Research Methods MC questions – Flashcards

In this study, the authors recorded how many math questions (out of 10 questions) participants tried to solve. This is an example of which of the following?

Which of the following is NOT true of variables?

Dr. Hoda measures job satisfaction and number of years of education. In examining her scatterplot, she sees that the cloud of points has no slope. This indicates which type of relationship?

Dr. Ramon makes the following claim: "Watching television leads people to spend less time communicating with their spouses, study says." Dr. LaSalle makes the claim: "Research shows that making more money correlates with spending less time talking with your spouse." Which type of claim is Dr. Ramon making?

Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A, and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in content (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the university. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words than Group B. Which of the following is the dependent variable in Dr. Kang's study?

Dr. Kang, a cognitive psychologist, conducts an experiment examining the effect of emotion on memory. He provides lists of 15 words to two groups of participants at his university. He puts the names of all the participants in a hat. The first 20 names he assigns to Group A, and the last 20 he assigns to Group B. Group A is given a list of words that are very emotional in content (e.g., passion, murder). Group B is given a list of words that are neutral in content (e.g., houseplant, desk). He then measures how many words each group is able to remember after being distracted for 5 minutes by watching a video about the history of the university. He finds that Group A remembers 15% more words than Group B. If Dr. Kang decided against using random assignment, which of the following would be threatened?

Which of the following validities is NOT examined in all research claims?

Which of the following is NOT a research claim?

Anton and his friends are discussing a study he read about in his developmental psychology class. In the study, the researcher made the claim that a majority of middle school students who are bullied have low self-esteem. Clarissa questions the study, saying, "I am not sure that I am convinced—I am not sure you can really measure being bullied." Quinn also questions the study, saying, "Which middle school students did they study? I am curious if they included both private and public school students." Manish also is curious about the study, asking, "I wonder how strong the relationship is between bullying and self-esteem. Could you predict one from the other?" Clarissa's concern is addressing which of the following?

Anton and his friends are discussing a study he read about in his developmental psychology class. In the study, the researcher made the claim that a majority of middle school students who are bullied have low self-esteem. Clarissa questions the study, saying, "I am not sure that I am convinced—I am not sure you can really measure being bullied." Quinn also questions the study, saying, "Which middle school students did they study? I am curious if they included both private and public school students." Manish also is curious about the study, asking, "I wonder how strong the relationship is between bullying and self-esteem. Could you predict one from the other?" Manish's concern is addressing which of the following?

A common finding in the study of aggression is that exposure to television is associated with increased aggressive behavior in children. You are curious as to whether peer pressure is really to blame (peer pressure encourages you to watch television and peer pressure encourages you to be aggressive). You are questioning which of the following rules of causation?

When examining the statistical validity of a frequency claim, one should look for the:

Which of the following is the difference between anecdotal claims and frequency claims?

In this study, the authors were interested in students' math effort. Which of the following would NOT be a reasonable operational definition of math effort?

Which of the following is an example of being a producer of research?

In the theory-data cycle, theories first lead to ________.

_______ is the approach of collecting data and using it to develop, support, and/or challenge a theory.

Which of the following is true of the relationship between hypotheses and theories?

Which of the following is the reason that scientific journals use peer review?

Your friend Gaby loves reading articles about psychology studies in her monthly women's magazine. Which of the following would you tell her?

Which aspect of the peer-review cycle allows for the greatest amount of honesty in reviews?

Charlotte is studying subliminal messages and weight loss. She is curious whether people will lose more weight if they hear subliminal messages that encourage weight loss ("don't eat that food," "you want to be thin") in the music on their iPods compared to people who do not have subliminal messages in their music. She studies 40 people and finds the following results: To understand whether the subliminal messages have an effect, Charlotte needs to consider all of the following cells in the chart above EXCEPT

Vanessa claims that she sleeps better when she falls asleep to music. She has a comparison group, because she has noticed that she does not listen to music every night, only when she remembers to plug in her iPod. She typically remembers to plug in her iPod on nights when she is able to finish studying earlier. What problem do you see in Vanessa's reasoning about sleeping better to music?

Angela reads about a study in which cell phone use is associated with migraine headaches. She says, "Well, that study is not valid because I use a cell phone more than anyone I know and I never get migraines." Based on her comment, Angela may be forgetting which of the following?

Edward believes that there are a lot of differences between men and women on a variety of different dimensions. He believes this because when he thinks about books that have been written on men and women, he can recall only books that say men and women are different (e.g., Men Are from Mars, Women Are from Venus) and cannot recall any that say men and women are the same. His reliance on what comes to mind is an example of which of the following?

Compared with doing a generic Internet search, why is PsycINFO a superior way to find scientific sources?

Psychological scientists may choose to publish their work in all of the following EXCEPT:

When reading an empirical journal article "with purpose," which two questions should you ask yourself as you read?

Which of the following is NOT a section or subsection commonly found in an empirical journal article?

Critical thinking involves