Deck 8: Experimental Designs

Question 1

Brent is running a study to investigate the effect of caffeine consumption on reading speed. He recruits college students as participants and records their self-reported coffee consumption for a week. He also records the reading speed of each participant.
What is the dependent variable in Brent's study?

A) Amount of caffeine consumed
B) Volume of coffee consumed
C) How quickly the participant completed the reading task
D) Age of the participants

Answer 1

How quickly the participant completed the reading task

Question 2

What property of experimental design is NOT present in non-experimental design?

A) Random assignment of participants
B) Dependent variables
C) Interaction effects
D) Potential of confounding variables

Answer 2

Random assignment of participants

Question 3

based on this following abstract taken from a 2012 issue of Psychological Science . The authors of the paper examined the effects of an intervention on adolescents' enrollment in STEM courses. Instructors are advised to use the reference below to retrieve the original abstract for their use.
Harackiewicz, J. M., Rozek, C. S., Hulleman, C. S., & Hyde, J. S. (2012). Helping parents to motivate adolescents in mathematics and science an experimental test of a utility-value intervention. Psychological Science, 0956797611435530.

-The study uses a ___________________________ design with ____ levels of the independent variable.

A) between-subjects, 2
B) within-subjects, 3
C) between-subjects, 3
D) within-subjects, 2

Answer 3

between-subjects, 2

Question 4

based on this following abstract taken from a 2012 issue of Psychological Science . The authors of the paper examined the effects of an intervention on adolescents' enrollment in STEM courses. Instructors are advised to use the reference below to retrieve the original abstract for their use.
Harackiewicz, J. M., Rozek, C. S., Hulleman, C. S., & Hyde, J. S. (2012). Helping parents to motivate adolescents in mathematics and science an experimental test of a utility-value intervention. Psychological Science, 0956797611435530.

-Based on the abstract, this was…

A) an observational study.
B) an experimental study.
C) a cross-sectional study.
D) a case study.

Question 5

based on this following abstract taken from a 2012 issue of Psychological Science . The authors of the paper examined the effects of an intervention on adolescents' enrollment in STEM courses. Instructors are advised to use the reference below to retrieve the original abstract for their use.
Harackiewicz, J. M., Rozek, C. S., Hulleman, C. S., & Hyde, J. S. (2012). Helping parents to motivate adolescents in mathematics and science an experimental test of a utility-value intervention. Psychological Science, 0956797611435530.

-With regards to the dependent variable, what was the population of interest in this study?

A) Adolescent students
B) Students of all ages
C) Parents of adolescent students
D) Parents of students taking math and science courses

Question 6

based on this following abstract taken from a 2012 issue of Psychological Science . The authors of the paper examined the effects of an intervention on adolescents' enrollment in STEM courses. Instructors are advised to use the reference below to retrieve the original abstract for their use.
Harackiewicz, J. M., Rozek, C. S., Hulleman, C. S., & Hyde, J. S. (2012). Helping parents to motivate adolescents in mathematics and science an experimental test of a utility-value intervention. Psychological Science, 0956797611435530.

-Based on information in the abstract, which of the following is true about the findings of the study?

A) The researchers obtained a significant interaction effect.
B) The researchers failed to find any main effect to support their invention.
C) The researchers found a significant main effect supporting their intervention.
D) The researchers found a significant main effect suggesting that their intervention was not effective.

Question 7

based on this following abstract taken from a 2012 issue of Psychological Science . The authors of the paper examined the effects of an intervention on adolescents' enrollment in STEM courses. Instructors are advised to use the reference below to retrieve the original abstract for their use.
Harackiewicz, J. M., Rozek, C. S., Hulleman, C. S., & Hyde, J. S. (2012). Helping parents to motivate adolescents in mathematics and science an experimental test of a utility-value intervention. Psychological Science, 0956797611435530.

-Which of the following claims is best supported by information from the abstract?

A) There were equal numbers of males and females in the intervention and control conditions.
B) The researchers controlled for socio-economic status (SES) in their analysis.
C) Participants in the intervention group were more likely to major in a STEM field in college as compared to participants in the control group.
D) The researchers likely randomly assigned participants to either the intervention or the control condition.

Question 8

based on this following abstract taken from a 2012 issue of Psychological Science . The authors of the paper examined the effects of an intervention on adolescents' enrollment in STEM courses. Instructors are advised to use the reference below to retrieve the original abstract for their use.
Harackiewicz, J. M., Rozek, C. S., Hulleman, C. S., & Hyde, J. S. (2012). Helping parents to motivate adolescents in mathematics and science an experimental test of a utility-value intervention. Psychological Science, 0956797611435530.

-Which of the following is a reasonable claim regarding the research?

A) Since the research is looking at an applied real-world problem, it is atheoretical.
B) The research could have low external validity because it was conducted in a laboratory setting.
C) The findings are not necessarily generalizable unless the researchers had controlled for factors such as SES.
D) The researchers avoided problems like participant attrition by studying students who were in school and their parents.

Question 9

based on this following abstract taken from a 2012 issue of Psychological Science . The authors of the paper examined the effects of an intervention on adolescents' enrollment in STEM courses. Instructors are advised to use the reference below to retrieve the original abstract for their use.
Harackiewicz, J. M., Rozek, C. S., Hulleman, C. S., & Hyde, J. S. (2012). Helping parents to motivate adolescents in mathematics and science an experimental test of a utility-value intervention. Psychological Science, 0956797611435530.

-In the article, the researchers reported a manipulation check, stating that they measured how much parents reported using the intervention tools with their children, and that the researchers coded parents' responses.
The manipulation check contributed to the research design by…

A) providing a basis for arguing that teenagers do listen to their parents.
B) providing a basis for arguing that the intervention (e.g., parents used the brochures and the Web site) was valid.
C) reducing problems of ethics by making sure that participants were compliant.
D) catching participants who might have a hidden agenda.

