Deck 4: Research Design, Research Ethics, and Evidence of Causation

Question 1

A characteristic upon which subjects in a study have variable values is known as a ______.

A) demographic difference
B) compositional difference
C) random difference
D) selection difference

Answer 1

B

Question 2

A ______ is composed of subjects who receive a treatment that the researcher believes is causally linked to the dependent variable.

A) control group
B) test group
C) subject group
D) guinea pigs

Answer 2

B

Question 3

A ______ experiment is one that occurs in the subject's normal surroundings.

A) field
B) laboratory
C) random
D) valid

Answer 3

A

Question 4

______ means that, within the conditions created artificially by the researcher, the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable is isolated from other plausible explanations.

A) External validity
B) Internal validity
C) Random assignment
D) Selection bias

Question 5

A researcher is studying the social habits of 100 male college students. She divides the subjects into two groups with each individual having the same likelihood of being in either group. This is called ______.

A) laboratory experimentation
B) field research
C) systematic assignment
D) random assignment

Question 6

Which of the following occurs when some cases in the sample are more likely than others to be measured?

A) selection bias
B) sample bias
C) response bias
D) population bias

Question 7

A researcher studying the attitudes of college students on social norms posts a survey on her webpage. After receiving 150 responses she closes the survey and analyzes the results by comparing the results against those of a survey conducted in the campus library. What error has the researcher likely committed?

A) field research error
B) selection bias
C) laboratory bias
D) dependent variable bias

Question 8

Field experiments often lack ______ because it is sometimes difficult to ensure that all members of the test group are exposed to the treatment.

A) internal validity
B) external validity
C) reliability
D) substantive questions

Question 9

Which of the following refers to the population that the researchers wants to analyze and the source from which the samples are drawn?

A) sampling frame
B) unit of analysis
C) level of measurement
D) research design

Question 10

A researcher who fails to account for gender when researching the effect of partisanship on political attitudes has missed a potential ______.

A) dependent variable
B) rival explanation
C) intervening variable
D) golden opportunity

Question 11

In a political research experiment, the group that is not exposed to a treatment is referred to as the ______.

A) isolation group
B) control group
C) test group
D) subject group

Question 12

A researcher is studying the formation of political attitudes in a group of individuals. Some of the individuals are exposed to several fake news stories to determine if the stories affect their attitudes while others are not. The exposed individuals are called the ______.

A) guinea pigs
B) control group
C) test group
D) subjects

Question 13

To conduct a ______, the organization would divide the population into two or more strata.

A) simple random sample
B) snowball sample
C) cluster sample
D) stratified random sample

Question 14

A researcher studying individual attitudes divides participants into two groups and has them watch news reports in a home theater setting created in a college classroom. This is an example of a(n) ______.

A) random experiment
B) laboratory experiment
C) controlled comparison
D) invalid experiment

Question 15

When conducting political research, it is important that individuals in the two experimental groups are ______ in every way that could affect the dependent variable.

A) identical
B) different
C) exposed
D) anonymous

Question 16

______ means that the results of a study can be generalized.

A) External validity
B) Internal validity
C) Random assignment
D) Selection bias

Question 17

In any type of experiment it is essential that participants be ______ to ensure the absence of systematic bias.

A) controlled
B) identified
C) randomized
D) anonymous

Question 18

In which phase do the two groups, control and test, receive different values of the independent variable?

A) pre-measurement
B) intervention phase
C) post-measurement phase
D) pretreatment

Question 19

Which of the following occurs when every prospective has an equal chance of ending up in the control group or the test group?

A) random assignment
B) nonrandom assignment
C) field experiment
D) selection bias

Question 20

Which of the following occurs when every member of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample?

A) response bias
B) response rate
C) random selection
D) selection bias

Question 21

Experimental designs do not control for the possible effects of all rival explanations.

Question 22

The causal effect of an independent variable is the difference between two potential outcomes.

Question 23

All political science research should be conducted in an ethical and responsible manner.

Question 24

A researcher wishes to test the effect of media consumption on the political attitudes of 100 college students. To ensure the validity of her research she must account for rival explanations of the students' political attitudes.

Question 25

Experimental approaches represent the gold standard in research procedure.

Question 26

Pretreatment measurements allow the researcher to make a before and after comparison.

Question 27

Our ability to rule out worrisome alternative explanations depends upon the power of our research design.

Question 28

A control group is composed of subjects who receive a treatment that the researcher believes is causally linked to the independent variable.

Question 29

A researcher studying the effectiveness of Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) methods in a community is likely conducting a field experiment.

Question 30

The terms random sampling and random assignment can be used interchangeably.

Question 31

Field experiments are not known for overcoming the limitations of the laboratory environment.

Question 32

When the results of a laboratory experiment cannot be generalized to the outside world the study is said to lack external validity.

Question 33

The fundamental purpose of research design is to allow the research to study causal effects of independent variables.

Question 34

The more varied the values of the explanatory variable, the better.

Question 35

Measuring the dependent variable for both groups is referred to as the premeasurement phase.