Exam 4: Observation

A researcher measures participants' speed to push a button on the computer when a stimulus is presented on the computer screen.Which of the following measurement scales describes this reaction time measure?

Time sampling is not an effective method for sampling behavior that occurs infrequently.To observe behaviors in situations that occur infrequently,researchers choose

Read this description of a study and answer the questions that follow. A newspaper reporter at a university newspaper sought to gather evidence about the quality of teaching at the university. For one week at the beginning of the semester she attended 5 different classes each day, each with a different instructor. She asked 4 other reporters to do this too (they all attended different classes), and she trained them regarding the ratings they would make. The reporters pretended to be students, but sat in the back of class so the instructor wouldn't notice their observations. Using 10-point rating scales, they rated each instructor on five dimensions: interesting, organized, informative, friendly, and respectful. They summarized their findings and reported that, in general, the quality of teaching at the university is very good. -Based on this reporter's procedures,are you confident that the quality of teaching at the university is "very good." Why or why not?

Frequency of occurrence can represent either of two measurement scales depending upon whether only a single observation of each person is made or several observations of the same individual are made.Frequency of occurrence can represent either

A researcher uses archival records to investigate whether divorce rates in a city change following major catastrophes (e.g. ,hurricane,terrorism).This represents the use of

The problem of reactive measurement is _________ when unobtrusive observation is used.

Read this description of a study and answer the questions that follow. A newspaper reporter at a university newspaper sought to gather evidence about the quality of teaching at the university. For one week at the beginning of the semester she attended 5 different classes each day, each with a different instructor. She asked 4 other reporters to do this too (they all attended different classes), and she trained them regarding the ratings they would make. The reporters pretended to be students, but sat in the back of class so the instructor wouldn't notice their observations. Using 10-point rating scales, they rated each instructor on five dimensions: interesting, organized, informative, friendly, and respectful. They summarized their findings and reported that, in general, the quality of teaching at the university is very good. -Identify one aspect of the procedures in this study that the reporter used to improve the reliability of the observations.

Researchers who studied beer drinking among college students made their observations in five town bars,a student center,and a fraternity party.They were better able to generalize their findings because they used

Figure: Two observers observe a child in the classroom every 30 minutes to record whether he is behaving aggressively.They use two categories for their observations: yes (aggressive)or no (not aggressive).Using the data presented below,answer the following questions. -Calculate and report the observers' interobserver reliability.

Under which of the following circumstances is a participant observer more likely to have a significant effect on the behavior of the subjects being observed?

Researchers use time sampling to obtain

Clinical psychologists who make behavioral assessments of parent-child interactions are likely making use of an observation technique called

Define observer bias and describe the best way to reduce this problem in a research study.

Probably the most important control over observer bias is

The degree to which a young child's dolls show signs of wear might indicate which dolls the child likes the best.This potential physical trace measure would be described as a

When individuals are not aware of the presence of an observer,as when data from physical traces or archival records are analyzed,the observation is described as

One main disadvantage of structured observation is

Describe three problems and limitations that can occur when archival records are used in research,and how these problems affect researchers' conclusions about evidence from archival records?

The distinction between natural-use traces and controlled-use traces is similar to the distinction between

When a more or less faithful reproduction of behavior as it originally occurred is recorded in either written form or through the use of audio or video recording,the resulting description of behavior in an observation study is called a