Deck 11: Quantitative Methodology: Interventional Designs and Methods

Question 1

A researcher tests a new intervention for nausea associated with chemotherapy in hospitalized patients. The researcher does not want to suggest nausea to the patients, so as the dependent variable, the researcher uses the answer the patients give to the question, "How are you feeling this morning?" This is a threat to which type of validity?

A)Construct validity
B)Internal validity
C)External validity
D)Statistical conclusion validity

Answer 1

Construct validity

Question 2

A researcher tests a new intervention for nausea associated with chemotherapy, in hospitalized patients. At the same time, a new over-the-counter medication containing natural herbs is marketed aggressively, and some of the hospital patients are given this herbal remedy by their families. This is a threat to which type of validity?

A)Construct validity
B)Internal validity
C)External validity
D)Statistical conclusion validity

Answer 2

Construct validity

Question 3

A researcher is comparing a new and less expensive treatment with an established treatment, in hopes of showing that there is no difference in outcome. The researcher does not perform a power analysis and, consequently, selects a sample size that is smaller than what would be recommended for an analysis of variance. The results show that there is a significant difference in outcome between the two treatments, and that the new treatment has poorer outcomes. What is the negative result of the researcher's decision to use a smaller sample?

A)The statistical conclusions reached are incorrect.
B)There is no negative result.
C)The study will have to be replicated, because its sample was small.
D)The researcher is guilty of misconduct.

Answer 3

There is no negative result.

Question 4

The researcher divides his lab rats into two groups and administers IV methamphetamine to one of the groups, in order to determine its effect on the fear-flight response. This is an example of which of the following?

A)Bias
B)Manipulation
C)Correlation
D)Multiple causality

Question 5

A researcher conducts interventional research and uses a small sample that is not randomly selected. When the researcher replicates the study, twice, the researcher again uses the same site and another small sample that is not randomly selected. This is a threat to which type of validity?

A)Construct validity
B)Internal validity
C)External validity
D)Statistical conclusion validity

Question 6

A researcher measures the dependent variable in an interventional group of subjects both before and after an intervention. The researcher also measures the same dependent variable in a non-interventional group, at the same two points in time. The groups are not randomly assigned. What kind of design is this?

A)One-group pretest-posttest design
B)Factorial design
C)Pretest-posttest design with a comparison group
D)Time series design with nonrandom control group

Question 7

A group of 25 Labrador retrievers, and their owners, are brought to the research lab, one at a time. The Labrador retrievers are shown various stimuli, including a squirrel that runs along a wire at the top of the lab, to elicit barking. Then the owners command the dogs to stop barking, and the stimulus is repeated. The duration of barking is measured. Then the owners are taught a different technique for quieting their barking dogs. A week later, the dogs and their owners return to the lab, the stimuli are introduced, and the duration of barking is measured. This is an example of what type of design?

A)Posttest-only design with comparison group
B)One-group pretest-posttest design
C)Pretest and posttest design with comparison group
D)Time series design with repeated reversal

Question 8

A researcher is comparing a new and less expensive treatment with an established treatment, in hopes of showing that there is no difference in outcome. The researcher does not perform a power analysis and, consequently, selects a sample size that is smaller than what would be recommended for an analysis of variance. The results show that there is no significant difference in outcome between the two treatments. Which type of validity is affected by this?

A)Construct validity
B)Internal validity
C)External validity
D)Statistical conclusion validity

Question 9

A study using the factorial design measures the effect upon hemoglobin levels of four independent variables, each administered randomly and independently. How many distinct groups are there in this factorial design?

A)4
B)8
C)12
D)16

Question 10

A researcher uses matching to constitute a control group, while performing a study on psychotherapy as an adjunct treatment for substance addiction. What type of validity might be enhanced by matching, in this instance?

A)Construct validity
B)Internal validity
C)External validity
D)Statistical conclusion validity

Question 11

John Stuart Mill insisted that in order for causation to be demonstrated, there must be no alternative explanation for why a change in one variable leads to a change in the other variable. This concept of alternative explanations is the idea that underlies which type of validity?

A)Construct validity
B)Internal validity
C)External validity
D)Statistical conclusion validity

Question 12

What is the essential difference between a control group and a comparison group?

A)A control group is used in interventional research. A comparison group is used in non-interventional research.b.A control group is larger in size than a comparison group.
C)A control group exists only in a basic lab situation. All nursing studies use comparison groups.
D)A control group controls for the effects of potential extraneous variables. A comparison group does not.

Question 13

Subjects in a multiple group experimental study are tested for how much time it takes them to navigate a maze and find the chocolate. The maze is reconstructed after each run, and three different floor plans are used. Each group is tested eight times in 8 hours at a different time of day. The runs later in the day have faster times than the earlier ones. Which threat to internal validity might account for this difference?

