Question 1

To investigate whether the enrollment of nontraditional students has increased at her college, Diane examines the ages noted on student applications for the past ten years. This is an example of which type of unobtrusive observation?

Accepted Answer

Archival records are pre-existing data sources that are collected and organized for another purpose and can be used for unobtrusive observation. Diane is using past student applications as a source of data to investigate the enrollment of nontraditional students, which is an example of examining archival records.

Question 2

What is the third-variable problem? Provide an example.

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Question 3

Why is the use of archival material considered to be a secondary observation? Provide an example of how archival material might be used to address a research question of interest.

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Question 4

What is a rival hypothesis? Why are rival hypotheses of such concern to researchers?

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Question 5

Describe the three general guidelines for doing a content analysis.

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Question 6

What is participant observation? Provide an example of how a researcher might employ participant observation in order to answer a research question of interest.

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Question 7

Chris sits at a local mall and watches how adolescents interact with each other. This is an example of which type of unobtrusive observation?

Accepted Answer

Chris is simply observing the behavior of adolescents in a natural setting, without any manipulation or intervention, making it a simple observation.

Question 8

What is the difference between concealed measurements and partial concealment measurements? Provide an example of each.

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Question 9

What is meant by "methodological triangulation"? Why is it important in psychological science?

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Question 10

Interested in how people would react to someone who deviates from the norm, Tom has a friend go to class in a bathrobe and then observes how people react to his friend. This is an example of which type of unobtrusive observation?

Accepted Answer

This is an example of a contrived observation because Tom's friend intentionally deviated from the norm (wearing a bathrobe to class) in order for Tom to observe how people would react.

Question 11

Differentiate between quantitative research and qualitative research. Give an example of each.

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Question 12

Measuring tread wear on a carpet in order to investigate foot traffic patterns is an example of which type of unobtrusive measure?

Accepted Answer

Measuring tread wear on a carpet is an example of physical traces, which involves examining tangible evidence left behind by people or events.

Question 13

Why must scientists rely on systematic observations rather than casual, everyday observations to test their research ideas?

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Question 14

What is the difference between reactive and nonreactive observations? Give an example of each.

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Question 15

Describe the broad categories of unobtrusive observations identified by Eugene J. Webb and his colleagues.

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Question 16

All but one of the following are types of unobtrusive observations:

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Question 17

Why can experimental simulations help to identify causal relationships?

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Quiz 4: Carpenter, S 1998 Content Analysis Project for Research Novices Teaching of Psychology