Understanding Psychology

Chapter 2: Psychological Research Methods and Statistics

Multiple Choice Quiz

1
The first step psychologists take in researching an issue is to ____.
A)ask a specific question about a limited topic
B)determine the validity of a claim
C)select an unbiased sample
D)conduct an informal survey
2
The value of a case study is that ____.
A)it provides an intensive study of a person or group and can prove or disprove a hypothesis
B)the researchers' conclusions are generally correct
C)it provides results that can be generalized for other applications
D)it provides a wealth of descriptive material that may generate new hypotheses
3
Which of the following statements about surveys is NOT TRUE?
A)Surveys are the most practical way to gather data on large numbers of people.
B)Surveys consist of interviews, questionnaires, or a combination of the two.
C)Interviews take less time to administer than questionnaires, and the results are more uniform.
D)Questionnaires prevent the researcher's mannerisms from influencing the participant's answers.
4
A researcher who compares hours spent watching television and satisfaction with family life is using a ____.
A)longitudinal study
B)cross-sectional study
C)correlation
D)naturalistic observation
5
A researcher may choose experimentation over other research methods because ____.
A)every experiment has a hypothesis
B)psychologists can alter independent variables to study different effects
C)experiments provide concrete evidence
D)experimentation gives the investigator control over outside variables that may influence the results
6
The ethical principals that govern psychologists' research include all the following EXCEPT ____.
A)plan research so as to minimize the possibility of misleading results
B)never use deception in research
C)psychologists are responsible for the dignity and welfare of participants
D)obey all state and federal laws and regulations
7
When an experimenter's expectations about a behavior influence the results of his experiment, it is called a ____.
A)self-fulfilling prophecy
B)single-blind experiment
C)double-blind experiment
D)placebo effect
8
Which of the following statements about psychological experiments is MOST accurate?
A)The participant's expectations about an experiment do not influence results.
B)The purpose of a single-blind experiment is to guarantee that neither the participants nor the experimenter influence the results.
C)Both the experimenter's expectations and the participant's expectations can influence the results of an experiment.
D)The placebo effect describes a change in a patient's illness or physical state that results solely from the medication administered.
9
The method of organizing data to determine how often a behavior occurs is called ____.
A)descriptive statistics
B)frequency distribution
C)central tendency
D)standard deviation
10
Which of the following statements about the normal curve is NOT true?
A)The normal curve is important because it can be divided into sections to predict outcomes.
B)Many variables fall into a normal curve if enough data is collected.
C)The normal curve is asymmetrical
D)The normal curve is bell-shaped.
11
The ____ is considered an "average" of all results and is the most commonly used measure of central tendency.
A)mode
B)median
C)mean
D)range
12
Two commonly used measures of variance are ____.
A)range and standard deviation
B)mode and median
C)range and mean
D)standard deviation and median
13
All of the following statements about measures of variance are true EXCEPT ____.
A)On an aptitude test, if the highest score is 50 and the lowest is 20, the range is 30.
B)Because the standard deviation uses only a small amount of information, it is considered a crude measure of variance.
C)Standard deviation is similar to the "average" distance of every score to the mean of the scores.
D)The larger the standard deviation from the mean score, the more spread out the scores are.
14
Which of the following statements about correlation coefficients is TRUE?
A)A correlation coefficient provides an index of the spread of the scores of a distribution.
B)A positive correlation indicates that as one variable increases, the second variable decreases.
C)A scatterplot demonstrates the direction of the relationship between two variables.
D)A correlation coefficient describes the balance point of distribution.
15
Researchers use ____ to make generalizations about the population from which their participants come.
A)correlation coefficients
B)standard deviations
C)descriptive statistics
D)inferential statistics
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