 |
| 1 | |
The three broad categories of research ideas are: |
| | A) | experience, deduction, and theory. |
| | B) | theory, models, and application. |
| | C) | experience, theory, and application. |
| | D) | experience, theory, and models. |
|
|
|
| 2 | |
Casual observation of your pet hamster's behavior would constitute what kind of observation? |
| | A) | systematic |
| | B) | unsystematic |
| | C) | irrelevant |
| | D) | experimental |
|
|
|
| 3 | |
According to your text, unsystematic observation is a good source of: |
| | A) | general research ideas. |
| | B) | specific research ideas. |
| | C) | research hypotheses. |
| | D) | new theories. |
|
|
|
| 4 | |
A valuable source of systematic observation is: |
| | A) | informal observations of family members. |
| | B) | your personal experiences. |
| | C) | published research reports. |
| | D) | the anecdotes of a friend. |
|
|
|
| 5 | |
Questions concerning whether the results from published research apply to participants of various ethnic backgrounds, races, or political beliefs is an example of ________ as a source of research ideas. |
| | A) | systematic observation |
| | B) | unsystematic observation |
| | C) | application |
| | D) | theory |
|
|
|
| 6 | |
Marco, a psychology graduate student, is in the library poring over research articles to help him get an idea for his master's thesis. In this example, Marco is using ________ to get a research idea. |
| | A) | theory |
| | B) | models |
| | C) | unsystematic observation |
| | D) | systematic observation |
|
|
|
| 7 | |
A set of assumptions about the causes for behavior and the rules that specify how the causes operate is your text's definition for a(n): |
| | A) | model. |
| | B) | hypothesis. |
| | C) | application. |
| | D) | theory. |
|
|
|
| 8 | |
According to your text, a theory can direct research when: |
| | A) | you want to predict behavior under new combinations of variables. |
| | B) | two theories make competing predictions about the causes for behavior. |
| | C) | you want to see if a theoretical prediction applies in the real world. |
| | D) | All of the above |
| | E) | Both a and b |
|
|
|
| 9 | |
If you designed an experiment to investigate the factors that cause patients to stick to diet and exercise programs, your research is primarily driven by a focus on: |
| | A) | testing the validity of a model. |
| | B) | application. |
| | C) | theory. |
| | D) | Both a and b |
| | E) | None of the above |
|
|
|
| 10 | |
Which of the following questions could (at least in theory) be answered using the scientific method? |
| | A) | How many angels can stand on the head of a pin? |
| | B) | Is abortion moral or immoral? |
| | C) | What conditions contribute to terrorism? |
| | D) | Should prayer be encouraged in public schools? |
|
|
|
| 11 | |
An empirical question is one: |
| | A) | that can be answered by objective observation. |
| | B) | whose answer proves the validity of a theory. |
| | C) | whose answer solves a practical problem. |
| | D) | whose answer separates a good theory from a bad theory. |
|
|
|
| 12 | |
Which of the following would not qualify as an operational definition of anxiety? |
| | A) | a score on a test designed to measure anxiety level |
| | B) | a vague feeling of impending disaster |
| | C) | sympathetic nervous system activity, as indexed by perspiration, heart rate, and blood pressure |
| | D) | None of the above |
|
|
|
| 13 | |
According to your text, a drawback to operationally defining variables is that doing so: |
| | A) | makes a question unempirical. |
| | B) | makes your research question too general to be answered empirically. |
| | C) | disqualifies a variable from being considered from a theoretical perspective. |
| | D) | restricts the generality of the answer you obtain from research. |
|
|
|
| 14 | |
As a stimulus for further research, a question is probably important if: |
| | A) | it has already been satisfactorily answered by previous research. |
| | B) | its answer can support virtually any hypothesis. |
| | C) | answering it will clarify relationships among variables known to affect the behavioral system under study. |
| | D) | there is no a priori reason to believe the variables in question are causally related. |
|
|
|
| 15 | |
According to your text, a question is probably unimportant if: |
| | A) | it has already been firmly answered. |
| | B) | the variables you are considering have small effects on behavior. |
| | C) | it cannot be fit into an established theoretical model. |
| | D) | All of the above |
| | E) | Both a and b |
|
|
|
| 16 | |
Conducting a literature review before you design a research study can: |
| | A) | help you avoid reinventing the wheel. |
| | B) | identify measures and apparatus you might want to use for your study. |
| | C) | show whether your original question has already been answered. |
| | D) | All of the above |
|
|
|
| 17 | |
A publication that has a "sober presentation," is written for professionals in a field, and has original research reports would be classified as a _________ publication. |
| | A) | popular |
| | B) | scholarly |
| | C) | general |
| | D) | professional |
|
|
|
| 18 | |
A(n) ________ contains full research reports, including all information needed to replicate a study. |
| | A) | primary source |
| | B) | secondary source |
| | C) | anthology |
| | D) | textbook |
|
|
|
| 19 | |
Which of the sources listed would provide the most recent information on a research topic? |
| | A) | textbooks |
| | B) | scholarly journals |
| | C) | papers delivered at professional meetings |
| | D) | reviews |
|
|
|
| 20 | |
A danger in relying on secondary sources for research information is that: |
| | A) | the information provided may not be up to date. |
| | B) | the author of the secondary source may have misrepresented the described research. |
| | C) | secondary sources tend not to provide enough detail about the studies they describe. |
| | D) | All of the above |
|
|
|
| 21 | |
Where would you obtain the most detailed description of the method and results of a research project? |
| | A) | In a research report in the Journal of Experimental Psychology. |
| | B) | In a paper delivered at the annual meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association. |
| | C) | In a review article in the Psychological Bulletin. |
| | D) | In a meta-analysis. |
|
|
|
| 22 | |
