Deck 2: Research in Child Development

Question 1

Which of the following is true of sampling behaviour with tasks?

A)Sampling behaviour with tasks may not really sample the behaviour of interest.
B)Sampling behaviour with tasks can be used to observe behaviour directly.
C)Sampling behaviour with tasks isn't a popular method because it isn't convenient to use.
D)Sampling behaviour with tasks might lead some children to provide socially acceptable answers.

Answer 1

Sampling behaviour with tasks may not really sample the behaviour of interest.

Question 2

Which of the following is a weakness of self-report measures?

A)They are difficult to use with behaviours that are rare or that typically occur in private settings.
B)They may be invalid because they cannot sample behaviour as it occurs naturally.
C)They may be invalid because they do not access thoughts and ideas.
D)They may be invalid because situational cues may suggest to the participant how the researcher wants them to respond.

Answer 2

They may be invalid because situational cues may suggest to the participant how the researcher wants them to respond.

Question 3

Which of the following measures involves sampling behaviour with a task?

A)putting a number of objects in front of a child and having the child count them
B)listening to children's everyday conversations and recording the complexity of their sentence structures
C)asking children how much television they watch in one week
D)having children fill out a questionnaire about their study habits

Answer 3

putting a number of objects in front of a child and having the child count them

Question 4

Which of the following is a problem with the use of self-reports?

A)Answers do not lead directly to information on the topic of interest.
B)Children may be biased to provide answers that are socially acceptable.
C)The collection of information is not convenient.
D)Children have very accurate memories so their answers regarding past events can be trusted.

Question 5

The tendency to select socially acceptable answers is referred to as

A)demand characteristics.
B)self-report.
C)validity.
D)sampling behaviour.

Question 6

One drawback of structured observations is that

A)the artificial nature of the setting may distort the behaviour of interest.
B)they cannot be used to study behaviours that occur naturally but only rarely.
C)they can only be used to study behaviours that occur in public settings.
D)they cannot be performed in a laboratory.

Question 7

________ measures ask children questions about the topic of interest.

A)Naturalistic observation
B)Structured observation
C)Sampling behaviour with tasks
D)Self-report

Question 8

Correlations can range from

A)0 to 100
B)1 to 10
C)‒1.00 to 1.00
D)‒.10 to .10

Question 9

Abe is investigating moral reasoning by asking children what they would do in different situations, such as if one of their friends shoplifted when they were together. He is concerned that children may be giving him the answers they think he wants to hear rather than their genuine feelings about what they would really do. Abe is worried about

A)cohort effects.
B)representative sampling.
C)demand characteristics.
D)confidentiality.

Question 10

If Mohammed took the same achievement test at three different times and received scores of 100, 75, and 45, the test would have low levels of

A)validity.
B)representativeness.
C)sampling behaviour.
D)reliability.

Question 11

Research measures that involve watching children's unprompted behaviour in real-life settings are referred to as

A)structured observations.
B)tasks that sample behaviour.
C)self-report measures.
D)naturalistic observations.

Question 12

Ludmilla is interested in finding out how children typically learn math concepts. She found a class of gifted math students willing to be her subjects. What might be an issue with using that particular group of students as subjects?

A)response bias
B)representative sampling
C)artificial setting
D)cohort effects

Question 13

To measure children's social skill, you decide to use the number of interactions children have with other children as your measure of social skill. As you collect data, you notice that some children who have many interactions do not seem to be very socially skilled because many of their interactions are negative. This makes you question the ________ of your measure.

A)sampling
B)stability
C)validity
D)representativeness

Question 14

Alvaro is interested in finding out how children's conceptions of death change with age. He decides to interview children and ask them questions such as "What happens when people die?" and "Do people eat when they die?" Alvaro is using a form of ________ to measure children's conceptions of death.

A)naturalistic observation
B)self-report
C)sampling behaviour with tasks
D)structured observation

Question 15

A measure is ________ if the results are consistent over time.

A)representative
B)reliable
C)valid
D)a sample

Question 16

The factors subject to change that a researcher records in an observation are referred to as

A)variables.
B)samples.
C)populations.
D)correlation coefficients.

Question 17

Mary chose to assess the quality of infants' relationships with their caregivers by observing infants in a laboratory situation wherein the infants experienced a series of separations from and reunions with their caregivers. What kind of measure did Mary use?

