Deck 3: Drawing Valid Inferences Ii: Construct and Statistical Conclusion Validity

Question 1

Which of the following represent a threat to statistical conclusion validity?

A) Unreliable and invalid measures
B) Lack of variability in responses to a measure
C) Few statistical analyses
D) All of the above

Answer 1

Unreliable and invalid measures

Question 2

Which statement accurately describes effect size?

A) An effect size refers to the statistical significance of an effect
B) An effect size refers to the magnitude of a difference between groups
C) An effect size is represented in standard units
D) Both b and c

Answer 2

An effect size refers to the magnitude of a difference between groups

Question 3

Construct validity is primarily concerned with:

A) The explanation of the causal relationship between the experimental manipulation and the outcome
B) The rationale for the measurement used in the experiment
C) Ruling out alternative operational definitions of the construct of interest
D) The validity of the interpretation in defining the construct of interest

Answer 3

The explanation of the causal relationship between the experimental manipulation and the outcome

Question 4

What is the most likely impact of low power in a study?

A) Experimenters are more likely to reject the null hypothesis
B) Experimenters are more likely to accept the null hypothesis
C) The design may not be measuring the construct of interest
D) Differences between groups are more likely to seem significant, when they are not actually significant

Question 5

To increase construct validity, an experimenter should:

A) Decrease external validity and decrease the number of experimental stimuli
B) Increase external validity and increase the number of experimental stimuli
C) Decrease variability in experimental procedure and decrease the number of experimenters
D) Increase power of the experiment and decrease the internal validity

Question 6

Probability levels refer to:

A) Alpha
B) The probability of a null effect
C) Beta
D) The level of certainty of an effect

Question 7

Placebo effects e.g., for clinical depression) tends to:

A) Have small effects on psychological problems
B) Be a little better than no treatment but for many people
C) Often produces powerful and dramatic effects
D) Be very transient which is why active drugs work better

Question 8

What must be determined before construct validity is considered?

A) The experiment has face validity
B) The experiment is conducting using no less than two measures of each construct
C) The experiment has sufficient external validity
D) The experiment has sufficient internal validity

Question 9

What is a potentially serious threat to construct validity?

A) Participant is unaware what is being measured
B) Untrue rumors about a study
C) Participants all receive same instructions
D) Several measures of the same variable

Question 10

Increasing the sensitivity of experimental measures may lead to:

A) Increase errors in data interpretation
B) Decrease generality of research findings
C) Increase generality of research findings
D) Both a and c

Question 11

A Type I error refers to:

A) The probability of accepting the null hypothesis when it is true
B) The probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is false
C) The probability of accepting the null hypothesis when it is false
D) The probability of rejecting the null hypothesis when it is true

Question 12

In an experiment, power is a function of:

A) The number of variables being measured and the beta level
B) The effect size, internal validity and the beta level
C) The number of participants, alpha level and effect size
D) The effect size, statistical significance, and the alpha level

Question 13

If a difference between groups is found to be statistically significant, the difference is thought to be:

A) Important
B) A large effect
C) Reliable
D) All of the above

Question 14

When is contact and attention a threat to the construct validity of an experiment?

A) Participants expectations may explain the findings
B) Participants are not influenced by the experimental manipulation
C) Participant are not given enough attention
D) Control participants are not given the same manipulation as actual participants

Question 15

The null hypothesis specifies:

A) There are differences exist between participants
B) There are no differences between groups
C) The difference between conditions is not significant
D) The observed results are not the true results