Deck 2: Research Designs and Ethical Issues

Question 1

Which of the following ethical issues is MOST closely linked to research involving people with Alzheimer's disease?

A) confidentiality
B) anonymity
C) the right to withdraw
D) informed consent

Answer 1

informed consent

Question 2

Dr. Ellis is planning to collect data from 40-, 60-, and 80-year-olds this coming January to study age differences. This is an example of which type of design?

A) cross-sectional design
B) longitudinal design
C) sequential design
D) case study design

Answer 2

cross-sectional design

Question 3

Dr. Reinhart has been surveying the same group of people every 5 years for the last 25 years. Dr. Reinhart's research is an example of which type of design?

A) cross-sectional design
B) longitudinal design
C) sequential design
D) case study design

Answer 3

longitudinal design

Question 4

A researcher conducting a longitudinal study finds that older adults who were raised during the Depression in the 1930s spent less money on food each week than a group of older adults who were raised after the Depression ended. This is an example of which type of effect?

A) age effect
B) cohort effect
C) time of measurement effect
D) cross-sectional effect

Question 5

Which of the following is an advantage of a cross-sectional design?

A) low cost
B) detects age changes
C) eliminates cohort effects
D) eliminates time of measurement effects

Question 6

Dr. Archambault is conducting a longitudinal study with the hopes of determining whether hand-eye coordination is affected by aging. Dr. Archambault has his participants complete the same computer-based hand-eye coordination test every year for ten years. Which of the following may threaten the validity of Dr. Archambault's study?

A) age differences
B) age effects
C) practice effects
D) cohort effects

Question 7

Dr. Allen used a cross-sequential design to study changes in eating habits with age. When he attempted to publish his results, several reviewers identified a major confound in his study that occurred between which of the following?

A) age and time of measurement
B) time of measurement and cohort
C) cohort and eating habits
D) eating habits and age

Question 8

Dr. Panasiuk would like to conduct a study on aging that separates cohort effects from age effects. What type of design should she use?

A) cross-sectional
B) longitudinal
C) cohort-sequential
D) case study

Question 9

A key feature of a time-sequential design is that it isolates which of the following effects?

A) age and time of measurement
B) time of measurement and cohort
C) cohort and practice
D) practice and age

Question 10

Which of the following is an advantage of using a longitudinal design?

A) it allows for the assessment of cohort effects
B) it is less expensive than other methods
C) it minimizes practice effects
D) it allows for the assessment of age changes

Question 11

What type of design must be used when a researcher wants to separate age and time of measurement effects?

A) cohort-sequential
B) time-sequential
C) cross-sequential
D) cross-sectional

Question 12

A researcher compared the bone density of a group of 40-year-old women to a group of 65-year-old women and found a significant difference. This is an example of which type of effect?

A) age effect
B) cohort effect
C) time of measurement effect
D) cross-sectional effect

Question 13

Which type of design has the advantage of allowing a researcher to compare different age groups at a single point in time?

A) cross-sectional design
B) longitudinal design
C) sequential design
D) case study design

Question 14

Dr. Rhee conducted a study in which she assessed preventive health practices of two cohorts (1940 and 1950) at two different ages (60 and 70). Dr. Rhee examined her results and concluded with confidence that changes in preventive health practices were part of the normal aging process. What must Dr. Rhee have observed in her data?

A) significant differences between the two cohorts but no significant differences between the two ages
B) significant differences between the two cohorts and significant differences between the two ages
C) no significant differences between the two cohorts and no significant differences between the two ages, but a significant interaction between cohort and age
D) no significant differences between the two cohorts and significant differences between the two ages

Question 15

Dr. Patel is conducting a longitudinal study and has discovered high rates of attrition. What does this mean?

A) participants' test scores are improving over time
B) participants are dropping out of the study
C) the findings will not be generalizable to the real world
D) participants are exhibiting time of measurement effects

Question 16

Which of the following is a threat to external validity in a longitudinal design?

