experi psych 6 – Flashcards

**1. Which of the following cannot be found in a one-group, pretest/posttest design? FOUND or NOT FOUND A random sample A valid measure A comparison group A manipulation

2. The addition of a comparison group can address each of the following threats to internal validity TRUE OR FALSE: History Maturation Regression Attrition

**3. To be a history threat, the external event must occur: TRUE OR FALSE Constantly during the experiment At the beginning of the experiment Systematically, affecting most members of the group Intentionally, affecting most members of the group Because of a participant's behavior

**4. Regression is especially problematic in which of the following situations? TRUE OR FALSE When one group has an extremely low score at pretest When one group has an extremely high score at pretest When the experimental and comparison groups are equal at pretest

5. Which of the following is true of testing effects? TRUE OR FALSE It is an example of an order effect. It can lead to increased/higher scores. It can lead to decreased/lower scores. It can sensitize people to being tested.

6. Which of the following is true of instrumentation threats? TRUE OR FALSE They are the same as testing threats. They occur only when using mechanical instruments (e.g., blood pressure cuffs, scales) . They can be avoided with one-group, pretest/posttest designs. They are only problematic in observational research.

7. In previous studies, Dr. Schulenberg has established that finding meaning in one's everyday work activities can lead to greater success in the workplace (e.g., productivity, creativity). He is curious as to whether this can happen in the college classroom. Specifically, he is curious whether finding meaning in one's classroom experience can lead to greater academic performance. In the spring semester, he has his teaching assistant randomly assign half the class to write a paragraph each class period about how the material has meaning for their lives (meaning group). The other half writes a paragraph about what they did to prepare for class (preparation group). He does not know which of his students are writing which paragraph, and the students are not aware they are different writing assignments. To measure academic performance, he gives the students a midterm essay exam and a final exam. ------------- QUESTION The study described above is an example of which of the following? TRUE OR FALSE A one-group, pretest/posttest design A null effect A double-blind study Observer bias

**8.'' ------------- QUESTION Dr. Schulenberg likely designed his study so that neither he nor his students knew which group they were in to address which of the following? TRUE or FALSE Placebo effects Attrition Demand characteristics Maturation

9. '' ------------- QUESTION Which of the following aspects of Dr. Schulenberg's study allows him to prevent observer bias? TRUE OR FALSE Keeping his students unaware of which type of essay they are writing Having his teaching assistant assign students randomly to the two groups Grading the exams himself (a Ph.D.) instead of having his teaching assistant (a college senior) do it Having the person grading the exams unaware of each student's writing group Using the grades from the midterm exam rather than the final exam

**10. '' ------------- QUESTION Imagine that in Dr. Schulenberg's study, he notes that all of the students do extremely well on the midterm exam. When he looks at the results of the final exam, he notices that all the students' exam scores went down. Given this information, which of the following threats might be present in his study? TRUE OR FALSE Regression Attrition Maturation Observer bias Placebo effect

**11. Dr. Bloedorn is a health psychologist who researches nutrition. She is curious as to whether a new drink additive will help people consume fewer calories during a meal. The drink additive is a white} odorless} tasteless powder that a person can add to any drink. She collects a random sample of 63 overweight students on campus and measures the calories they eat during lunch, using a bomb calorimeter. She then gives this additive to the same 63 participants to use at dinner and measures how many calories they eat (again) using the bomb calorimeter). --------------- QUESTION Which of the following threats to internal validity will Dr. Bloedorn be worried about? TRUE OR FALSE History Attrition Instrumentation Placebo effects

12. '' --------------- QUESTION The addition of a control group that does not use the drink additive would help Dr. Bloedorn address which of the following threats to internal validity? TRUE OR FALSE History Demand characteristics Instrumentation Placebo effects

13. '' --------------- QUESTION The addition of a group that does not use the drink additive but adds a similar-looking substance that they think is the additive, would help Dr. Bloedorn address which of the following threats to internal validity? TRUE OR FALSE History Observer bias Instrumentation Placebo effects

14. '' --------------- QUESTION Imagine that Dr. Bloedorn finds no difference between the calories consumed with the drink additive and without. This is known as: TRUE OR FALSE Situation noise Within-group variance A null effect Placebo effect

15. THIS QUESTION DOES NOT RELATE TO THE ABOVE STUDY DESCRIPTION Which of the following study types can result in a null effect? TRUE OR FALSE Pretest/posttest designs Correlational designs Within-groups designs Posttest-only designs

16. THIS QUESTION DOES NOT RELATE TO THE ABOVE STUDY DESCRIPTION Dr. Deveraux has conducted a study that has resulted in a null effect. Nonetheless, she suspects that there truly is a causal relationship between her independent and dependent variables. Which of the following might be to blame? TRUE OR FALSE A weak manipulation An insensitive measure A reverse confound None of the above are reasons

**17. Dr. Morimoto is curious as to whether exposing people to violent video games causes them to be more aggressive. He assigns half his participants to play a video game for 5 minutes and the other half to play for 7 minutes. He finds that there is no relationship between playing the game longer and being more aggressive. What is likely to blame for this null effect? TRUE OR FALSE A weak manipulation An insensitive measure A reverse confound Too much within-group variance Ceiling effect

18. Dr. Sanderson is curious as to whether exposing people to violent video games causes them to be more aggressive. She assigns half her participants to play a violent video game for 5 minutes and the other half to play the same game for 25 minutes. Afterward, she has them play a board game and has a well-trained coder determine whether they are Very Aggressive in their playing style, Barely Aggressive, or Not At All Aggressive. She finds that a vast majority of her participants, regardless of group assignment, are rated as Very Aggressive. This outcome would be known as a/an: TRUE or FALSE Weak manipulation Ceiling effect Floor effect Outlier Large within-group variance

**19. THIS QUESTION DOES NOT RELATE TO THE ABOVE STUDY DESCRIPTION A confound that keeps a researcher from finding a relationship between two variables is known as: TRUE OR FALSE Weak confound Insensitive confound Null confound Reverse confound

20. THIS QUESTION DOES NOT RELATE TO THE ABOVE STUDY DESCRIPTION Unsystematic variability in a study is also known as: TRUE OR FALSE Error variance Noise Group inconsistency

**21. THIS QUESTION DOES NOT RELATE TO THE ABOVE STUDY DESCRIPTION In what way does high within-groups variance obscure between-groups variance? TRUE OR FALSE It leads to smaller effect sizes. It limits the type of statistical analyses that can be conducted. It causes more overlap between experimental/comparison groups.

**22. THIS QUESTION DOES NOT RELATE TO THE ABOVE STUDY DESCRIPTION Which of the following things can be done to reduce the effect of individual differences? TRUE or FALSE Using a matched-groups design Using a within-groups design Collecting measurements from more people Nothing can be done to reduce the effect of individual differences

Observer bias threatens internal validity because an alternative explanation exists and threatens construct validity because the ratings are inaccurat