Deck 14: Generalizing Results

Question 1

Which of the following would a researcher be least likely to do when conducting a literature review?

A) Indicate what findings are strongly and weakly supported in the literature.
B) Discuss future directions for research.
C) Calculate an effect size for all of the studies reviewed.
D) Indicate inconsistencies and areas in which research is lacking.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Research on the results of laboratory and field experiments that examine the same variables suggest

A) similar results.
B) dissimilar results.
C) independent variables in field experiments be manipulated differently than laboratory experiments.
D) studies in laboratory experiments not be conducted in a natural setting.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

A failure to replicate a study may mean that

A) the original results represent a Type I error.
B) the experimenter was careless or incompetent.
C) a crucial aspect of the original procedure was omitted in the report.
D) the experimenter may have been careless or the original results represent a Type I error or a critical aspect of the original procedure may have been omitted.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Dr.Salt found that college students (ages 18-23)performed better on a cognitive task when tested under a low noise condition than a high noise condition.Dr.Aludard wants to repeat the study by adding age as a variable (18-23 and 65-74).Dr.Aludard predicts an interaction between the age and noise variables.Dr.Aludard is questioning the _____ validity of the original study.

A) statistical
B) external
C) internal
D) interactional

Question 5

A researcher decides to conduct a research study in the laboratory as opposed to as a field experiment.This decision can

A) impact both internal and external validity.
B) greatly improve external validity of the study.
C) impact neither internal nor external validity.
D) greatly reduce internal validity of the study.

Question 6

A researcher replicates a past study manipulating the physical attractiveness of a defendant by using photographs instead of written descriptions.This technique would be an example of _____ replication.

A) procedural
B) abstract
C) exact
D) conceptual

Question 7

Pretesting for scores on the dependent variable

A) is a good way to be sure that groups are equivalent before they experience the independent variable.
B) allows the experimenter to assess mortality effects.
C) can limit the generalizability of the results.
D) examines group equivalence and can assess mortality effects.

Question 8

In studies that use human participants,the most common population studied is

A) older adults.
B) children.
C) college students.
D) psychiatric patients.

Question 9

Many studies are dependent on the use of volunteers.Volunteers differ from non-volunteers in that volunteers tend to be more

A) highly educated.
B) social and highly educated.
C) highly educated and in need of approval.
D) social,highly educated and in need of approval.

Question 10

_____ is the extent to which the findings may be generalized,while _____ refers to the ability to infer that there is a causal relationship.

A) External validity;statistical validity
B) Construct validity;external validity
C) Internal validity;external validity
D) External validity;internal validity

Question 11

The problem of generalizing to other experimenters may be reduced by using

A) both male and female experimenters.
B) a field experimental technique.
C) a confederate.
D) male experimenters with female participants and female experimenters with male participants.

Question 12

When a researcher attempts to replicate precisely the procedures of a study to see whether the same results are obtained,he has conducted which type of replication?

A) Abstract
B) Conceptual
C) Direct
D) Procedural

Question 13

A study examining college students' attitudes toward tuition increases would demonstrate external validity among college students by

A) sampling only students enrolled at colleges that have not raised tuition.
B) lowering tuition one semester and raising tuition the next semester.
C) finding a difference in attitudes between students who have experienced tuition increases and students who have not experienced tuition increases.
D) showing the results generalize to college students from other colleges.

Question 14

Conceptual replications often involve changing the way that either the independent variable is manipulated,or the dependent variable is measured.In addition to enhancing external validity of the study,this process also increases the ______________ of the measure.

A) internal validity
B) face validity
C) accuracy
D) construct validity

Question 15

External validity refers to the

A) adequacy of the experimental design.
B) the effectiveness of the manipulation of the independent variable.
C) generalizability of the results.
D) practical application of the research findings.

Question 16

One way to assess whether pretesting creates a generalization problem is to

A) not use a pretest.
B) include pretesting versus no pretesting as a variable in a factorial design.
C) ask participants whether pretests were a problem.
D) use a double-blind technique.

Question 17

The use of only college students,volunteers,or participants from one locale _____ the _____ of the study.

