Question 1

To infer a causal relationship, which of the following types of evidence does a researcher need?
A)Evidence of a strong association between an action and an outcome.
B)Evidence that the action preceded the outcome.
C)Evidence of a high level of internal validity.
D)Evidence that there are no strongly competing explanations for the relationship between an action and an outcome.
E)All of these

Accepted Answer

All of these types of evidence are necessary for inferring a causal relationship between an action and an outcome. Evidence of a strong association between an action and an outcome suggests that there may be a relationship, but it could be explained by other factors. Evidence that the action preceded the outcome helps establish temporal precedence, a necessary condition for causality. Internal validity is important to rule out alternative explanations for the relationship, and evidence of no competing explanations is necessary to strengthen confidence in a causal relationship. Therefore, all of these types of evidence are needed to infer a causal relationship.

Question 2

One approach to reducing selection bias is to
A)include a control group.
B)match the experimental and control groups.
C)include volunteers as respondents.
D)use a continuous panel.
E)none of the above.

Accepted Answer

Matching the experimental and control groups helps to eliminate differences between groups that could influence the outcome of the study, thus reducing selection bias. Including a control group is also important in reducing selection bias, but it alone may not completely eliminate it. Using a continuous panel or including volunteers as respondents may help with other types of bias, but not selection bias specifically.

Question 3

Randomized control group designs A)simultaneously match test and control groups on all dimensions when the sample size is sufficient. B)are sometimes called true experimental designs. C)ensure that sample groups will tend to be similar. D)can be represented as R X O₁ -------------- R O₂ E)all of these.

Accepted Answer

A) Simultaneous matching may not always be possible and may decrease the sample size. 
B) Randomized control group designs are indeed true experimental designs. 
C) The randomization process ensures that sample groups will tend to be similar. 
D) The equation provided is not relevant to the question. 
Therefore, the best answer is E, as it includes all the correct statements about randomized control group designs.

Question 4

In a full factorial design involving three promotion alternatives, three price levels, and four types of advertising, how many conditions would have to be tested?
A)10
B)20
C)24
D)36
E)none of the above

Accepted Answer

In a full factorial design, the number of conditions is the product of the levels of each factor. Here, it is 3 (promotion alternatives) x 3 (price levels) x 4 (types of advertising) = 36 conditions.

Question 5

When it is not possible to make sure that groups in a study have identical characteristics before the administration of an experimental treatment, the researcher should be concerned with
A)testing effects.
B)interaction.
C)selection bias.
D)maturation effects.
E)history effects.

Accepted Answer

When groups are not identical before the administration of an experimental treatment, the researcher should be concerned with selection bias. Selection bias occurs when there are systematic differences between groups that are not accounted for, leading to potentially inaccurate results. The other options listed (testing effects, interaction, maturation effects, and history effects) are all potential threats to internal validity, but are not specifically related to the issue of group characteristics not being identical.

Question 6

Threats to the validity of continuous panel data include which of the following?
A)history effects.
B)instrumentation effects.
C)before-measure effects.
D)nonrandom selection.
E)all of these.

Accepted Answer

All of these are threats to the validity of continuous panel data. History effects refer to external events that may affect the outcome variable. Instrumentation effects occur when changes in the way the data are collected affect the measurement of the outcome variable. Before-measure effects refer to the pre-existing differences between groups that may affect the outcome variable. Nonrandom selection can bias the sample and affect the generalizability of the results.

Question 7

Which of the following designs corrects for all forms of biases in responses? 
a) one shot framework 
b) pretest-posttest descriptive framework 
c) pretest-posttest causal framework 
d) Solomon four group design 
e) none of the above

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following designs corrects for...

Question 8

In the textbook notation for experimental design A)X represents control group respondents. B)X refers to the method employed to measure the response variable. C)O represents the exposure of a respondent to an experimental treatment. D)X represents the exposure of a group to an experiential treatment whose effect is to be observed, and O represents the observation Or measurement taken on the group. E)O₁ and O₂ represent the matching of experimental and control groups.

Accepted Answer

In the textbook notation for experimental design, X represents the exposure of a group to an experimental treatment whose effect is to be observed, and O represents the observation or measurement taken on the group. A represents the control group respondents, while R represents random assignment to groups. The other options (B, C, and E) do not accurately represent the notation system.

Question 9

The key question in a trend study is
A)whether maturation has invalidated the results.
B)whether the measurements following the experimental treatment are a continuation of earlier patterns or mark a decisive change.
C)whether a single random sample or a succession of samples has been used.
D)how the behavior and attitudes of one respondent differ from those of another.
E)all of these.

Accepted Answer

The key question in a trend study is whether the measurements following the experimental treatment are a continuation of earlier patterns or mark a decisive change. The other options may be important considerations in a study, but they are not the key question in a trend study.

Question 10

The main advantage of experimental research over non experimental research is 
a) it is easier to control the dependent variable 
b) cause and effect relations can be tested 
c) interaction between variables do not confound the study 
d) one can collect more accurate information on the problem 
e) none of the above

Accepted Answer

The answer of The main advantage of experimental research over...

Question 11

The question of whether the results of an experiment apply to the real world refers to
A)external validity.
B)internal validity.
C)history effects.
D)interaction effects.
E)none of the above.

Accepted Answer

External validity refers to the extent to which the results of an experiment can be generalized to the real world. Internal validity, on the other hand, refers to the extent to which the experiment is designed and conducted in a way that it truly measures what it claims to measure. History effects and interaction effects refer to specific types of threats to internal validity.

Question 12

The longer the time period involved in the experiment, the
a.1
b.2
c.3
d.4
e.1 and 4

Accepted Answer

The answer of The longer the time period involved in...

