Applied Research Methods
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Course Introduction
Applied Research Methods introduces students to the essential techniques and principles used in conducting systematic inquiry across various disciplines. The course covers the formulation of research questions, selection of appropriate methodologies, data collection and analysis, and interpretation of results. Students engage with both qualitative and quantitative methods, learning to critically evaluate and apply different research designs. By integrating theory with hands-on practice, the course equips students with the skillset necessary to design and execute research projects, analyze findings, and communicate outcomes effectively within academic and professional contexts.
Recommended Textbook Research Methods 8th Edition by Donald H. McBurney
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Chapter 1: Psychology and Science
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Q1) Which one of the following terms best illustrates an operational definition?
A) punishment -- harsh or injurious treatment for an offense
B) learning -- acquiring knowledge or skill
C) thirst -- eighteen hours without access to water
D) anxiety -- state of being uneasy, apprehensive or, worried
Answer: C
Q2) When defining a term or concept operationally,it is important to
A) consult a dictionary for the exact definition
B) state the means of measuring the term or concept
C) include the common use of the term or concept
D) consult the literature to determine how the term or concept has been defined in previous studies
Answer: B
Q3) Which is not an obstacle to finding the cause of some effect?
A) We often overlook the real cause.
B) Some events are just coincidences
C) Sometimes the real cause is another event correlated with the suspected cause.
D) Causes sometimes happen after their effects.
Answer: D
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Chapter 2: Developing a Research Question
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Q1) PsycINFO and PsycLIT are examples of:
A) primary sources
B) secondary sources
C) reference works
D) bibliographic tools
Answer: D
Q2) A search engine is
A) An index for philosophical ideas
B) Too diffuse to be useful
C) a specialized program that searches the Web for documents
D) an engine that permits you to use special features of programs
Answer: C
Q3) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of various proprietary databases for searching the scientific literature in Psychology.
Answer: Answer not provided.
Q4) What is the difference between the Internet and a Library,and what is its significance?
Answer: Answer not provided.
Q5) How does one evaluate the credibility of information obtained from the Internet?
Answer: Answer not provided.
4
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Chapter 3: Ethics in Research
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Q1) When considering the degree of stress that is acceptable in an experiment,the researcher should avoid exposing participants
A) to stressful situations that are physical in nature
B) to stressful situations that are psychological in nature
C) to stressful situations that are beyond those of everyday life
D) who are members of special groups (such as heart patients, epileptics, etc.) to stressful situations
Answer: C
Q2) Debriefing is
A) Giving instructions to the participant
B) Informing participants after the session of the experiment's true purpose
C) Filing all the papers associated with the experiment
D) Presenting a portion of someone else's work as your own
Answer: B
Q3) All experiments conducted on human participants at an institution
A) require a full review by the IRB
B) require an expedited review by the IRB
C) require that the IRB is informed of the experiment
D) require that the departmental chair is informed of the experiment
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Writing in Psychology
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Q1) An abstract summarizes the
A) theory behind the research
B) relevant literature
C) problem, method, results, and conclusions
D) data collection and analysis procedures
Q2) List the parts of a scientific article in APA style,and describe the contents of each.
Q3) When you write a paper in APA style,you should report your results in
A) the present tense
B) the past perfect tense
C) the past tense
D) any of the above
Q4) The methods section of a research paper contains
A) the research design, procedures, and description of subjects and measures
B) the literature review and hypotheses
C) the definition of terms, literature review, and data analysis procedures
D) the research design, tables and figures, and literature review
Q5) If you were to make an oral presentation at a national psychological convention,how would it be different from a scientific paper?
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Chapter 5: Variables
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Q1) A variable that falls into a distinct category is referred to as a
A) physical variable
B) nonphysical variable
C) discrete variable
D) dependent variable
Q2) A confounded variable is one that
A) doesn't vary
B) varies with the dependent variable
C) varies with the independent variable
D) isn't correlated with either the independent or dependent variable
Q3) In within-subjects designs (subject experiences all stimuli in one session)it is important
A) not to have more than two or three stimuli
B) to present at least seven stimuli, if possible
C) to choose higher levels of the independent variable
D) to focus on lower levels of the independent variable
Q4) You are interested in researching the effects of rewards on exercise.Determine how you would measure your dependent variable using at least 4 of the ways of measuring behavior.
