Understanding Correlations and Data Interpretation in Research Study Questions

Answers Chapter 8 1. D 2. B 3. D 4. A 5. B 6. B 7. A 8. C 9. D 10. C 11. A 12. C 13. A 14. D 15. A 16. B 17. D 18. B 19. A 20. C Chapter 9 1. D 2. A 3. A 4. C 5. D 6. D 7. B 8. D 9. B 10. 11. B 12. C 13. A 14. A 15. A 16. A 17. 18. C 19. C 20. D Chapter 10 1. B 2. A 3. D 4. A 5. A 6. A 7. B 8. A 9. D 10. A 11. D 12. 13. C 14. A 15. D 16. C 17. B 18. A 19. 20. B Chapter 11 1. 2. A 3. A 4. C 5. C 6. C 7. 8. B 9. D 10. 11. 12. D 13. B 14. B 15. 16. C 17. C 18. D 19. A 20. D Chapter 8 1. The figure above is an example of _____. a. Line graph b. Bar graph c. Data plot d. Scatterplot 2. Imagine you calculated the correlation coefficient for the data present in the figure, and the resulting number was r = -0.44. Looking at the figure, how would you know the number you calculated is incorrect? a. Correlation coefficient cannot be smaller than 1.0. b. The figure shows a positive relationship between life satisfaction and optimism. c. There aren’t 44 dots in the figure. d. There wouldn’t be a way to know this. 3. While reading about a research study, which of the following would tell you that an association claim is being made? a. The use of a correlation coefficient. b. The interrogation of internal validity. c. The presence of a scatter plot or bar graph. d. Measurement of two variables. 4. A study finds a correlation coefficient of r= 0.52. This number gives you information about which of the following? a. Strength and direction of the relationship b. Statistical significance and effect size c. Statistical validity and external validity d. Type of relationship and importance 5. In order to create the figure, which of the following pieces of information would you need? a. The correlation coefficient between voting behavior and optimism. b. The mean optimism scores of people who voted and people who did not vote. c. The number of people who voted and did not vote in 2016. d. Each individual participant’s optimism score. 6. Which of the following could you conclude by looking at the figure above? a. Voting in 2016 caused increase in one’s level of optimism. b. There is an association between voting behavior in 2016 and one’s level of optimism. c. The number of people who voted in 2016 is larger than the number of people who did not vote in 2016. d. Optimistic people will be more likely to vote in 2018. 7. When examining an association claim using a bar graph, an association is indicated by which of the following? a. A difference in the height between the bars b. The direction of the bars c. The number of observations that make up each bar d. The number of bars in the graph 8. If a person is asking whether the variables in an association claim are measured appropriately, _____ is being interrogated. a. External validity b. Statistical validity c. Construct validity d. Internal validity 9. Why are curvilinear relationships difficult to detect with correlation coefficients (r) ? a. r always assumes a zero association b. r always assumes a negative relationship c. Curvilinear relationships require a large amount of scores d. r always looks for the best straight line to fit the data 10. If there is not a full range of scores on one of the variables, this is known as… a. An outlier effect b. Spurious data c. Restriction of range d. A null effect 11. Martin has found a correlation of r= 0.18 between the two variables of using prescription stimulants and frontal lobe activity. This correlation is most likely to be statistically significant if… a. Martin used a larger number of participants b. The study can be applied to the real world c. Martin’s measure of prescription stimulant use is categorical d. Martin measured frontal lobe activity extremely accurately 12. Bivariate association claims’ failure to meet the criteria of temporal precedence and internal validity means that _____ cannot be _______. a. Hypothesis; tested b. Covariance; established c. Causal inferences; made d. Construct validity; interrogated 13. When evaluating the external validity of an association claim, which of the following is the most important issue to consider? a. The way the sample was selected from the population b. The size of the original population c. The number of subgroups in the sample d. The size of the sample 14. Which factors play a role in determining whether the relationship between two of Dr. Guidry’s variables is statistically significant? a. Sample size and the number of variables analyzed b. The number of outliers and the direction of the association c. Direction of the association and strength of the association d. Sample size and effect size 15. The “p= 0.23 (not significant)” in Dr. Guidry’s findings indicates all of the following EXCEPT… a. The effect size could not be calculated. b. It is likely that the association between number of friends one has and experience of daily stress is from a zero association population. c. She cannot reliably predict a study participant’s experience of daily stress from the participant’s number of friends. d. There is not a statistically significant association. 