Psychological Research Design
Midterm Exam
Course Introduction
Psychological Research Design explores the fundamental principles and methodologies used in the scientific study of human behavior and mental processes. This course covers essential elements such as hypothesis formation, operationalization of variables, sampling techniques, experimental and non-experimental designs, data collection methods, and ethical considerations in psychological research. Students learn to critically evaluate research studies, develop their own research questions, and design studies that effectively test psychological theories. Hands-on activities may include designing experiments, analyzing data, and interpreting results, preparing students for advanced research and evidence-based practice in psychology.
Recommended Textbook Research Methods in Psychology 10th Edition by
John J Shaughnessy
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Chapter 1: Introduction
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Q1) Which of the following statements is false regarding searching the psychological literature before beginning a research project?
A) The process of conducting a literature search can provide a wealth of ideas for research projects.
B) The process of conducting a literature search should be discouraging for a researcher who finds that other researchers have investigated the same or similar ideas.
C) The process of conducting a literature search reminds researchers that science is a cumulative endeavor, with current research building on previous research.
D) The process of conducting a literature search is much less tedious than it used to be without computers.
Answer: B
Q2) A key factor when "thinking like a researcher" is to
A) use common sense.
B) rely on intuition.
C) be skeptical.
D) trust human inference.
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: The Scientific Method
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Q1) Which of the following is not one of the conditions for making a causal inference?
A) covariation of events
B) a time-order relationship
C) confounding of variables
D) elimination of plausible alternative causes
Answer: C
Q2) A researcher manipulates the amount of time participants view a list of words (1 vs.4 minutes),and measures the number of words the participants are able to write down 10 minutes later.The researcher suggests that in-between the presentation time and the later recall of the words,the words are in participants' memory.The construct of "memory" in this example represents
A) an operational definition.
B) an intervening variable.
C) the researcher's independent variable.
D) the researcher's dependent variable.
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Ethical Issues in the Conduct of Psychological Research
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Q1) A student conducted a research project in which fake smoke entered the waiting area used by participants.This procedure was used to create a stressful situation and the student then tested participants' performance on complex reasoning tasks.One student waiting in a wheelchair experienced a panic attack when the smoke appeared.After this incident,the IRB stopped the research.This example demonstrates that
A) IRBs can be unreasonable.
B) characteristics of individuals must be considered when determining risk.
C) the deception was described fully during the informed consent procedure.
D) this research should have been conducted online.
Answer: B
Q2) According to the APA Ethical Standards,psychologists must inform participants of the nature of the research,that participants are free to participate or to decline to participate,and that they may withdraw from the research.These requirements (among others)are necessary to ensure the participants'
A) anonymity and confidentiality.
B) risk level.
C) informed consent.
D) debriefing.
Answer: C
Page 5
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Chapter 4: Observation
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Q1) Which of the following is the most likely reason that a researcher studying aggressiveness of children would choose to use naturalistic observation?
A) Naturalistic observation would allow for the most precise operational definition of aggressiveness and thus the highest degree of internal validity.
B) Naturalistic observation would allow for the greatest control over the setting in which the observations were made.
C) Naturalistic observation is the preferred method when moral and ethical limitations apply to the topic under investigation.
D) Naturalistic observation is the preferred method when systematic manipulation of independent variables is required.
Q2) Researchers who analyze postings on Facebook to understand human behavior are aware that the information people choose to display about themselves may be biased.In terms of archival data,this represents the problem of A) spurious relationship.
B) unobtrusive measurement.
C) selective deposit.
D) selective survival.
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6
Chapter 5: Survey Research
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Q1) A sampling frame in survey research could be considered a(n)__________ of the population.
A) operational definition
B) biased sample
C) representative sample
D) probability sample
Q2) Reliability refers to the ______ of a measure,and validity refers to the ______ of a measure.
A) consistency; design
B) truthfulness; design
C) truthfulness; consistency
D) consistency; truthfulness
Q3) A researcher's new measure of "friendliness" correlates strongly with a measure of agreeableness,and demonstrates a very low correlation with a measure of intelligence.This pattern of correlations indicates the researcher's measure demonstrates good
A) reliability.
B) social desirability.
C) causal relationships.
D) construct validity.
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Chapter 6: Independent Groups Designs
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Q1) Random assignment to conditions works to balance participants' individual differences across conditions of the experiment by
A) matching individuals on key variables.
B) asking individuals to participate in each condition of the experiment.
C) forming groups based on an individual differences variable the researcher selects.
D) generating groups of participants that are equivalent, on average.
Q2) When we conclude that an experiment does not provide sufficient evidence to reject the null hypothesis when,in fact,an independent variable does produce an effect,the inferential statistics problem is called a
A) Type I error.
B) Type II error.
C) no-confidence interval.
D) probability error.
Q3) A statistically significant outcome is an outcome that
A) has a large likelihood of occurring if the null hypothesis is true.
B) has a small likelihood of occurring if the null hypothesis is true.
C) always has a large effect size.
D) has neither Type I nor Type II errors.
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Chapter 7: Repeated Measures Designs
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Q1) A psychologist wishes to have participants rate two different sets of inkblots (labeled A and B)for their "emotionality." The inkblots differ in their use of color.Ten inkblots in set A are created in shades of gray; ten inkblots in set B use shades of red,blue,and yellow.The psychologist hypothesizes that color will influence participants' ratings of emotionality.Each participant will rate all twenty inkblots. What is the independent variable in this experiment?
