Deck 3: Experimental Design

Question 1

An experimenter conducts a study in which she wants to investigate the effects of eating chocolate on concentration.To do this she gives 20 people in an experimental condition a bar of chocolate and gives another 20 people in a control group nothing.After the experimental group has finished their chocolate she asks both groups to perform tasks designed to test their concentration.Which of the following statements is false?

A)The experiment has a within-subjects design.
B)The results could be analysed using a t-test.
C)The independent variable has two levels.
D)The dependent variable is level of concentration.
E)The addition of a control group controls for threats to internal validity.

Answer 1

The experiment has a within-subjects design.

Question 2

What is the purpose of a manipulation check?

A)To check that manipulation of an independent variable has been successful.
B)To check that a dependent variable is sufficiently sensitive.
C)To check that an independent variable is sufficiently sensitive.
D)To check that a dependent variable is sufficiently relevant.
E)To check that an independent variable is sufficiently relevant.

Answer 2

To check that manipulation of an independent variable has been successful.

Question 3

The choices that an expertimenter confronts that involve how to design an experiment in order to test a particular hypothesis relate to issues of which of the following?

A)Internal validity.
B)External validity.
C)Operationalization.
D)Design validity.
E)Visualization.

Answer 3

Operationalization.

Question 4

A researcher conducts a study in which participants are asked to administer electric shocks to a participant in what they believe to be a memory experiment, but which in fact is a study of obedience.In fact the shocks are not real, but the participant does not know this.However, some of the participants see through the cover story.Which of the following is true?

A)The fact that participants see through the cover story affects the study's internal validity.
B)The fact that participants see through the cover story affects the study's external validity.
C)The fact that participants see through the cover story affects the study's general validity.
D)Both (a)and (b).
E)All of the above.

Question 5

An experimenter finds that when a person takes part in a study they become quite nervous, when normally they are confident and assertive.This threatens the internal and external validity of their findings and is an example of what phenomenon?

A)Demand characteristics.
B)Experimental blind.
C)Regression.
D)Reactivity.
E)Test-retest reliability interacting with the experimental treatment.

Question 6

"Systematic variation in the order in which participants respond to dependent measures or receive treatments.This is designed to neutralize or help quantify order effects in within-subjects designs." What experimental procedure is this a glossary definition of?

A)Balancing.
B)Counterbalancing.
C)Reiterative qualification.
D)Ordering.
E)Matching.

Question 7

A researcher conducts a study in which participants are placed in a simulated prison and assigned to roles as prisoners and guards.As part of the experimental briefing he gives participants clues about the hypothesis he is testing and about how he wants them to behave.Which of the following may compromise the internal and external validity of the research?

A)Experimenter bias.
B)Demand characteristics.
C)Regression to the mean
D)Both (a)and (b).
E)All of the above.

Question 8

An experimenter conducts a study in which she wants to investigate the effects of eating chocolate on concentration.To do this she gives 20 people in an experimental condition a bar of chocolate and gives another 20 people in a control group nothing.However 4 of the people in the experiment withdraw because the dislike chocolate.Which of the following is a threat to internal validity?

A)Regression to the mean.
B)Practice effects.
C)Demand characteristics.
D)Mortality effects.
E)Experimenter bias.

Question 9

A researcher conducts a study in which participants are asked to administer electric shocks to a participant in what they believe to be a memory experiment, but which in fact is a study of obedience.In fact the shocks are not real, but the participant does not know this.After the study, the researcher asks participants how strong they thought the shocks they were administering were.Which of the following is true?

A)This study involves deception, and the post-test questionnaire is designed to see whether participants have found the cover story convincing.
B)This study does not involve deception, and the post-test questionnaire is designed to see whether participants have found the cover story convincing.
C)This study involves deception, and there is no cover story.
D)The study does not involve deception, and there is no cover story.
E)This does not resemble a study that a psychologist would ever conduct.

Question 10

Which of the following statments is true?

A)Psychologists often have to manipulate theoretical variables indirectly, by using dependent variables that they believe will have a specific impact upon a given mental process or state.
B)Psychologists always have to manipulate theoretical variables indirectly, by using dependent variables that they believe will have a specific impact upon a given mental process or state.
C)Psychologists often have to manipulate theoretical variables indirectly, by using independent variables that they believe will have a specific impact upon a given mental process or state.
D)Psychologists never have to manipulate theoretical variables indirectly, by using independent variables that they believe will have a specific impact upon a given mental process or state.
E)Psychologists always have to manipulate theoretical variables indirectly, by using independent variables that they believe will have a specific impact upon a given mental process or state.

Question 11

Which of the following statements is true?

A)Effects produced in experiments can be reproduced in the real world but real-world phenomena cannot be reproduced in experiments.
B)Effects produced in experiments cannot be reproduced in the real world but real-world phenomena can be reproduced in experiments.
C)Effects produced in experiments can be reproduced in the real world and real-world phenomena can be reproduced in experiments.
D)Effects produced in experiments cannot be reproduced in the real world and real-world phenomena cannot be reproduced in experiments.
E)Effects produced in experiments and effects in the real world are completely unrelated to each other.

Question 12

An experimenter conducts a study in which 16 people are asked to pedal a bicycle for 40 minutes and then perform a memory task.They all then lie down for two hours and then perform a recognition memory task.Which of the following statements is true?