16. Matt, Dr. Guidry’s research assistant, is discussing the findings of the study with some other students. He claims that the experience of more daily stress causes people to have lower life satisfaction. Which of the following causal criteria did Matt meet? a. Internal validity b. The covariance of cause and effect c. Temporal precedence d. External validity 17. Dr. Guidry has decided to examine one of her relationships with a scatter plot to double-check for a curvilinear relationship. Which relationship will be most important for her to examine? a. Number of friends one has and life satisfaction b. Life satisfaction and daily stress c. Life satisfaction, daily stress, and number of friends one has simultaneously d. Number of friends one has and experience of daily stress 18. In evaluating Dr. Guidry’s study, you question its construct validity. Which of the following questions would you be asking? a. Does the number of friends cause people to experience less stress? b. How reliable is the measure of daily stress? c. Which statistic did Dr. Guidry compute? d. How did Dr. Guidry recruit her participants? 19. Dr. Guidry creates a scatter plot of the relationship between experience of daily stress and life satisfaction. In doing so, she realizes there are three scores that seem to be very extreme and nowhere near the other points on the scatter plot. Specifically, it appears that three people report very high levels of daily stress and very low levels of life satisfaction. Which of the following statements is NOT true? a. These scores are more likely to have an effect because of the large sample size. b. These scores may have strengthened the correlation between these two variables. c. These scores are more likely to have an effect because they are extreme on both variables. d. These scores may be considered outliers. 20. Dr. Guidry finds that the relationship between the number of friends one has and life satisfaction is stronger for men than women. In this study, sex is considered a(n).. a. Outlier b. Cause c. moderator d. Spurious variable Chapter 9 1. Which of the following is an example of a longitudinal design? a. Dr. Finn’s study, in which he measured job commitment in a group of Japanese factory workers and in a group of Mexican factory workers. b. Dr. Benson's study, in which she measured people's spatial manipulation ability in August and measured their ability again in May after they had taken two art classes. c. Dr. Tutola's study, in which he measured the daily stress of a group of married men and the daily happiness of their spouses d. Dr. Stabler's study, in which he measured people's frequency of playing video games in ninth grade and their aggressive behaviors in 12th grade. 2. Cross-lag correlations are NOT helpful for answering/addressing which rule of causation? a. Third variable problem: Are there third variables that could explain the relationship? b. Rule of temporal precedence: Is there temporal precedence? c. Rule of parsimony: Is this the simplest explanation for the observed phenomenon? d. Rule of covariance: Is there covariance? 3. Correlation 5 is an example of which of the following types of correlations? a. Autocorrelation b. Multivariate correlation c. Cross-lag correlation d. Cross-sectional correlation 4. Which of the following correlations is a cross-sectional correlation? a. Correlation 3 b. Correlation 4 c. Correlation 6 d. Correlation 5 5. What type of study design is Dr. Farah using? a. Bivariate correlational design b. Quasi-experimental design c. Multiple regression design d. Longitudinal design 6. Correlation 1 is an example of which of the following types of correlations? a. Autocorrelation b. Cross-lag correlation c. Multivariate correlation d. Cross-sectional correlation 7. Imagine that Dr. Farah noted a cyclical, reinforcing relationship between homework and academic achievement. For this to be the case, which of the following correlations would need to be significant? a. Correlation 2 and 3 b. Correlation 3 and 4 c. Correlation 2 and 5 d. Correlation 1 and 6 8. A colleague of Dr. Farah's questions the internal validity of her causal claim. He is curious as to whether the relationship between homework and academic achievement could be explained by interest in one's classes. Specifically, he thinks that students who are interested in their classes will both do more homework and have higher GPAs. Which of the following is a solution to this possible threat to internal validity? a. Dr. Farah should measure students' interest in their classes instead of time spent doing homework. b. Dr. Farah should replicate her study. c. Dr. Farah should measure students' interest in their classes instead of GPA. d. Dr. Farah should measure students' interest in their classes, and control for this variable in her analysis. 