Research Methods Quiz

Dr. Jones is conducting research to determine if IQ changes with age. The research design includes three groups of participants. Group 1 consists of 10 year-olds, group 2 of 15 year-olds, and group 3 of 25 year-olds. Dr. Jones gives an IQ test to all three groups to determine the average IQ of each group. The design of the research is

• longitudinal

• cross-sectional

• experimental

• cross-sequential

• observational

Dr. Wilson, who teaches engineering classes, is interested in learning about how lack of sleep affects performance. What would be the best way to ensure that her findings are generalizable to all the students at her university?

• Randomly assigning half the students in one of her classes she teaches at into a condition where they are told to sleep four hours a night and other half a condition in which they are told to sleep eight hours a night.

• Surveying every tenth student listed in the university directory about their sleep habits.

• Surveying all students in the classes she teaches.

• Studying 40 students over time, from their freshman year through their senior year, to see differences as the students mature.

• Asking friends who teach at other universities to collect and share data on their students.

Which research method would be most appropriate for investigating the relationship between the religious beliefs of Americans and their attitudes toward abortion?

• the survey

• naturalistic observation

• the case study

• experimentation

A survey shows that children who have encyclopedias in their homes earn better grades in school than children whose homes lack encyclopedias. The researcher concludes that having encyclopedias at home improves grades. This conclusion is erroneous primarily because the researcher has incorrectly:

• failed to allow for experimenter bias

• identified the independent variable

• identified the dependent variable

• inferred correlation from causation

• inferred causation from correlation

• The results that we received in the study are not likely due to chance.

• There is a relatively large possibility that we received these results just by chance.

• The data that was collected was valid.

• The data that was collected was reliable.

• All of the above.

A specification of how a researcher measures a research variable is known as a(n):

• standard deviation.

• control condition.

• replication.

• operational definition.

• observation.

Sally’s little brother tends to bother her when he is bored. Sally wants to figure out which toy will keep her brother occupied the longest so he will not bother her. She conducts a study where each day at 6 PM for a week she gives her brother a different toy and on one of the other days she gives him no toys to play with. She measures the amount of time he spends playing with each toy before he comes to bother her. Which of the following is the independent variable in this example?

• The little brother

• Amount of time playing

• Type of toy

• No toys

• Time of day

A researcher is using debriefing when he

• uses deception in a study.

• has the study approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee.

• explains the purpose of the study before the study begins

• has the study approved by the Institutional Review Board.

• explains the purpose of the study immediately after the study is complete.

Psychologists study animals because:

• animal behavior is just as complex as human behavior.

• experiments on people are generally considered to be unethical.

• the ethical treatment of animals is not mandated by professional guidelines.

• similar processes often underlie animal and human behavior.

When Mr. Adams calculated his students' algebra test scores, he noticed that two students had extremely low scores. Which measure of central tendency is affected most by the scores of these two students?

• mean

• standard deviation

• mode

• median

• range