Deck 5: Observations in Psychological Research

Question 1

Assume that you are conducting an observational study on the effect of caffeine intake on speaking rate.In this study,you decide to collect responses to questionnaires from a group of instructors and college students who vary in the daily intake of caffeine.This is an example of ____.

A) naturalistic observation
B) a case study
C) a survey approach
D) a deviant-case analysis

Answer 1

a survey approach

Question 2

A newspaper reporter decides to research the prevalence of alcohol on a local college campus by going under-cover as a student on the campus who is solely interested in partying.This could best be described as an example of ____.

A) unobtrusive measures
B) unobtrusive observations
C) participant observation
D) participant roles

Answer 2

participant observation

Question 3

Ethology is a refined form of:

A) a case study
B) a survey
C) naturalistic observation
D) relational observation

Answer 3

naturalistic observation

Question 4

Assume that a clinician is seeing a client who is not responding to the treatment program.With the hope of determining what factor(s)might be responsible for this lack of improvement,the clinician compares notes from therapy sessions against those from another client with similar characteristics and symptoms,but who responded positively to the treatment.This is an example of ____.

A) naturalistic observation
B) a case study
C) a survey approach
D) a deviant-case analysis

Question 5

Which of the following research approaches could most effectively be argued to be more ecologically valid than the listed alternatives?

A) Conducting a survey to determine relative alcohol consumption between college-age men and women
B) Examining student attitudes about pre-marital sex via an in-person interview
C) Evaluating types of aggressive behavior in children by viewing videotapes of school playground activity
D) Assessing recognition memory for non-words relative to abstract line drawings

Question 6

Dr.No sees two depressed patients with a shared subset of symptoms.One patient gets better with treatment,the other,worse.Dr.No thus decides to study the details of their therapy to determine a basis for the difference in treatment outcomes.This approach can most accurately be described as an example of which type of observational study?

A) case study
B) deviant-case analysis
C) naturalistic observation
D) Survey

Question 7

response style

A) case study
B) deviant-case analysis
C) Survey
D) naturalistic observation

Question 8

In order to better observe the behavior of mountain gorillas,Fossey (1972)had to figure out a way to get closer to them.Ultimately,she mimicked their behaviors until the gorillas accepted her presence.This is an example of ____.

A) unobtrusive observation
B) participant observation
C) unobtrusive measures
D) response style or set

Question 9

Reactivity in the form of ____ is a problem in case studies.

A) ordinary forgetting
B) motivated forgetting
C) corroboration
D) retrospection

Question 10

Reactivity refers to the problem of:

A) the participants' behavior being influenced by being observed
B) the influence that the expectations of the researcher have on the results
C) participants misinterpreting the instructions provided by the researcher
D) what happens when a researcher does not provide proper aftercare for participants

Question 11

A reporter decides to try to learn more about Hollywood celebrities by evaluating the contents of their garbage cans.In this way he can conduct research without celebrity awareness.This example can most accurately be described as an example of ____.

A) unobtrusive observation
B) an unobtrusive measure
C) participant observation
D) response acquiescence

Question 12

Assume that you are conducting a naturalistic observation of eating habits in the dining hall.During the lunch hour,you use a table (like an ethogram)to note the occurrence of particular behaviors.What problem poses the biggest threat to obtaining a complete and valid set of observations?

A) Your attention is limited,so you may miss some important demonstrations of the target behaviors.
B) It is difficult to define a small set of easily categorized behaviors to observe.
C) You cannot make unobtrusive measures in this environment.
D) You cannot reduce the demand characteristics of the research environment.

Question 13

Testing an elderly colleague to compare to P.Z.,the amnesiac,is an example of:

A) Ethology
B) construct validity
C) a protocol
D) deviant-case analysis

Question 14

A problem that is associated with descriptive observations is that they:

A) cannot be influenced by subject (participant)roles.
B) often lead to anthropomorphizing.
C) have internal validity.
D) can never be obtained as unobtrusive measures.
E) are always retrospective in nature.

Question 15

Which of the following is closest to a random sample?

A) matching the percentages of males/females to the general population
B) having everyone in the world complete a survey
C) testing the first 100 individuals that enter the laboratory
D) relying on volunteers to complete a survey study

Question 16

One advantage of descriptive observation studies is that they:

A) maximize the chance of showing an effect.
B) reveal interactions between variables.
C) provide the greatest ecological validity.
D) require the fewest participants.

Question 17

The ecological function of behaviors refers to:

A) what function they seem to serve the organism.
B) how behaviors are measured in a flexible fashion.
C) how inexpensive naturalistic observation is.
D) the degree to which behaviors observed in research approximate behaviors observed in the real world.

