effects of both independent variables and a statistically significant interaction. When interpreting these results, the psychologist will conclude which of the following?
D. The most effective type of workshop depends on the person’s level of motivation.
A school psychologist designs a study to determine if student gender and grade level are related to the number of interactions male and female teachers have with their students. This study has ___ independent variables and ___ dependent variable(s).
3; 1
Which of the following statistical tests is used to control the effects of an extraneous variable on a dependent variable by treating the extraneous variable as an independent variable?
D. randomized block ANOVA
A psychologist wants to compare the number of therapy clients who have just received a diagnosis of specific phobia who say they prefer in vivo exposure, imaginal exposure, or virtual reality exposure as part of their treatment. The psychologist will use which of the following to make this comparison?
A. single-sample chi-square test
A researcher has made a Type II error when she:
C. retains a false null hypothesis.
The probability of making a Type II error equals which of the following?
beta
All of the single-subject designs share which of the following characteristics?
C. The dependent variable is measured multiple times during each phase.
A researcher would use the multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) to analyze the data she has collected to:
D. simultaneously analyze the effects of one or more independent variables on two or more dependent variables.
A researcher conducted a study to assess the effects of cognitive behavior therapy for treating depression in adolescents by comparing it to nondirective supportive therapy. Fifty adolescents who recently received a diagnosis of major depressive disorder were randomly assigned to one of the two therapies. Each participant’s level of depression was assessed at the beginning of treatment and one month after treatment ended. The results indicated that adolescents in both groups improved to the same degree in terms of depressive symptoms. Which of the following is the biggest threat to this study’s internal validity?
maturation
A distribution of scores has a mean of 60 and standard deviation of 5 and scores are normally distributed. Based on this information, you can conclude that about ___% of scores fall between the scores of 50 and 70.
95
The internal validity of a research study is threatened by statistical regression when:
C. participants were chosen for inclusion in the study because they obtained extremely low scores on a pretest.
According to the stress buffering hypothesis, stressful life events are less likely to lead to depression or other negative outcomes for people who feel they have adequate social support than for people who feel they don’t have adequate social support. In this situation, social support is a(n) _________ variable.
moderator
You have developed a battery of tests to determine which of five vocational training programs is most appropriate for unemployed young adults who dropped out of high school. Which of the following multivariate techniques will be useful in this situation?
D. discriminant function analysis
When conducting a one-way ANOVA, an F-ratio is calculated by dividing the mean square between (MSB) by the mean square within (MSW). The mean square between provides an estimate of variability in dependent variable scores due to:
C. treatment effects plus error.
When measuring the relationship between two variables, a restriction in range of scores on the variables will most likely produce a correlation coefficient that:
A. underestimates the actual relationship between the variables.
Which of the following scales of measurement allows you to conclude that the difference between the scores of 50 and 51 on a test is equal to the difference between the scores of 90 and 91 on the same test?
B. interval and ratio
To calculate the standard error of means you need which of the following?
C. population standard deviation and sample size
A researcher conducts a study to compare four different diet programs on weight loss for individuals who have either high, moderate, or low self-esteem. The statistical analysis of the data he collects indicates that there are statistically significant main and interaction effects. This means that:
A. interpreting the main effects without considering the interaction can lead to erroneous conclusions.
To compare the effects of three SAT review programs, a researcher randomly assigns a sample of male and female high school students who have high, average, or low test anxiety to one of the three programs. Following completion of the programs, he assesses each student’s level of anxiety and performance on a mock SAT exam. This study has ___ independent variables and ___ dependent variable(s).
3; 2
When test scores represent an interval or ratio scale and the distribution of scores is skewed, the best measure of central tendency for the distribution is usually which of the following?
median
The Solomon four-group design is used to control which of the following threats to a study’s internal validity?
C. pretest sensitization
Dr. Oz conducts a study to compare the effects of three treatments (drug, relaxation, and drug plus relaxation) on the systolic blood pressure of patients who have secondary hypertension as the result of three different conditions (tobacco use, chronic alcohol use, or obesity). To analyze the main and interaction effects of treatment and condition on systolic blood pressure, Dr. Oz will use which of the following statistical tests?
