Social Psychology Research Methods
Exam Preparation Guide
Course Introduction
This course provides an in-depth exploration of the research methodologies used in social psychology to investigate how individuals think, feel, and behave in social contexts. Students will learn about various experimental, observational, and survey methods, as well as the ethical considerations unique to research with human participants. Emphasis is placed on formulating hypotheses, designing studies, collecting and analyzing data, and interpreting results. By engaging with classic and contemporary research, students will gain practical skills in critiquing scientific literature and conducting their own empirical projects within the field of social psychology.
Recommended Textbook Research In Psychology Methods and Design 7th Edition by C. James Goodwin
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Chapter 1: Scientific Thinking in Psychology
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Q1) Relying on authority as a basis for fixing belief is illustrated by which of the following statements?
A) Because all events have causes, there must be some First Cause, namely God
B) Why do I know it? I just know it, that's all
C) My country, right or wrong
D) It just stands to reason that animals with a cortex must have some level of consciousness
Answer: C
Q2) The method of introspection was gradually replaced by behavioral methods because
A) the latter were more objective
B) the latter yielded more in depth descriptions of one's personal experience
C) introspection required considerable training but no training is required to use behavioral methods
D) behavioral methods allowed a closer examination of mental processes
Answer: A
Q3) Fixing belief by relying on ________ occurs when students fail to question their professors.
Answer: authority
Q4) To assume that all events have causes is to make the assumption of _______.
Answer: determinism
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Chapter 2: Ethics in Psychological Research
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Q1) Which of the following is not part of the APA's ethics code for humans?
A) those who are at least at minimal risk must give their informed consent
B) people may or may not decide to participate, but once they start a study, they are obliged to finish it
C) participants must be thoroughly debriefed at the end of a study
D) participants must be assured of confidentiality
Answer: B
Q2) Sullivan and Deiker asked psychologists and students to evaluate the ethical appropriateness of several deception studies. What did they find?
A) for the psychologists it was "anything goes"; the students were deeply concerned
B) psychologists were more likely to consider the procedures ethical than were students
C) students were more likely to consider the procedures ethical than were psychologists
D) psychologists found some of the procedures questionable; students found all of the procedures questionable
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: Developing Ideas for Research in Psychology
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Q1) The study in the text that examined male female patterns of control over the TV remote is a good example of a study that combines
A) basic and applied research
B) field and lab research
C) qualitative and quantitative research
D) all of the above
Answer: C
Q2) A researcher, before starting a study, proposes that as the number of bystanders increases, the chances that any one of them will help an injured victim decreases. This statement is a good example of a(n) ___________.
Answer: hypothesis
Q3) Which of the following research studies is most obviously an example of basic research?
A) the effect of delaying reward on maze learning in rats
B) the effectiveness of hypnosis for improving courtroom eyewitness memory
C) worker productivity in well-lit vs. poorly-lit environments
D) whether hands-free cell phones are less disruptive to driving than hand-held phones
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: Measurement, Sampling, and Data Analysis
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Q1) Distinguish between a mean and a median and explain when it is better to use the latter rather than the former.
Q2) In a "Gee whiz" graph,
A) the differences are so obvious that an inferential analysis is not needed B) the hoped-for differences fail to materialize C) apparent differences are exaggerated by failing to label the Y-axis appropriately D) there are too many lines, making it impossible to interpret
Q3) Classification is the major purpose of a(n) ________ scale of measurement. A) nominal B) ordinal C) interval D) ratio
Q4) There are an equal number of scores that are both higher and lower than the
Q5) The most frequently occurring score in a set of scores is called the ______.
Q6) What information is conveyed in a confidence interval?
Q7) Distinguish between the reliability and validity of a behavioral measure, explain how each is determined, and explain why a measure could be reliable but not valid.
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Chapter 5: Introduction to Experimental Research
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Q1) Explain why the presence of an uncontrolled extraneous variable (i.e., a confound) makes it impossible to interpret the results of a study.
Q2) Sometimes performance differences could be attributed to an independent variable or to some basic difference in the composition of the two groups involved. When this occurs, there is said to be a threat due to
A) regression
B) maturation
C) attrition
D) selection
Q3) Sometimes, pretest and posttest measures are records taken by observers who improve their skills with practice. In this case, pretest-posttest changes could be due to program effectiveness or to the threat to internal validity called A) instrumentation
B) testing
C) attrition
D) maturation
Q4) Describe both the ethical and methodological problems with Brady's "ulcers in executive monkeys" study.
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Chapter 6: Control Problems in Experimental Research
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Q1) When deciding to use matching, which of the following is unimportant as a factor contributing to the decision?
A) sample size
B) whether an extraneous variable is known to correlate with the dependent variable C) whether it is possible to measure participants on the potential matching variable
D) all of the above are important
Q2) A progressive effect
A) is more easily controlled by counterbalancing than a carry-over effect
B) is more likely to occur in a between-subjects design than a within-subjects design
C) usually results in a confound, making counterbalancing a problem
D) tends to produce effects that are nonlinear from trial to trial
Q3) Compare between-subjects and within-subjects designs and explain the control problems unique to each type of design.
Q4) Use the Sigall and Ostrove (Barbara Helm) study as a way of showing how some studies require the use of a between-subjects rather than a within-subjects design.
Q5) All possible orders of conditions are used in ___________ counterbalancing.
