Experimentation in Psychology

Which of the following methods is most helpful for clarifying cause-effect relationships?

• the survey

• the experiment

• correlational research

• naturalistic observation

An experiment enables researchers to isolate the effects of one or more factors by manipulating the factors of interest and also by

• obtaining participants' informed consent prior to beginning the experiment

• summarizing participants' responses with a correlation coefficient

• holding other factors constant across experimental and control groups

• fully debriefing participants after completing the experiment

Which research method provides the best way of assessing whether cigarette smoking boosts mental alertness?

• the case study

• the survey

• naturalistic observation

• the experiment

Participants who are exposed to the treatment being tested in an experiment are said to be assigned to the

• random sample

• experimental group

• standardized treatment

• control group

Which of the following is true for those assigned to a control group?

• The experimenter exerts the greatest influence on participants' behavior.

• The research participants are exposed to all the different experimental treatments.

• The research participants are exposed to the most favorable levels of experimental treatment.

• The experimental treatment is absent.

To assess the effectiveness of flu vaccine for county residents, Mr. Carlson wants to administer vaccine injections to all county residents rather than give half of them a placebo injection. Mr. Carlson is most clearly underestimating the importance of

• testing a large sample

• operationally defining his procedures

• replicating observations of other researchers

• creating a control group

Being randomly assigned to the experimental group in a research project involves being assigned

• to that group by chance

• to the group in which participants are representative of people in general

• in a way that ensures that the independent variable will affect the dependent variable

• to the group in which participants all have similar personalities

Research participants are randomly assigned to different groups in an experiment in order to

• minimize chances that participants in any group know each other

• increase chances that participants are representative of people in general

• minimize any differences between groups of participants

• increase chances that the different groups have the same number of participants

Participants in an experiment are said to be blind if they are uninformed about (select all that apply)

• what experimental hypothesis is being tested

• whether the experimental findings will be meaningful

• how the dependent variable is measured

• which experimental treatment, if any, they are receiving

Both the researchers and the participants in a memory study are ignorant about which participants have actually received a potentially memory-enhancing drug and which have received a placebo. This investigation involves the use of

• naturalistic observation

• random sampling

• the double-blind procedure

• replication