Question 10

refer to the description below:
Erica is running a study to investigate the effect of exercise on insomnia symptoms. She recruits participants who report having experienced insomnia at least once a week and assigns them to either exercise for 30 minutes every day or to read a book for 30 minutes every day.

-What is the dependent variable in her study?

A) Exercise condition
B) Participants with insomnia
C) Insomnia symptoms
D) Time taken to exercise or read a book

Question 11

refer to the description below:
Erica is running a study to investigate the effect of exercise on insomnia symptoms. She recruits participants who report having experienced insomnia at least once a week and assigns them to either exercise for 30 minutes every day or to read a book for 30 minutes every day.

-How many level/s of the experimental variable is/are there in her study?

A) 30
B) 1
C) 2
D) 60

Question 12

refer to the description below:
Erica is running a study to investigate the effect of exercise on insomnia symptoms. She recruits participants who report having experienced insomnia at least once a week and assigns them to either exercise for 30 minutes every day or to read a book for 30 minutes every day.

-Erica's study uses a _______________________ design.

A) within-subjects
B) matched-groups
C) between-subjects
D) counterbalanced

Question 13

Which of the following aspects of research is the biggest barrier to overcoming the Hawthorne effect?

A) Self-selection bias
B) Informed consent
C) Experimental design
D) Random assignment

Question 14

Which of the following is true about placebo effects?

A) They are fake effects that do not exist.
B) They are real effects that are measurable.
C) They are always harmful to individuals.
D) They may exist but are not measurable.

Question 15

Which of the following is not true about statistical control of confounding variables in an experiment?

A) You can only know what the confound is after data collection.
B) The confounding variable must be measurable.
C) Statistical control of confounding variables occurs during data analysis.
D) Statistical control is not the only method to deal with confounding variables.

Question 16

Which of the following is not true about the use of confederates?

A) The use of confederates was essential for some major findings in psychology.
B) Using confederates means that your study involves deception and that participants should be debriefed at the end of the study.
C) If the IRB has approved the use of confederates in its initial review of the experiment, there are no additional concerns.
D) Confederates are trained by the experimenter but can be blinded to the hypothesis of the study.

Question 17

A within-subjects design requires that…

A) there are fewer statistical assumptions during analysis than a between-subjects design.
B) researchers assign each participant to all possible conditions.
C) quasi-experimental variables within each participant are measured.
D) the participants do not undergo the same conditions.

Question 18

Which of the following is not an advantage of a between-subjects design?

A) Fewer statistical assumptions.
B) Relative straightforward in construction and interpretation.
C) Simple to set up.
D) Able to eliminate variability due to individual differences.

Question 19

At the end of an experiment, researchers sometimes ask participants to guess the purpose of the experiment. This step serves to detect:

A) participant characteristics.
B) the Hawthorne effect.
C) individual differences.
D) demand characteristics.

Question 20

In experimental design, the strategy of varying test items and tasks applies to:

A) between-subjects designs only.
B) matched-groups designs only.
C) within-subjects designs only.
D) within-subjects designs and matched-groups designs.

Question 21

The problem of carryover effects cannot be reduced through:

A) double-blind design.
B) randomization.
C) counterbalancing.
D) using a between-subjects design.

Question 22

Obtaining a floor effect in research indicates that:

A) there was an order effect at work.
B) the Hawthorne effect was taking place.
C) an inappropriate measure was used.
D) participants found the task too easy.

Question 23

Latin square is a form of ________________ that accounts for __________ effects.

A) randomization; order
B) randomization; Hawthorne
C) counterbalancing; order
D) counterbalancing; Hawthorne

Question 24

Julie notices that all her participants have scored perfectly on a memory task, indicating a potential _______________ effect.

A) Hawthorne
B) ceiling
C) fatigue
D) carryover

Question 25

An advantage of a correlational design over an experimental design is that researchers can find out what caused an effect.

Question 26

Studies using quasi-experimental variables can easily establish causation.

Question 27

A disadvantage of using a between-subjects design is that it is less likely to detect a true effect than a within-subjects design.

Question 28

A study using within-subjects design requires more statistical assumptions than a study using between subjects design.

Question 29

Matched-pairs design use different participants in each group. They require the same statistical as a within-subjects design.

Question 30

Confounds are mostly dealt with after the experiment by using complex statistical techniques.

Question 31

Variability due to individual differences is only present in within-subjects design.

Question 32

Variability due to individual differences makes it more likely for researchers to detect an effect that is not actually present.

Question 33

A double-blind design results in more rigorous control of the experiment that a single-blind design.

Question 34

The problem of order effects does not exist in a matched-group design.

Question 35

Experimental designs that require the researcher to obtain informed consent from participants do not have other potential ethical concerns.

Question 36

The placebo effect is an effect that does not actually exist and cannot be measured.

Question 37

Randomly assigning participants to experiment conditions is a strategy that helps the external validity but not the internal validity of a study.

Question 38

Matched-group designs generally have higher statistical power than between-subjects designs.

Question 39

Keeping the hypothesis of an experiment secret from participants reduces the potential of a floor effect.

Question 40

Distinguish a between-subjects design from a within-subjects design and provide one advantage and disadvantage of each.

Question 41

Explain what a double-blind design is and identify one confound or an obstacle in research it can help overcome.

Question 42

What is a matched-group design and what benefits does it have over a between-subjects and within-subjects design? What is one disadvantage that would make a matched-group design hard to use?

Question 43

List two ethical concerns with experimental designs and state a strategy to deal with each of them.