Psychology 002 - Biological Psychology » Spring 2022 » Conducting Psychological Research in the Real World

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Question #1
Imagine that you are part of a study that measures your heart rate and breathing throughout the day. For the most part, your heart rate and breathing only changes when you exercise or are very excited. However, it seems like every time you visit the researcher to get your equipment updated, your heart rate and breathing spike for seemingly no reason. This phenomenon is referred to as:
A.   participant demand effects
B.   extraneous variables
C.   the placebo effect
D.   white coat hypertension
Question #2
The degree to which a study allows unambiguous causal inferences has ________.
A.   ecological validity
B.   publishing potential
C.   external validity
D.   internal validity
Question #3
Dr. Tylka is conducting research about the risk of developing eating disorders in adolescent boys. She concludes that her findings apply not only to the sample of high school boys she studied, but to other males in other settings and contexts. In this regard, Dr. Tylka is stating that her findings have high __________ validity.
A.   external
B.   internal
C.   split-half
D.   construct
Question #4
Which of the following is the best statement regarding the relationship between different forms of validity in psychology research?
A.   It is difficult to achieve high levels of both internal and external validity in the same research study.
B.   There is no relationship between internal and external validity, as they examine different qualities of a study.
C.   If one has high external validity in a research study, then they automatically have high internal validity as well.
D.   It is not possible to simultaneously assess both internal and external validity, so a researcher must decide which one is more important to their study before the research begins.
Question #5
The development of _________ has provided a new level of advantage for gathering information from research participants at specific times, often randomly selected, throughout a given day.
A.   smartphones
B.   microrecorders
C.   computer tablets
D.   digital watches
Question #6
When researchers collect in-the-moment (or, close-to-the-moment) self-report data directly from participants as they go about their daily lives, they are:
A.   studying online behavior
B.   studying daily experiences
C.   studying daily physiology
D.   studying daily behavior
Question #7
Mathilda is being asked by a researcher to think about things that happened to her yesterday. “Start with getting up in the morning,” she is told, “and try to recount what happened step by step until I ask you to stop.” Mathilda is taking part in a study that utilizes the __________ method.
A.   backward conditioning
B.   retroactive recollection
C.   day reconstruction
D.   retrospective analysis
Question #8
When researchers take special care to include and control for every possible variable, the study is likely to have high ___________, even though the results may not generalize to a more realistic situation.
A.   internal validity
B.   external validity
C.   experimental validity
D.   concurrent validity
Question #9
When a study uses the __________ method of data collection, participants complete a questionnaire about their thoughts, feelings, and behavior at the end of each day.
A.   experience sampling
B.   journaling
C.   case study
D.   diary
Question #10
The ability to arrive at broad conclusions based on smaller ones is known as __________. It requires that the sample under investigation be representative of the larger population from which it was drawn.
A.   generalizability
B.   validity
C.   reliability
D.   standardization
Question #11
Imagine that researchers were interested in learning about public support for gay marriage. If the researchers analyzed Facebook posts regarding the acceptance or rejection of homosexuality (via opinions in status updates, article posts, or groups they officially like), they would be:
A.   studying daily physiology
B.   studying online behavior
C.   studying daily experiences
D.   studying daily behavior
Question #12
The __________ method is a research approach in which participants describe their experiences and behavior of a given day through systematic recollection on the following day
A.   circadian rebuilding
B.   experience sampling
C.   diary
D.   day reconstruction
Question #13
Dr. Hart is interested in the role of relationships in preventing heart disease. As her patients come into her office in Bluebell, Alabama, she asks them two questions: Are you a in a relationship? Have you experienced any heart problems in the last 8 years? Based on her findings, she concludes that relationships cause cardiovascular (heart) problems. One issue with her methodology is that the results are not generalizable. What does this mean?
A.   Her sample was not perfectly random.
B.   Her results may not be true for the entire population.
C.   Her results were incorrect.
D.   She cannot prove causation.
Question #14
The degree to which a study ensures that potential findings apply to settings and samples other than the ones being studied refers to:
A.   external validity
B.   ecological validity
C.   publishing potential
D.   internal validity
Question #15
The degree to which a study finding has been obtained under conditions that are typical for what happens in everyday life is called ___________.
A.   ecological validity
B.   face validity
C.   generalizability
D.   interrater reliability
Question #16
Dru is reading about the different types of research. If he reads, “This type of research has the primary advantage of allowing a scientist to determine cause and effect relationships,” what kind of research method is he studying?
A.   a case study
B.   a quasi-experimental design
C.   a laboratory experiment
D.   naturalistic observation
Question #17
What is the advantage of a field study over a laboratory study?
A.   increased cause and effect
B.   increased internal validity
C.   increased reliability
D.   increased external validity
Question #18
What kind of research is traditionally considered to be the “gold standard” in psychology research?
A.   the correlational study
B.   the laboratory experiment
C.   the survey method
D.   the longitudinal design
Question #19
Dr. Fikshunal is interested in how our bodies respond to being excluded from a group. Therefore, she decides to monitor the heart rate and cortisol levels of participants as they engage in their environment and indicate experiences when they felt ostracized. In this scenario, Dr. Fikshunal is:
A.   studying daily behavior
B.   studying online behavior
C.   studying daily experiences
D.   studying daily physiology
Question #20
For your senior project, you want to learn more about the effect of brain damage on an individual’s ability to learn a new language. You don’t really have the time or resources to observe or interview and talk to people with brain damage. Ethically, you can’t manipulate the independent variable. You need something that is quick and easy so you can turn your project in on time. Based on what you know about different research methods and designs, which approach to research would you use?
A.   survey
B.   experiment
C.   case study
D.   naturalistic observations

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