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What is Occam’s Razor or the rule of parsimony as applied to…
What is Occam’s Razor or the rule of parsimony as applied to science?
Subjective measurements produce more reliable findings.
Scientific findings must be replicated before they are considered valid.
The simplest solution is usually the best solution.
The best results happen when scientists collaborate with each other.
If the results of a study are __________________, they must also be______________.
parsimonious; complex
reliable; valid
valid; reliable
complex; parsimonious
When scientists analyze existing institutional records, such as census or medical records data, this practice is conducting ________ research.
archival
direct observation
questionnaire-based
physiological
If we have legitimate concerns about a study’s validity, it means that
we will have to pay a publisher to disseminate the results.
the findings do not truthfully represent what the researcher intended.
we don’t have confidence in the researcher’s credentials.
we predict that we will not get statistical significance.
Good science places great value on replication. What does that mean?
Results must be analyzed using appropriate statistical procedures.
Scientists should be open-minded about critical responses from the scientific community.
The best scientific results come about through collaboration rather than individual effort.
Findings should be confirmed by repeating the process with the same outcome.
Why do psychologists tend to reject claims linking full moon effects to disordered behavior?
Because no well respected psychologists has supported that perspective.
Because space psychology hasn’t really gotten underway.
Because you can’t measure attitudes about the moon and related behaviors.
Because we can’t empirically test the phenomenon.
In psychology’s first century, psychologists paid limited attention to sociocultural variables (e.g., gender, socioeconomic status, race) among participants, which meant research findings
concentrated on rats rather than humans.
could not be published in the most prestigious journals.
tended to focus exclusively on women’s issues.
might not generalize to other populations than white males.
A recent public health scare has proposed a causal link between immunization and the development of autism based on case studies reporting parental opinions. What position do scientists tend to take about such cause-effect claims regarding behavior?
The scientific evidence has documented a strong causal link.
Autistic parents are in the best position to know the cause.
Correlation is not causation.
Controlled comparison studies should be conducted.
Which sources produce the least reliable evidence for behavioral claims?
correlational data
survey data
personal experience
experimental data
Bruno wanted to test the effects of showing personal warmth to students at the beginning of a class on his teacher evaluation ratings. He sent an electronic welcome to students in his morning class, but sent a copy of the Honor Code to his afternoon class at the beginning of the course and then compared their performances on the final exam. Is there a problem with his research design?
He followed the recommended strategy for classroom research.
He should have debriefed the students before starting the experiment.
The students probably figured out what he was up to and played along.
He did not randomly assign participants to treatment and control conditions
Which would be considered a primary source in psychology scholarship?
a psychologist’s blog
a refereed or peer-reviewed journal article
a newspaper article
raw data
Which term represents one hallmark of thinking as a psychological scientist?
skepticism
cynicism
realism
romanticism
What kind of statistics is used in the process of hypothesis testing?
Predictive
Descriptive
Alternative
Inferential
The most widely used standard for determining statistical significance is that the event has a ____ likelihood of occurrence?
p = .50
p = .10
p = .30
p = .05
What does it mean when the variance is expressed as a large number?
The scores tend to cluster closely together.
The scores tend to spread out across the range.
The distribution must be normal.
The distribution must be bimodal.
Rejecting the null hypothesis (H0) when we should have retained the null hypothesis (H0) is a _____ error.
Type I
Type II
One-tailed
Null
A survey determines that the average cost of textbooks for one semester as a psychology major is $450 with a standard deviation of $50. That finding means that approximately ______ of the participants have textbooks costs that range between $400-500.
99%
10%
67%
95%
A statistical procedure used to determine whether mean differences between conditions is greater than what might be expected due to chance is ____________.
meta analysis
null hypothesis testing
descriptive testing
effect size
meta analysis effect
Tommy conducts a research project comparing two different teaching methods in two different classes.
In Class A, the scores were 25, 25, 25, 25, and 25.
In Class B, the scores were 10, 28, 12, 35, and 40.
The means for both classes was 25.
Tommy concluded that the two teaching methods had identical impact. Which of the following statements is accurate?
His conclusion is valid.
His conclusion is invalid; he didn’t take variability into account.
His conclusion is invalid; he cannot infer causation from correlational data.
His conclusion is invalid; he violated the assumption of linearity of data.
What is the major drawback to correlational research?
The results typically cannot generalize to other situations.
You may not infer causation from the results.
It routinely violates ethical principles.
It is more difficult to conduct than experimental research.
Leslie and Charlie observe grade school children on a playground. They make detailed notes on aggression displayed by the children. They have engaged in what kind of research? What would be the most reasonable operational definition of aggression that Leslie and Charlie could use in their study?
Observe facial expressions for aggression.
Record episodes of aggressive physical contact but disregard verbally aggressive remarks.
Ask the children if they are angry.
Define the hours of operation to take place before lunch.
It is important to use representative samples in survey research is so you can ___________ your findings.
Publish
replicate
generalize
scrutinize
What is one potential problem associated with the naturalistic observation method?
Because the researcher is also a participant, he/she may lose objectivity.
Reactivity (also known as the Hawthorne Effect) may influence the outcomes.