A) enhances;internal validity
B) weakens;external validity
C) enhances;external validity
D) weakens;internal validity

Question 18

When the results of a study can be generalized to other subject populations,the study is said to have

A) statistical validity.
B) internal validity.
C) external validity.
D) construct validity.

Question 19

The use of different procedures to replicate a research finding is called a(n)_____ replication.

A) exact
B) procedural
C) conceptual
D) abstract

Question 20

Henrich et al.(2010)have questioned the external validity of any studies using WEIRD participants.Their criticisms focus on the fact that such participants

A) should be avoided,and only 'normal' university students should be selected for participation.
B) by being Western,Educated,Industrialized,Rich,and Democratic,such participants may not represent the humanity as a whole.
C) are overwhelmingly male,so cannot generalize to the general population in North America.
D) are always psychology students who are not representative of students in general.

Question 21

In order to determine the effect of a pretest on the dependent measure,one should use a ________ design.

A) before/after
B) pretest-posttest
C) Solomon four-group
D) counterbalanced

Question 22

The text stresses the importance of ________ in establishing generalizations.

A) pretests
B) interactions
C) replications
D) field experiments

Question 23

A ______ identifies trends in the literature whereas a _____ allows statistical,quantitative conclusions about the research.

A) conceptual replication;narrative literature review
B) narrative literature review;meta-analysis
C) meta-analysis;narrative literature review
D) meta-analysis;conceptual replication

Question 24

Which of the following statements is least likely to be correct regarding results of laboratory and field experiments that examine the same variables?

A) Both tend to produce the same results.
B) The magnitude of the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable is very similar.
C) Laboratory and field experiments should be considered in isolation.
D) The results tend to be complementary rather than contradictory.

Question 25

Autonomy and informed consent may reduce the external validity of a research study because

A) participants are likely to be deceived.
B) participants will commonly be undergraduate psychology students.
C) participants typically volunteer to take part in the research study.
D) these principles reduce the probability that women will take part in research studies.

Question 26

Participants in most research studies differ from the general population by several characteristics including age and intelligence.As a result of these differences

A) most studies completely lack external validity
B) most studies completely lack internal validity
C) researchers should only provide qualified generalizations to the general population
D) researchers should only provide qualified statements of causality

Question 27

One of the most important features of _______ is the focus on ______.

A) literature reviews;replications
B) meta-analysis;statistical interactions
C) literature reviews;meta- analysis
D) meta-analysis;effect size

Question 28

If an interaction between gender and room temperature on task performance is found,the results suggest

A) males and females respond the same way regardless of temperature.
B) temperature has no effect on task performance.
C) the findings for males cannot be generalized to females.
D) performance is not influenced by gender or temperature.

Question 29

An alternative to traditional literature reviews which uses new statistical procedures to draw conclusions about a research area is

A) science citation analysis.
B) critical theory.
C) meta-analysis.
D) keyword analysis.

Question 30

Sally decides to conduct an exact replication of an experiment she has just read about in a research journal.If Sally does not obtain the same results reported in the original study,what might be responsible for her failure to replicate the results?

A) The replication attempt was flawed.
B) The original author omitted an important aspect of the procedure.
C) The original results represent a Type I error.
D) There are several possible reasons as to why Sally's replication might not yield the same results as the original study.

Question 31

Conceptual replications are ________ exact replications.

A) less important than
B) more important than
C) just as important as
D) the same as

Question 32

A _____ is a set of statistical procedures for combining the results from a number of studies in order to provide a general assessment of the relationship between variables.

A) combined assignment
B) field experiment
C) literature review
D) meta-analysis

Question 33

A valid criticism of the use of college students in a particular study would include

A) good reasons why the study's effects would not be found in other groups.
B) good reasons for changing the procedure to accommodate other variables.
C) references to ways to eliminate the demand characteristics found in the study.
D) good reasons why the college students are representative of the population.

Question 34

A Solomon four-group design

A) assesses the effects of the pretest experience.
B) decreases the cost of a simple factorial design.
C) limits the external validity of the study.
D) increases the overall cost of the study.