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Chapter 7: Experimental Design 1: Single Factor Designs
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Q1) In a study on social skills training in children with autism, Kroeger et al. made sure that at the start of the study the groups were equal in terms a level of cognitive functioning. They used a(n) __________ design.
Q2) In Steele, Ball, and Runk's study of the so-called Mozart effect, which of the following was true?
A) they used a multilevel, matched-groups design
B) they used a complete counterbalancing procedure
C) they found that listening to Mozart made it easier to recall digits
D) there was no Mozart effect, but a significant practice effect occurred
Q3) In the study on the effectiveness of EMDR, how were participants in the yoked control group treated?
A) they moved their eyes randomly, instead of following the therapist's lead
B) they were not given any form of therapy
C) the length of their "therapy" sessions matched those in the experimental group
D) they were matched in terms of how severe their problem was
Q4) Studies with two levels of a repeated-measures independent variable would have the data analyzed by using a(n) _______________.
Q5) Multilevel designs enable the researcher to discover ______ effects.
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Chapter 8: Experimental Design II: Factorial Designs
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Q1) Which of the following is true about the study?
A) there are two different dependent variables
B) there are four independent variables
C) random assignment is not required, but counterbalancing is D) counterbalancing is not required, but random assignment is
Q2) For which of the following within-subjects factors will counterbalancing not be involved?
A) participants try to point accurately to six different geographic locations
B) in a release from PI study, a comparison is made between trials 1 and trial 4
C) word lists are presented at either 2 or 4 seconds per item
D) participants compare Coke and Pepsi for perceived sweetness
Q3) In a factorial study, when the effect of one variable depends on the level of a second variable, then a(n) ________ is said to exist.
Q4) An experimenter fails to find a difference between two groups of subjects on a problem solving task because both groups solve virtually all the problems; the study has produced a(n) _________ effect.
Q5) A PxE design, common in educational research, that uses some type of student aptitude as the subject variable, is known as a(n) ______ design.
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Chapter 9: Correlational Research
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Q1) In his 1957 "two disciplines" address, Cronbach called for a united discipline of psychology, one that would conduct research in the spirit of which of the designs from Chapter 8?
A) nonequivalent groups designs
B) mixed factorial designs
C) P x E factorial designs
D) repeated-measures designs
Q2) A study using a partial correlation helps to solve the _______ problem.
A) third variable
B) restriction of range
C) directionality
D) multiple regression
Q3) Explain why causal conclusions can be drawn from experimental but not from correlational studies. Be sure to work "directionality" and "third variable" into your answer.
Q4) The coefficient of determination
A) will never be a negative number
B) solves the directionality problem
C) enables conclusions about cause and effect in correlational studies
D) is always closer to 1.00 than the value for Pearson's r
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Chapter 10: Quasi-Experimental Designs Applied Research
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Q1) Use the cognitive interview study to show (a) the general purpose of applied research, and (b) how applied research can also shed light on basic phenomena.
Q2) In a(n) ___________ design, both groups get pretests and posttests, but just one group gets the experimental treatment.
Q3) Campbell's "reforms as experiments" article includes a description of an evaluation of a state police crackdown on speeding in Connecticut. In conducting this study, Campbell used
A) an interrupted time series design, with comparisons made to similar states
B) a simple one-group interrupted time series design
C) a nonequivalent control group design, with comparisons made to similar states
D) a pretest posttest design (no control group)
Q4) Cost-effectiveness analysis occurs at the end of a program, but assessing cost is also an important part of A) program audit
B) needs analysis
C) summative evaluation
D) none of the above
Q5) Trends can be evaluated by using a(n) ___________ design.
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Chapter 11: Small N Designs
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Q1) A(n) _______ design evaluates the effects of a drug treatment program by including a placebo condition.
Q2) Multiple baseline designs are preferred over withdrawal designs when A) more than one subject is being tested
B) one treatment is being compared directly with another C) the behavior being altered is self-destructive D) the behavior to be changed must be changed gradually
Q3) A researcher wishes to examine the effects of a treatment on a single individual, first in one setting, then in a second, then in a third; this calls for a(n) _________ design.
Q4) Luria's case study of S., the mnemonist,
A) is an example of archival research
B) demonstrates the limited value of case studies (who else is like this?)
C) demonstrates that case studies of unusual people can shed light on normal phenomena (e.g., the value of a limited short-term memory)
D) illustrates the problem of experimenter bias in case study research (S.'s memorywould not have been so exceptional if Luria had not paid so much attention to him)
Q5) An A-B-A and an A-B-A-B are both examples of ________ designs.
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Chapter 12: Descriptive Research Methods
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Q1) All of the following are designed to reduce observer bias except A) interobserver reliability
B) event sampling
C) behavior checklists
D) unobtrusive measures
Q2) In survey research, the ___________ is the final list of individuals from whom a sample is drawn.
Q3) Zezima reported that while nearly 100% of people reported that they wash their hands after using public restrooms, however actual observations of public hand washing behavior demonstrated much lower percentages. This illustrates
A) invasion of privacy
B) question ambiguity
C) biased sampling
D) a social desirability bias
Q4) Regarding the ethics of participant observation,
A) deception may be used if it is likely that consent would not be obtained
B) informed consent must be obtained from participants who are observed
C) debriefing is a required
D) deception may not be used
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