Deck 5: Making Systematic Observations

Question 1

Which of the following can help you choose variables for your study?

A) Research tradition
B) Theory
C) Availability of new techniques
D) All of the answers are correct.

Answer 1

All of the answers are correct.

Question 2

The _____ of a physical measure, such as height or weight, is derived by repeatedly measuring a fixed quantity of the physical variable and using the observed variation in measured value.

A) precision
B) face validity
C) interrater reliability
D) range effect

Answer 2

precision

Question 3

For measures of opinion, attitude, and similar psychological variables, in which the problem is to estimate the average value of the variable in a given population based on a sample drawn from that population, the precision of the estimate is called the _____.

A) role attitude cues
B) margin of error
C) split-half reliability
D) concurrent validity

Answer 3

margin of error

Question 4

When the measure being made consists of judgments or ratings of multiple observers, the degree of agreement among observers can be established by using a statistical measure of _____.

A) concurrent validity
B) margin of error
C) interrater reliability
D) split-half reliability

Question 5

To assess _____, the same test is administered twice, separated by a relatively long interval of time, to the same individuals.

A) test-retest reliability
B) predictive validity
C) split-half reliability
D) construct validity

Question 6

An advantage of split-half reliability over parallel-forms reliability is that only the former eliminates the possibility that participants will:

A) remember how they answered the questions in the first administration.
B) change with respect to the variable being measured during the time between administrations.
C) become fatigued while taking the test.
D) develop an aversion to taking psychological tests.

Question 7

A measure is valid if it:

A) produces data that are repeatable.
B) measures what you intend it to measure.
C) produces data that agree with a known standard.
D) produces data that make sense.

Question 8

You develop a new measure of anxiety and find that your measure correlates highly with an established measure of anxiety. You have demonstrated:

A) criterion-related validity.
B) construct validity.
C) face validity.
D) reliability.

Question 9

As part of a requirement for a graduate course on test construction, you develop a new measure of IQ for infants. You examine the items on your test and determine that your measure appears to be valid. You have established _____ validity.

A) criterion-related
B) superficial
C) face
D) concurrent

Question 10

_____ is assessed by comparing the scores on your test with the value of a criterion measure observed at a later time.

A) Face validity
B) Predictive validity
C) Concurrent validity
D) Criterion-related validity

Question 11

A(n) _____ measure produces similar results when administered under identical conditions.

A) valid
B) accurate
C) good
D) reliable

Question 12

Determining the accuracy of a psychological measure is difficult because:

A) standards are rare in psychology.
B) psychological measures are usually unreliable.
C) too much effort is needed to demonstrate accuracy.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 13

A measure can be:

A) reliable but inaccurate.
B) invalid but reliable.
C) unreliable and accurate.
D) reliable but inaccurate or invalid but reliable.

Question 14

The measurements made by the phrenologists were:

A) valid.
B) highly reliable but invalid as measures of mental characteristics.
C) valid but unreliable.
D) unreliable but accurate.

Question 15

Using an established measure is a good idea because:

A) the validity of the measure is known.
B) new measures are usually unreliable.
C) you are not tied to previous theory and dogma.
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question 16

Classifying participants as to whether they are highly susceptible to hypnosis, moderately susceptible to hypnosis, or not at all susceptible to hypnosis constitutes a(n) _____ scale of measurement.

A) ordinal
B) interval
C) ratio
D) nominal

Question 17

You ask your friends to rate compact discs of various types of music on a scale ranging from zero to ten. You are employing a(n) _____ scale.

A) ordinal
B) ratio
C) interval
D) nominal

Question 18

Height, weight, and reaction time are all measured on a(n) _____ scale.

A) ordinal
B) interval
C) nominal
D) ratio

Question 19

The difference between a ratio scale and an interval scale is that the ratio scale:

A) has no true zero point.
B) yields less information.
C) has a true zero point.
D) has not true zero point and yields less information.

Question 20

In the context of Steven's four basic scales, Lord's (1953) story about football jerseys illustrates the scale of measurement that applies to a number depends on:

A) how the number will be interpreted during analysis and thus is not a "hard and fast" property of the number.
B) the original intended use of the number (for example, as a label to distinguish football players).
C) whether the numbers are simple counts or measured quantities.
D) whether the numbers are positive or negative.

Question 21

If a dependent measure reflects what people do in real-life situations (such as a jury voting "guilty" or "not guilty"), this is referred to as the _____ of a measure.

A) criterion-based validity
B) ecological validity
C) accuracy of measurement
D) construct validity

Question 22

Sometimes, you must choose to use one of the less informative scales of measurement to preserve:

A) ecological validity.
B) accuracy of measurement.
C) predictive validity.
D) construct validity.