9. Which popular media headline does NOT suggest that a multiple regression has been used? a. "After taking into account job experience, people who are happier with their jobs report greater productivity" b. "Dog ownership decreases stress" c. "After correcting for several factors that affect memory, including intelligence, researchers found that people who read more frequently remember 12% more about a crime scene than those who don't read frequently" d. "The link between traumatic experience and the development of anxiety symptoms existed even when controlling for the effect of parental anxiety" 10. Which of the following is true about multiple regression? a. There is a limit to the number of predictors that can be included in a regression. b. There is a limit to the number of predictors that can be statistically significant. c. It can control for all third variables, including those that are not measured. d. Adding more predictors means research is controlling for more variables. 11. When examining the results of a multiple regression, which of the following should be compared to determine which predictor variables have the largest relationship to the criterion variable? a. Values b. Beta values c. Effect sizes d. Significance values 12. Adding several variables to a regression analysis can help do which of the following? a. Increase the statistical significance of the results b. Meet the temporal precedence criterion for causal inference c. Control for several variables at once d. Increase the construct validity of the study 13. Given that Dr. Finkel is using multiple regression, which of the following issues is his study best able to address? a. The issue of possible third variables b. The issue of temporal precedence between his two variables c. The issue of diminished statistical validity d. The issue or pattern and parsimony in research 14. One of Dr. Finkel's colleagues argues that he should have considered years of marriage in his study, which is a known predictor of marital satisfaction. If Dr. Finkel conducts his study again and asks people to report on how many years they have been married as well, which of the following statements is true? a. The beta value for number of arguments may no longer be statistically significant. b. He will need to delete a predictor variable. c. He will need to add another criterion variable. d. The beta value for number of arguments will remain unchanged. 15. Which of the following can be concluded based on the results of Dr. Finkel's study? a. The relationship between life satisfaction and marital satisfaction has the weakest effect size of all the results. b. As the number of arguments a couple has increases, their marital satisfaction increases as well, controlling for income but not life satisfaction. c. Income is a stronger predictor of marital satisfaction than either the number of arguments or life satisfaction. d. The beta for the relationship between life satisfaction and marital satisfaction is significantly different from zero. 16. The degree to which a good scientific theory provides the simplest explanation of some phenomenon is known as _____. a. Parsimony b. Pretentiousness c. Minimalism d. Density 17. Why is it problematic when journalists only report on a single study? a. It can lead people to value one study over decades of previous research. b. It can lead people to think journalists are scientists. c. It can cause people to interrogate a study's validities. d. It can make journalists look bad. 18. Which of the following is NOT true of third variables and mediating variables? a. Third variables are considered nuisances, but mediating variables are not.e b. Third variables are not usually of central interest to researchers, but mediating variables are. c. Third variables can be detected using multiple regression techniques, but mediating variables cannot. d. Third variables are correlated with both variables in the original relationship, and so are mediating variables. 19. Which of the following is the mediating variable in Dr. Cheong's hypothesis? a. Emotional well-being b. PTSD symptoms c. Social support d. Participant sex 20. Dr. Cheong's finding that the relationship between emotional well-being and PTSD symptoms is stronger for men than for women suggests which of the following? a. Participant sex is a mediating variable. b. Emotional well-being is a mediating variable. c. Emotional well-being is a moderating variable. d. Participant sex is a moderating variable. Chapter 10 1. Which of the following phrases describes a manipulated variable? a. "Participants wrote down how many text messages they had sent the day before." b. "Participants were placed in the high tempo music condition, the low tempo music condition, or the no music condition based on which color card they randomly drew from a deck." c. "Researchers recorded the length of time participants took to complete the anagrams." d. "Researchers recorded whether participants volunteered to help the student in need or did not volunteer." 