Deck 10: Experimental and Quasiexperimental Designs

Question 1

In a study about help to quit smoking,one group of participants received a single supportive phone call 10 days after attending a program on strategies to resist the urge to smoke.A second group received a weekly supportive phone call for 6 weeks after attending the same program,and a third group received no supportive phone calls after attending the program.What property of experimental research did the researcher employ in this study?

A) Quasi-experimental research-no control group
B) Random assignment to research groups
C) Manipulation of the intervention dose
D) Controlling for extraneous variables

Answer 1

Manipulation of the intervention dose

Question 2

What is the term used to describe the experimental treatment initiated by the researcher?

A) Independent variable
B) Dependent variable
C) Extraneous variable
D) Outcome variable

Answer 2

Independent variable

Question 3

A study was conducted to determine whether a videotape would be more effective than a pamphlet in instructing college-age women to perform breast self-examination on a regular basis.Which of the following conditions could be considered an antecedent variable?

A) Four participants in the pamphlet-based instruction group had mothers who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and the other group had no participants with mothers diagnosed with breast cancer.
B) The group that received the videotape training comprised members of one sorority, and the group that received the pamphlet-based instruction comprised members of a different sorority.
C) During the study, most participants received flu shots through the college's student health service.
D) The pamphlet group had 38 members, and the videotape group had 33 members.

Answer 3

Four participants in the pamphlet-based instruction group had mothers who had been diagnosed with breast cancer, and the other group had no participants with mothers diagnosed with breast cancer.

Question 4

Which of the following is a purpose of evaluation research in nursing?

A) Documenting the cost-effectiveness of new nursing interventions
B) Discovering the health beliefs of a specific ethnic group
C) Defining the cause-and-effect relationship in poor surgical outcomes
D) Describing various models of health care delivery

Question 5

A study compared weight loss in obese subjects between those who participated in a support group and those who chose not to.Which of the following factors or conditions in the study would be considered an intervening variable?

A) Data collection for both groups occurred over the Thanksgiving holiday.
B) The group that did not participate in a support group had a greater percentage of male subjects.
C) Three subjects were diagnosed with hypertension 1 month after the study began.
D) Two subjects dropped out of the study 1 month after the study began.

Question 6

Which of the following situations meets a criterion for inferring causality between performance of exercise and adaptation behaviour of women receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer?

A) Adaptation behaviour began before the exercise program was initiated.
B) Adaptive behaviour occurred in the control group over time.
C) The level of adaptation behaviours increased proportionately with increase in the intensity of the exercise.
D) No differences in adaptation behaviours were observed between subjects in the experimental group and subjects in the control group.

Question 7

What advantage do quasiexperimental studies have over experimental studies?

A) A smaller sample size is sufficient to obtain significant results in quasiexperimental studies.
B) Quasiexperimental studies are stronger in establishing cause-and-effect relationships.
C) Descriptive statistics can be used to analyze the data in quasiexperimental studies.
D) Quasiexperimental studies are more adaptable to real world settings.

Question 8

Using the abstract information provided below,identify which group would be considered the "control group" for this experimental study.
"To determine the efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral intervention for treating insomnia in breast cancer survivors,randomized controlled trials were conducted with seventy-two women who through sleep diaries were identified as experiencing insomnia.Participants were randomly assigned to a multi-component intervention including stimulus control instructions,sleep restriction,and sleep or a single-component group (sleep education)."

A) The group receiving the multi-component.
B) The group receiving the single component.
C) The group experiencing adverse effects.
D) The group refusing to participate.

Question 9

Why would a nurse researcher opt for a quasiexperimental study design instead of an experimental study design?

A) The study is planned to be conducted in a laboratory setting.
B) An experimental treatment is not part of the study.
C) The researcher has not conducted research before.
D) Full experimentational control is not possible.

Question 10

Which of the following statements about random assignment or randomization is true?

A) The randomization process decreases the influence of researcher bias but can increase the effect of systematic bias in a study.
B) The randomization process decreases the influence of systematic bias but can increase the effect of researcher bias in a study.
C) With randomization, each subject has an equal and known probability of being assigned to any group in a study.
D) Randomization eliminates the need for informed consent.

Question 11

Which of the following types of quasiexperimental design is implemented when subjects are not randomly assigned to groups?

A) Nonequivalent control group design
B) After-only control group design
C) Solomon four-group design
D) Time series design

Question 12

What type of threat to validity is minimized by the use of the Solomon four-group design?

A) Mortality
B) Selection bias
C) Testing
D) Antecedent variable

Question 13

What aspect should be the primary consideration in critiquing the research report of an experimental study and determining the validity of the conclusions presented?

A) How well the researcher controlled for extraneous variables
B) The direction of the relationship between dependent and independent variables
C) The credentials and previous experience of the researcher
D) The number of persons involved in the data collection process

Question 14

What is the meaning of "control" in a study with an experimental design?

A) The care taken to ensure maintenance of participant confidentiality
B) The introduction of one or more constants into the experimental situation
C) The ability of the researcher to prevent data collection from extending beyond the original time specified for the study
D) The faithfulness of the researcher in the application of all the assumptions of the experimental process to the study

Question 15

By what specific criterion should you judge the results or findings of experimental research?

A) The size of the experimental group compared with the size of the control group
B) The validity that the experimental treatment caused the desired effect on the outcome
C) The degree to which the research questions were congruent with the hypotheses and the purpose of the study
D) The degree to which the researcher was able to apply the findings to clinical or practice settings

Question 16

Why is randomization important in a study with an experimental design?

A) It reduces the risk of the subject being harmed by participation in the study.
B) It ensures that the experimental group and the control group have the same number of participants.
C) It allows the study to proceed without the researcher knowing the identity of the treatment group.
D) It increases the likelihood that differences in the outcomes of the groups are not related to chance alone.

Question 17

For which of the following studies would an after-only experimental research design be most appropriate?

A) The effect of cause of spousal death on widow self-esteem.
B) The effect of preoperative teaching on vascular complications after surgery.
C) The effect of a mentorship program on improvement of student performance in a BSN program.
D) The effectiveness of using the videotape to teach adolescent males about the warning signs of testicular cancer.

Question 18

Which of the following criteria must be met to infer causality?

A) The relationship between cause and effect must be measurable and reciprocal.
B) The relationship must not be explainable by any other variable.
C) The independent variable must change in response to manipulation of the dependent variable.
D) The outcome must be logical, expected, and predictable.

Question 19

Which of the following factors or characteristics is present only in an experimental design (and not in a quasiexperimental design)?

A) Research question or hypothesis
B) Experimental treatment
C) Informed consent
D) Randomization

Question 20

How differently is the independent variable handled in studies with an experimental design or a quasiexperimental design?

A) An independent variable is not identified or needed in a quasiexperimental design.
B) Both designs identify an independent variable, and both manipulate the independent variable.
C) Experimental designs demonstrate that the independent variable is related to the outcome, but quasiexperimental studies allow for independent variables that stand alone.
D) Although both designs identify an independent variable, experimental designs identify it before the research is initiated, and quasiexperimental designs identify it after the data have been analyzed.

Question 21

In the study by Siminoff,Burant and Ibrahim entitled "Racial Disparities in Preferences and Perceptions Regarding Organ Donation," sampling was done using a random digit telephone technique.What threats to internal validity does this prevent?

A) Selection effects
B) Selection bias
C) Social desirability bias
D) Testing effects