Psychological Research Methods
Exam Bank
Course Introduction
This course introduces students to the fundamental principles and techniques of psychological research, encompassing both qualitative and quantitative methods. Students will learn how to design experiments, formulate research questions, collect and analyze data, and interpret results within various subfields of psychology. Emphasis is placed on ethical considerations, critical evaluation of published research, and the development of practical skills in data analysis and scientific writing. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to conduct independent research and critically assess empirical findings in psychology.
Recommended Textbook
Exploring Research 8th Edition by Neil J. Salkind
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15 Chapters
564 Verified Questions
564 Flashcards
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Page 2
Chapter 1: The Role and Importance of Research
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40 Verified Questions
40 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Emily's school has implemented an early intervention program for at-risk students. In order to monitor its effectiveness on student performance, she would use which research method?
A) historical
B) descriptive
C) longitudinal
D) quasi-experimental
Answer: D
Q2) What is another name for research that occurs "post hoc"?
A) experimental
B) correlational
C) quasi-experimental
D) historical
Answer: C
Q3) Which of the following best describes a hypothesis?
A) statement that you set out to prove
B) tested by collecting only the data that support it
C) proposed before a good research question can be developed
D) posits a clear relationship between different factors
Answer: D
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Chapter 2: The Research Process: Coming to Terms
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Sample Questions
Q1) The researcher notices that the vocabulary level is also associated with intelligence level, so he determines that the research design must hold the level of intelligence constant to get a good idea of the relationship between pleasure reading and vocabulary level. Intelligence here is an example of what type of variable?
A) moderator variable
B) dependent variable
C) control variable
D) extraneous variable
Answer: C
Q2) Which type of designs include more than one independent variable?
A) exploring designs
B) factorial designs
C) confounding designs
D) extraneous designs
Answer: B
Q3) Research hypotheses are statements of inequality.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 4
Chapter 3: A: Selecting a Problem and Reviewing the Research
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39 Verified Questions
39 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which is the most comprehensive guide to general literature?
A) The New York Times Index
B) The Reader's Guide, Full Text Mega Edition
C) Statistical Abstract of the United States
D) Review of Educational Research
Answer: B
Q2) Why is a clear research question useful?
A) it creates a good home page
B) Lexis/Nexis can easily find it
C) it makes more efficient use of your time when searching for references
D) it assures that the research you conduct is of interest to you
Answer: C
Q3) What use do secondary sources provide?
A) finding a scholarly summary of research
B) finding further sources of research
C) sometimes cited in your literature review
D) all of the above
Answer: D
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Chapter 3: B: Ethics: the Basic Principles
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT considered a basic principle of ethical behavior in research?
A) protection from harm
B) refraining from coercion
C) informed consent
D) a well-stated hypothesis
Q2) Which is NOT a component of informed consent?
A) the purpose of the research
B) who you are
C) how the participant can get a copy of the records
D) a computer simulation of the data
Q3) You can quote and analyze online information without asking for permission as long as the information is officially and publicly archived, not password protected and nothing on the site prohibits the use of this information.
A) True
B) False
Q4) What is the role of professional organizations in promoting ethical standards in human research studies?
Q5) Discuss two of the general issues in ethical research behavior.
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Chapter 4: Sampling and Generalizability
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Sample Questions
Q1) What does generalizability refers to?
A) results that may be applied to different populations in different settings
B) results that apply only to the sample studied
C) convenience sampling
D) using a table of random numbers
Q2) Susan calls every 10th name in the student phone book to ask them to participate in her study. This is an example of ________________________.
A) simple random sampling
B) stratified sampling
C) convenience sampling
D) quota sampling
Q3) Why does increasing the number of people in a sample decrease the sampling error?
Q4) In which sampling technique does every k<sup>th</sup> name on the list get selected?
A) simple random sampling
B) systematic sampling
C) stratified sampling
D) cluster sampling
Q5) What is the difference between probability and nonprobability sampling?
Page 7
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Chapter 5: Measurement, Reliability, and Validity
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why is the ratio level of measurement considered the most precise?
Q2) What are the two components of error scores?
A) method error and consistent error
B) standard error and method error
C) trait error and standard error
D) trait error and method error
Q3) What is one way to obtain a criterion validity estimate?
A) ask an expert for his or her opinion
B) assess the underlying construct on which the test is based and correlate these scores with the test scores
C) select a criterion and correlate scores on the test with scores on the criterion
D) obtain a Pearson Product Moment correlation coefficient for two different forms of the test given at different times
Q4) Why are repeated scores on most variables always different from one another?
Q5) Which coefficient reflects the occurrence of perfect reliability?
A) + 1.00
B) + .50
C) +.100
D) + 2.00
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Chapter 6: Methods of Measuring Behavior
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Sample Questions
Q1) A test that measures knowledge of a specific topic is considered what type of test?
A) achievement test
B) attitude test
C) personality test
D) projective test
Q2) A good cover letter for a survey questionnaire has all but one of the following characteristics listed below. Which is NOT a characteristic of a good cover letter?
A) The initial questions are relatively simple, nonthreatening and easy-to-answer.
B) It is written on official letterhead
C) It promises confidentiality.
D) It clearly states the purpose of the questionnaire and the importance of the study.
Q3) What are some reasons why we use tests?
Q4) What makes a good questionnaire?
Q5) Why is it important to be unobtrusive when observing behavior?
Q6) Discuss the characteristics of a good cover letter and why it is helpful to have one.
