Deck 3: Generating Research Hypotheses

Question 1

An testable prediction about the relationship between two or more variables is called a

A) fact
B) theory
C) hypothesis
D) law

Answer 1

hypothesis

Question 2

The most important feature of a hypothesis is that it is

A) correct
B) capable of being disproven
C) derived from theory
D) different from common sense

Answer 2

capable of being disproven

Question 3

Jim believes that women are more patient than men. Which of the following is a hypothesis that might be used to test this belief?

A) Women will wait in a theater ticket line longer than men will.
B) Men are more impatient than women are.
C) Men tend to like football more than women do.
D) All of the above are correct.

Answer 3

Women will wait in a theater ticket line longer than men will.

Question 4

Which of the following are potential sources of research hypotheses?

A) previous research
B) theory
C) common sense
D) all of the above

Question 5

The text suggests that hypotheses can originate from all of the following sources EXCEPT:

A) random guessing
B) theory
C) previous research
D) common sense

Question 6

Replicating previous research is a good idea because

A) science relies on skepticism
B) science is productive
C) science is creative
D) nothing of the above-replicating previous research is not a good idea

Question 7

Replicating research that was done many years ago may increase

A) construct validity
B) external validity
C) internal validity
D) none of the above

Question 8

Mary hypothesizes that socially popular high school students score lower on the SAT test than unpopular students. The biggest challenge to testing this hypothesis would be to obtain or develop an operational definition of

A) scores on the SAT test
B) social popularity
C) lower scores
D) high school

Question 9

Repeating a study, but controlling for factors that were not controlled in the original study may result in a study that has more ____ than the original.

A) construct validity
B) external validity
C) internal validity
D) ethical validity

Question 10

Repeating a study, but using participants who differed from those in the original study (e.g., women instead of men) may result in a study that has more ____ than the original.

A) construct validity
B) external validity
C) internal validity
D) ethical validity

Question 11

Repeating a study, but using the double-blind technique may result in a study that has more ____ than the original.

A) construct validity
B) external validity
C) internal validity
D) ethical validity

Question 12

Discovering a moderator variable challenges the ______ validity of the original finding.

A) construct validity
B) external validity
C) internal validity
D) ethical validity

Question 13

Which of the following might be a mediating variable?

A) thoughts
B) types of participants
C) both a and b
D) neither a nor b

Question 14

Which of the following might be a mediating variable?

A) physiological arousal
B) types of situations
C) both a and b
D) neither a nor b

Question 15

Which of the following might be a moderator variable?

A) types of situations
B) types of participants
C) both a and b
D) neither a nor b

Question 16

According to a null hypothesis

A) there is no relationship among the variables
B) an experiment will not have any results
C) no theory can be tested by an experiment
D) there is no test for a particular concept

Question 17

The null hypothesis can be

A) proven, but not disproven
B) disproven, but not proven
C) proven or disproven
D) neither disproven nor proven

Question 18

A hypothesis must be

A) supported by research
B) derived from a theory
C) testable
D) proven

Question 19

Which of the following studies can you do?

A) A study to show that a treatment has no effect.
B) A study to show that two treatments have the same effect.
C) Both of the above.
D) None of the above.

Question 20

A rationale for a hypothesis can come from

A) common sense
B) previous research
C) theory
D) all of the above

Question 21

If you want to know how much exercise produces how much increase in mood, you are most interested in a

A) functional relationship
B) mediating variable
C) moderator variable
D) null hypothesis

Question 22

Not manipulating a variable may

A) make it more ethical to perform the study
B) make it impossible to draw cause-effect conclusions from your study
C) neither a nor b
D) both a and b

Question 23

Questioning common sense is a time-tested way to generate research ideas.

Question 24

Thinking a practical problem is a legitimate way of generating research ideas.

Question 25

Testing common sense notions rarely leads to useful research questions.

Question 26

It is better to generate research ideas from common sense than from previous research.

Question 27

Replicating previous research is a legitimate pursuit.

Question 28

If you conduct a study that is based on a suggestion made in a journal article you will be guilty of plagiarism.

Question 29

There is little point in trying to replicate previous research because it will contribute nothing new to our knowledge.

Question 30

You can only use theory to justify your hypothesis if your hypothesis was originally derived from theory.

Question 31

A research idea is the same as a research hypothesis.

Question 32

Proving the null hypothesis is the goal of research.

Question 33

Theory can be used to change a trivial hypothesis into a meaningful hypothesis.

Question 34

If you use theory to provide a rationale for your hypothesis, be sure to refer to only one theory.

Question 35

A good hypothesis will be found to be correct.

Question 36

Although a relationship between two variables has been well documented, there may still be exceptions to the observed relationship.

Question 37

According to APA guidelines, a study that might inflict some harm to its participants may still be ethical.

Question 38

If your original research idea is unethical, you should just drop the idea and come up with another.

Question 39

Experiments are used to test cause-effect hypothesis.

Question 40

An experiment designed to test if people are more likely to lie when they have consumed alcohol would be testing a cause-effect hypothesis.

Question 41

If a manipulation will most likely harm participants, you may still be able to study the variables you are interested in by conducting descriptive research.

Question 42

Distinguish between a mediating variable and a moderator variable.

Question 43

List five criteria for evaluating a potential research hypothesis.

Question 44

What steps could you take to make testing a research hypothesis (e.g., loud noise leads to emotional breakdown) more ethical and practical?

Question 45

Explain why the null hypothesis cannot be proven and then describe the impact of this fact on the kinds of research psychologists can do. Use two examples to illustrate your point.