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Social Ecology: Research Design, Practice Test Ch. 5-9

Terms in this set (50)

Dr. Ziser conducts an experiment on life satisfaction using participants above the age of 80. All people above the age of 80 would make up the ____.
Population
Dr. Ziser conducts an experiment on life satisfaction using participants above the age of 80. Because she cannot include all people above the age of 80, she will select what is known as a ____.
Sample
If the individuals in a sample have characteristics that are noticeably different from the individuals in the population, then the sample is said to be ____.
Biased
If every possible outcome is equally likely during sample selection, then the sample is said to be _____.
Random / representative
A teacher obtains a sample of children from a fifth-grade classroom by randomly selecting the third, fifth, and eighth rows and taking all the students in those rows. This is an example of ____ sampling.
Cluster
A researcher would like to describe and compare the attitudes of four different ethnic groups of students at a local state college. To obtain participants for the study while ensuring sufficient numbers of participants from each of the ethnic groups, the researcher should probably use ____ sampling.
Stratification (Sub groups - broken into strata)
A researcher wants to obtain a sample of 30 preschool children consisting of 10 two-year-old children, 10 three-year-old, and 10 four-year-old children. Assuming that the children are obtained from local daycare centers, this researcher should use ____ sampling.
Quota
If you cannot list all the individuals in the population, then you cannot take a simple random sample
True
Which question can be addressed with a descriptive strategy?
What is the average number of hours of sleep that a typical college student gets each night?