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Chapter 7: Data Collection and Descriptive Statistics
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Sample Questions
Q1) What are some characteristics of a normal curve?
Q2) Which of the following is NOT a measure of the degree of spread or dispersion of scores?
A) standard deviation
B) range
C) mode
D) variance
Q3) What is the average amount that each score varies from the mean of the set of scores?
A) the range
B) the standard deviation
C) the mean
D) the normal curve
Q4) What is the median of 2, 2, 2, 4, 6, 6, 6, and 6?
A) 5
B) 6
C) 4.25
D) 34
Q5) Why isn't the range the best measure of variability?
Q6) What is a measure of central tendency?
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Chapter 8: Introducing Inferential Statistics
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Sample Questions
Q1) When investigating a relationship between two variables, what is the most acceptable initial explanation of the relationship?
A) the treatment
B) chance
C) researcher bias
D) defined factors
Q2) Explain what t<sub>120 </sub>= 2.00, p < .05 means.
Q3) Why would you do a meta-analytic study?
Q4) What is the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics?
Q5) How can Type II errors be reduced?
A) decreasing sample size
B) homogeneous population
C) increasing sample size
D) heterogeneous population
Q6) When examining the significance of the relationship between two variables, what test should you use?
A) t-test for dependent means
B) t-test for independent means
C) t-test for the correlation coefficient
D) analysis of variance
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Chapter 9: Nonexperimental Research: Descriptive and Correlational Methods
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Sample Questions
Q1) What would a correlation of .35 be called?
A) moderate
B) weak
C) very strong
D) very weak
Q2) What is the second step in developing an interview?
A) state the purpose of the interview
B) select an appropriate sample
C) develop questions
D) train the interviewers
Q3) What type of research tool can be either informal or highly structured?
A) interview
B) survey
C) descriptive
D) historical
Q4) What are unstructured questions also known as?
A) closed-ended questions
B) difficult questions
C) interview questions
D) open-ended questions
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Chapter 10: Nonexperimental Research: Qualitative Methods
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Sample Questions
Q1) How would you describe an ethnography?
A) intense look at an individual
B) explores a culture
C) looks at history
D) looks at relationships between two things
Q2) Which type of research has only one subject?
A) correlational
B) case study
C) experimental
D) quasi-experimental
Q3) How might case studies be superior to other methods of research?
A) They capitalize on random selection of subjects.
B) They provide good opportunity for generalization.
C) They use powerful statistical procedures.
D) They allow for very detailed examinations of data.
Q4) The last step in conducting historical research is __________________.
A) interpreting the results
B) formulating a hypothesis
C) defining a topic or problem
D) gathering data
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Chapter 11: Pre- and True Experimental Research Methods
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is the Hawthorne effect?
Q2) What are the steps involved in using the pretest posttest control group design?
Q3) What is the difference between internal and external validity?
Q4) Which is a threat to external validity?
A) history
B) selection
C) pretest sensitization
D) regression
Q5) What characteristics of pre-experimental designs make it difficult to establish cause-and-effect relationships?
Q6) Which is a threat to internal validity?
A) multiple treatment interference
B) maturation
C) experimenter effects
D) reactive arrangements
Q7) Which will NOT help control for extraneous variables?
A) using a control group
B) randomization
C) matching of subjects
D) using homogenous groups
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Chapter 12: Quasi-Experimental Research: a Close Cousin to Experimental Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) What is one suggested limitation of the single subject design?
A) significant expense
B) internal validity
C) external validity
D) none of the above
Q2) Professor Russel wants to examine the effectiveness of his new reading instruction method for third graders. He locates two third grade classes in the same school. He assesses all students' current reading ability at the start of the school year. He then has one classroom utilize his new instruction method while the other classroom uses the traditional method. At the end of the school year, Professor Russell assesses reading ability once again and compares group differences. The design of this study exemplifies which of the following?
A) nonequivalent control group design
B) static group comparison
C) Solomon two group design
D) factorial design
Q3) What is the difference between ABA and ABAB design?
Q4) How do quasi-experimental methods help with ethical research?
Page 15
Q5) Discuss differences between longitudinal and cross sectional methods.
Q6) What is the difference between true and quasi-experimental research?
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Page 16
Chapter 13: Writing a Research Proposal
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Sample Questions
Q1) When selecting a dependent variable, you should consider all of the following EXCEPT:
A) the measure has been used before.
B) the validity of the measure has been established.
C) the measure comes with testing forms.
D) norms are available, when applicable.
Q2) Which section of the proposal contains information on the instrumentation used?
A) introduction
B) method
C) implications and limitations
D) literature review
Q3) What is the shortened title which appears at the top of each proposal page called?
A) an abstract
B) a running head
C) an introduction
D) a reference
Q4) What should you look for when evaluating the hypothesis of a research paper?
Q5) What should you consider when selecting a sample for your research study?
Q6) What is an effective way of judging how much time your proposal will take?
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Chapter 14: Writing a Research Manuscript
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which section of a manuscript discusses the reliability of any tests that were used?
A) introduction
B) methods
C) results
D) discussion
Q2) In a manuscript, the hypothesis __________________.
A) is not always stated
B) is stated in the method section
C) may be found in the introduction
D) both a and c
Q3) Does an abstract usually include a report of the study's sample size?
A) always
B) only in historical research
C) never
D) sometimes
Q4) What are some subsections that may be found in the methods section?
Q5) What are the differences between the results and discussion sections?
Q6) What information is usually included in a discussion section?
Q7) List the parts of a prepared manuscript, in order.
Page 18
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