An advantage of attending a paper session at a convention rather than reading about the research in a journal is that: |
| | A) | you get a more detailed description of the method. |
| | B) | you can meet the researchers. |
| | C) | the research has been reviewed by experts and approved. |
| | D) | All of the above |
|
|
|
| 23 | |
If you want to look up a topic using PsycINFO but do not know what key word to use, you can find out by consulting: |
| | A) | the Thesaurus of Psychological Index Terms. |
| | B) | Roget's Thesaurus. |
| | C) | the table of contents of Psychological Abstracts. |
| | D) | Webster's Dictionary. |
|
|
|
| 24 | |
According to the text, a drawback to using PsycINFO is that: |
| | A) | it has only a very limited database of articles indexed. |
| | B) | searches usually turn up very few articles. |
| | C) | if you are not careful choosing your key words, you may turn up hundreds of citations, many of them irrelevant to your needs. |
| | D) | All of the above |
|
|
|
| 25 | |
According to your text, a disadvantage of using PsycARTICLES when doing a literature search is that: |
| | A) | only nonrefereed journals are indexed in the database. |
| | B) | there are too many journals indexed to make the database useful. |
| | C) | the search engine is very basic and may yield good results. |
| | D) | your results will be limited to articles published by the APA. |
|
|
|
| 26 | |
According to your text, a disadvantage of using a general Internet search engine is that: |
| | A) | you will probably not find much on your topic. |
| | B) | you cannot be sure of the quality of the materials you find. |
| | C) | because materials posted on the Internet are so rigorously screened, you may find that there is a limited amount of material available. |
| | D) | None of the above |
|
|
|
| 27 | |
According to the Cornell University Library (2000), an initial appraisal of a source should include you evaluating: |
| | A) | the date of publication. |
| | B) | the title of the journal. |
| | C) | the author. |
| | D) | All of the above |
| | E) | Both a and b |
|
|
|
| 28 | |
When you critically evaluate the method section of a research report, the litmus test of that section is: |
| | A) | whether you could replicate the study from the description given. |
| | B) | whether the method described is a standard one. |
| | C) | the test given to the participants to determine whether they should be included in the study. |
| | D) | any test that is administered as a part of the procedure. |
|
|
|
| 29 | |
Data collected in psychological research are usually evaluated to determine the statistical significance of any effects that are found. Generally, effects that fail to reach statistical significance are: |
| | A) | as readily accepted for publication as those that do reach statistical significance. |
| | B) | rejected for publication because it is too likely that the apparent effects may have occurred by chance. |
| | C) | immediately accepted for publication because chance has been ruled out as an explanation of the effect. |
| | D) | accepted for publication if the alpha level used was .01 or smaller. |
|
|
|
| 30 | |
The file drawer phenomenon results when: |
| | A) | unpublished research is later published because new findings render the results important. |
| | B) | studies having statistically nonsignificant results are not submitted for publication. |
| | C) | studies accumulate in the file drawer because the investigator lacks the time to write them up and submit them for publication. |
| | D) | important findings get lost in the file drawer, to be discovered only after someone else has replicated the findings. |
|
|
|
| 31 | |
Anomalous findings (those that do not appear to make sense within the currently accepted framework): |
| | A) | are usually accepted immediately by the research community. |
| | B) | immediately overturn the currently accepted framework. |
| | C) | usually call into question the research that produced them. |
| | D) | by their very nature are never reliable. |
|
|
|
| 32 | |
To be accepted for publication, a research paper today usually must contain: |
| | A) | no more than a single experiment involving a treatment and a control condition. |
| | B) | a series of experiments or at least a parametric study involving several levels of two or more variables. |
| | C) | citations by the editor and reviewers praising the research conducted. |
| | D) | a significant new theoretical formulation. |
|
|
|
| 33 | |
To ensure that reviewers of research papers can make their judgments without fear of reprisal, reviews are often: |
| | A) | biased in favor of the author of the paper. |
| | B) | conducted by a computer. |
| | C) | conducted anonymously. |
| | D) | kept under lock and key. |
|
|
|
| 34 | |
Empirical studies have consistently found that the correlation between reviewer judgments concerning the acceptability of a manuscript for publication is: |
| | A) | low, showing poor reliability |
| | B) | moderately high, showing reasonable reliability. |
| | C) | extremely high, showing good reliability. |
| | D) | negative, showing that reviewers always disagree. |
|
|
|
| 35 | |
When Peters and Ceci (1982) submitted 12 previously published articles to the journals in which the articles were originally published, they found that: |
| | A) | all but one of the resubmissions were recognized. |
| | B) | only three of the resubmissions were recognized and rejected for this reason. |
| | C) | eight of the undetected papers were rejected for publication, usually on the grounds that they were methodologically flawed. |
| | D) | Both b and c |
|
|
|
| 36 | |
If one's culture or personal beliefs affect the decision concerning how to study behavior, we say that: |
| | A) | research fraud has occurred. |
| | B) | the resulting research is objective. |
| | C) | values have affected science. |
| | D) | None of the above |
|
|
|
| 37 | |
Longino (1990) suggests that which of the following is a factor influencing the course of science? |
| | A) | Values affect which questions are addressed and which are ignored. |
| | B) | Value-laden terms affect how data are described. |
| | C) | Values affect the basic assumptions that scientists make about phenomena they study. |
| | D) | All of the above |
|
|
|
| 38 | |
A ________ links variables and specifies expected relationships among them. |
| | A) | hypothesis |
| | B) | model |
| | C) | theory |
| | D) | research question |
|
|
.