Question 13

To infer a causal relationship, which of the following types of evidence does a researcher need?
A)Evidence of a strong association between an action and an outcome.
B)Evidence that the action preceded the outcome.
C)Evidence of a high level of internal validity.
D)Evidence that there are no strongly competing explanations for the relationship between an action and an outcome.
E)All of these

Accepted Answer

To infer a causal relationship, a researcher would need evidence of a strong association between an action and an outcome (A), evidence that the action preceded the outcome (B), evidence of a high level of internal validity (C), and evidence that there are no strongly competing explanations for the relationship between an action and an outcome (D). Therefore, all of these types of evidence are necessary to consider when trying to infer a causal relationship.

Question 14

The Committee for Arts and Lectures CAL) wants to test different promotions for a series of plays.Which statement is true about the following experiment? R X₁ O₁ --------------- R X₂ O₂ --------------- R X₃ O₃ -------------- A)It compares three treatment levels, corresponding to three "levels" of promotion. B)X₁ refers to the observation or measurement of the first group. C)It includes a separate control group. D)It can be classified as a matched control group design. E)None of the above.

Accepted Answer

The experiment compares three treatment levels, each with a different level of promotion. The different levels are denoted by the different codes (X₁, X₂, X₃). Therefore, option A is the correct choice. Option B is incorrect because X₁ does not refer to an observation or measurement but represents a treatment level. Option C is not explicitly stated, but it is possible that one of the treatment levels served as a control group. Option D is incorrect because there is no mention of matching in the experiment.

Question 15

An advantage of ___________in experimentation is that no knowledge is necessary of extraneous variables that could possibly influence the results. 
a) randomizing 
b) eliminating 
c) equalizing 
d) balancing.

Accepted Answer

The answer of An advantage of ___________in experimentation is that...

Question 16

The ABC Company maintains records of brand share attained in each of its sales regions.It does so by surveying retail stores in these regions every quarter.The company is using an)
A)exploratory design.
B)time series experimental design.
C)"try-it-out" design.
D)Solomon Four Group design.
E)none of the above.

Accepted Answer

The ABC Company is using a time series experimental design since it is repeatedly surveying retail stores in its sales regions every quarter to track changes in brand share over time.

Question 17

Which of the following is true about history effects?

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following is true about...

Question 18

One of the advantages of a non-matched control group design is the control of
A)interaction and maturation effects.
B)maturation and instrumentation effects.
C)history and maturation effects.
D)instrumentation and mortality effects.
E)selection bias.

Accepted Answer

History and maturation effects are controlled in a non-matched control group design because the control group is not exposed to the experimental treatment.

Question 19

Which of the following is more likely to provide evidence of a causal relationship between two variables? 
a) an experiment 
b) descriptive research 
c) exploratory research. 
d) cross-sectional analysis 
e) non experimental research

Accepted Answer

The answer of Which of the following is more likely...

Question 20

The marketing researcher for a game company is conducting an experiment to test customer reaction to the pricing of a new game designed for use by adults.A list of customers who had sent the company complaint letters was readily available, and the researcher rearranged this list by ZIP code, sending every third person a color brochure on the new game.Each respondent was asked to return a postcard, stating an intention to purchase or not to purchase the game at the listed price.Which of the following is true?
A)The sampling method ensures that all geographic areas are represented.
B)The external validity of the study is ensured, since respondents who are sitting in their homes are reacting under real life circumstances.
C)The sample is likely to over-represent the lower class.
D)The design of the study suffers from selection bias.
E)None of the above.

Accepted Answer

The researcher used a non-random sampling method by selecting only customers who had sent complaint letters and then sampling every third person from a rearranged list by ZIP code. This introduces selection bias because the chosen sample may not be representative of the general population or the target audience for the new game. As a result, the findings may not generalize well to the population, and the external validity of the study is at risk.

Quiz 13: Experimentation

To infer a causal relationship, which of the following types of evidence does a researcher need?

One approach to reducing selection bias is to

Randomized control group designs

In a full factorial design involving three promotion alternatives, three price levels, and four types of advertising, how many conditions would have to be tested?

When it is not possible to make sure that groups in a study have identical characteristics before the administration of an experimental treatment, the researcher should be concerned with

Threats to the validity of continuous panel data include which of the following?

Which of the following designs corrects for all forms of biases in responses? a) one shot framework b) pretest-posttest descriptive framework c) pretest-posttest causal framework d) Solomon four group design e) none of the above

In the textbook notation for experimental design

The key question in a trend study is

The question of whether the results of an experiment apply to the real world refers to

The longer the time period involved in the experiment, the a.1 b.2 c.3 d.4 e.1 and 4

To infer a causal relationship, which of the following types of evidence does a researcher need?

The Committee for Arts and Lectures CAL) wants to test different promotions for a series of plays.Which statement is true about the following experiment? R X1 O1 --------------- R X2 O2 --------------- R X3 O3 --------------

An advantage of ___________in experimentation is that no knowledge is necessary of extraneous variables that could possibly influence the results. a) randomizing b) eliminating c) equalizing d) balancing.

The ABC Company maintains records of brand share attained in each of its sales regions.It does so by surveying retail stores in these regions every quarter.The company is using an)

Which of the following is true about history effects?

One of the advantages of a non-matched control group design is the control of

Which of the following is more likely to provide evidence of a causal relationship between two variables? a) an experiment b) descriptive research c) exploratory research. d) cross-sectional analysis e) non experimental research

The Committee for Arts and Lectures CAL) wants to test different promotions for a series of plays.Which statement is true about the following experiment? R X₁ O₁ --------------- R X₂ O₂ --------------- R X₃ O₃ --------------