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Chapter 6: Tabular and Graphical Description of Data
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Q1) A bar graph should be used when the
A) independent variable is a discrete variable
B) independent variable is a continuous variable
C) dependent variable is a discrete variable
D) depend variable is a continuous variable
Q2) The coding guide lists
A) the columns in which variables can be found
B) the names of all variables
C) acceptable values of all variables
D) All of these are true.
Q3) If the independent variable in an experiment is gender,it would be appropriate to use a ____ to represent the data
A) scattergram
B) bar graph
C) cumulative record
D) line graph
Q4) A raw data set must be carefully considered before it is entered into an analysis.Why? What sort of data might be excluded from analysis?
Q5) Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of having error bars on a graph.
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Chapter 7: Validity
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Q1) To ascertain the effect of wilderness survival training,a researcher measures a group of 14-year-old Boy Scouts and a group of 8-year-old Boy Scouts who have not yet had wilderness survival training.The boys are measured at the same time on proficiency in various skills.Discuss the weaknesses related to experimental validity.
Q2) Which one of the following questions does not concern a threat to external validity? Would the same experiment ____
A) conducted at another time produce the same results?
B) conducted in another place produce the same results?
C) produce the same results if other subjects were used?
D) produce the same results if the independent variable were operationalized differently?
Q3) When subjects are selected because of the presence or absence of a condition,rather than having a condition assigned to them,the experimenter is testing A) subject variables
B) construct validity
C) face validity
D) confounding variables
Q4) List at least 4 threats to internal validity and explain what they mean.
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Chapter 8: Control
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Q1) Laboratory research,as opposed to field research,is
A) the only way to achieve satisfactory experimental control
B) required by government funding agencies
C) better because participants expect formal settings
D) generally preferred because it is easier to achieve control
Q2) Scientists have studied nerve conduction in the giant nerve axon of the squid because
A) It is larger than the axons of other animals, and thus makes an excellent preparation
B) Squids are cheap and plentiful
C) Its nerves fire repeatedly in the same way, generating more reliability than mammals
D) Reaction time can be measured for its nervous system
Q3) Sometimes a nonexperimental study has more ____ validity than a corresponding laboratory study,despite the more limited control
A) External
B) Internal
C) Construct
D) Concurrent
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Chapter
Case-Study Research
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Q1) A major disadvantage of observational research is that
A) standardized observational instruments are not very reliable
B) only overt behaviors can be observed
C) observers may make biased reports
D) the presence of the observer may affect the behavior that is to be observed
Q2) In a comparison of the social interaction patterns of gorillas,a scientist spends several months observing and recording behavior of gorillas in each group of her samples.This is an example of ____ research.
A) participant observation
B) naturalistic observation
C) survey
D) case study
Q3) The term procedure
A) means the same as method
B) includes the design of the study
C) describes the logical plan of the study
D) describes the steps in carrying out the design
Q4) What is the difference between manifest and latent content analysis? When is it appropriate to use these different methods?
11
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Q1) The categories of "apples" and "oranges" are
A) Mutually exclusive
B) Mutually exhaustive
C) Biased
D) Subject to social desirability effect
Q2) Open-ended questions are more appropriate for
A) preliminary studies
B) large-scale studies
C) follow-up studies
D) studies in which you don't want respondents to have to think too hard
Q3) The main advantage of telephone survey administration is
A) Low cost
B) No social desirability tendency
C) Quick administration
D) Easy access to participants
Q4) Rating scales are
A) Measurement instruments
B) Always open-ended
C) Used to detect dishonesty
D) Used to detect acquiescence
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Chapter 11: True Experiments, part 1: Single-Factor Designs
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Q1) Order effects result from
A) which condition follows which
B) the ordinal position of the condition
C) between subjects designs
D) control group designs
Q2) Which one of the following is the simplest true experimental design?
