Question 1

A variable which manipulates an event or phenomenon to study its effect on another variable is known as the ______.

Accepted Answer

An independent variable is the variable that is manipulated or changed to study its effect on the dependent variable. The dependent variable, on the other hand, is the variable that is being measured or observed for changes based on the manipulation of the independent variable. Exogenous and indigenous variables are not directly related to the concept of manipulation in research design.

Question 2

Random assignment to groups ______ the effects of some threats to validity.

Accepted Answer

Random assignment to groups decreases the effects of some threats to validity by ensuring that each participant has an equal chance of being placed in any group, thus balancing out potential confounding variables across groups.

Question 3

______ validity refers to the extent to which the researchers can replicate the actual events occurring in the natural environment and thus can generalize the results back to the population.

Accepted Answer

External validity is concerned with the extent to which findings can be generalized to the population or to other settings. Replication validity, on the other hand, refers to the ability of other researchers to replicate the study's findings. Internal validity concerns the extent to which a study establishes a cause-and-effect relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Extraneous validity is not a term commonly used in research.

Question 4

Theoretically, the more control the researchers have over the experimental condition, ______.

Accepted Answer

Internal validity refers to the extent to which the experimental design accurately reflects the true relationship between the variables being tested. When researchers have more control over the experimental conditions, they are better able to eliminate extraneous variables that could interfere with their results. This increases the likelihood that the results accurately reflect the relationship between the variables being studied, thus increasing internal validity.

Question 5

Events occurring during the time of the study that are unrelated to the treatment or independent variables are known as ______.

Accepted Answer

History refers to events that occur during the study that are completely unrelated to the independent variable, treatment or experimental manipulation, and may affect the outcome of the study. Examples of historical events might include natural disasters or major political events. Instrumentation refers to changes in the measuring instrument or other measurement procedures that may affect the way data is collected, and maturation refers to changes in participants over time that may affect the outcome of the study. Statistical regression refers to the phenomenon where participants who score extremely high or low on a measure tend to have less extreme scores when the measure is repeated.

Question 6

Possible physical and/or psychological changes that occur in the participants over the period of the study refer to this type of threat to internal validity ______.

Accepted Answer

Maturation refers to changes in participants that occur naturally over time, potentially confounding the results of the study. This is in contrast to other threats to internal validity such as history (external events that may impact the results), testing (participants becoming more familiar with the study), and instrumentation (changes in measurement techniques over time).

Question 7

When participants become sensitized to the intent of the study or the desired responses the researchers are seeking from pretest to posttest, which type of threat to internal validity occurs?

Accepted Answer

This is the testing effect, where participants become more familiar with the study and begin to anticipate the desired responses or outcomes. This can lead to a change in results from pretest to posttest that is not necessarily reflective of an actual change in the variable being studied. The other options (history, maturation, and attrition) do not relate to this particular issue.

Question 8

______ type threat to internal validity occurs when the experimental and control groups are selected based on different criteria or when participants are assigned to groups differentially and not by random assignment.

Accepted Answer

Differential selection threatens internal validity because it introduces systematic differences between groups before the manipulation even begins, making it unclear whether any observed differences between the groups are due to the manipulation or to preexisting differences between them. The other options (attrition, maturation, and history) all refer to threats that occur after the groups have been selected and the manipulation has begun.

Question 9

The threat to internal validity which involves participants dropping out of the study is known as ______.

Accepted Answer

Attrition refers to the dropping out of participants from a study, which can threaten the internal validity of the research. The loss of participants can potentially create bias and impact the overall representativeness of the sample. Choices A, B, and D refer to other threats to internal validity, but do not directly relate to the issue of participant attrition.

Question 10

When the experimenter communicates to the participants, most often subtly, what outcomes he or she would like to achieve, this is known as ______.

Accepted Answer

The experimenter effect refers to the potential influence that the experimenter's expectations or biases may have on the participant's behavior or the study's outcome. This can occur through subtle cues or communication from the experimenter to the participant. The Hawthorne effect refers to the phenomenon where participants alter their behavior or performance in response to being observed or in a research setting. The disruption effect and description effect are not standard terms in psychology research.

Question 11

Which threat to external ecological validity refers to how events occurring at the time of the intervention or treatment affect the outcome?

Accepted Answer

The interaction between history and treatment effects refers to how specific events that occur outside of the experiment, during the time of the intervention or treatment, can affect the outcome. This can threaten the external ecological validity by making it unclear whether the results are due to the treatment itself or to these external events.

Question 12

______ is a threat that refers to circumstances where the control group is aware of not receiving the intervention which is perceived to be of value.

Accepted Answer

Resentful demoralization is a threat to internal validity that occurs when the control group becomes demoralized or resentful because they knew they did not receive the intervention that they believed would be valuable. This can lead to a decreased motivation to participate in the study and negatively impact the study's results. The John Henry effect refers to a situation where individuals in the control group improve their performance because they know they are in a control group, while the Henry Jordan effect is not a recognized threat to internal validity.

Question 13

______ refers to when the control group is aware they are in a study and make efforts to do better and outperform the experimental group.

Accepted Answer

The John Henry effect, also known as the "compensation hypothesis," is when the control group in a study, who are aware they are not receiving the treatment, make an effort to outperform the experimental group due to a desire to prove they are just as capable. It is named after the story of John Henry, a steel-driving man who raced against a steam drill to prove his worth.

Question 14

The threat of ______ has been noted to be the most significant issue for single-subject research designs.

Accepted Answer

History refers to potential external events or circumstances that may occur during the course of a study that could influence the results. This is particularly relevant in single-subject designs where participants serve as their own controls. Changes in the environment or circumstances outside of the researcher's control can introduce variability into the data, making it difficult to determine whether changes in the dependent variable are due to the treatment or some external factor. Maturation, attrition, and testing can also be threats to single-subject research designs, but history has been noted as the most significant.

Question 15

A solution to which threat is to use an unobtrusive measure, so the participants are not aware they are being observed or measured on the dependent variable?

Accepted Answer

The Hawthorne effect refers to the phenomenon where participants alter their behavior due to the awareness of being observed or measured. To counteract this threat, researchers can use unobtrusive measures that do not bring attention to the dependent variable being measured. This helps ensure that the behavior being observed is natural and not altered by the participant's awareness of being observed.

Question 16

The procedures section in a research article is intended to be a step-by-step description of how the study was conducted.

Accepted Answer

The procedures section is where the researchers should provide a detailed account of how the study was conducted. This section should be written in a clear and concise manner, so that other researchers can reproduce the study and verify the findings.

Question 17

The scientific method requires that researchers submit their studies to public scrutiny of the scientific/professional community.

Accepted Answer

The scientific method relies on peer review and publication in order for research to undergo scrutiny and scrutiny by the scientific and professional community.

Question 18

If a particular treatment is used, a step-by-step description is provided in the procedures section.

Accepted Answer

The procedures section typically includes a step-by-step description of the treatment or intervention being used. This is to ensure that the treatment is administered consistently and accurately across participants.

Question 19

Unlike random selection, random assignment means that all those selected from the population to participate in a study have an equal chance of being assigned to a particular group.

Accepted Answer

The answer of Unlike random selection, random assignment means that...

Question 20

All research methods use random assignment.

Accepted Answer

Not all research methods use random assignment. Random assignment is used in experimental research designs where participants are randomly assigned to different conditions or groups. However, other research methods such as correlational studies or observational studies do not use random assignment.

Quiz 13: Evaluating the Methods Sectionprocedures