Exam 3: Research Methods

Danica put spouses in separate rooms,asked them to complete relationship satisfaction ratings,and then videotaped all participants giving a brief speech,which she said their partners would later watch.After the speech,participants were provided with three different types of written false feedback presumably provided by their partners,and then they rated their relationship satisfaction again.Danica then assessed how evaluations of relationship satisfaction changed when participants received three different types of false feedback.In one condition,the feedback was positive and reassuring,in the second,it was negative and critical,and in the third,it was mixed.In this experiment,the independent variable is ________ and the dependent variable is ________.

A sample that is recruited solely because it is easy to find is called a ________ sample.

Harker and Keltner (2001)examined women's yearbook photos from 30 years ago.They examined how women's facial expressions in the photos predicted whether or not the women were more or less likely to marry and how happy they were if they stayed married.What kind of research is this an example of?

In the 1970s,a number of studies suggested that over the course of a long marriage,spouses' relationship satisfaction generally followed a U-shaped curve: first declining,then remaining stable,and then increasing (presumably after children left home).In the 1990s,new research proved this idea wrong.Generally,marital satisfaction declines throughout the course of marriage.What was the difference between the earlier and the later research?

A researcher is surveying men about partner behaviors that are potentially annoying.When presented with a list of possibly annoying behaviors and asked to rate their tolerance of these behaviors that have occurred in the current relationship,respondents indicate a high level of tolerance for all behaviors,even the most annoying ones.What phenomenon might these responses illustrate?

Wei-Chin designed a self-report inventory to measure how intimate partners express affection and hostility toward each other.The inventory is a list of positive behaviors (e.g. ,back rubs,holding hands)and negative behaviors (e.g. ,slamming doors,raising voices).After a wide range of couples completed the inventory,Wei-Chin found that happy couples endorsed all the affection items and unhappy couples endorsed all the hostile items.Which of the following problems prevents Wei-Chin from concluding that happy couples exchange more affectionate behaviors than unhappy couples?

A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it.She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction.Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable)and who is either friendly or aloof (the social warmth variable).After interacting with the target person under these conditions,participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is.In this study,similarity and social warmth are the ________ variables and interpersonal attraction is the ________ variable.

David conducted an experiment where he assigned one group of couples to go on weekly dates and to do something that neither spouse had ever done before or had not done very often (e.g. ,rollerblading or attending the opera or cooking classes);he called this the "novel" group.He assigned a second group of couples to go on a date every Saturday but to do the same activity every week;David called this the "routine" group.The couples were asked to go on their date nights every Saturday for 6 weeks.The couples completed relationship satisfaction questionnaires prior to starting the date nights and again at the end of the 6 weeks.The answers allowed David to see whether the couples in the novel activity group were happier in their relationships at the end of the study compared to the couples in the routine group.When couples volunteered to be in the study,David asked them which group they would prefer to be in because he thought if couples could choose their own group they would be more likely to complete the 6-week study,and thus David could avoid attrition bias.What is the problem with David's study,and why is it a concern?

The following are all challenges to studying couples EXCEPT:

Describe the ethical considerations associated with conducting intimate relationship research.

You are designing an exploratory study on couples who have polyamorous relationships (i.e. ,they have multiple committed relationships at one time).There is very little research in this area,and not much is known about how these couples manage their relationships.Which research approach would be the most appropriate for this new research area?

A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it.She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction.Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable)and who is either friendly or aloof (the social warmth variable).After interacting with the target person,participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is.In this study,the independent variables are:

Tony is interested in understanding how trust develops in the context of a relationship.For example,he would like to determine at what month or year in a relationship do partners really start to trust one another.Based on his question,what type of study would you suggest he design?

You and your friend are discussing what it means to be in love.You think that being in love means that you put your partner's needs above your own,whereas your friend thinks that it means that you want to spend the rest of your life with that person.Given this,you and your friend obviously differ in your:

Andy decides to use the number of times per week research participants talk to their partners as a measure of relationship closeness.According to the chapter on research methods,"how many times per week research participants talk to their partners" is ________.

Ravneet is doing a study on social support in romantic relationships and depression.He recruited a sample of undergraduates to complete his questionnaires but would like to generalize his findings to anyone in a romantic relationship.What is one problem with his study?

The measurement of agreement between independent observers,who are studying behaviors that require some interpretation on the part of the observer,is called ________.

Self-report measures that ask about a wide range of emotions or behaviors associated with a specific topic are considered _____ measures.

Imagine that you wanted to learn more about how couples communicate about hurt feelings,whether and how they forgive each other for interpersonal transgressions,and how these behaviors relate to relationship quality.How would you design your study? Comment on what measurement strategy and what type of design you would use and why.

You design a questionnaire where you first ask participants to briefly describe how they met their current romantic partners,and then you ask them to rate,on a scale of 1 to 7,how satisfied they are in their relationships.The first part of the questionnaire is an example of ________ and the second part is an example of ________.