A)Instrumentation
B)Selection
C)Testing
D)Statistical regression toward the mean

Question 14

Nurses who provide discharge teaching to patients after colonoscopy call these patients the day after the procedure to check on their status. At that time, patients who have had polyps removed invariably ask how long it will be until they receive their results. The nurses decide to design a study in which they will change their discharge teaching, in order to include information about the time frame for biopsy results. The nurses then will measure patient satisfaction results, comparing them with the results for the previous month, before the change. Which type of research design will they use?

A)Correlational
B)Quasi-experimental
C)Experimental
D)Descriptive

Question 15

Hospital nurses are observed in order to determine exactly how long they swab IV ports with alcohol. Because they are being observed, they "scrub the hub" longer than they ordinarily would have. This is an example of what concept relevant to quantitative research?

A)Bias
B)Control
C)Manipulation
D)Hawthorne effect

Question 16

Identify the study design used in the following research project:
Twenty patients, all of whom have bipolar mania, have been placed on lithium and also begun on a medication believed to prevent rapid cycling. The patients are followed for 12 months, at which time they are seen by a psychiatrist monthly, to adjust their dosages. Medication compliance, emergency department visits, and mental health hospitalizations are measured. These are compared with another group of patients with the same mental illness, being treated on lithium alone. What is this design?

A)Posttest-only design with comparison group
B)Pretest-posttest design with comparison group
C)Pretest-posttest design with repeated reversal
D)Solomon four-group design

Question 17

A study's hypothesis that a new surgical approach produces safer outcomes in immunosuppressed patients is tested in a 14-site research study across the United States. Subjects at all sites are randomly selected and randomly assigned to experimental versus control groups. What strategy is used in this research project?

A)Quasi-experimental design
B)Randomized-controlled trial
C)Model testing design
D)Counterbalancing

Question 18

The essentialists insisted that a cause be necessary and sufficient for an effect to occur. In a modern study, alcohol dependency is found to lead eventually to permanent liver damage, except when the person with alcoholism consumes a diet plentiful in the B- vitamins. In addition, liver damage can emerge in the absence of alcohol dependency. What would the essentialists say about the causative relationship between alcohol dependency and liver damage?

A)The proposed cause is necessary, but not sufficient.
B)The proposed cause is neither necessary nor sufficient.
C)The proposed cause is sufficient, but not necessary.
D)The proposed cause is both necessary and sufficient.

Question 19

Immediately after the intervention in an experimental study of the negative effects of smoking tobacco, the state tax on cigarettes increases the cost from $4 to $8 per pack. Which threat to internal validity does this pose?

A)Mortality
B)History
C)Testing
D)Selection

Question 20

If a one-group pretest-posttest study uses subjects as their own controls, which is the study design?

A)Experimental
B)Quasi-experimental
C)Correlational
D)Descriptive

Question 21

A researcher believes that therapy is more effective if patients exercise. The researcher tells the patients that it has been arranged for them to use the hospital gym, if they so desire-and that if they are interested, they will then be in the experimental group. This represents which threat to internal validity?

A)Maturation
B)Attrition
C)History
D)Selection

Question 22

In interventional research, why does subject attrition affect internal validity?

A)A study in which the majority of the subjects die calls into question whether the treatment itself is safe.
B)Subjects who drop out may differ from those who stay in the study, in terms of an important extraneous variable.
C)If subjects drop out of the control group, and not the experimental group, it strongly implies that there is some benefit to participation of which the researchers may not be aware.
D)Subject mortality may result in a sample that is so much smaller than anticipated that Type II error may result.
E)Type I error is almost guaranteed with very unequal sample sizes.

Question 23

Causality is tested through which of the following?

A)Grounded theory research
B)Experimental research
C)All quantitative research
D)Historical research
E)Quasi-experimental research

Question 24

A nurse notes that in clients with multiple tattoos, many are missing quite a few of their teeth. The nurse measures the variables and establishes a negative correlation between number of tattoos and number of teeth. The nurse designs a study to measure causation. Why is this problematic?

A)Tattooing can be expensive.
B)Causing subjects to become multiply tattooed, so as to cause their teeth to fall out, is ethically questionable.
C)Random assignment to group would be impossible.
D)The nurse researcher cannot cause subjects' teeth to fall out, so as to later measure if their number of tattoos has increased; that would be ethically questionable.
E)The study would have to be designed as a large-sample, multisite design.

Question 25

What are the differences between the simple quasi-experimental pretest-posttest design and an experimental version of the same design with a control group, in which there is random assignment to group?

A)This experimental design controls for the effects of more extraneous variables than does the quasi-experimental one.
B)Subjects are blind to group assignment in the experimental design but not in the quasi-experimental design.
C)In the experimental version, there is better construct validity.
D)This experimental design controls for the history threat to internal validity, whereas the quasi-experimental one does not.
E)This experimental design controls for the testing threat to internal validity, whereas the quasi-experimental one does not.