The setting is artificial.
Finding the right amount of compensation to pay participants.
After the children stopped playing, Leslie and Charlie interview the children to find out their ages. They produced a scatter plot contrasting aggressive acts by age. What conclusion could they draw from the scatter plot?
The data were inconclusive.
As age increases, aggression tends to decline.
There is no relationship between aggression and age.
As age decreases, aggression tends to decline.
Under what circumstances is the use of a case study a recommended research strategy?
When demand characteristics can be amplified.
When participants are in plentiful supply.
When phenomena apply to all ethnic groups.
When the target behaviors occur rarely.
In a study on caffeine effects, participants who received non-caffeinated pills still experienced increased heart rate if they were led to believe the pills were caffeinated. This is an example of ___________.
the nocebo effect
the placebo effect attrition
subject attrition
balancing
When would you conduct a meta-analysis?
When the validity data limit your ability to generalize your findings.
When you want to look at data trends that emerge from synthesizing the results of multiple studies.
When you need to replicate the findings of a study before publication.
When you discover that you have made a statistical error in your data.
A researcher was interested in the effects of arousal and personality type on individuals’ GRE test performance. Based on questionnaire responses, each participant was classified as an “extravert” or an “introvert.” The researcher manipulated arousal level by randomly assigning participants to ingest different levels of caffeine (high, medium, and zero) while the participants completed a practice GRE test.
The natural groups (or participant) independent variable in this experiment is _________ whereas the random groups (manipulated) independent variable is _________.
caffeinated participants; noncaffeinated participants
level of arousal; participants’ personality status
participants’ personality status; level of arousal
the introversion group; the extroversion group
What is the best strategy for minimizing demand characteristics?
Conducting repeated measures on the same population
Counterbalancing the design
Having experimental staff be blind to subject assignment to conditions
Making sure participants understand that they have to keep their experience confidential
A researcher was interested in the effects of arousal and personality type on individuals’ GRE test performance. Based on questionnaire responses, each participant was classified as an “extravert” or an “introvert.” The researcher manipulated arousal level by randomly assigning participants to ingest different levels of caffeine (high, medium, and zero) while the participants completed a practice GRE test.
The dependent variable in this experiment is _____.
the participants’ personality: introversion or extraversion
the participants’ level of arousal
whether people agreed to participate in the experiment
scores on the GRE test
A researcher was interested in the effects of arousal and personality type on individuals’ GRE test performance. Based on questionnaire responses, each participant was classified as an “extravert” or an “introvert.” The researcher manipulated arousal level by randomly assigning participants to ingest different levels of caffeine (high, medium, and zero) while the participants completed a practice GRE test.
The design of this experiment would be described as a _____.
2 x 3 x 1
2 x 2 x 2
2 x 2
3 x 2
A researcher was interested in the effects of arousal and personality type on individuals’ GRE test performance. Based on questionnaire responses, each participant was classified as an “extravert” or an “introvert.” The researcher manipulated arousal level by randomly assigning participants to ingest different levels of caffeine (high, medium, and zero) while the participants completed a practice GRE test.
The design of this experiment would be described as a _____.
3 x 2
2 x 2 x 2
2 x 3 x 1
2 x 2
A researcher was interested in the effects of arousal and personality type on individuals’ GRE test performance. Based on questionnaire responses, each participant was classified as an “extravert” or an “introvert.” The researcher manipulated arousal level by randomly assigning participants to ingest different levels of caffeine (high, medium, and zero) while the participants completed a practice GRE test.
The natural groups (or participant) independent variable in this experiment is _________ whereas the random groups (manipulated) independent variable is _________.
the introversion group; the extroversion group
participants’ personality status; level of arousal
level of arousal; participants’ personality status
caffeinated participants; noncaffeinated participants
Which research protocol would most likely exempt the researcher from having to exercise informed consent?
Comparing the aggression levels of college students who watch either violent or nonviolent television programs.
Observing hand-holding behaviors by couples in a community park.
Contrasting the self-esteem of boys versus girls in an inner city elementary school.
Comparing the effectiveness of two different drugs to treat depression.
Psychologists who provide clinical treatment are ethically obligated to
warn individuals whom clients have declared serious intent to harm.
share significant treatment details with family members.
avoid getting the client’s input on setting treatment goals.
be in treatment themselves.
The primary reason faculty treat plagiarism as such a significant violation of academic integrity because it represents _______.
the theft of intellectual property
sloppy scholarship practices
postconventional moral reasoning
evidence of personality disorder
Under what circumstances can experimenters use deception?
Reviewing bodies no longer approve any experiments that involve deception.
If the researcher has been able to publish studies that have used the same methods.
If the benefits clearly outweigh the cost of using deception.
If they compensate their participants monetarily.
What is the appropriate consequence for a student who begins to participate in a study and decides to withdraw before the study is over?
The student loses the opportunity to earn future extra credit in this study.
There is no negative consequence as this is a participant right.
The student must perform an alternative assignment.
The student is barred from participation in other studies.
What does the ethical principle of beneficence mean that is addressed in the Belmont Report?
obligation to debrief
do no harm
right to compensation
protection of confidentiality