A)self-report
B)naturalistic observation
C)structured observation
D)a task that sampled behaviour

Question 18

Which of the following is a strength associated with measures that sample behaviour with tasks?

A)Children's behaviour is seen as it occurs naturally.
B)They almost always validly represent real-life behaviours.
C)They are convenient to use.
D)They assure representative sampling.

Question 19

________ refers to whether conclusions based on the measure actually mean what the researcher hypothesized they would mean.

A)Validity
B)Representativeness
C)Sampling
D)Stability

Question 20

Irina wants to study infant language development. She decides to watch ten babies once a month from birth to two years of age and write down the sounds they make and the words they use. Irina is using

A)self-report.
B)systematic observation.
C)tasks to sample behaviour.
D)interviews.

Question 21

Dr. Land conducted a research study in a preschool where he asked teachers to change their typical procedures so that he could test his hypothesis that the amount of unstructured time (free play) structure in a day affects the amount of unruliness that children display. Teachers systematically varied the amount of free play each day for a month, and Dr. Land's research assistants recorded the amount of unruliness children displayed each day. This study would best be described as a

A)correlational study.
B)laboratory experiment.
C)field experiment.
D)self-report study.

Question 22

Which of the following is not a disadvantage of a longitudinal approach?

A)inability to answer questions about the continuity or discontinuity of behaviour
B)subject dropout may alter results
C)difficulty maintaining contact with participants
D)repeated testing may distort results

Question 23

A researcher is interested in how the scores that children receive on a spelling test are affected by the amount of food that they eat for lunch. The independent variable is

A)the age of the children.
B)the scores on the spelling test.
C)the words on the spelling test.
D)the amount of food eaten for lunch.

Question 24

The variable in an experiment that is observed to see if it changes when another variable is manipulated is called the

A)correlation coefficient.
B)independent variable.
C)cohort.
D)dependent variable.

Question 25

In an experimental study, the ________ is manipulated to observe its effects on another variable.

A)dependent variable
B)independent variable
C)correlation coefficient
D)random assignment

Question 26

Field experiments

A)involve manipulation of independent variables.
B)occur in a laboratory setting.
C)do not allow investigators to draw conclusions about cause and effect.
D)are usually fairly easy to conduct.

Question 27

A strength of experimental studies is that

A)they measure behaviour in a natural setting.
B)no manipulation of variables is done.
C)they allow conclusions about cause and effect.
D)only a single study is needed to definitely settle a question.

Question 28

In a correlational study,

A)factors are manipulated to determine whether they are related.
B)it is possible to determine whether there is a causal relationship between two variables.
C)it is possible to determine whether two variables are related, but not whether there is a causal relationship between the variables.
D)there is an independent variable and a dependent variable.

Question 29

What type of research was conducted in the Alberta substance abuse study?

A)longitudinal
B)cross-sectional
C)correlational
D)experimental

Question 30

Sonja conducts an experiment to determine whether listening to music affects emotional state. She has children wait alone in a room that either did or did not have music playing and then has them complete a questionnaire asking about their current level of happiness. The independent variable in this study is

A)how happy they were before the study began.
B)being alone in the room while waiting.
C)whether or not music was playing in the room.
D)their level of happiness as rated on the questionnaire.

Question 31

A microgenetic study would best be described as

A)a very short longitudinal study.
B)a very long longitudinal study.
C)a very short cross-sectional study.
D)a very long cross-sectional study.

Question 32

A weakness of experimental studies is that

A)they cannot be used to determine cause and effect.
B)results may not be representative of real-life behaviour.
C)they cannot be used in a laboratory setting.
D)they are usually expensive.

Question 33

Which of the following is a disadvantage of longitudinal studies?

A)the development of "test-wise" subjects
B)the problem of cohort effects
C)sample of subjects over the course of the research stays the same
D)cost is relatively low

Question 34

Yuri is interested in finding out whether exercise affects boys' and girls' performance on a memory task. The dependent variable in this situation is

A)memory performance.
B)the amount of exercise.
C)the age of the children.
D)gender.

Question 35

The fact that differences between age groups in a cross-sectional study may result as easily from chance environmental events as from significant developmental processes is

A)an example of the sample constancy problem.
B)a major problem of longitudinal studies.
C)a problem with a random sample from a population of interest.
D)a major disadvantage of the cross-sectional approach.

Question 36

Cohort effects are most likely to be a problem in ________ studies.