Question 35

In attempting to study police officers' attitudes towards their supervisors,Les surveys 25 police officers from the day shift.In order to ensure the finding has external validity,Les should

A) use a larger sample of officers from the day shift.
B) randomly assign officers to work under specific supervisors.
C) sample officers from all shifts in the department.
D) use confounding variables.

Question 36

Robert has reviewed a number of studies that have manipulated the type of injuries a person receives as a result of a drunk driving accident.He then statistically combines the results from all studies to reach a general conclusion of the effect of type of injuries received.Robert has most likely conducted a

A) literature review.
B) meta-analysis.
C) statistical review.
D) causal analysis.

Question 37

When findings are replicated using _____,our confidence in the generalizability of the findings _____.

A) college students;decreases
B) statistical interactions;increases
C) pretests;decreases
D) multiple methods;increases

Question 38

Ellen has read a number of studies on the effect of physical attractiveness on judgments of an individual's personality characteristics.She then writes a paper in which she categorizes the findings and draws her conclusions based on her summaries of the studies.Ellen has most likely conducted a(n)

A) categorization analysis.
B) meta-analysis.
C) literature review.
D) meta-categorization.

Question 39

Dr.Vasquez used a statistical procedure to analyze the findings of 105 studies that studied the effects of exercise on mood.Dr.Vasquez has probably conducted a(n)

A) meta-analysis.
B) analysis of variance.
C) literature review.
D) causal analysis.

Question 40

The problem of generalizing to other experimenters is

A) only a problem for experiments involving human participants.
B) almost impossible to address through any practical approaches.
C) particularly important when the researcher conducts Internet surveys.
D) the possibility that results are generalizable only to certain types of experimenters.

Question 41

Conceptual replications

A) help us to generalize beyond single operational definitions of variables.
B) solve the problems of failures to replicate.
C) use different procedures to replicate a research finding.
D) use a variety of procedures to replicate findings,solve replication problems and help with generalization.

Question 42

Ken had female and male participants view an hour of cartoons under one of two environmental conditions: either alone or with other participants.Afterwards,the participants rated how much they enjoyed the time spent watching the cartoons.The mean ratings of enjoyment by the participants in the conditions were:
Alone
Others
Females
3
3
Males
4
9
What can Ken conclude based on the results of his study?

A) People enjoy viewing cartoons.
B) There is no interaction between gender and environmental condition.
C) The results for females can be generalized to males.
D) The results for females cannot be generalized to males.

Question 43

A consumer research firm is hired to determine which brand of laundry soap is most preferred by the consumer.Surveying a sample of housewives,they find the most preferred brand is "White Suds." Which of the following is the greatest threat to external validity in this study?

A) People really don't care about laundry products.
B) Laundry soaps do not differ between manufacturers.
C) The stereotypical assumption that only women do laundry.
D) White Suds is only available in a limited market.

Question 44

The presence of an interaction between gender and age of participants in a study indicates that

A) the results of the study are flawed.
B) age is a more important variable than gender.
C) the results for males cannot be generalized to females.
D) there is no relationship between age and gender.

Question 45

An important consideration in the external validity of research is

A) assure all participants have the same background.
B) include groups from varying cultures.
C) use only college age participants.
D) employ only one type of experimenter.

Question 46

Compared to the general population,college students tend to be

A) young and middle to upper class socioeconomic status.
B) young,high in need for peer approval.
C) young and high in cognitive skills.
D) young,high in cognitive skills,and high in need for peer approval.

Question 47

Failure to replicate findings shares the same problems as ________ because ________.

A) non-significant findings;it is difficult to interpret results
B) non-significant findings;it won't get published
C) Type I errors;the probability of error cannot be determined
D) Type II errors;the probability of error cannot be determined

Question 48

One way to increase our knowledge of generalization to other subject populations is to

A) use only white male sophomores in Los Angeles.
B) use relevant subject variables in the experimental design.
C) use volunteers only.
D) prohibit research on animals.

Question 49

Under which circumstance described below would you conduct a replication?

A) You want to show that a particular set of results will recur using different operational definitions for the independent variables.
B) You want to show that a particular set of results will not recur using a different operational definition for the independent variables.
C) You believe the results as reported and want to convince yourself the effect is real.
D) You have studied other successful replications but want to be certain that you are able to achieve the same results.