Descriptive research methods – After analyzing her data

27 Jun Descriptive research methods – After analyzing her data

Question
Descriptive research methods:

A) typically answer the “who, what, where, when, and how often” questions about behavior.

B)

are no longer used in contemporary psychology.

C)

have been replaced by sophisticated brain imaging techniques.

D)

provide the most compelling evidence of cause-and-effect relationships

After analyzing her data, Professor Nelson discovers that a correlation coefficient of +.75 exists between the amount of coffee a person drinks and the degree of stress experienced. Professor Nelson can safely conclude that:

Question 2 options:

A)

there is no relationship between stress and coffee consumption.

B)

stress causes people to drink coffee.

C)

as coffee consumption increases, stress also increases.

D)

drinking coffee produces stress.

In order to increase confidence in the findings of a particular study, it is important that the study and its results:

Question 3 options:

A)

have practical significance.

B)

be widely reported.

C)

be repeated or replicated.

D)

be tested by meta-analysis.

Case studies:

Question 4 options:

A)

are commonly used by clinical psychologists and other mental health professionals to develop a complete profile of a psychotherapy client.

B)

were popular when psychology was first founded but are almost never used today.

C)

are not considered to be a legitimate form of scientific evidence.

D)

are the main scientific tool used to establish a cause-and-effect relationship.

Professor Lyon decided to study food preferences of U.S. college students, so he asked his students to volunteer to participate in a lengthy survey. Professor Lyon’s survey results are probably invalid because he did not use:

Question 5 options:

A)

an operational definition.

B)

random selection.

C)

a valid hypothesis.

D)

independent and dependent variables.

Why do researchers try to avoid being detected by their subjects when engaged in naturalistic observations?

Question 6 options:

A)

The researchers themselves could be considered to be a dependent variable that affects the results of the study.

B)

Naturally occurring behavior patterns might not occur if the subjects become aware that they are being observed.

C)

It is unethical to engage in any kind of research, even naturalistic observation, unless there is prior permission by the subjects.

D)

Subjects may continue to act naturally with the researchers, but the researchers may not act like researchers once they begin to interact with the subjects.

Unobtrusively, Professor Baddeley and two of her students record the willingness of boys and girls to volunteer for an elephant or a donkey ride at the local zoo. Baddeley is using:

Question 7 options:

A)

unethical research practices.

B)

experimental research methods.

C)

meta-analysis.

D)

descriptive research methods.

Which of the following is an important advantage of surveys?

Question 8 options:

A)

Surveys can be developed by people with no scientific training.

B)

Researchers are able to gather information about a very large group of people based on a representative sample of that group.

C)

The dependent variable is more easily manipulated than in formal experiments.

D)

If there are more than 3,000 participants, the results are likely to be valid no matter how the participants were chosen.

Of the following correlation coefficients, which represents the strongest relationship between two factors?

Question 9 options:

A)

-.15

B)

+.03

C)

+.38

D)

-.80

Professor Williams is investigating loneliness. Participants in the study complete the UCLA Loneliness Scale to measure their level of loneliness. They also answer questions on a survey about many aspects of their personal life. In analyzing the results of her study, Professor Williams finds that as the number of friends increases, the level of loneliness tends to decrease. This represents a _____ correlation.

Question 10 options:

A)

positive

B)

negative

C)

spurious

D)

cause-and-effect