Exam 6: Research Strategies and Validity

When research is conducted in a ____, participants may be particularly influenced by ____.

Demand characteristics can threaten internal validity because the results ____.

As the values for one variable decrease from one person to another, the values for a second variable also tend to decrease. This is an example of a(n) ____ relationship.

A(n) ____variable is a variable in a study that is not being directly studied.

A scatter plot showing the relationship between two variables shows data points that form a straight-line pattern. What kind of relationship is indicated by this pattern?

Any factor that allows for an alternative explanation for the results of a study is a threat to external validity.

The individual differences between participants, such as age, gender, height, strength, intelligence, etc., are known as ________.

Which question is best addressed with the experimental strategy?

A researcher is concerned that experimental results obtained with college students may not apply to adults in the general population. This illustrates a concern with ____ validity.

A research study begins by separating a sample of 20-year-old women into two groups: a high Facebook use group and a low Facebook use group. A score measuring happiness is then obtained for each woman. The study intends to determine whether there is a relationship between Facebook use and happiness. This study is an example of the ____ research strategy.

A study is ____ if it produces only one explanation for the results.

One test of a study's external validity is if the same results can be obtained using other systems of measurement.

Define internal validity in research design. Describe two threats to the internal validity of a research study. (Note: For each threat, be sure to label it, describe it, and be sure to indicate how it specifically is a threat to the internal validity of the design.)

The ____ of a research study is concerned with factors in the study that raise doubts about the interpretation of the results.

The purpose of the descriptive research strategy is to describe the relationship between two variables.

Susan is a participant in a research study. She has never participated in a study before, and she is excited and a little nervous, so she unintentionally behaves differently than she normally would. Susan's situation is an example of which threat to external validity?

In which research situation below would an extraneous variable become a confounding variable?

A research study attempts to describe the relationship between self-esteem and birth order position by measuring self-esteem for each individual in a group of first-born boys, and then comparing the results with self-esteem scores for a group of later-born boys. This study is an example of the ____ strategy.

Which research strategies produce similar data structures that use similar statistical analyses?

Which research strategy attempts to address questions about cause-and-effect relationships but fails to produce an unambiguous answer because the study contains a flaw?