Q2) Define differential transfer and describe one method a researcher could use to detect whether differential transfer is a problem in a repeated measures experiment.
Q3) A psychologist wishes to have participants rate two different sets of inkblots (labeled A and B)for their "emotionality." The inkblots differ in their use of color.Ten inkblots in set A are created in shades of gray; ten inkblots in set B use shades of red,blue,and yellow.The psychologist hypothesizes that color will influence participants' ratings of emotionality.Each participant will rate all twenty inkblots. What is the dependent variable in this experiment?
Q4) Cite two reasons why a researcher might choose to use a repeated measures design.
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Chapter 8: Complex Designs
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Q1) In a complex design experiment,researchers found that younger and older people performed equally well on a memory task when they were tested in the afternoon,but the older people performed better than the younger people when they were tested in the morning.The different effect of age at the two times of day represents A) a main effect.
B) an interaction effect.
C) a correlational effect.
D) a simple comparison effect.
Q2) The overall effect of each independent variable in a complex design is called A) a main effect.
B) an average effect.
C) a comparison effect.
D) a simple main effect.
Q3) The interpretation of main effects obtained in a complex design is critically dependent on whether
A) an interaction effect is not present in the experiment.
B) an interaction effect is present in the experiment.
C) only one main effect occurs in the experiment.
D) more than one main effect occurs in the experiment.
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Chapter 9: Single-Case Research Designs
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Q1) Problems in the interpretation of the results of a multiple-baselines design can arise when
A) changes in performance appear in one of the baselines after an experimental intervention.
B) changes in performance appear in one of the baselines before an experimental intervention.
C) changes in performance appear in the treatment stage simultaneously with an experimental intervention.
D) changes in performance appear in the treatment stage after an experimental intervention.
Q2) Single-case research designs have been criticized because
A) researchers often test complicated interactions among variables.
B) the external validity of the findings may be limited.
C) participants in the control condition do not receive treatment.
D) all of these
Q3) In the multiple-baseline design across individuals,the treatment is administered
A) many times to each individual.
B) successively to one individual at a time.
C) during the common baseline period for all individuals.
D) to all individuals in the study at the same time.
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Chapter 10: Quasi-Experimental Designs and Program Evaluation
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Q1) Which of the following is not one of the four questions addressed in program evaluation?
A) assessment of needs
B) evaluation of process
C) evaluation of outcome
D) decision making efficiency
Q2) Participants for a treatment group are chosen because they score very low on a pretest measure of performance.When their performance improves on the posttest,the researcher
A) should consider the possibility that statistical regression influenced posttest scores.
B) can rule out testing and instrumentation threats to internal validity.
C) can be confident that the treatment was effective.
D) must conclude that additive effects with selection are responsible for the outcome.
Q3) How does a time series design with nonequivalent control group differ from a nonequivalent control group design? Identify a threat to internal validity that is controlled by adding a nonequivalent control group to a simple interrupted time series design.
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Chapter 11: Data Analysis and Interpretation: Part
Idescribing Data, confidence Intervals, correlation
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Q1) The 95% confidence interval for a population mean is calculated as follows:
A) sample mean \(\pm\) (t critical) (estimated standard error)
B) sample mean \(\pm\) (.95) (estimated standard error)
C) population mean \(\pm\) (.95) (estimated standard error)
D) population mean \(\pm\) (t critical) (estimated standard error)
Q2) When calculating Cohen's d as a measure of effect size,the difference between two means is
A) divided by the population standard deviation.
B) divided by N - 1.
C) divided by N.
D) placed in the denominator.
Q3) The value that splits a frequency distribution into two halves,each half with the same number of values,is the
A) mode.
B) mean.
C) median.
D) standard deviation.
Q4) What does the width of a confidence interval tell us,and how does the size of a sample affect the width of a confidence interval for a population mean?
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Data Analysis and Interpretation:
Iitests
Statistical Significance and the Analysis Story
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Q1) If the omnibus analysis of variance for a complex design reveals a statistically significant interaction effect,the source of the interaction effect may be identified using A) null comparisons.
B) simple main effects analyses.
C) correlational analyses.
D) complex comparisons.
Q2) Null hypothesis significance testing uses the laws of probability to estimate the likelihood of an outcome by first assuming that A) the null hypothesis is false.
B) an effect of an independent variable is present.
C) the population means are different.
D) only chance factors caused the outcome.
Q3) The value of the F-statistic in a single-factor experiment is determined by dividing the Between-Group Mean Square by the
A) Within-Group Mean Square.
B) degrees of freedom.
C) Between-Group Sum of Squares.
D) Total Sum of Squares.
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Chapter 13: Communication in Psychology
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Q1) Oral presentations differ from written presentations of scientific studies mainly in terms of
A) whether conclusions from statistical analyses are mentioned.
B) whether they are interesting.
C) the amount of details provided.
D) the use of figures or graphs.
Q2) The last step in writing a paragraph in a Results section is to
A) explain why the statistical tests were used.
B) state a brief conclusion regarding the statistical finding.
C) present the descriptive statistics in a verbal statement, table, or figure.
D) present the confidence interval in APA-format.
Q3) The title of a research manuscript should
A) be "flashy" to attract potential readers to the research.
B) include the goals and the primary methodological design of the research.
C) include the author's name, such as "John Doe's Study of Personality and Behavior".
D) inform readers of important variables or theoretical issues in the research.
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