Exam 9: Experimental Research

Define the following:experimental design

Why is control a necessary and crucial feature in experiments? How is deception a feature of control in experiments? In what circumstances is it ethical to use deception in experiments?

What is the Solomon four-group design capable of detecting?

Define the following:double-blind experiment

Identify and describe three practical issues that all experimenters should be aware of.

What kinds of questions are appropriate for using an experimental logic? What kinds of limitations do researchers employing experimental methods face? What sorts of research topics are best suited for experiments?

Michael Mendelson designed an experiment to test the theory that students with higher levels of cultural capital will have more academic success in high school.Worried that he might compromise internal validity by unconsciously signaling his expectations to participants,Michael hires research assistants who are trained to administer the experiment,but who are unfamiliar with Michael's research questions and hypotheses.What kind of experimental research are Michael and his research assistants conducting?

Define the following:instrumentation

Teachers Jack Black and Shannon Shack want to increase the percentage of high school freshmen who pass an algebra exam (dependent variable).They conduct experiments on five sets of classes (named A to E)in Toronto area schools.They randomly assign students and give a pretest in September followed by a post-test the following January.The treatment is teaching method.The experimental groups are taught with special in-class demonstrations and pictorial games quizzes on computers,but no homework assignments,textbooks,or tests.The control groups are taught in the traditional manner with a textbook,homework,formulas on the blackboard,and tests. Which set of classes suggests that the new method really helps students learn algebra better?

Define the following:factorial design

Define the following:placebo

The experimental design is divided into seven parts,which are the following: treatment variable,_____,pretest,post-test,experimental group,control group,and _____.

Graduate student Fanny Feisty designed and produced a 30-second radio commercial for Reliable Randy's Used Cars.Next,she had the three most widely listened to local radio stations air the commercial 15 times a day for two weeks.She waited until the end of the two-week period and then called Randy to check on his recent sales.What experimental design did she use?

Define the following:experimental group

Define the following:reactivity

Define the following:treatment

Define the following:field experiment

Define the following:quasi-experimental designs

A local mayoral candidate hired Xavier Xed to test whether the method of distributing campaign literature resulted in more people voting for a candidate.He distributed campaign literature about the mayoral candidate to the Stevenson neighbourhood in a bright blue envelope that a volunteer placed at each person's front door.He distributed the same campaign literature about the candidate to residents of the Fairwinds neighbourhood by mailing it in a plain white envelope.He later learned that Stevenson was a low-income area of the city that was almost entirely Filipino,foreign-born,and 95 percent Catholic.Fairwinds was an upper-income area in the city and its residents were 100 percent white,Canadian-born Protestants.What problem with internal validity might threaten the results of his experiment?

Define the following:pretest