A) two-conditions, within-subjects design
B) two-conditions, between subjects design
C) one-group pretest-posttest design
D) multiple conditions, within-subjects design
Q3) The two basic elements of a true experimental design are
A) a control group and random allocation of subjects to conditions
B) a control group or a control condition and random allocation of subjects to groups
C) random selection of subjects and random allocation of subjects to conditions
D) random selection of subjects and each subject experiences every condition
Q4) Consider the posttest-only design with nonequivalent control groups.Can you think of an experimental situation in which this design might be necessary? How could you potentially strengthen the experimental design?
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Chapter 12: True Experiments, part 2: Factorial Designs
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Q1) If neither Variable A nor Variable B has a main effect you can have
A) no interaction
B) a ceiling effect interaction
C) an antagonistic interaction
D) a synergistic interaction
Q2) The integration of taste (sweet vs salty)and smell (fish vs orange)was investigated in cats.Each cat received one taste-smell combination and was then given a preference test.The design of this experiment is:
A) Between subjects
B) Within subjects
C) Mixed
D) Quasi-experimental
Q3) Which one of the following is not a good reason to employ a factorial design? To A) save time by investigating more than one variable
B) rule out more than one rival hypothesis
C) determine the correlation between two or more variables
D) investigate a possible interaction between two or more independent variables
Q4) What is the advantage of a factorial design over a single-factor design?
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Chapter 13: Single-Subject Experiments
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Q1) Marla conducts a study to gradually teach a poodle to jump through a flaming hoop.At each session,Marla introduces a more stringent set of guidelines before reinforcing the poodle.Which one of the following designs would be most appropriate for this study?
A) changing-criterion design
B) A-B-A-B design
C) multiple-baseline design
D) interaction design
Q2) According to the text,the founder of experimental psychology was A)B. Titchener
B) Hermann Ebbinghaus
C) Gustav Fechner
D) Wilhelm Wundt
Q3) Single subject research
A) was developed recently because of dissatisfaction with group experiments
B) permits easier use of sophisticated statistical analysis
C) permits better comparison between subjects
D) began long before the development of modern statistics
Q4) Define and/or describe the term "statistical power".
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Chapter 14: Quasi Experiments
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Q1) Effect size is compared across different studies by A) measuring the dependent variable on a common scale B) considering only those with the same independent variable C) considering the variability of the response D) correcting any skewness in the data
Q2) A secular trend is a A) decrease in religiosity B) trend in the general population C) trend that increases and decreases in a regular pattern, such as the seasons D) time-lag effect
Q3) We ran an experiment with 10 men and 10 women that investigated whether the color of the paper that someone was copy-typing from or the color of the computer screen that someone was typing onto made any difference in typing speed.We hypothesized that men would be affected by the color of the screen,but not by the color of the paper.Is the experimental design within-subjects,between-subjects,or mixed? What is (are)the independent variable(s)? The dependant variable(s)? Is the design a true experiment,single-subject experiment,or a quasi experiment? What are the conditions of the experiment?
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Chapter 15: Biases and Limitations of Experimental Psychology
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Q1) Which one of the following statements best explains the meaning of "science as liberal"?
A) Scientific results often challenge political and religious orthodoxy.
B) The majority of scientists are liberal in political outlook.
C) Scientists are attracted to research on liberal topics.
D) Scientific research is often supported by liberal groups.
Q2) Funding from private industry is a potential source of bias for research because
A) IRB approval is not necessary for this research
B) future funding for research may depend on the results that a psychologist finds
C) the researchers receive money for their work
D) sufficient funds are not available from this source to do the work properly
Q3) Much of the research in the United States is funded by
A) Government grants
B) Universities
C) The media
D) Private citizens
Q4) Identify and describe the essential and practical limitations of science.
Q5) Discuss the political and social pressures on science and scientists to find results compatible with particular viewpoints.Give examples.
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