C. two-way ANOVA
A research study has adequate __________ validity when it provides accurate information about the effects of an independent variable on a dependent variable.
internal
The use of participant observation to study a cultural group is most associated with which of the following approaches to qualitative research?
ethnography
A company’s current selection procedure for computer programmers consists of seven predictors that are used to predict the job performance score that a job applicant will receive six months after being hired. The owner of the company wants to reduce the costs and time required to make selection decisions. Which of the following would be most useful for determining the fewest number of predictors needed to make accurate predictions about applicants’ job performance scores?
C. stepwise multiple regression
Which of the following is considered the most effective way to control extraneous variables?
B. random assignment of subjects to the different treatment groups
To determine the degree of association between age in years and reaction time in seconds, you would use which of the following correlation coefficients?
B. Pearson r
To determine the correlation between college graduate (yes or no) and yearly income in dollars, you would use which of the following correlation coefficients?
C. point biserial coefficient
Changing alpha from .01 to .05 has which of the following effects?
A. It increases the probability of making a Type I error when the null hypothesis is true and decreases the probability of making a Type II error when the null hypothesis is false.
The mode, median, and mean for a distribution of final exam scores are 75, 50, and 35, respectively. Based on this information, you can conclude that this distribution is:
B. negatively skewed.
An educational psychologist has designed an online workshop on effective classroom management techniques for first grade teachers, which will be presented as three two-hour sessions over a three week period. To evaluate the effectiveness of the workshop the first time it’s offered, she will have enrollees take (1) a pre-test consisting of 35 multiple-choice questions before they participate in the workshop and (2) a post-test consisting of 35 equivalent multiple-choice questions after they complete the workshop. To compare the number of items answered correctly by enrollees on the pre- and post-tests, the researcher will use which of the following?
B. t-test for correlated samples
A Cohen’s d of .6 suggests that a treatment has had:
C. a medium effect.
The time-series group design is most similar to which of the following single-subject designs?
AB
An investigator would use Jacobson and Truax’s reliable change index (RCI) to determine if the difference between an individual’s pre- and posttreatment scores on a measure of symptom severity is:
A. due to measurement error.
You would use stepwise multiple regression when you want to:
A. identify the fewest number of predictors needed to make accurate predictions about scores on a criterion.
A psychologist is planning a research study to evaluate the effects of a two-hour online lecture on statistics for improving the statistics knowledge of 35 psychologists who have just started studying for the EPPP. All participants will (1) take a pre-test consisting of 50 multiple-choice statistics questions on Monday, (2) attend the online lecture on Wednesday evening, and (3) take a post-test consisting of 50 multiple-choice statistics questions that are equivalent to the pre-test questions on Friday. To analyze the data she obtains in her study, the researcher will use which of the following?
B. t-test for correlated samples
Multicollinearity occurs when:
B. scores on one or more explanatory variables are highly correlated with scores on one or more of the other explanatory variables.
As a method of behavioral observation, event recording is most useful for behaviors that:
B. occur infrequently and have a clear beginning and end.
Parametric statistical tests are more “powerful” than nonparametric tests which means that, when using a parametric test, you’re more likely to:
D. reject a false null hypothesis.
Statistical power refers to the ability to:
D. reject a false null hypothesis.
Dr. Osprey conducted a study to evaluate the effects of an anti-drug program on attitudes toward drug use for middle school students from low-income families. Subjects were 662 7th and 8th graders attending an inner-city school. Attitudes toward drugs were assessed in the second week of September, the five-hour anti-drug program was administered in five one-hour sessions during the second week of October, and attitudes toward drugs were then re-assessed in the second week of November. Results indicated that the program significantly increased negative attitudes toward drug use. The biggest threat to the internal validity of this study is which of the following?
hx
Statistical power is increased by all of the following except:
D. population heterogeneity on the dependent variable.
The size of the standard error of the mean increases as:
A. the population standard deviation increases and the sample size decreases.
When using _______ sampling, researchers rely on their own judgment to determine which individuals to include as subjects in their studies.
purposive
To measure the degree of association between high school diploma (yes or no) and yearly income in dollars, you would use which of the following correlation coefficients?
B. point biserial
Your one-way ANOVA produces a statistically significant F-ratio. In this situation, you would consider conducting a post-hoc test if:
B. the independent variable has three or more levels.
