Exam 8: Experiments

A friend of yours, a senior, took the Graduate Record Exam in September and scored in the 99th percentile. In February, your friend took the same exam over again. This time your friend scored in the 90th percentile. As a research methods student, you told your friend that his/her lowered score was most likely due to:

Experiments are especially appropriate for research projects involving all of the following EXCEPT:

The difference between the experimental and control group should be:

Provide an example of a topic that would be well suited to an experimental study and an example of a topic that would not be well suited to an experimental study. What makes a study appropriate for experimental research?

Explain how a natural experiment differs from a traditional one. What are the advantages and shortcomings of using them?

Preexperimental designs:

Which of the following experimental designs has the least explanatory power compared with the others?

Without randomly assigning subjects, a researcher administers the experimental stimulus to the experimental group and then measures the dependent variable in both the experimental and control groups. This design is known as the:

What is the biggest weakness of the use of laboratory experiments in social research?

It has been suggested that within a large enough experiment and with truly randomized assignment to experimental and control groups, a pretest is unnecessary.

The Solomon four-group design:

An experiment examines the effect of the:

Kyo is looking to perform a quick research study to determine the effects of a documentary about domestic violence on people's perceptions of violence. His experiment consists of administering a brief survey to a group, having them watch a movie, then surveying them as they leave to determine if any change occurred. What kind of design is Kyo utilizing?

Because experiments focus on determining causation, they are better suited to descriptive purposes rather than explanatory purposes.

Jimmy's experiment requires him to tell subjects that they will be working in pairs to solve a problem when in reality he does not care about problem-solving. Jimmy is really observing the nonverbal communication between two people who do not know each other. Which of the following statements is FALSE concerning Jimmy's research?

Deception is often an important part of experimental research design. What are the ethical implications of using deception in your experiment? How do researchers decide whether to use deception?

Which of the following is NOT a type of preexperimental research design?

You were asked to participate in an experiment to test the effectiveness of review sessions on exam grades. As a research methods student, you concluded that you had been assigned to the control group because you simply took the scheduled exams. Since you were in the control group you simply gave up and quit studying. This exemplifies:

A fully representative sample is not as essential in experimental research, because we are measuring effects on the individual, not the individual themselves.

Professor Rose was asked to design an experiment to test whether obese people would lose weight on a Pickup diet plan. Professor Rose was not a methodologist. Rose asked for your help. You immediately told Rose that the selected design would have to be sensitive to the issues of statistical regression, mortality, and demoralization. Rose said, "I don't understand." Explain these issues to Rose. Suggest and explain a design that would control for these problems.