Deck 9: Experimental Designs

Question 1

When a cause-and-effect relationship between an independent and a dependent variable of interest is to be clearly established,then all other variables that might contaminate or confound the relationship have to be tightly controlled.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The difference between matching and randomization is that in the former case individuals are deliberately and consciously matched to control the differences among group members,whereas in the latter case we expect that the process of randomization would distribute the inequalities among the groups,based on the laws of normal distribution.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

One way of controlling the contaminating or "nuisance" variables is to match various groups by picking the confounding characteristics and deliberately spreading them across groups.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

A field experiment,as the name implies,is an experiment done in the natural environment in which work goes on as usual,but treatments are given to one or more groups.

Question 5

Main testing effects occur when the pre-test affects the participant's reaction to the treatment (the independent variable).

Question 6

Putting pressure on individuals to participate in experiments through coercion,or applying social pressure is considered unethical.

Question 7

It is not possible to set up control groups in field experiments.

Question 8

What is true about Quasi-Experimental Designs?

A)Quasi-Experimental Designs expose an experimental group to a treatment and measure its effects.
B)A Quasi-Experimental Design is the weakest of all designs.
C)A Quasi-Experimental Design does not measure true cause-and-effect relationships.
D)All of the above.

Question 9

Manipulation of independent variables in order to test causal relationships is unacceptable from a scientific point of view.

Question 10

External validity refers to the confidence we place in the cause-and-effect relationship.

Question 11

Mortality (the dropout of individuals from groups)is a problem for all experimental designs.

Question 12

A major threat to validity in a "post-tests only with one experimental and one control group" is:

A)Interactive testing.
B)Main testing.
C)History.
D)Mortality.

Question 13

Major threats to validity in a "pre-test & post-test with one experimental group only" are:

A)History,maturation,main testing,interactive testing,mortality.
B)Statistical regression,maturation,main testing,interactive testing,mortality.
C)Statistical regression,instrumentation,main testing,interactive testing,mortality.
D)History,instrumentation,main testing,interactive testing,mortality.

Question 14

A main testing effect occurs when the prior observation (the pre-test)affects the later observation (the post-test).

Question 15

The Solomon four-group experimental design guarantees the maximum internal and external validity,ruling out many other rival hypotheses.

Question 16

Cause-and-effect inferences can also be contaminated by the effects of the passage of time.Such contamination is called history effects.

Question 17

Manipulation means that we create different levels of the independent variable to assess the impact on the dependent variable.

Question 18

Main testing effects typically occur because participants want to be consistent.

Question 19

Internal validity refers to what extent would the results found in the lab setting be transferable or generalizable to the actual organizational or field settings.

Question 20

In "matching groups",the process by which individuals are drawn (i.e. ,everybody has a known and equal chance of being drawn)and their assignment to any particular group are both random.

Question 21

The manager of a Dairy Products Division wants to test the effects of the "buy one,get one free" sales promotion on the sale of the company-owned brand of packaged cheese,for a week.She records the sales of the packaged cheese during the previous 2 weeks to assess the effect of the promotion.However,on the very day that her sales promotion goes into effect,the Dairy Farmer's Association unexpectedly launches a multimedia advertisement on the benefits of consuming dairy products,especially cheese.The sales of all dairy products,including cheese,go up in all stores,including the one where the experiment had been in progress.Here,because of unexpected advertisement,one cannot be sure how much of the increase in sales of the cheese in question was due to the sales promotion and how much to the advertisement of the Dairy Farmers' Association! In this case,___________ have reduced the internal validity or the faith that can be placed on the conclusion that the sales promotion caused the increase in sales.

A)Main testing effects.
B)Maturation effects.
C)History effects.
D)Instrumentation effects.

Question 22

It is possible to reduce biases that might affect the internal validity of experimental designs by enhancing the level of sophistication of the experimental design.

Question 23

Interactive testing and selection effects may restrict the internal validity of our findings.

Question 24

The manager of a bus company is interested in knowing passenger increases if he used three different types of bus (Luxury Express,Standard Express,Regular)and manipulated both the fare reduction and the type of vehicle used,simultaneously. Which of the following research designs is appropriate?

A)A completely randomized design.
B)A Latin square design
C)A factorial design.
D)A randomized block design.

Question 25

Whereas the randomized block design helps the experimenter to minimize the effects of one nuisance variable in evaluating the treatment effects,the Latin square design is very useful when two nuisance blocking factors are to be controlled.

Question 26

The crucial difference between a quasi-experimental design and a true experimental design is:

A)The level of sophistication.
B)The costs.
C)The ability to control variables.
D)None of the above.

Question 27

A factorial design enables us to test the effects of two or more variables at the same time on the dependent variable.

Question 28

Instrumentation effects might arise because of a change in the measuring instrument between pretest and posttest.

Question 29

Deceiving subjects by deliberately misleading them as to the true purpose of the research is considered unethical.

Question 30

Mortality,maturation,and instrumentation effects may restrict the internal validity of our findings.

Question 31

A pre-test and post-test experimental group design is an example of a quasi experimental design.