Question 23

_____ occur(s) when the values of a variable have an upper or lower limit, which is encountered during the course of an observation.

A) Insensitivity
B) Range effects
C) Ecological invalidity
D) Unreliability

Question 24

You conduct an experiment to contrast two study techniques. After participants either "cram" or study over a period of time, you give them a test of comprehension. You find that your test was too easy because everyone in your experiment got 100 percent of the items correct. You have:

A) a measure that was highly sensitive to the type of technique used.
B) encountered a floor effect, making your measure highly sensitive to the technique.
C) encountered a ceiling effect, making your measure insensitive to the technique.
D) an invalid measure.

Question 25

Which of the following statements is true of range effects?

A) They increase the variability of scores within affected treatments.
B) They increase the differences among treatment means.
C) They are useful as they prevent a redesign of a study.
D) They occur when the values of a variable have an upper or lower limit.

Question 26

The habituation technique is a method of tailoring measures that capitalizes on:

A) an infant's ability to learn complex behaviors.
B) an infant's ability to discriminate between two different stimuli.
C) the fact that even young infants get bored with repeatedly presented stimuli.
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question 27

Tailoring your measures to the abilities of your participants:

A) needs to be done only when working with young children.
B) needs to be done only when working with retarded children and adults.
C) needs to be done only when working with young children or retarded individuals.
D) may have to be done even when working with normal adults.

Question 28

In a study of helping behavior, exposing participants to different treatments and then taking note of whether or not a participant helps is an example of a(n) _____ measure.

A) behavioral
B) indirect
C) physiological
D) self-report

Question 29

To determine the _____ of a behavior, one counts the number of occurrences over some specified period.

A) response latency
B) frequency
C) rate of responding
D) implicit attitude

Question 30

In a reaction time experiment, you record how long it takes a participant to respond after a stimulus is presented. This behavioral measure is known as:

A) frequency.
B) timing.
C) latency.
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question 31

_____ involve measuring some biological change such as heart rate or brain activity.

A) Behavioral measures
B) Physiological measures
C) Biological measures
D) Self-report measures

Question 32

_____ is defined as a qualitative measurement technique that involves establishing evaluative categories and sorting items into those categories.

A) Q-sort methodology
B) Likert scaling
C) The Wong-Baker scale
D) The Implicit Association Test

Question 33

In an experiment on memory, you ask participants to recall three important events from the past. In this case, you are using:

A) frequency of responding.
B) a prospective verbal report.
C) a retrospective verbal report.
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question 34

Asking participants to speculate about what they would do in a certain future situation is an example of:

A) a prospective verbal report.
B) behavioral analysis.
C) a retrospective verbal report.
D) frequency of responding.

Question 35

A problem with self-report measures is that:

A) you cannot be certain that subjects are giving accurate accounts of events.
B) they are difficult to administer.
C) they tend to confuse subjects.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 36

A(n) _____ measures unconscious reactions to stimuli and are used to tap into attitudes that individuals may not admit to overtly.

A) reactive measure
B) implicit measure
C) self-report measure
D) prospective measure

Question 37

In contrast physical and chemical experiments, the _____ nature of subjects and participants must be considered when designing and assessing psychological research.

A) nonreactive
B) invasive
C) noninvasive
D) reactive

Question 38

One must remember that, much like the human participant, the animal subject is:

A) naive and unthinking.
B) open-minded but unthinking.
C) an active processor of information.
D) infinitely malleable.

Question 39

_____ are defined as cues inadvertently provided by a researcher or research context concerning the purposes of a study or the behavior expected from participants.

A) Range effects
B) Self-report measures
C) Implicit measures
D) Demand characteristics

Question 40

_____ are demand characteristics that may signal participants that a change in the participant's attitude is needed to conform to his or her new role as a research participant.

A) Participant biases
B) Role attitude cues
C) Role definition cues
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question 41

A participant comes to your laboratory to participate in your experiment. She is eager to please you and tries very hard to perform well on the experimental tasks. This participant has a(n) _____ attitude.

A) cooperative
B) apprehensive
C) neutral
D) helping

Question 42

A participant comes to your laboratory and asks you if he or she is going to get shocked. This participant has a(n) _____ attitude.

A) cooperative
B) negative
C) apprehensive
D) suspicious

Question 43

A participant comes to your laboratory and does everything he or she can to derail your experiment. This participant has a(n) _____ attitude.