2. Which of the following research designs is used to address possible selection effects? a. Matched-groups designs b. Posttest-only designs c. Pretest/posttest designs d. Correlational designs 3. Using a matched-group design is especially important in which of the following cases? a. When you have a complex dependent variable b. When you do not have a control group c. When you have at least three levels/conditions of the independent variable d. When you only have a few people in your study 4. A threat to internal validity occurs only if a potential design confound varies _____ with the independent variable. a. systematically b. spontaneously c. haphazardly d. Especially 5. Which of the following is a threat to internal validity found in within-groups designs but not in independent-groups designs? a. Practice effects b. Selection effects c. Demand characteristics d. Design confounds 6. The ability for a study to reveal a statistically significant difference between the levels of an independent variable when one truly exists is known as ______. a. power b. covariance c. effect size d. statistical validity 7. What is the primary difference between pretest/posttest designs and within-groups designs? a. There is no difference between the two designs. b. The number of levels of the independent variable participants are exposed to c. The number of times the dependent variable is measured d. The number of participants used 8. What is the difference between concurrent-measures designs and repeated-measures designs? a. Concurrent-measures designs expose participants to the levels of the independent variable at roughly the same time; repeated-measures designs expose participants to the levels of the independent variable sequentially. b. There is no difference; they are two terms for the same design. c. Concurrent-measures design is an independent-groups design; repeated-measures design is a within-groups design. d. Concurrent-measures designs can have any number of levels of an independent variable; repeated-measures designs can only have two levels of the independent variable. 9. When interrogating the construct validity of the dependent variable in an experiment, which of the following questions should be asked? a. "How well was this variable controlled by the experimenter?" b. "How well was this variable explained to the participants?" c. "How well was this variable manipulated?" d. "How well was this variable measured? 10. Random selection enhances _____ validity and random assignment enhances ______ validity a. external; internal b. internal; internal c. external; external d. internal; external 11. Which of the following is NOT a control variable in Dr. Lonsbary's study? a. The number of words on the list b. The amount of time allowed for memorizing the words c. The amount of time allowed for remembering/typing the words d. The mood of the participants 12. Which of the following is an independent variable in Dr. Lonsbary's study? a. What participants listened to on the CD b. Number rolled on the die c. Number of groups participants were assigned to d. Feeling happy 13. Prior to conducting the current study, Dr. Lonsbary asked her research assistant to use the same mood manipulation with a sample of 30 college students to determine if people's moods really did change after listening to music. Running this preliminary study helps establish _____ validity. a. external b. internal c. construct d. Statistical 14. Which of the following provides information about the statistical validity of Dr. Lonsbary's study? a. The d coefficient b. The method of random assignment c. The number of people in each group d. The mood reported by the participants 15. Which of the following allows Dr. Lonsbary to conclude that she met the covariance rule for causality? a. Having people listen to music or silence before they wrote down the list of words they remembered. b. Putting the 60 participants into equal groups c. Making sure that all participants were asked to remember the same list of words d. Noting that there is a difference between the number of words recalled by people in the happy and neutral conditions 16. In Dr. Lonsbary's study, which of the following is NOT present? a. A control variable b. A treatment group c. A placebo group d. A manipulation check 17. Dr. Dormeur was concerned that asking participants how long it took them to fall asleep would lead them to suspect that was the purpose of the study. Her decision to measure how long it took participants to go to sleep using the EEG instead of self-report was meant to decrease which of the following? a. Order effects b. Demand characteristics c. Counterbalancing effects d. Selection effects 18. Given that there are three conditions/levels of the independent variable, how many orders of the conditions are possible in Dr. Dormeur’s study? a. Six b. Three c. Twelve d. Nine 19. In the study depicted in this figure, why might researchers have measured blood pressure twice? a. To make sure the two groups were equal before the manipulation b. To decrease testing effects c. To establish temporal precedence d. To make sure the first measurement could be trusted 20. This figure depicts which type of research design? a. Concurrent-measures design b. Pretest/posttest design c. Posttest-only design d. Repeated-measures