Question 1

Ruling out plausible rival hypotheses is central to satisfying which criteria for establishing efficient causality?

Accepted Answer

Ruling out plausible rival hypotheses is necessary for establishing internal validity, which involves ensuring that the observed relationship between the independent and dependent variables is not due to alternate explanations or confounding variables.

Question 2

While conducting a year-long study on friendship patterns in the sixth grade, a researcher discovers that some of the students had reached puberty during that year while others had not. Which potential threat to internal validity would this example illustrate according to Campbell and his colleagues?

Accepted Answer

Maturation refers to changes that naturally occur over time, such as physical and emotional development. In this example, the fact that some students reached puberty while others did not could be a potential threat to internal validity because it could affect the outcome of the study. For example, those who had reached puberty may have had different friendship patterns and behaviors compared to those who had not yet gone through puberty. This is a natural occurrence and not a result of the study manipulation or any external factor, hence it is a threat to internal validity due to maturation.

Question 3

An educator is interested in whether including a physically challenged student in a kindergarten class will enhance the other students' level of compassion. The educator assesses the students' level of compassion at the beginning of the year, before the physically challenged student was assigned to the classroom. At the end of the school year, the educator reassesses the students' level of compassion and notes whether overall compassion has increased or decreased. This is an example of which type of research design according to Campbell and his colleagues?

Accepted Answer

The study involves only one group of students and measures their level of compassion before and after the physically challenged student joined the classroom, making it a one-group pre-post study.

Question 4

Mill's method of agreement corresponds to which group in a simple research design?

Accepted Answer

Mill's method of agreement involves identifying a common factor in different instances where an effect occurs, similar to how an experimental group is exposed to a treatment to observe its effect.

Question 5

Which of the following is an example of a preexperimental design?

Accepted Answer

The one-group pre-post study design is a type of preexperimental design where a single group is tested before and after an intervention, without a control group.

Question 6

Which of the following evidence is particularly difficult to obtain when one is trying to determine efficient causality based on relational research?

Accepted Answer

Temporal precedence, or the ability to establish that the cause preceded the effect, can be particularly difficult to establish in relational research where data is collected at one point in time or from existing records. Internal validity, covariation, and external validity can still be assessed in relational research.

Question 7

Mill's method of agreement implies that X is a(n) __________ condition of Y.

Accepted Answer

Mill's method of agreement suggests that if two or more instances of a phenomenon under investigation have only one circumstance in common, the circumstance in which all the instances agree is the cause (or effect) of the given phenomenon. This implies that X is a sufficient condition for Y, meaning if X occurs, Y will also occur.

Question 8

Dave explains that what caused there to be a new library on campus was the large donation by a wealthy alumnus of the university. According to Aristotle, Dave is focusing on the __________ cause for why there is a new library on campus.

Accepted Answer

Dave is describing the efficient cause, which is the immediate reason or agent that brings about a change or event. In this case, it was the wealthy alumnus's donation that was the efficient cause for the new library.

Question 9

Which of the following issues makes inferences of causation more risky in quasi-experimental designs?

Accepted Answer

Nonrandom assignment to treatment conditions is a major issue in quasi-experimental designs as it increases the risk of self-selection bias and other confounding variables. This makes it difficult to establish causality between the treatment and outcome variables. Lack of treatment manipulations, unreliable outcome measurements, and the use of both human and nonhuman sampling units can also impact the validity of the study, but they do not pose as great a risk as nonrandom assignment.

Question 10

By establishing that the independent variable and dependent variable are correlated with each other, one has satisfied which criteria for establishing efficient causality?

Accepted Answer

Covariation is the criteria for establishing efficient causality, which means that the independent variable and dependent variable are correlated with each other. Internal validity refers to whether the results of a study can be attributed to the manipulation of the independent variable, temporal precedence refers to the idea that the independent variable must come before the dependent variable, and random assignment is a method used to reduce the effects of extraneous variables on the dependent variable.

Question 11

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of quasi-experimental designs?

Accepted Answer

Quasi-experimental designs do not typically use randomization, which is a key feature of true experimental designs. Instead, they may use treatment conditions and outcome measures, as well as recruit sampling units, but they do not rely on random allocation to treatment and control groups.

Question 12

In a drug study, one group of subjects receives a sugar pill rather than the pill containing the ingredients under investigation. This "sugar pill" group is referred to as the __________ control group.

Accepted Answer

The group receiving the sugar pill is known as the placebo group, as they are given a fake treatment to account for the potential placebo effect. The experimental group receives the treatment under investigation, and the placebo group serves as a reference point for comparison. Options B, C, and D do not accurately describe the purpose of the sugar pill group.

Question 13

All of the following are criteria for determining efficient causation EXCEPT

Accepted Answer

External validity is not a criterion for determining efficient causation. The other three criteria, temporal precedence, covariation, and internal validity, are considered important for establishing a causal relationship between variables.

Question 14

Research designs that do not employ the use of randomization are referred to as

Accepted Answer

Quasi-experimental designs are research designs that do not involve random assignment of participants to groups, but may still involve manipulation of an independent variable and measurement of a dependent variable. Nonrandomized experimental designs and pseudo-experimental designs also do not involve random assignment, but the term "quasi-experimental" is more commonly used in psychology research. Correlational designs do not involve manipulation of variables, and simply measure the relationship between variables that already exist.

Question 15

While participating in a timed experiment, the participants in the experimental group had to leave the room because of a fire drill. Which potential threat to internal validity would this example illustrate according to Campbell and his colleagues?

Accepted Answer

This is an example of the history threat to internal validity, as an external event (the fire drill) occurred during the study that may have affected the participants' responses.

Question 16

To assess the effectiveness of a special lesson plan, a teacher implements the lesson plan and then evaluates the effectiveness of the plan by analyzing the students' test scores upon completion of the learning unit. This is an example of which type of research design according to Campbell and his colleagues?

Accepted Answer

This is an example of a one-shot case study, where a single group is exposed to a treatment and then measured afterward without a pretest or control group for comparison.

Question 17

I selected my 7^th grade classmates as the control group and a group of 7^th graders from another school as the treatment group. What bias has a good chance of impacting this study?

Accepted Answer

The bias due to biased selection is likely to impact this study, as the researcher has not provided any information on how the treatment group was selected from another school. This could result in a non-representative treatment group, making it difficult to draw meaningful conclusions from the study. The other options (bias due to history, posttest-only control-group design, and bias due to maturation) may also potentially impact the study, but the bias due to biased selection is the most likely to have an impact given the information provided.

Question 18

Mill's method of difference implies that X is a(n) __________ condition of Y.

Accepted Answer

Mill's method of difference is used to determine which factor/condition is necessary for an effect to occur. It involves comparing two situations, one where the effect occurs and one where it doesn't, and identifying the factor that is present in the first situation but absent in the second. This factor is then considered necessary for the effect to occur. Therefore, the answer is C) necessary.

Question 19

Mill's method of difference provides the rationale for including a(n) __________ group in an experimental design.

Accepted Answer

Mill's method of difference involves comparing a group that receives a treatment to a similar group that does not receive the treatment, with all other variables held constant. The similar group that does not receive the treatment is called the control group, and it allows researchers to isolate the effect of the treatment. Therefore, C (control) is the best choice for the blank.

Question 20

The control group was measured using a different measuring tape than the treatment group. This is an example of which potential bias?

Accepted Answer

This is an example of instrumentation bias, where the measurement tool used for the control group is different from the one used for the treatment group, potentially leading to inaccurate results.

Quiz 7: Randomized Experiments and Causal Inference