A) attrition
B) uniqueness of the study environment
C) practice effects
D) cohort effects

Question 17

Dr. Van Hal is specifically interested in looking at age differences in internet use and wants to conduct the least expensive study possible. Which of the following methods should he use?

A) cross-sectional
B) time-sequential
C) cross-sequential
D) cohort-sequential

Question 18

A researcher uses a cross-sectional design and compares the height of women aged 30 through 90. The researcher finds that younger women are much taller than older women in the study. This finding exemplifies which of the following?

A) age effect
B) age difference
C) maturation effect
D) attrition

Question 19

Dr. Klein is using a cross-sectional design to study happiness at different ages. Which of the following is something that Dr. Klein will need to consider when analyzing her data?

A) age effects
B) practice effects
C) cohort effects
D) maturation effects

Question 20

What type of research design was used in the Nun Study discussed in the text?

A) cross-sectional
B) longitudinal
C) case study
D) sequential

Question 21

What does it mean when a researcher indicates their data are confidential?

A) they are not collecting identifying information about the participants
B) they are not linking individual responses with participants' identities
C) only the researcher will have access to the data
D) the data will be destroyed when the research is complete

Question 22

Edith's physician has been supplying her with free samples of a medication that she could not otherwise afford to buy. The physician asks Edith to participate in a research study that he is conducting, suggesting that he will continue to give Edith the free samples only if she complies. Which of the following BEST describes the physician's behaviour?

A) coercion
B) undue influence
C) a breach of confidentiality
D) standard recruitment practices

Question 23

Describe a cross-sectional research design, including an example of this design as well as a description of advantages and disadvantages associated with cross-sectional designs.

Question 24

Describe three different types of sequential designs, provide an example of each, and describe the advantages and disadvantages of each of these designs.

Question 25

A researcher is conducting a longitudinal study on helping behaviours among older adults in Alberta. Every five years each participant completes a survey related to volunteer work and charitable donations. The researcher collected data in 2016, a year when a wildfire destroyed Fort McMurray, Alberta, and many people in the province donated their time and money to help those affected. What might the fire introduce to the research study?

A) age effect
B) time of measurement effect
C) maturation effect
D) practice effect

Question 26

When researchers studied the main issues raised by ethics review boards assessing proposals for research involving people with dementia, which of the following was MOST often cited as a concern?

A) participant vulnerability
B) participant burden
C) data access
D) study methodology

Question 27

Describe a longitudinal research design, including an example of this design as well as a description of advantages and disadvantages associated with longitudinal designs.

Question 28

Which of the following can never be a true independent variable in a research design?

A) age
B) activity level
C) diet
D) medication dose

Question 29

What are the three core principles of the TCPS-2?

A) concern for welfare, justice, and compensation
B) respect for persons, concern for welfare, and justice
C) justice, compensation, and respect for persons
D) compensation, respect for persons, and concern for welfare

Question 30

Hugh is 80 years old and has been offered a large sum of money to participate in a study examining the effects of exercise on the body at different ages. Hugh feels compelled to participate because he has very little income. Which ethical principle is being undermined in this scenario?

A) confidentiality
B) voluntary participation
C) the right to withdraw
D) anonymity

Question 31

The Nun Study provided researchers with new and valuable information regarding the developmental pattern of which disease?

A) Parkinson's disease
B) Huntington disease
C) cardiovascular disease
D) Alzheimer's disease

Question 32

What role do proxies play in research involving older adults?

A) they provide consent
B) they ensure confidentiality
C) they ensure anonymity
D) they provide compensation

Question 33

Define informed consent and discuss three issues that can compromise informed consent in older adults.

Question 34

Discuss the results of the study by Pachana and her colleagues that examined the experiences of researchers submitting ethics proposals for research involving older adults with or without dementia.

Question 35

Marge's daughter-in-law signed Marge up to participate in a research study examining the effect of age on a person's vocabulary. Marge is very shy and would not have chosen to participate on her own, but complies because she doesn't want to have a disagreement with her daughter-in-law. This is an example of which of the following?

A) coercion
B) undue influence
C) a breach of confidentiality
D) a breach of anonymity