Test Bank for Research Methods Design and

Analysis, 11th Edition : Christensen

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Test Bank for Research Methods Design and Analysis, 11th Edition : Christensen

Chapter 9
Procedure for Conducting an Experiment

Learning objectives

To be able to

• Describe the decisions that are made after the research design has been established but before
data collection begins.
• Explain the Institutional Review Board process.
• Explain the importance of sample size and the concept of statistical power.
• Explain why it is necessary to conduct a pilot study prior to data collection.
• Explain the necessity of debriefing and describe how it is done.

Multiple choice questions

1) Even though psychologists are interested in behavioral diversity, most participants in

psychological experiments are
a) cats and dogs.
* b) animals and introductory psychology students.
c) rats and pigeons.
d) farm animals.

2) In choosing the species for a particular study most researchers select

* a) based on precedent in that field.
b) the one with the lowest cost of maintenance.
c) college students.
d) non-mammalians.

3) What should be the main determinant of what kind of organism is used in a given experiment?
a) availability
b) precedent; what others in the field use
c) cost
* d) the type of research problem

4) When selecting participants from a population, experimenters need

* a) to be concerned about differences between volunteers and nonvolunteers.
b) not worry about random selection with rats. A rat is a rat is a rat.
c) not worry about representativeness if a large sample size is used.
d) all of the above.

5) Participants in human experiments are generally selected

a) at random from the population.
* b) based on convenience and availability.
c) through lotteries and newspaper ads.
d) from phone books or class rosters.

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6) If human participants cannot be selected randomly,
a) then select with a conscious bias and keep that in mind when interpreting data.
b) then use non-human participants so you can get them at your convenience.
c) it is imperative to match participants to each other (precision control matching).
* d) it becomes more important to report exactly how participants were selected and
assigned.

7) The number of participants in an experiment can affect

a) whether future work is funded by federal grants.
* b) the ability to detect statistically significant differences among groups.
c) the experimenter's ability to recruit enough research assistants to make the experiment
practical.
d) the esteem in which a particular researcher's work is held.

8) The probability of rejecting a false null hypothesis is referred to as

* a) power.
b) potency.
c) serendipity.
d) alpha.

9) Power of a statistical test refers to

a) the probability of rejecting a true null hypothesis.
* b) the probability of rejecting a false null hypothesis.
c) the probability of not rejecting a true null hypothesis.
d) the probability of not rejecting a false null hypothesis.

10) A power analysis allows you to determine the number of participants needed if you also
know
a) alpha.
b) effect size and alpha.
c) alpha and power.
* d) alpha, power, and effect size.

11) Effect size is the

a) magnitude of alpha and power combined.
* b) magnitude of the relationship between the independent variable and the dependent
variable.
c) magnitude of the manipulation of the independent variable.
d) scale on the vertical axis required to plot the all of the data.

12) Which of the following is NOT an advantage that comes from automating one's experimental
apparatus?
* a) increased power of statistical tests
b) decreased probability of recording errors
c) increased uniformity of stimulus presentation
 d) facilitation of presentation of the independent variable.

13) Perhaps the greatest technological advance in experimental apparatus has been
a) the ability to tape record experimental instructions.
* b) the arrival of affordable, easily programmed microcomputers.
c) the development of the Skinner box.
d) the development of EEG.

14) Suppose you have gone to great lengths to determine which participants will perform the
experiment at what time and in what group, but some participants just fail to show up for their
appointments. What should you do?
a) nothing; conduct the experiment as planned, without their data
* b) randomly select and assign new participants to take their place
c) estimate what their performance would have been based on how other members of
their group performed and add it in to your results
d) to fill in the gaps in your groups, take the nearest willing volunteers

15) Instructions serve many purposes in the data collection process. Which of the following is
NOT among them?
a) define the participants' task for them
b) motivate participants to perform well
c) direct participants' attention to relevant stimuli
* d) explain to participants the true nature of the study

16) Which of the following is NOT true with regard to procedures?

* a) as long as the instructions are uniformly presented, it is not very important how an
experimenter greets and otherwise interacts with the participants
b) the handling of rats between the home cages and the test apparatus can influence the
outcome of the experiment
c) all participants should experience the same events even though they are totally
unrelated to the experiment
d) it is far more important to treat human participants in exactly the same manner than it
is for non-human participants

17) "Pilot" research allows the investigator to

* a) check out the procedures before collecting the real data.
b) select the right participants for his or her study.
c) determine if the randomizing techniques really work.
d) simplify his or her research design.