A) suspicious
B) apprehensive
C) defensive
D) negative

Question 44

In addition to participant attitudes and cues from the researcher, Greene and Loftus (1984) found that:

A) there are other factors that can affect a participant's performance in an experiment.
B) male participants tend to be more uncooperative than female participants.
C) events outside the laboratory can affect the results of an experiment.
D) female participants tend to be more uncooperative than male participants.

Question 45

Experimenter bias can arise from:

A) expectancy effects.
B) treating subjects in various groups differently.
C) role attitude cues.
D) expectancy effects and treating subjects in various groups differently.

Question 46

In the _____, neither the experimenter nor the participants know at the time of testing which treatments the participants are receiving.

A) pilot study
B) single-blind technique
C) double-blind technique
D) Implicit Association Test (IAT)

Question 47

One way to avoid the problem of experimenter bias is to:

A) automate your experiment.
B) become intimately familiar with the hypotheses of the experiment you are running.
C) recruit only the participants with a positive attitude.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 48

Failing to adequately clean out an operant chamber between subjects can leave behind odor cues that are a source of _____ in animal research.

A) experimenter bias
B) demand characteristics
C) role attitude cues
D) expectancy effects

Question 49

Automation of an experiment can be done by:

A) recording instructions.
B) using electronic timers and counters to record behavior.
C) using computers to control laboratory equipment.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 50

According to the text, an experiment that goes wrong can sometimes serve as a:

A) model for how not to do research.
B) manipulation check.
C) pilot study.
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question 51

Pilot studies help you to:

A) clarify instructions.
B) try out various levels of independent variables.
C) determine the reliability of your methods.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 52

Which of the following statements is true of pilot studies?

A) They save tremendous amounts of time and money if done properly.
B) They are large-scale versions of studies that are used to establish procedures to be used in limited studies.
C) They are unreliable, and determining the validity of an observational method is difficult.
D) They help in determining range effects.

Question 53

A drawback of doing a pilot study is that:

A) you may find interesting results, but cannot publish them because they were found in the context of a pilot study.
B) once you have run a pilot study, you may lose interest in the research area.
C) it can be time consuming and expensive to conduct.
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 54

_____ are used in an experiment, along with your dependent variables, to test whether or not your independent variable had its intended effect.

A) Pilot studies
B) Manipulation checks
C) Quasi-variables
D) Matching variables

Question 55

An advantage of manipulation checks is that they:

A) allow you to determine whether your independent variables worked the way you thought they would.
B) provide additional information that might help you interpret your data.
C) allow you to determine whether the independent variables worked the way you thought they would and provide additional information that might help you interpret your data.
D) None of the answers is correct.

Question 56

Theory can help you decide which variables to include in your research.

Question 57

Face validity is the crudest form of validity you can establish.

Question 58

If the data from a new measure fit with what is already known about the phenomenon being measured, then the measure has construct validity.

Question 59

A measure can be accurate but unreliable.

Question 60

Assessing the accuracy of psychological measures is difficult, because few known standards exist.

Question 61

Nominal scales provide the most information of any measurement scale.

Question 62

An interval scale has equally spaced intervals and a true zero point.

Question 63

Measurement on a ratio scale allows you to say that one effect was twice as great as another.

Question 64

A scale of measurement should be chosen regardless of ecological validity.

Question 65

Sometimes, measures that seem perfectly adequate turn out to be insensitive to the affects you are looking for.

Question 66

A ceiling effect exists if the value of your dependent variable quickly reaches its upper limit.

Question 67

Range effects can sometimes be dealt with by redesigning measures.

Question 68

Self-report measures tend to be somewhat invalid.

Question 69

Q-sort methodology is a qualitative measurement technique that involves establishing evaluative categories and sorting items into those categories.

Question 70

Animals are generally not responsive to demand characteristics.

Question 71

A participant who does a meaningless task over and over is showing the effects of experimenter bias.

Question 72

Pilot studies are miniature versions of an experiment used to test methods and measures.

Question 73

Manipulation checks are needed only when new measures are used in an experiment.

Question 74

Automation is one way to circumvent the problem of experimenter bias.

Question 75

Range effects emerge when a researcher's preconceived ideas about how participants should behave are subtly communicated to participants and, in turn, affect the participants' behavior.

Question 76

In a psychological study, a manipulation check simply tests whether or not the independent variables had the intended effects on the research participants.

Question 77

A ratio scale has a zero point that literally indicates the absence of the quantity being measured, whereas an interval scale has a zero point that does not indicate the absence of the quantity.

Question 78

Discuss the factors that affect your decision concerning the variables to be included in your study.

Question 79

Compare and contrast validity, reliability, and accuracy of a measure. Define each, and tell why each is important.

Question 80

List the four major measurement scales, and give an example of each. What are the strengths and limitations of each?