The Science of Psychology: An Appreciative View, 2nd Edition (King)

Chapter 2: Psychology's Scientific Method

Multiple Choice Quiz

1
If a researcher is interested in the population of college students at a large state university, which of the following would provide him or her with a random sample?
A)randomly approaching students in the student union
B)randomly selecting three classrooms and including all the students in those classrooms in the sample
C)randomly selecting students from a listing of every student in the university
D)randomly selecting students from the incoming class
2
A researcher is interested in the racial identity development of African American women. She asks 200 African American women about their racial identity. What is the population?
A)the 200 African American women she interviewed
B)all Americans
C)all African Americans
D)all African American women
3
A researcher has designed a study to test the effects of different types of individual psychotherapy on people's levels of depression. She has randomly assigned people to one of three groups: a cognitive-behavioral treatment group, a psychodynamic treatment group, or a no-treatment control group. She then measures people's level of depression after the treatment. Which of the following statements is TRUE?
A)The treatment group is the dependent variable; depression is the independent variable.
B)Depression is the dependent variable; the treatment group is the independent variable.
C)Depression is the dependent variable; cognitive-behavioral treatment is the independent variable.
D)Cognitive-behavioral treatment is the dependent variable; depression is the independent variable.
4
A psychologist examines fathers and their children at a picnic. She observes the number of times fathers engage in cooperative play with their children. This study is an example of
A)a laboratory study.
B)naturalistic observation.
C)an experiment.
D)a survey study.
5
A market-research firm calls you on the phone and asks you a series of questions about your attitudes toward exercise. The market-research firm is conducting a(n)
A)experiment.
B)laboratory study.
C)survey.
D)naturalistic observation.
6
A researcher has found that students who sleep more in class get lower grades on their exams. This is an example of a(n)
A)positive correlation.
B)independent variable.
C)negative correlation.
D)dependent variable.
7
A double-blind study controls for
A)experimenter bias.
B)participant bias.
C)location bias.
D)experimenter and participant bias.
E)All of the answers are correct.
8
Conducting an in-depth interview of a single person with a rare illness is an example of
A)a correlational design.
B)an experiment.
C)a survey.
D)a case study.
9
All of the following need to be considered when constructing a survey except
A)people do not always know themselves well enough to answer the questions.
B)people may answer in a way that makes them look good instead of honestly.
C)making sure questions are clearly worded.
D)generalizability of your one respondent to your overall population.
10
A school psychologist is interested in studying the effectiveness of a reading improvement program. He has randomly assigned participants to one of two groups. The first group receives training in phonics, whereas the second group is put on a waiting list and receives no training. What is the control group?
A)the group that receives the phonics training
B)the group that received no training
C)the sample
D)the population
11
Statistical significance refers to
A)the probability that a research finding happened by chance.
B)the mean.
C)the measure of central tendency.
D)the measure of dispersion.
12
Which of the following should be adhered to in conducting ethical research?
A)informed consent
B)debriefing
C)confidentiality
D)All of the answers are correct.
13
How can causality be demonstrated?
A)through correlation
B)through an experiment
C)through inferential statistics
D)None of the answers are correct.
14
Before a study begins, the researcher tells his participants that he is interested in whether exposure to violent stimuli will result in less cooperation within a group. Which of the following should be a concern?
A)participant bias
B)experimenter bias
C)ethics
D)All of the answers are correct.
15
Which of the following is an advantage of laboratory studies?
A)ecological validity
B)lack of participant bias
C)control of extraneous variables
D)observation in a naturalistic setting
16
An experimenter is interested in determining if there are differences in happiness, life satisfaction, and optimism between people who have been given a self-help book to read versus those who have been given a sports article to read. What is the independent variable?
A)happiness
B)life satisfaction
C)optimism
D)reading material
17
_____ refers to the degree to which an experimental design reflects the real-world issues it was meant to address.
A)External validity
B)Internal validity
C)Experimenter bias
D)Operational definition
18
A research study that assesses participants in a laboratory setting in February, May, and August is an example of
A)an naturalistic observation study.
B)a longitudinal study.
C)ecological validity.
D)the third variable problem.
19
Researchers interested in health behavior postulate that people's decisions about their health are based on attitudes, subjective norms, and intentions. This is an example of
A)a theory.
B)a hypothesis.
C)a correlational research design.
D)naturalistic observation.
20
Which of the following is a disadvantage of descriptive research?
A)it does not lead to information about causality
B)it opens itself to ethical issues
C)it has higher instances of the placebo effect than correlational research
D)it cannot overcome the third variable problem
King: The Science of Psychology, 2nd Edition
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