18) Frequently, experimenters try out new procedures and/or apparatuses by running the
experiment using just a few participants. This experiment is called a
* a) pilot study.
b) test run.
c) dry run.
d) mini-study.
19) When conducting research with human and non-human participants, the experimenter must
obtain approval of the research plan from ___________ and _____________, respectively.
a) department chair; IACUC
b) IACUC; IRB
c) IRB; department chair
* d) IRB; IACUC

20) Human participants must sign a “consent to participate” form (unless exempted) prior to
being in the experiment. This form should include all of the following EXCEPT
a) benefits to be derived from participating.
b) the general purpose of the study.
c) any monetary or grade benefits for participating.
* d) a disclaimer saying that the experimenter is not responsible for any harm to the
participant.

21) Postexperimental interviews are particularly important when, experimental procedures

involves the use of
* a) deception.
b) random assignment.
c) minors.
d) all of the above.

22) Postexperimental interviews fulfill many obligations the experimenter has toward his or her
participants. Which of the following is NOT among them?
a) ethical obligations to inform participants about the experiment
b) educating participants about the nature and role of psychological research
c) offering the participant complete satisfaction with his or her role in the experiment
* d) assessing whether the participant would like to be trained as a researcher, too

23) The power of a statistical test is determined by

a) the probability level.
b) the sample size.
c) the effect size.
* d) all of the above.

24) One source of research subjects that has been used with increasing frequency over the past
decade is
a) students enrolled in the first course in psychology.
b) monkeys.
* c) the Internet.
d) elementary and secondary schools.

25) The consent to participate statement must include all of the following, except which one?
a) information about earning extra credit.
* b) funding sources and any governmental agencies affiliated with the study.
 c) list of procedures, discomforts or risks associated with participation.
d) detailed information about the study: where, when and how long will the subject
participate.

26) Which of the following is not one of the functions of debriefing your participants?
* a) moral
b) ethical
c) educational
d) methodological

27) Ellen was interested in studying the long term effect of incest and had constructed a
questionnaire asking a number of mental health and relationship questions. Now she must
identify a sample of adult survivors of incest. What would be the best source of such
individuals?
a) the local mental health center
b) a survey of students taking the Introductory Psychology course
* c) on-line support groups found on the Internet
d) local shelters for abused women

28) How might you solicit individuals for a study via the Internet?
a) contact an organization or association and ask for their members email address
b) purchase email address from a commercial organization such as a white pages services
c) post a study or survey on a Web site that specializes in advertising such opportunities
* d) all of the above are potential ways of soliciting participants

29) When conducting an Internet based study it is a good idea to not only conduct a pilot study
using several participants but to also complete the study yourself because
a) this is the only way you can determine if the study will give the results you desire
b) completing the study yourself allows you to understand how it feels to complete an
online study
c) having participants complete the study allows you to get feedback regarding whether
the study works properly in your browser
d) this will allow you to determine if the data collected will be returned to you is an
manner that is understandable and arranged in a way that can be statistically analyzed.
* e) All of the above are correct

30) The Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) judges which of the following?
a) whether the researcher has chosen the appropriate species of animal to answer his or
her question
b) the number of animals that should be used to maintain a reasonable amount of power
* c) whether methods of euthanasia are in accordance with accepted procedures
d) insures that research animals experience no pain or discomfort

31) The primary concern of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) is to

a) improve the internal validity of the research design.
b) insure the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals in research.
* c) protect the welfare of human participants.
d) insure that research proposals contain no risk to the partipants.

32) According to research by Kimmel (1991) IRB decisions seem to be partially dependent on
a) the size of the university (larger universities tend to have lower approval rates).
* b) gender (male reviewers are more likely to approve studies).
c) occupation (veterinarians are more likely to approve animal research).
d) age (younger reviewers tend to be more lenient).

33) If an IRB refuses to approve a study the researcher

* a) must abide by their ruling and either redesign the study or not conduct it.
b) has the option to appeal to the national IRB committee.
c) can still conduct the study but has greater liability if something goes wrong.
d) must appear before the board to answer questions about his or her research design.

34) Other than humans, the most common research participant are
a) rhesus monkeys
b) house cats
* c) albino rats
d) fruit flies

35) A “participant pool” is

a) a collection of former research participants that have expressed a willingness to
participate in future studies.
b) a group of individuals that have completed a pilot study and are therefore no longer
naïve to the researcher’s hypothesis.
* c) a group of potential research participants (usually college students).
d) a place where participants can swim and cool off after their arduous research
participation.

36) Psychology participant pools provide a ________ sample.

* a) convenient
b) simple random
c) stratified
d) cluster

37) The most common criticism regarding the use of college student participant pools is that
a) students are coerced into participating in research.
b) it may compromise internal validity.
* c) it may compromise external validity.
d) it may introduce a confounding variable.

38) One problem, noted in your text, with recruiting research participants through the Internet is
that
* a) the participants may not be representative of non-Internet users.
b) it is difficult to maintain confidentiality.
 c) contacting potential participants is difficult.
d) most researchers are not “net savvy.”

