Deck 7: Experiments: What Causes What?

Question 1

As in the experiment on the effect of crime severity on prosecutorial misconduct, the participants in an experiment most typically consist of a

A) simple random sample.
B) systematic sample.
C) stratified random sample.
D) convenience sample.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Which of the following experimental designs was used in the prosecutorial misconduct study?

A) Posttest-only control group design
B) Pretest-posttest control group design
C) 2 × 2 factorial design
D) 2 × 4 factorial design

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following experimental designs was used in Pager's audit study, which manipulated the race and criminal record of people applying for jobs?

A) Posttest-only control group design
B) Pretest-posttest control group design
C) 2 × 2 factorial design
D) 2 × 4 factorial design

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Salerno and Sanchez's survey experiment on people's perception of an officer's use of force consisted of a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design. Which of the following variables was not manipulated in this design?

A) Whether a police officer used force
B) The officer's gender, male or female
C) The officer's race, white or Black
D) Participants' trust in the officer

Question 5

Which of the following sequences is correct regarding the process of conducting an experiment?

A) Introduce experiment $\rightarrow$ perform manipulation check $\rightarrow$ debrief $\rightarrow$ measure dependent variable
B) Debrief $\rightarrow$ acquire informed consent $\rightarrow$ randomly assign participants to conditions $\rightarrow$ perform manipulation check
C) Introduce experiment $\rightarrow$ manipulate independent variable $\rightarrow$ measure dependent variable $\rightarrow$ debrief
D) Randomly assign participants to conditions $\rightarrow$ acquire informed consent $\rightarrow$ measure dependent variable $\rightarrow$ manipulate independent variable

Question 6

When was the manipulation check performed in the prosecutorial misconduct experiment?

A) During pretesting
B) Immediately before the manipulation of the independent variable
C) Immediately after the manipulation of the independent variable
D) During the post-experimental interview

Question 7

Which of the following stages in a laboratory experiment would be optional?

A) Subject recruitment and acquisition of informed consent
B) Random assignment
C) Manipulation of the independent variable
D) Manipulation check

Question 8

According to Box 7.3, which threat to internal validity is controlled by randomly assigning research participants to experimental conditions?

A) Selection
B) History
C) Maturation
D) None of the above

Question 9

Which of the following procedures would be most effective in reducing the effects of reactive measurement?

A) Debrief participants thoroughly at the end of the experiment
B) Keep participants isolated from one another
C) Perform a laboratory experiment rather than a field experiment
D) Satisfy participants' suspicions about the experiment by providing a good cover story

Question 10

Lucas and colleagues concluded about their research, "We cannot assume that the processes found to encourage misconduct in the laboratory operate similarly for working prosecutors or exert similar effects." This highlights which of the following limitations of their research?

A) Lack of controls for independent variables
B) Limited external validity
C) Low reliability
D) Weak causal inference

Question 11

According to Box 7.3, the two principal threats to validity in a pretest-posttest design are maturation and history.

Question 12

Laboratory experiments usually are low in external validity.

Question 13

The method most often used to increase the generalizability of experimental results is replication.

Question 14

Reactive measurement effects are unlikely to occur in field experiments.

Question 15

Experiments are designed to test causal hypotheses. Carefully explain the logic of experimentation by discussing how experiments effectively meet the three requirements for establishing causal relationships.

Question 16

The textbook likens the process of conducting an experiment to staging a play. Explain how each of the following parts of an experiment compares to the stages of producing a play: (a) designing the study, (b) recruiting research participants, and (c) pretesting.

Question 17

Experiments are particularly susceptible to reactive measurement effects. Explain how participants' and researchers' motives can result in reactive effects. How do experimenters attempt to control such effects?

Question 18

In 1988 Paul Tracy and James Fox conducted a field experiment to measure the extent to which autobody repair shops in Massachusetts inflate repair estimates for collision damage claims to insurance companies. The logic of the research involved obtaining estimates for body-damage repair costs for the same vehicles, under conditions when the damage was covered by insurance and when it was not. In short, they took 1987 model collision-damaged vehicles to selected autobody shops. At each shop, they obtained estimates of repair costs for two cars, one of which was presented as being covered by insurance and the other of which was not. Whether a car was presented as insured or uninsured at a given shop was determined by random assignment. Statistical results clearly indicated that repair estimates were higher for vehicles presented as insured.
a. What is the independent variable in this experiment?
b. What is the dependent variable?
c. Suppose only male drivers in their early twenties posed as owners of the vehicles. What effect, if any, would this have on the internal and external validity of the study?