Question 18

One advantage of observational research methods is that:

A) researchers can make causal statements about relationships between variables.
B) conditions and results can be easily replicated.
C) they are free of researcher bias.
D) they provide greater ecological validity.

Question 19

Which of the following decisions would be most appropriate for a researcher interested in reducing a participant's potential reactivity to the presence of the researcher?

A) Make unobtrusive observations.
B) Restrict the experiment to the laboratory setting.
C) Repeat the test using another set of participants.
D) Increase the number of participants.

Question 20

Let us assume that you wish to study aggressive social behaviors in college students immediately before and after the lunch hour.You decide to watch the entrance of a dining hall from a more remote location,and simply categorize the behaviors that you observe (along with a frequency count of those behaviors).This can most accurately be described as an example of which observational approach?

A) naturalistic observation
B) Survey
C) case study
D) deviant-case analysis

Question 21

The effective use of surveys is often complicated by:

A) the fact that it is difficult and expensive to obtain a representative sample of respondents.
B) the fact that participants often respond how they think the researcher expects them to respond.
C) the reliance on volunteers,which can limit the generalizability of results.
D) all of the above concerns.

Question 22

can only attend to a limited number of behaviors

A) case study
B) deviant-case analysis
C) Survey
D) naturalistic observation

Question 23

If you want your results to apply to the general population,you should:

A) not use just volunteer participants
B) not use random sampling procedures
C) not use paid participants
D) pay only participants who don't volunteer

Question 24

Some memory researchers have argued that studies involving the recall of novel events are more appropriate than laboratory studies involving the recall of less concrete material (e.g.,nonsense syllables)because only the former approach reflects memory for items with a clear ecological function.

Question 25

All of the following are advantages of observational studies EXCEPT the idea that such studies:

A) often can provide more ecologically valid measures of behavior.
B) are relatively flexible in their procedures relative to experiments.
C) are inexpensive to conduct.
D) are free of demand characteristics,particularly surveys.

Question 26

A solution to response styles forces the participant to:

A) choose between a desirable and an undesirable alternative
B) select response acquiescence or response deviation
C) select a socially undesirable alternative on the survey or test
D) choose between two equally good or two equally bad alternatives

Question 27

An ethogram is a relatively complete survey of attitudes.

Question 28

Reactivity to surveys is typically eliminated by obtaining a random sample.

Question 29

Response style or set is most commonly a problem for which type of observational study?

A) naturalistic observation
B) case study
C) survey
D) deviant-case analysis

Question 30

Pavlov,the famous psychologist and physiologist,found it difficult to study conditioned reflexes objectively.

Question 31

Interobserver reliability has to do with the degree to which different participants demonstrate the same behaviors in a research study.

Question 32

Unobtrusive measures are indirect observations of behaviors.

Question 33

The primary problem unique to descriptive research is that it does not permit the assessment of relations among events.

Question 34

One way to handle the problem of non-respondents in research is to:

A) use volunteer respondents exclusively
B) allow your respondents to use the telephone or mail in their answers
C) get a random sample of the entire population that is available
D) pay all participants equally

Question 35

The term demand characteristics is currently and typically used to refer to the various roles that participants may assume in response to the research setting.

Question 36

Case studies can be considered to represent a form of naturalistic observation,and thus should be subject to all the disadvantages of that approach.

Question 37

Response style refers to:

A) reactivity in case studies
B) selective remembering and forgetting
C) a habitual way of asking questions
D) reactivity in interviews and surveys

Question 38

Each of the following is an example of response sets except:

A) response acquiescence
B) response deviation
C) social desirability
D) forced-choice responses

Question 39

Unobtrusive measures and unobtrusive observations are the same ways of reducing reactivity.

Question 40

Which option below would be the most effective method for combating response styles/sets in a survey?

A) Use random sampling.
B) Provide incentives for completion of the survey.
C) Replicate the survey results with a different sample population.
D) For a given survey item,work to make the alternative answers equally desirable.

Question 41

Using volunteers in your research means you are likely to have unmotivated and unintelligent people.

Question 42

The retrospective nature of memories presents a potentially serious problem for the researcher who relies upon unobtrusive observations.

Question 43

A habitual tendency to answer questions in the negative reflects a common form of response set that is typically referred to as response deviation.

Question 44

Motivated forgetting in case studies refers to the active way in which a person reconstructs his or her past.

Question 45

The validity of answers on personality tests and on surveys often is threatened by response styles.