Choose the alternative that best completes the stem of each question.
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1 | |
Your choice of specific variables to observe in a study may depend on |
| | A) | research tradition. |
| | B) | theory. |
| | C) | availability of new techniques or equipment. |
| | D) | any of the above |
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2 | |
If a measure is able to produce similar results when it is used repeatedly under identical conditions, it is said to be |
| | A) | valid. |
| | B) | reliable. |
| | C) | accurate. |
| | D) | error free. |
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3 | |
The precision of a measure refers to |
| | A) | the range of variation expected on repeated measurement. |
| | B) | whether the measure produces the same results under identical conditions. |
| | C) | whether the measure measures what you intend it to measure. |
| | D) | how well subjects can understand the measure and use it correctly. |
| | E) | none of the above |
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4 | |
To measure the reliability of judgments of multiple observers, you would use a statistical measure of |
| | A) | precision. |
| | B) | margin of error. |
| | C) | interrater reliability. |
| | D) | interobserver concordance. |
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5 | |
A technique for assessing reliability of a measure in which a test is administered more than once is known as _________ |
| | A) | multiple test reliability |
| | B) | repeated testing reliability |
| | C) | parallel forms reliability |
| | D) | test—retest reliability |
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6 | |
Nonequivalence of test items is most likely to be a problem for which method of testing reliability? |
| | A) | parallel forms reliability |
| | B) | split-half reliability |
| | C) | test—retest reliability |
| | D) | both a and b |
| | E) | both b and c |
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7 | |
If the results of a measure agree with a known standard, the measure is said to be |
| | A) | valid. |
| | B) | reliable. |
| | C) | accurate. |
| | D) | precise. |
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8 | |
Any difference between averaged accuracy measures and the standard is known as |
| | A) | inaccuracy. |
| | B) | unreliability. |
| | C) | skew. |
| | D) | bias. |
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9 | |
The extent to which a measure measures what you intend it to measure is known as the of that measure. |
| | A) | precision |
| | B) | accuracy |
| | C) | validity |
| | D) | reliability |
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10 | |
If a new measure you have developed produces results similar to those provided by an established measure of the same variable, your new measure is said to show |
| | A) | criterion-related validity. |
| | B) | predictive validity. |
| | C) | parallel forms reliability. |
| | D) | accuracy and precision. |
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11 | |
According to the text, _________ validity is the weakest form of validity. |
| | A) | face |
| | B) | content |
| | C) | predictive |
| | D) | concurrent |
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12 | |
According to the text, which of the following is true? |
| | A) | If a measure is reliable, it must be valid. |
| | B) | A measure can be reliable, but be invalid. |
| | C) | If a measure is reliable, it must be accurate. |
| | D) | If a measure is precise, it must be valid. |
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13 | |
An independent variable consists of four types of treatment for drug dependency. The variable falls along a(n) ___________________ scale. |
| | A) | nominal |
| | B) | ordinal |
| | C) | interval |
| | D) | ratio |
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14 | |
If a measure falls along a ratio scale, |
| | A) | the ordering of values is meaningless. |
| | B) | the zero point of the scale is arbitrary. |
| | C) | a zero value indicates the absence of the scaled quantity. |
| | D) | you can only rank-order the values. |
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15 | |
The scale that provides the most information about a variable is the _______________ scale. |
| | A) | nominal |
| | B) | ordinal |
| | C) | interval |
| | D) | ratio |
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16 | |
When selecting an appropriate statistic to summarize or analyze a set of numbers, you |
| | A) | need only to determine which of Stevens’s scales of measurement applies. |
| | B) | must consider how the numbers were used. |
| | C) | can use any statistic you prefer. |
| | D) | none of the above |
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17 | |
When it is necessary to use a less informative scale in order to preserve ecological validity, you can do so while gaining the information provided by a higher scale if you |
| | A) | conduct a parametric analysis of the less informative scale data. |
| | B) | conduct a nonparametric analysis of the less informative scale data. |
| | C) | use a composite scale that combines the features of both scales. |
| | D) | use the higher scale and then rescale the data to the less informative scale. |
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18 | |
Observation may fail to reveal the effect of an independent variable if the dependent variable |
| | A) | lacks adequate sensitivity. |
| | B) | correlates strongly with the independent variable. |
| | C) | fails to show either a floor or ceiling effect. |
| | D) | all of the above |
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19 | |
A range effect may |
| | A) | reduce the differences among your treatment means. |
| | B) | reduce the variability of scores within treatments. |
| | C) | produce misleading results when you conduct a statistical analysis of the data. |
| | D) | all of the above |
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20 | |
This technique used with preverbal children capitalizes on the fact that even infants get bored with repeatedly presented stimuli. |
| | A) | preference technique |
| | B) | habituation |
| | C) | discrimination learning |
| | D) | classical conditioning |
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21 | |
Special equipment designed to measure the subject’s bodily responses is used to collect ___________________ measures. |
| | A) | behavioral |
| | B) | physiological |
| | C) | self-report |
| | D) | psychophysical |
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22 | |
A qualitative measurement technique that involves developing evaluative categories and then sorting items into those categories is the _________ methodology. |
| | A) | Thurstone |
| | B) | Q-sort |
| | C) | C-sort |
| | D) | Stephenson |
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23 | |
Although self-report techniques are popular and easy to use, they suffer from problems of |
| | A) | reliability and validity. |
| | B) | accuracy and sensitivity. |
| | C) | validity and precision. |
| | D) | reliability and accuracy. |
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24 | |
For the human participant, the psychological experiment is a |
| | A) | time killer. |
| | B) | waste of time |
| | C) | social situation. |
| | D) | traumatic experience. |
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25 | |
Cues provided by the researcher and the experimental situation can communicate to the participant the purpose of the study and expected responses. Such cues are termed |
| | A) | demand characteristics. |
| | B) | experimenter bias. |
| | C) | expectation bias. |
| | D) | observer contamination. |
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26 | |
Participants who come into a psychological experiment worried about what will happen to them exhibit a(n) __________________ attitude. |
| | A) | cooperative |
| | B) | defensive or apprehensive |
| | C) | negative |
| | D) | uncooperative |
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27 | |
Experimenter bias may emerge in the results when |
| | A) | the experimenter develops preconceived ideas about the capacities of the participants. |
| | B) | participants in different experimental conditions are not treated identically (except for the level of the independent variable, of course). |
| | C) | either a or b |
| | D) | participants are biased either for or against the experimenter. |
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28 | |
One way to help eliminate experimenter bias is to |
| | A) | automate the experiment. |
| | B) | prevent the participants from learning what condition of the experiment they are in. |
| | C) | make specific predictions concerning the expected outcome of the experiment. |
| | D) | all of the above |
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29 | |
When you use animal subjects in your experiments, |
| | A) | you do not have to worry about demand characteristics. |
| | B) | you do not have to worry about experimenter bias. |
| | C) | blind techniques for conducting the experiment are not effective. |
| | D) | none of the above |
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30 | |
Automating your experiments |
| | A) | reduces the influence of experimenter bias. |
| | B) | can save time because equipment such as computers can be used in many cases to actually conduct the experiment. |
| | C) | increases the precision of your experiment. |
| | D) | all of the above |
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