- Examines individual variables
A research study records a score measuring Facebook use and a score measuring happiness level for each individual in a group of 20-year-old women. The study intends to determine whether there is a relationship between the two variables. This study is best characterized as ____ research.
Correlational
Which question is best addressed with the experimental strategy?
Does increasing the hours of sleep college students get each night cause an increase in GPA?
Which research strategy attempts to address questions about cause-and-effect relationships but fails to produce an unambiguous answer because the study contains a flaw?
Quasi-experimental
A research study attempts to describe the relationship between self-esteem and birth order position by measuring self-esteem for each individual in a group of first-born boys, and then comparing the results with self-esteem scores for a group of later-born boys. This study is an example of the ____ strategy.
Non-experimental
Deciding whether a study will compare different groups of individuals or examine changes within the same group of individuals involves a decision about the research ____.
Design
The degree to which your research results generalize beyond the specific characteristics of your study refers to ____.
External validity
A study is ____ if it produces only one explanation for the results.
Internally valid
A researcher is concerned that experimental results obtained with college students may not apply to adults in the general population. This illustrates a concern with ____ validity.
External validity
A(n) ____variable is a variable in a study that is not being directly studied.
Extraneous
A research study finds that a group of participants who received relaxation training had lower exam anxiety scores than a group who did not receive training. However, the researcher suspects that the difference between groups may be caused by the fact that the participants in one group are generally smarter than those in the other. This study has a problem with ____.
Internal validity
A study examining the relationship between humor and memory compares memory performance scores for one group presented with humorous sentences and a second group presented with nonhumorous sentences. The participants presented with the humorous sentences are all males. The participants presented with the nonhumorous sentences are all females. In this study, gender (male/female) is best characterized as a(n) ____ variable.
Confounding
A researcher designs a study to determine whether female preschoolers prefer sweetened or unsweetened cereal. The researcher first presents the children with the sweet cereal and measures how much they ate. Later, during the same session, the researcher presents the children with the unsweetened cereal and measures how much they ate. The research finds that the group of preschoolers ate more of the sweetened cereal and therefore prefers the sweetened cereal. Is this conclusion justified?
No; this conclusion is not justified. Time-related variables could threaten the results.
If a study finds that there is a strong relationship between two variables, this means that ____.
There is a relationship between the variables but causality has not been established
Dr. Ramos is interested in studying how indoor temperature can influence people's sleep quality during the summer. A sample of 100 households is selected in which the residents keep their houses at 76 degrees during the summer. The residents wear a monitoring device that measures their sleep cycles for several nights to get baseline readings. Then, 50 of the homes are randomly assigned to the warm temperature condition in which the residents agree to keep their houses at 82 degrees Fahrenheit. In the other 50 houses, the residents agree to keep their houses at 70 degrees. For several nights, Dr. Ramos collects the sleep data for the people living in the houses to see how the residents' sleep patterns have changed. In this study, the independent variable is the ____.
Independent variable
The manipulated variable in an experiment is the ____ variable.
Independent
The measured variable in an experiment is the ____ variable.
Dependent
Dr. Nguyen is studying how amount of sleep influences mood for kindergarteners. A sample of 100 children is selected. Fifty children are allowed to sleep for 11 hours each night. The other 50 children are awoken after 8 hours. After three nights, Dr. Nguyen records the mood for each child and compares the two groups of scores. In this example, how many levels are there for the independent variable?
2
A researcher is performing an experiment to determine whether eating chocolate can improve memory. Measurements of memory in this experiment would be the ____ variable.
Dependent
A researcher has observed that adults who are more optimistic tend to have a higher level of life satisfaction than adults who are less optimistic. However, the researcher suspects that the apparent relationship may be explained by the fact that some people have positive things happen in their lives, which causes them to be more optimistic and satisfied with their lives compared to people who have bad things happen in their lives and therefore have a more negative outlook on things. This is an example of the ____.
Third-variable problem
Why is a confounding variable unacceptable in a true experiment?
It threatens internal validity by providing an alternative explanation for the results.
A researcher decides to use only participants that weigh 160 pounds in an experiment comparing two treatment conditions. For this study, what method is being used to control participant weight?
Holding constant
What is the primary goal for randomly assigning participants to treatment conditions in an experiment?
Minimize the likelihood that a participant characteristic becomes a confounding variable.
Dr. Sian varies the amount of a new sedative given to three groups of participants (0, 1, and 2 mg) and then observes the reaction for each group. The 0-mg condition represents the ____ condition.
No treatment control
An experiment includes a treatment condition, a no-treatment control, and a placebo control. Which two conditions should be compared to determine the size of the effect that is actually caused by the treatment?
Placebo vs treatment
A design that compares different groups of scores obtained from separate groups of participants is a ____ design.
Between-subjects
In an experiment examining the effects of background noise on people's ability to understand a verbal message, one group of participants is given a comprehension quiz after listening to a passage being read to them with no background noise. A week later, the same group of participants is given a comprehension quiz after listening to a passage being read to them with 60 decibels of conversation as background noise. This is an example of a ____ design.
Within-subjects
A between-subjects experiment comparing four treatment conditions produces 20 scores in each treatment condition. How many scores were obtained for each participant?
1
An advantage of a between-subject design is that ____.
Participants' responses are fresh
Compared to within-subjects designs, between-subjects designs require relatively ____.
Large numbers of participants
If a between-subjects study explores the effect of caffeine on appetite by comparing the appetites of teenagers with no caffeine in their systems with middle-aged adults with 100 mg of caffeine in their system, the study is ________.
Confounded
A limitation of using matching rather than random assignment to form groups in a between-subjects experiment is that matching ____.
...
Resentful demoralization occurs when _____.
An untreated group learns of the treatment received by another group and then becomes less motivated
For an experiment comparing two treatment conditions, there will be ____ score(s) for each participant if a within-subjects design is used and there will be ____ score(s) for each participant if a between-subjects design is used.
Two, one
How many participants would be needed for a within-subjects experiment comparing four different treatment conditions with a total of 20 scores in each treatment?
20
During the first treatment condition of a within-subjects experiment, the participants learn a new skill that helps improve their performance in later treatment conditions. For this study, the internal validity is threatened by ____.
Order effects
Dr. Feliciano is conducting a study of sleep on children's activity level that takes place over several days; however, Halloween falls in the middle of his study, and he notices that on Halloween, the children are especially active during his observation. Which threat to internal validity has confounded this study?
History
Dr. Mias is conducting a study on the effect of meditation on the anxiety levels of elderly hospice patients; however, the patients' declining health affects their anxiety levels in between each measurement. Which threat to internal validity has confounded this study?
Maturation
A group of college students is participating in a memory study that involves performing the same task each day under different circumstances; however, as each day goes by, the students are obviously getting more comfortable with completing the task. Which threat to internal validity has confounded this study?
Practice
A way to control for order effects in a within-subjects experiment is to use ____.
Counterbalancing
How many groups of participants would be needed to fully counterbalance four treatment conditions?
24
For an experiment that compares two treatment conditions with ten scores in each treatment, which design would require the smallest number of participants?
Within-subjects
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