Exam 6: Surveys and Observations: Describing What People Do

Dr. Smith is interested in measuring how adults view sexual behavior in teenagers. She asks the following two questions. i.Is it okay for boys under the age of 18 to be sexually active? ii.Is it okay for girls under the age of 18 to be sexually active? Explain why Dr. Smith should be worried and how she can correct the problem.

Dr. Overup decides to use a hidden camera to videotape the behavior of people on dates at a local restaurant to determine how they express affection in public. State which threat to construct validity Dr. Overup is trying to address. Briefly discuss how she should deal with the ethics of the hidden camera.

Observer bias relates mainly to , whereas observer effects stem from

Which of the following is a disadvantage of using open-ended questions?

Dr. Gahan decides to create a questionnaire asking about people's attitudes toward immigration (a socially sensitive topic). He should be most concerned about which of the following?

Explain why each of the following poses problems to a measure's validity: response sets (acquiescence, nay-saying, and fence sitting), socially desirable responding (faking good or faking bad), and inability to report.

Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Dr) Ewell decides to collect his data at a neighborhood park. He has his two research assistants pose as a married couple having a picnic. While having their picnic, they take detailed records of the sharing behavior of the children and note whether the pairs are same sex or opposite sex. Given his use of two research assistants, he must establish the of their measures.

Another word for observer effects is:

In developing a measure of "need for cognition" (the degree to which people like thinking and problem-solving), Dr. Jonason asks his participants to rate their agreement with the following statement: "I frequently solve and enjoy solving crossword puzzles and Sudoku puzzles." What is the problem with this question?

Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Which of the following is Dr. Ewell likely to give his research assistants to prevent observer bias?

Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Dr) Ewell decides to collect his data at a neighborhood park. He has his two research assistants pose as a married couple having a picnic. While having their picnic, they take detailed records of the sharing behavior of the children and note whether the pairs are same sex or opposite sex. This technique is known as:

How do reverse-worded items address shortcuts?

A researcher wants to know what people really do, not what they think they do. Which method would you advise him to use?

Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Imagine that Dr. Ewell wants to videotape the children interacting in the park. Which of the following is true?

Julian creates a survey asking participants first to report how happy they are in their marriage and then second to report how happy they are in their life. His advisor, Dr. Fuentes, recommends that he create a second version of the survey that reverses the order of these questions. Why is Julian's advisor recommending this?

Why would behavioral observation be a good research method for studying a high-frequency behavior (e.g., number of words spoken in a day or number of steps taken in a week)?

Dr. Overup decides to use a hidden camera to videotape the behavior of people on dates at a local restaurant to determine how they express affection in public. She has three research assistants code each video. She calculates an ICC of .94 for their rating of affection. Explain how Dr. Overup should interpret this value and what it tells her in terms of the reliability and validity of her measure.

Professor Singh creates a survey to measure how happy his students are with his teaching this semester. He is teaching two classes: Psychology and Law and Introduction to Neuroscience. He writes the following questions for his survey: A.What was your favorite part of this class? B.Please rate how much you agree with the following statement using the scale below: This was one of my favorite classes all semester. C.Which of the following is most true of you? a. I am a very serious student. b. I try only as hard as I have to. D. How easy did you feel this class was? Which of the questions above is an example of a question that uses a semantic differential scale?

A study by Rosenthal and Jacobson (1968) involved telling teachers that some of their students were "bloomers" and would achieve rapid academic success within the next year. In fact, these students were no different than any of the other students in the class. At the end of the year, the "bloomers" showed more gains in IQ than the other students. It appeared that the teacher had unintentionally treated the "bloomers" in special ways. This is an example of which of the following?

Dr. Ewell, a developmental psychologist, is planning on conducting a study that involves watching children play together to determine how sharing behavior occurs in same-sex friend pairs compared to opposite-sex friend pairs. Imagine that Dr. Ewell calculates a correlation (e.g., ICC) for his two raters. Which of the following would be the best value for Dr. Ewell to find?