design Chapter 11 1. Which of the following threats to internal validity would result in group differences prior to the start of the study? a. Design confound b. Selection effect c. Order effect d. Maturation effect 2. Dr. Gong conducts a study where she randomly assigns participants to different experimental conditions. The testing for each condition occurs in a different room of the psychology building. After collecting her data, she learns that the air conditioning in one of the rooms had been turned off during data collection. Which of the following threats to internal validity should Dr. Gong be concerned with? a. Design confound b. Selection effect c. Order effect d. Maturation effect 3. Observer bias can threaten which of the following big validities? a. Internal validity and construct validity b. External validity and construct validity c. Internal validity and external validity d. Internal validity only 4. Dr. Whetstone is curious about how self-esteem changes as a result of a new counseling program. She is concerned about testing threats in her study. Which of the following would you recommend to her as a way to address this type of threat? a. Refusing to let participants drop out of the study b. Conducting a pretest only study c. Using a different measure of self esteem at pretest than a posttest d. Omitting a comparison group 5. Spontaneous remission in clinical studies is an example of which of the following threats to internal validity? a. Regression b. Attrition c. Maturation d. Placebo Effects 6. Dr. Hoff is curious as to whether children in kindergarten classroom will be friendlier after talking about friendship. Immediately before and after the discussion, she has several undergraduate research assistants code the “friendliness” of a group of kindergartens. Which of the following threats should Dr. Hoff be most concerned about? a. History b. Maturation c. Instrumentation d. Testing 7. The addition of a comparison group can address which of the following threats to internal validity? a. Instrumentation b. Maturation c. Selection History d. Attrition 8. Which of the following is a reason why a researcher might choose to conduct a double-blind placebo control group study? a. To eliminate testing effects b. To control for observer bias c. To prevent attrition d. To control for regression to the mean 9. A confound that keeps a researcher from finding a relationship between two variables is known as a(n) ______ confound. a. Weak b. Insensitive c. Null d. Reverse 10. Which of the following is true of ceiling and floor effects? a. They cannot be detected by manipulation checks. b. They are only problematic in pretest/posttest design. c. They can be caused by poorly designed dependent variables. d. They don’t affect the results of the study. 11. Ceiling effects can effect…. a. Certain groups more than others b. Independent variables only c. Dependent variables only d. Both independent and dependent variables 12. To avoid insensitive measures, it is important to use measures that include… a. Large differences between the levels of the variable b. Measurement error c. Ceiling effects d. Multiple increments of the variable 13. A researcher’s attempt to control sounds, smells, and even temperature in a testing environment is meant to reduce which of the following? a. Between-group variance b. Situation noise c. Weak manipulations d. Demand characteristics 14. Which of the following things can be done to reduce measurement error? a. Using less precise measurements b. Using more reliable measurements c. Using a pretest/posttest design d. Increasing unsystematic variance 15. Using the same setting and consistent protocols for each participant in a study will reduce the effect of… a. Measurement error b. Individual differences c. Situation noise d. Floor effects 16. The study described above is an example of which of the following? a. A one-group, pretest/posttest design b. A null effect c. A double blind study d. Observer bias 17. Dr. Schulenberg likely designed his study so that neither he nor his students knew which group they were in to address which of the following? a. Placebo effects b. Attrition c. Demand characteristics d. Maturation 18. Which of the following aspects of Dr. Schulenberg’s study allows him to prevent observer bias? a. Keeping his students unaware of which type of essay they are writing b. Having his teaching assistant assign students randomly to the two groups c. Grading the exams himself instead of having his teaching assistant do it d. Ensuring the person grading the exams is unaware of each student’s writing group 19. Which of the following threats to internal validity will Dr. Bloedorn NOT be worried about? a. Testing effect b. Attrition c. Demand characteristics d. Placebo effect 20. The addition of a group that does not use the drink additive but adds a similar looking substance that they think is the additive would help Dr. Bloedorn address which of the following threats to internal validity? a. History b. Observer bias c. Instrumentation d. Placebo effects