Deck 6: Causation and Experimental Design

Question 1

According to the text, what is the "Achilles heel" of true experimental design?

A) establishing time order
B) establishing association
C) need for generalizable findings
D) differential attrition

Answer 1

C

Question 2

A ______ is some a that creates the connection between variation in an independent variable and the variation in the dependent variable that the independent variable is hypothesized to cause.

A) field experiment
B) cause
C) causal mechanism
D) posttest

Answer 2

C

Question 3

Although an association between the independent and dependent variable is a necessary criterion for supporting a ______ relationship, it is ______ evidence to support causation.

A) causal; not sufficient
B) pretest; causal
C) corollary; ample
D) spurious; unscientific

Answer 3

A

Question 4

A relationship between two variables is not spurious when it is ______.

A) caused by a variation in third variable
B) not caused by a variation in the third variable
C) caused by the relationship between the independent and dependent variables
D) not measured by the research study

Question 5

Which two ethical issues are of special importance in experimental research design?

A) association and distribution
B) causation and confidentiality
C) deception and selective distribution of benefits
D) validity and the Hawthorne effect

Question 6

Deception may be employed in social experiments to create which outcome?

A) Participation in a research study
B) Hypothesized results
C) Selective distributions of benefits
D) More realistic treatments or conditions

Question 7

What is the strongest research design for testing casual effects?

A) true experiment
B) quasi-experiment
C) generalization
D) correlation

Question 8

______ identify the common influences on a number of events.

A) Variable causations
B) Causal effects
C) Casual explanations
D) Ceteris paribus

Question 9

______ is known as a set of interrelated circumstances that alter a relationship between other variables.

A) The Hawthorne effect
B) A placebo
C) A context
D) Causation

Question 10

A randomized experimental design with a pretest and posttest is referred to a(n) ______ design.

A) randomized comparative change
B) after-test control group
C) before-and-after
D) repeated measures panel

Question 11

______ is what makes the comparison group in a true experiment such a powerful tool for identifying the effects of the treatment.

A) Snowballing
B) Randomization
C) Time series design
D) Extraneous variables

Question 12

The technique of ______ allows researchers to determine whether the relationship between the independent and dependent variable still occurs while other variable remain constant.

A) nonspuriousness
B) association
C) statistical control
D) quotas

Question 13

A ______ is given to a control group to make sure their experience does not differ from the experimental group except for the actual treatment.

A) placebo
B) quota
C) variable
D) causal effect

Question 14

______ occurs when participants can select the group, they enter based upon the treatment they expect to receive.

A) Internal validity
B) A history effect
C) Selection bias
D) Differential attrition

Question 15

______ occurs when groups become different after an experiment begins and the number of participants who drop out of each group is uneven.

A) Differential attrition
B) Causal variation
C) Contamination
D) The Hawthorne effect

Question 16

The effect that can occur when external events during the experiment change the subjects' outcome scores is known as a(n) ______.

A) Hawthrone effect
B) history effect
C) selection bias
D) generalized impact

Question 17

A quasi-experimental design consisting of several pretest and posttest observations of the same group is known as a(n) ______ design.

A) repeated measures panel
B) measurement series
C) before and after
D) ex post factor control group

Question 18

Despite their obvious strengths, ______ are rarely used to study research problems that interest social scientist.

A) surveys
B) interviews
C) quasi-experiments
D) true experiments

Question 19

Correlation proves causation.

Question 20

Identifying causes and figuring out why things happen are the goals of most social science research.

Question 21

Experimental designs do not consider causal validity and generalizability issues.

Question 22

Nonequivalent control group design is the most common type of quasi-experimental design.

Question 23

The history effect is a source of causal invalidity when events outside of the study influence posttest scores.

Question 24

David Willer and Henry

Question 25

When researchers do not know whether some treatment actually is beneficial or not, random distribution of benefits is justified.

Question 26

A causal effect identifies common influences on a number of cases or events.