Question 26

In a national health study, begun in 2012, thousands of nurses have been participating in ongoing research to better understand the effects of omega-3 fish oil and vitamin D-3 upon cardiovascular health and bone health. Subjects are randomly assigned to experimental or control group, for the two variables. Data about cardiovascular health and bone health will continue to be collected over many years. This study could be an example of what types of research?

A)Prospective
B)Retrospective
C)Factorial study
D)Crossover design
E)Descriptive
F)Correlational
G)Experimental
H)Quasi-experimental

Question 27

What is the most effective way to minimize the effect of a large number of unknown extraneous variables?

A)Match the groups by hand.
B)Randomly assign subjects to treatment and control group.
C)Use an experimental design.
D)Place subjects into groups according to the extraneous variables they possess.
E)Allow subjects to choose the groups to which they want to belong.
F)Use a large sample.

Question 28

A researcher tests the effect of a new laparoscopic treatment for chronic shoulder dislocation, comparing it with an older treatment. The results are statistically significant, and the researcher states in the study findings that there is evidence that the treatment has promise for widespread application. A subsequent replication study fails to show statistical significance. A third and fourth study produce the same effects as the second. Sample sizes are determined to be sufficient in all four studies. What is the most likely explanation here?

A)A Type I error occurred in the first study.
B)A Type II error occurred in the second, third, and fourth studies.
C)External validity is excellent.
D)Operationalization of variables was faulty.

Question 29

Patients in an outpatient treatment center receiving daily wound care were studied by means of an experimental design using a crossover strategy. Patients were administered either Morphine Contin or Percocet, by random assignment, on one day, and the other medication on the following day. Pain scores were obtained for both days, recorded and analyzed. Why was a crossover strategy used?

A)Because wound care may become less painful in some patients over time, as wounds heal, this strategy balanced the pain scores, across participants.
B)Because wound care may become more painful over time, as debridement occurs, exposing raw tissue, this strategy balanced the pain scores, across participants.
C)Because patients were not consented for the study and had to receive at least one traditional treatment.
D)Because wound care may become less painful over time, as patients know what to expect, this strategy compensated by alternating first-treatment across patients.

Question 30

A researcher conducts a study examining the relationship between exercising at a gym and quality of life in elders over 70 years of age. There appears to be no statistically significant relationship. Then the researcher analyzes the data again, this time comparing number of times a week the participant goes to the gym and quality of life and finds that there is a statistically significant relationship. This is an example of which of the following?

A)Statistical conclusion validity
B)Control
C)Partitioning
D)Causality

Question 31

A researcher is designing a randomized-controlled trial (RCT). What must an RCT contain?

A)Random collection of data in both groups
B)Random operationalization of the dependent variable
C)Random assignment to group
D)An interventional design
E)Random application of the independent variable

Question 32

Threats to statistical conclusion validity include which of the following?

A)Fishing
B)Low statistical power
C)Maturation
D)Violated assumptions of statistical tests
E)History

Question 33

Aside from random assignment using a large sample, what are design strategies that control for known extraneous variables?

A)Matching
B)Selection of a heterogeneous sample
C)Selecting a homogeneous sample
D)Use of stratified random sampling
E)Setting inclusive sampling criteria

Question 34

Why does a researcher perform a post hoc analysis comparing characteristics in experimental group and control group?

A)To eliminate the effect of confounding variables
B)To measure the effect of testing on subsequent scores
C)To determine whether the characteristics were similar in both groups
D)To measure the effect of an extraneous variable by statistical analysis
E)To make a logical argument that the characteristics that are similar between groups did not affect the value of the dependent variable

Question 35

What is the strategy used to determine whether the carryover effect exists?

A)Random assignment
B)Counterbalancing
C)Sequencing
D)Bias control

Question 36

What designs can a researcher use, so as to control for the testing threat?

A)Solomon four-group design
B)Any design that uses a nested strategy
C)Any experimental design
D)Posttest-only control group design
E)One-group pretest-posttest

Question 37

Which research methods test for causality?

A)Experimental research
B)Causational modeling
C)Case study research
D)Quasi-experimental research
E)Cross-sectional research

Question 38

A posttest-only design with a comparison group, which is a quasi-experimental study, lacks conditions present in an experimental study. Which components are lacking in this type of study design?

A)A control group
B)An intervention
C)Random assignment to group
D)A pretest
E)A comparison group

Question 39

A researcher states in an article, "The subjects acted as their own controls." If this is true, what does this imply?

A)Statistical significance was most likely calculated for each subject individually.
B)There were so few subjects that a separate control group could not be obtained.
C)Measurement of the subjects was made at least twice.
D)Two studies were performed.
E)The methodology was quasi-experimental.
F)The study was interventional.

Question 40

In which of the following ways does the researcher control for threats to construct validity?

A)Random selection
B)Use of double-blinding
C)Random assignment to group
D)Measuring dependent variables with more than one strategy
E)Thoughtful crafting of conceptual definitions