Question 1

In an experiment, the group of subjects that does not receive the treatment or experimental manipulation is the ______ group.

Accepted Answer

The control group is the group that does not receive the treatment or experimental manipulation. This group is used as a baseline for comparison to determine the effects of the treatment. The experimental group is the group that does receive the treatment or experimental manipulation, and is compared to the control group. Spurious and correlational are not relevant terms in this context.

Question 2

Association is not a sufficient criterion on its own for establishing a causal effect.

Accepted Answer

Association alone does not prove causality, as there could be other factors involved that are driving the observed relationship. Therefore, additional research and analysis are needed to establish a causal relationship between variables.

Question 3

Sample generalizability exists when ______.

Accepted Answer

Generalizability refers to the extent to which a conclusion based on a sample, or subset, of a larger population holds true for that population. Option A refers to cross-sectional research, where data is collected at one point in time, and is not related to generalizability. Option B refers to longitudinal research, where data is collected at two or more points in time, and is not related to generalizability. Option D suggests that the conclusion based on the population is found to be true, which is not related to generalizability.

Question 4

Endogenous change occurs when ______.

Accepted Answer

Endogenous change refers to natural developments in the subjects that are independent of the experimental treatment and account for some or all of the observed change.

Question 5

Random assignment (randomization) helps ensure that the research subjects are representative of some larger population.

Accepted Answer

Random assignment helps to ensure that any differences observed between groups in an experiment can be attributed to the treatment or condition being tested, rather than pre-existing differences between the groups. It does not ensure that the subjects are representative of a larger population; that goal is achieved through random sampling.

Question 6

In a ______ design, a comparison group is predetermined to be comparable to the treatment group in critical ways, but subjects are not randomly assigned to groups.

Accepted Answer

In a quasi-experimental design, the comparison group is chosen based on predetermined criteria to be similar to the treatment group, but participants are not randomly assigned to groups. This design is commonly used in social sciences research where random assignment is not always feasible or ethical.

Question 7

The simplest type of before-and-after design is the ______.

Accepted Answer

The simplest type of before-and-after design is the fixed-sample panel design (panel study), where the same subjects are studied before and after a treatment or intervention.

Question 8

The common feature of before-and-after designs is the ______.

Accepted Answer

The answer of The common feature of before-and-after designs is...

Question 9

When a true experimental design is not feasible, researchers may instead use a quasi-experimental design, including ______ designs.

Accepted Answer

Quasi-experimental designs include ex post facto control group designs, which involve comparing a treatment group to a control group that was not randomly assigned.

Question 10

When the comparison group is in some way affected by, or affects, the treatment group, this has occurred ______.

Accepted Answer

Contamination occurs when the comparison group is affected by or affects the treatment group, causing the results of the study to be skewed. This can often happen in studies where participants are not randomly assigned to groups, or when the treatment group and comparison group are located in close proximity to one another.

Question 11

One innovative field experiment was conducted by Pager (2007) to determine the effects of incarceration on the likelihood of ______.

Accepted Answer

Pager's experiment studied the impact of incarceration on the likelihood of obtaining employment.

Question 12

An idiographic explanation also may be termed an individualist or a historicist explanation.

Accepted Answer

This statement is true. An idiographic explanation focuses on the unique individual and their historical context, which is why it is also referred to as an individualist or historicist explanation.

Question 13

A study in which data are collected at only one point is time is a ______.

Accepted Answer

The answer of A study in which data are collected...

Question 14

Carrington and Schulenberg's (2008) study of the effect of the Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) of 2002 in Canada on police discretion with apprehended young offenders illustrates a(n) ______ design.

Accepted Answer

The study by Carrington and Schulenberg utilized a time series design to analyze the effect of the YCJA on police discretion with apprehended young offenders. This design involves analyzing trends in data over time, both before and after a specific intervention (in this case, the implementation of the YCJA). True experimental designs involve random assignment of participants to different groups and manipulation of an independent variable. Ex post facto designs involve comparing groups that have already been exposed to a specific independent variable. Control groups are utilized in true experimental designs and refer to the group that receives no intervention or receives a placebo intervention for comparison purposes.

Question 15

A type of contamination in experimental and quasi-experimental designs that occurs when control group members are aware that they are being denied some advantage and increase their efforts by way of compensation is ______.

Accepted Answer

Compensatory rivalry, also known as the John Henry effect, occurs when members of a control group try harder during an experiment because they are aware that they are being denied some advantage, such as a treatment or intervention. This can lead to an overestimation of the treatment effect, as the control group's performance may be artificially inflated due to compensatory efforts.

Question 16

If researchers were evaluating the effectiveness of a mandatory arrest policy in decreasing incidents of intimate partner assault and an event such as the murder trial of O. J. Simpson occurred during the experiment, which of the following might also be said to have an effect on the subjects' outcome scores?

Accepted Answer

External events (history effect) refer to events outside of the experiment that can influence the subjects' outcome scores. The O.J. Simpson trial is a significant external event that could potentially affect the subjects' attitudes or behaviors, and therefore should be taken into consideration when assessing the effectiveness of the mandatory arrest policy. The other options, exogenous change, the regression effect, and the John Henry effect, do not specifically apply to this situation.

Question 17

The random assignment of subjects to experimental and comparison groups is not the same as random sampling of individuals from some larger population.

Accepted Answer

Random assignment refers to the process of randomly assigning participants to different groups in an experiment, whereas random sampling refers to the process of randomly selecting individuals from a larger population to participate in a study. These are two different concepts and should not be confused.

Question 18

When subjects experience a treatment that wasn't intended by the researcher is known as ______.

Accepted Answer

The answer of When subjects experience a treatment that wasn't...

Question 19

Matching is another procedure that can be used as a substitute for randomization.

Accepted Answer

Matching is a technique used to control for confounding variables by ensuring that groups are comparable on certain characteristics, but it does not replace the random assignment of subjects to groups, which is essential for eliminating selection bias in experimental studies.

Question 20

A source of internal (causal) invalidity occurring when the characteristics of experimental and comparison group subjects differ in any way that influences the outcome is ______.

Accepted Answer

Selection bias occurs when there is a difference in the characteristics of the groups being compared that affects the outcome. This can be due to non-random assignment to groups or other factors. Endogenous and exogenous changes refer to external validity concerns, and regression effect refers to the tendency for extreme scores to move closer to the mean over time. Therefore, selection bias is the best choice.

Quiz 6: Causation and Experimentation