39) Reporting of details regarding participant characteristics, selection and assignment

procedures
a) violates conditions of anonymity and is therefore considered unethical.
* b) is important to enable other researchers to replicate your findings.
c) is considered superfluous and unnecessary given space limitations in most journals.
d) is important to alleviate internal validity concerns.

40) Power refers to

* a) the chances of rejecting the false null hypothesis.
b) the chances of rejecting a true null hypothesis.
c) the chances of rejecting any null hypothesis.
d) the chances of generalizing your results beyond the sample tested.

41) Generally speaking, as the number of the participants in the study increases,
a) power decreases.
* b) power also increases.
c) the likelihood of correctly rejecting the null hypothesis decreases.
d) the likelihood of making a Type II error also increases.

42) Researchers would like for power to be at least

a) .30.
b) .50.
* c) .80.
d) 2.5.

43) Which of the following does NOT impact the power of a statistical test?
* a) the number of conditions in the study
b) the effect size
c) the sample size
d) the alpha level

44) Which of the following is a measure of effect size?

a) Cronbach’s alpha
b) G-Power
c) analysis of variance
* d) Cohen’s d

45) If you think that informed consent is unnecessary in your research you
a) should still obtain assent.
* b) must request a waiver from the IRB.
c) must get approval to forgo consent from the research dean at your college or
university.
d) are wrong; all research requires informed consent.
46) The session that the researcher holds with participants at the conclusion of the experiment is
called
* a) a postexperimental interview.
b) deception.
c) informed consent.
d) post hoc information gathering.

47) Which of the following is NOT typically considered to be a function of debriefing?

a) to return participants to their preexperimetnal state
b) to teach the participants something about the research
* c) to obtain demographic information from the participants
d) to assess the effects of the independent variable manipulation

48) Which of the functions of debriefing is probably least likely to be accomplished?

a) the ethical function of explaining the purpose of any deception employed
* b) the educational value function
c) the ability to determine if our independent variable manipulation was effective
d) none of the above; that is, all have been shown to be adequately addressed with
debriefing.

49) According to your text what is the primary disadvantage of posting debriefing information on
a website?
a) an inability to accurately explain the nature of the research
b) difficulty in determining the effectiveness of our deception
* c) an inability to assess the psychological state of the participant
d) the inability to fulfill the educational component of the debriefing session.

50) A good way to work out the kinks of an experiment is to

* a) conduct a pilot study.
b) write an IRB proposal.
c) engage in step-by-step visualization of the research procedure.
d) have someone else read the procedure section of your paper.

Vocabulary

Define the following in psychological terms:

power effect size

pilot study postexperimental interview

Essay questions
1) Discuss the procedure that is typically used to select human participants for research. What
particular concerns about the procedure or the typical research participant should be considered?

2) Discuss the use of the Internet for recruiting research participants. What particular advantages
and disadvantages are associated with this technique?

3) How do researchers determine the number of participants to be used in their experiment? Be

sure to discuss all considerations.

4) What is power? How does sample size influence power?

5) What is effect size? How does effect size influence power?

6) What advantages accrue from automating experimental procedures?

8) Describe the important elements that should be included in a consent-to-participate statement.

9) What are the important considerations to take into account when constructing instructions for
one's research participants?

10) What is a "pilot study?” What do experimenters gain from conducting pilot studies?

11) What is debriefing (postexperimental interview)? Discuss the three functions of debriefing.

12) Describe the suggested procedure for conducting a debriefing session.

Classroom exercise suggestion:

1) If you haven’t done so already, this would be a good opportunity to have students create an
IRB proposal for their own (or a hypothetical) study. This will force students to describe their
research procedure clearly and succinctly and will help to identify flaws in their design before
they begin collecting data. In addition to the sample IRB proposal presented in chapter 4 (exhibit
4.3) you should consider sharing samples of student proposals from your institution. There are
also several good examples available online.

2) Because of its particular importance, you might have students complete the informed consent
tutorial located here: http://www.research.umn.edu/consent/

3) With the growth of internet usage some researchers have begun to put their research “online.”
Discuss with the class how the standard laboratory procedures might be adapted to internet
usage. For example, how do you deal with random selection and assignment of participants when
they can “surf in“at any time and participate? How could you adequately present instructions and
debriefing?
Test Bank for Research Methods Design and Analysis, 11th Edition : Christensen

4) If your students are farther along in the research process you can spend more time discussing
sample size as it relates to power. Two good power analysis calculators can be found at the links
below:
http://www.stat.uiowa.edu/~rlenth/Power/index.html (Java Applets for Power and
Sample Size site maintained by Russ Lenth)

http://www.psycho.uni-duesseldorf.de/aap/projects/gpower/index.html (G*Power -
downloadable freeware created by Axel Buchner, Franz Faul, and Edgar Erdfelder)

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