Question 1

Factors that are unequal across groups and can prevent a researcher from concluding that it was the independent variable that caused a change in the dependent variable are called _____ variables.

Accepted Answer

Factors that were not controlled by the researcher can create differences between subjects that may confound the study outcome.

Question 2

When a subject's response to a treatment is due to their expectations rather than the actual treatment, they are showing the _____ effect.

Accepted Answer

The placebo effect occurs when a person experiences a positive response to a treatment that has no active ingredients or therapeutic benefit. This effect is due to the person's beliefs and expectations about the treatment, rather than the treatment itself.

Question 3

Dr. Maizenblu was testing out a new medication used to treat depression. He had 150 participants who had varying levels of depression. Because he wanted to see whether a new drug really worked, he separated the severely depressed from the mildly or moderately depressed. He then made sure the severely depressed group actually received the drug while the other group received the placebo. What error, if any, did Dr. Maizenblu make in this experiment?

Accepted Answer

Because he did not use random assignment, his design has selection bias. As a result, there is no placebo control for the severely depressed patients and no experimental group for those less depressed, and therefore his study design is flawed.

Question 4

When an independent variable would endanger a human participant's health, we must conduct the research by comparing groups that already have differing degrees of the variable of interest. These are known as _____ experiments.

Accepted Answer

Quasi-experiments are used when random assignment is not possible or ethical, such as in cases where manipulating an independent variable could potentially harm a participant's health. Instead, the researcher compares groups that already have differing levels of the variable of interest.

Question 5

The most important limitation of the experimental method is that, no matter how careful an experimenter is, factors other than the independent variable can affect different subject groups in the study unequally. These factors are called _____

Accepted Answer

Confounding variables are factors that are not controlled for in the study and can influence the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. This can lead to misleading or inaccurate conclusions about the true relationship between the variables being studied. Therefore, controlling for confounding variables is crucial in experimental research.

Question 6

A large study of heart disease that included White and African-American participants considered the age and gender of the participants but not their socioeconomic status. The conclusion drawn by the researchers was that being an African American male places you at greater risk for heart disease than being a White male. The problem with this conclusion is _____

Accepted Answer

Some populations are more likely to include a higher percentage of economically disadvantaged individuals. This is currently the case for African-Americans. If we don't include socioeconomic status, we can't separate the effects of race from socioeconomic status.

Question 7

A type of bias in which study participants are not representative of the population to which results will be generalized is called _____ bias.

Accepted Answer

Participant-related bias occurs when the study participants are not representative of the population to which the results will be generalized. This can lead to biased results, as the findings may not be applicable to the wider population.

Question 8

Cross-cultural research is very important to our understanding of human psychology. By its nature it can only be _____ research.

Accepted Answer

Because we can't randomly assign people a culture or manipulate culture as a variable, we have to start with groups that already differ on this variable.

Question 9

In order to prevent the researcher's expectations from influencing study participants, a(an)_____ design is used.

Accepted Answer

In a double-blind design, both the researcher and study participants are unaware of which group they have been assigned to, whether it be the experimental or control group. This prevents any potential bias or influence from researcher expectations on the results. The other options do not address this concern of researcher bias.

Question 10

Your assignment is to design a study to test the effectiveness of caffeine on performing rapid, precise movements. You want an A, so your design will _____

Accepted Answer

A double blind study controls for experimenter bias. If you assign students alphabetically, you create selection bias; if you give them all caffeine, you have no control group. There is no need to do a quasi experiment, which is not able to show causality.

Question 11

Research has shown that patients' expectations of treatment effectiveness are affected by what a treatment provider is wearing. A white lab coat tends to increase their expectation of effectiveness. Sandra, a research assistant, had no preconceived ideas about her research project, but by chance she wore a white lab coat when working with experimental Group 1, but jeans and a t-shirt when working with experimental Group 2. This created a confounding variable. This confounding variable was a _____

Accepted Answer

The researcher's white lab coat produced a placebo effect. Group 1 now has higher expectations for the treatment than Group 2.

Question 12

The American Psychological Association and other professional organizations require that researchers make every effort to ensure that participants are representative of the population to which the study's results will be generalized. This relates to _____

Accepted Answer

It is at the stage of sample selection that representativeness can be assured.

Question 13

When the researcher's expectations influence participant's behavior and/or the researcher's interpretation of the experimental results, it is called ____

Accepted Answer

Experimenter bias refers to the degree to which the researcher's expectations or beliefs about the outcome of an experiment influence the results obtained. This bias can affect participant behavior and the researcher's interpretation of the data collected. Option A, participant bias refers to situations in which the participants in the study alter their behavior based on their own expectations or biases. Option C, subject bias is another term for participant bias. Option D, intentional bias implies that the researcher deliberately manipulates the results, which is unethical and not a common practice in scientific research.

Question 14

An example of the result of gender bias is that _____

Accepted Answer

Males have been considered normative and results from studies with only male participants have been generalized to everyone, including females.

Question 15

Dr. Hernandez is researching the effect of a new treatment for depression. She is so excited about this treatment because she is sure it will help people. When she hands out the placebo pills, she is able to keep a neutral expression on her face. When she hands out the actual pills, she can't help but let a little smile curl her lips and she bounces up and down very slightly due to her expectations the pill will really help these people. She is not aware she is doing anything different. As her student, you need to point this out to her to save the study from _____ bias.

Accepted Answer

Dr. Hernandez's preconceived notions about the study's results are subtly affecting her behavior with participants, which influences them. This is known as experimenter bias.

Question 16

A majority of human psychological research has been done with college student participants. This leads to results that ____

Accepted Answer

College students are a relatively select group overall in terms of age, socioeconomic status and educational level-they are not representative of the general population. Results should not be generalized except to similar college student populations.

Question 17

Angela failed to note that she could only find female participants for her research study. This is an example of _____

Accepted Answer

In this case, the fact that all of her participants were female might influence her results, and thus the failure to note that and take it into account is an example of gender bias in the research.

Question 18

Which of the following would limit the effectiveness of the experimental method?

Accepted Answer

Selection bias can occur if participants are not randomly selected, leading to a biased sample that may not accurately represent the target population. This can limit the effectiveness of the experimental method because the results may not be generalizable to the population as a whole.

Question 19

Participants should be selected by chance for an experimental or control group so each has equal probability of being assigned to any of the groups. This is done by _____

Accepted Answer

Random assignment is using a process by which each participant has an equal chance of being assigned to any of the experimental or control groups in a study.

Question 20

When a researcher assigns participants to either an experimental or a control group based on their last names, systematic differences between groups are created before the experiment even begins. This is a confounding variable referred to as _____

Accepted Answer

This is an example of selection bias, where participants are not randomly assigned to groups but rather based on a non-relevant factor such as their last name. This creates systematic differences between the groups before the experiment even begins, making it difficult to confidently interpret any subsequent group differences as being solely due to the experimental manipulation.

Quiz 1: Introduction to Psychology