A)Memory task is an extraneous variable.
B)Memory task is manipulated between-subjects.
C)Memory task is manipulated both between-subjects and within-subjects.
D)Memory task is manipulated within-subjects.
E)Memory task is the dependent variable

Question 13

An experiment is conducted in which one group of participants is asked to perform maths tasks while watching television, a second group of participants is asked to perform maths tasks while listening to the radio, and a third group of participants is asked to perform math tasks while doing nothing else.Which of the following statements is true?

A)The null hypothesis in this study is that the nature of distraction has no impact on mathematical performance.
B)A plausible alternative hypothesis in this study is that distraction has an adverse impact on mathematical performance.
C)A plausible alternative hypothesis in this study is that being distracted by television has more of an adverse impact on mathematical performance than being disracted by radio.
D)Both (b)and (c).
E)All of the above.

Question 14

A team of researchers conduct a study in which they want to look at how the performance of children is affected by a change in government education policy.To do this, thet look at the performance of students in 2 private and 2 public schools before and after a change of government policy.Which of the following is true?

A)This is a quasi-experiment because school type is not manipulated
B)The study has no independent variables.
C)The study has no dependent variables.
D)The study has a pre-test-post-test design.
E)Both (a)and (d).

Question 15

"A special case of maturation effects where performance on a post-test deteriorates as a result of boredom or tiredness associated with having already completed a pre-test." What type of effect is this a glossary definition of?

A)A follow-up effect.
B)A ceiling effect.
C)A tiredness effect.
D)A maturation effect.
E)A fatigue effect.

Question 16

A team of researchers conduct a study in which they want to look at how the performance of children from the worst-performing school in the country is affected by a change in government education policy.Looking at a new sample of students, they find that a year later the school is no longer the worst-performing and attribute this to the effects of the policy.Which of the following is most likely to affect the internal validity of this conclusion?

A)Mortality effects.
B)Regression to the mean.
C)Practice effects.
D)Demand characteristics.
E)Experimenter bias.

Question 17

Which of the following statements is true?

A)Researchers are usually keen to obtain very small effects on manipulation checks.
B)Researchers are always keen to obtain very small effects on manipulation checks.
C)Researchers are never keen to obtain very big effects on manipulation checks.
D)Researchers are usually keen to obtain very big effects on manipulation checks.
E)None of the above.

Question 18

An experimenter conducts a study in which 16 people are asked to pedal a bicycle for 40 minutes and then perform a free recall memory task.They all then lie down for two hours and then perform a recognition memory task.Which of the following statements is false?

A)Memory performance is the dependent measure.
B)Type of task (free recall vs.recognition)is manipulated within-subjects.
C)Amount of expended energy (high vs.low)is manipulated between-subjects.
D)A within-subjects t-test could be used to compare participants' performance on the two tasks.
E)Type of task and amount of expended energy are confounded in this design.

Question 19

An experiment is conducted in which one group of participants is asked to perform maths tasks while watching television, a second group of participants is asked to perform maths tasks while listening to the radio, and a third group of participants is asked to perform math tasks while doing nothing else.Which of the following statements is true?

A)This study has three conditions, and the nature of distraction is the independent variable
B)This study has two conditions, and the nature of distraction is the independent variable
C)This study has three conditions, and the nature of distraction is manipulated between-subjects.
D)Both (a)and (c).
E)Both (b)and (c).

Question 20

An experimenter conducts an experiment in which subjects are randomly assigned to one of three conditions.Subjects in each condition consume different amounts of carrot juice and then have to perform tests of (i)visual acuity and (ii)mathematical reasoning.The experimenter's null hypothesis that consumption of carrot juice does not affect either visual acuity or mathematical reasoning is confirmed.Which of the following statements is true?

A)The experiment allows the researcher to conclude that the consumption of carrot juice cannot affect visual acuity or mathematical reasoning.
B)The experiment does not support the theory that the consumption of carrot juice affects visual acuity but not mathematical reasoning.
C)The dependent variables are inappropriate.
D)The experiment has three independent variable and two dependent variables.
E)None of the above.

Question 21

"The process of directly generalizing research findings to other settings and samples, without basing that generalization on a theory or explanation of the research findings." What construct is this a glossary definition of?

A)Overextension.
B)Piecemeal empiricism.
C)Naive empiricism.
D)Theoretical induction.
E)Empirical induction.

Question 22

"Systematic change to an independent variable where different participants are exposed to different levels of that variable by the experimenter." What procedure is this a glossary definition of?

A)Within-subjects manipulation
B)Between-subjects manipulation.
C)Differential assigment.
D)Randomization.
E)Exprimental callibration.

Question 23

"The process of attempting to remove systematic differences between experimental groups on variables not of primary interest but considered likely to produce differences in a dependent variable" What procedure is this a glossary definition of?

A)Randomization.
B)Non-systematic assignment.
C)Desytematization.
D)Recallibration.
E)Matching.

Question 24

"The process of deciding how to manipulate and/or measure independent variables and how to measure dependent variables." What process is this a glossary definition of?

A)Experimental design.
B)Objectification.
C)Operationalization.
D)Causal reasoning.
E)Measurement validation.