A)experimental
B)correlational
C)longitudinal
D)cross-sectional

Question 37

A correlation coefficient of 0.0 indicates what about the relation between two variables?

A)The two variables are directly related.
B)The two variables are inversely related.
C)The two variables are completely unrelated.
D)This coefficient indicates which variable was the "cause" and which the "effect."

Question 38

Differences between age groups resulting from environmental events rather than developmental processes are referred to as

A)demand characteristics.
B)cohort effects.
C)representative samplings.
D)artificial settings.

Question 39

A high correlation between a child's behaviour (e.g., being aggressive) and that of her parents (e.g., spanking) indicates that

A)the child's aggression caused the spanking.
B)the spanking caused the aggression.
C)shared aggressive genes, a third factor, caused the child's aggression and the parents' spanking.
D)aggression and spanking are related, but correlations do not indicate causality.

Question 40

A correlation of .8 was found between the number of hours spent studying and final exam scores. This means that

A)students who studied less received higher exam scores.
B)students who studied less received lower exam scores.
C)studying caused students to receive higher exam scores.
D)the amount of studying was unrelated to exam scores.

Question 41

Which of the following is not true of the relationship between child-development research and family policy?

A)The links between child-development research and family policy have become weaker in recent years.
B)Existing theory and child-development research can be used to evaluate how policies might affect children and their families.
C)Child-development researchers have many methods to assess how families and children are affected by social policies.
D)A focus on social policies can improve child-development research.

Question 42

Which of the following is an ethical responsibility that researchers have to the participants in their research?

A)Researchers do not need to explain the use of deception in their studies.
B)Children's data should be linked with their names so that they can be identified easily.
C)Researchers should minimize the potential for harm or stress to their participants.
D)Researchers do not need to describe the research to participants before they decide to participate.

Question 43

Peer review is a difficult process because

A)academics can be relentlessly unforgiving.
B)it takes a long time to receive a peer review.
C)it generally is not a supported practice in academia.
D)researchers are too easy on each others' work.

Question 44

Dr. Anderson is interested in the relationship between the number of hours her students spend watching television and their test results. The simplest way of examining that relationship would be to conduct

A)a naturalistic observation.
B)an experiment.
C)a correlational study.
D)a longitudinal study.

Question 45

The issue of population sampling is important in Canadian psychological research because

A)Canada is very socially diverse and geographically large.
B)Canada has a relatively small population.
C)Canadians are a homogeneous group.
D)research that is applicable to one group of Canadians is applicable to all.

Question 46

Which of the following is not true of peer-reviewed academic journals?

A)Peer reviews are typically completed anonymously.
B)Results published in such journals are the basis of virtually all of the information presented in the textbook.
C)They are the most reliable sources to use for term papers.
D)They are widely available in bookstores and at newsstands.

Question 47

Laws and regulations that directly or indirectly affect families with children are referred to as

A)family policy.
B)ethical responsibilities.
C)review board issues.
D)cohort effects.

Question 48

Which of the following is not an ethical principle found in the Canadian Code of Ethics for Psychologists?

A)equal pay for equal work
B)responsible caring
C)respect for the dignity of persons
D)responsibility to society

Question 49

A variable that accounts for a relationship between an independent and a dependent variable is called

A)an interference variable.
B)a moderating variable.
C)a mediator variable.
D)a correlational variable.

Question 50

A characteristic of a quasi-experimental design is that

A)participants are followed over a period of years.
B)researchers simplify a problem by examining on only a narrow aspect of the problem.
C)groups of participants are not formed by random assignment.
D)they are unlikely to yield implications for family policy.

Question 51

Deciding whether a research study is ethical is

A)usually solely the responsibility of the researcher.
B)typically done by a review board.
C)arbitrary because no one has established uniform guidelines for making decisions about whether research is ethical.
D)determined by whether a study is deemed worthy of publication.

Question 52

Dr. Conrad conducted an investigation of whether children are able to accurately gauge the interest level of their classmates in a typical classroom-learning situation. The results of this investigation would be high in

A)convergent validity.
B)divergent validity.
C)environmental validity.
D)ecological validity.

Question 53

Which of the following is associated with negative correlations?

A)convergent validity
B)divergent validity
C)reliability
D)demand characteristics

Question 54

Which of the following is not part of Canada's Child Find mandate?

A)provide preventative safety education
B)assist in the location of missing children
C)advocate for the rights of children
D)provide family counselling during reunification