Question 1
The primary concern of an institutional review board is to
determine whether deception is necessary.
determine whether informed consent will be obtained.
ensure that the safety of research participants is adequately protected.
evaluate the scientific merit of a proposed study.

Question 2
Tammy’s experiment compared the effectiveness of videotape and textbook presentation of a history lesson. Unexpectedly, her demeanor changed with each treatment condition. She appeared worried during the videotape condition because the audiovisual equipment periodically broke down. In contrast, she seemed relaxed in the textbook condition during which subjects read from a book. Which problem does this illustrate?
confounding by a context variable
experimenter bias
history threat
selection threat

Question 3
Professor Smith’s class was stunned. She mistakenly included questions from chapter 5 on an exam that was supposed to cover chapters 1-4. In appealing their low grades, the students should diplomatically question the ____of this exam.
construct validity
content validity
face validity
predictive validity

Question 4
Pavlov’s classical conditioning research contained an element of serendipity because Pavlov
did not recognize the importance of what he found.
discovered this learning process through intuition.
intended to study stomach secretions.
predicted this form of conditioning based on prior research.

Question 5
Laboratory experiments may trade _____ for precision.
control
generalizability
realism
both generalizability and realism

Question 6
To study the possible causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer, researchers start with human _____ studies and then progress to animal _____ studies.
experimental; experimental
experimental; quasi-experimental
quasi-experimental; experimental
correlational; quasi-experimental

Question 7
Which of these should be controlled using constancy of conditions instead of elimination?
a poster for a controversial speaker
bright room lighting
interruptions by students opening the door
visual distractions by classmates outside of the room

Question 8
In a true experiment, an experimenter ____ the independent variable and ____ the dependent variable.
manipulates; measures
selects; manipulates
measures; manipulates
selects; measures

Question 9
Theories are explanations of events that
apply to all situations
are supported by a majority of studies
provide interim explanations
are supported by a majority of studies and provide interim explanations

Question 10
What does a double-blind experiment control?
demand characteristics
experimenter bias
confounding by context variables
demand characteristics and experimenter bias

Question 11
A _____ is a statistical review procedure that summarizes and quantifies multiple research findings on an individual topic.
case study
factor analytical study
literature search
meta-analysis

Question 12
Which human experiment could not be justified, regardless of the knowledge that might be gained?
studying the effectiveness of subliminal advertising on product recognition
studying the effectiveness of a drug that produces complete muscular paralysis in treating alcohol addiction
studying the effect of mild sleep deprivation on cognitive performance
studying the effect of shift rotation schedules on employee absenteeism

Question 13
Since Tim belongs to a Bible study group, a classmate mistakenly assumes that he doesn’t drink alcoholic beverages and always votes Republican. This example of nonscientific inference illustrates
confirmatory bia
overconfidence bias
stereotyping
the gambler’s fallacy

Question 14
_____ is the primary resource currently used by psychologists to find journal articles.
FirstSearch
Lexis/Nexis
PsychINFO
PsychSource

Question 15
Falsifiable means that a hypothesis is
always false.
capable of being disproved.
fruitful.
parsimonious.

Question 16
Which of these must be established by institutions engaging in research with human subjects?
human research review committee
institutional animal care and use committee
institutional review board
subjects use committee

Question 17
Balancing is a control procedure that
distributes the effect of physical variables equally across the treatment conditions.
distributes the effect of the independent variable equally across all of the treatment conditions.
ensures that subjects in all conditions experience nearly identical physical variables.
removes potentially confounding physical variables from the testing situation.

Question 18
When an experimenter fails to randomly assign subjects to different experimental conditions, a ____ threat is present since treatment groups may differ on subject variables.
selection
statistical regression
subject mortality
testing

Question 19
An experimenter provided two groups of rats different quantities of food for successfully completing the same maze. She controlled the kind of food and the amount of time the rats had access to the food. She reported that both groups of rats committed the same number of errors in learning the maze. The number of errors was
a confounding variable.
a subject variable.
the dependent variable.
the independent variable.

Question 20
Which of these techniques to control demand characteristics involves deception?
cover story
double-blind experiment
quasi-experiment
single-blind experiment

Question 21
Systematic data gathering, noting relationships, and offering explanations are central to
commonsense psychology
the content of science
nonscientific inference
the process of science

Question 22
In a pretest/posttest design, participants may improve with repeated testing due to increased familiarity with a test. This problem is called
bidirectional causation
practice effect
regression to the mean
a third variable problem

Question 23
Volunteer subjects may differ from nonvolunteers in that volunteers may be
less authoritarian.
more politically and socially liberal.
more intelligent.
all of these

Question 24
Researchers conduct experiments in laboratories to achieve the greatest degree of
control
objectivity
generalizability
realism

Question 25
Experimenters generally want subjects to be as naïve as possible concerning the experimental hypothesis to reduce confounding by
context variable.
demand characteristics.
experimenter bias.
response sets.

Question 26
A review of prior studies in an area may provide
help in identifying important issues.
information on previous important issues.
new research ideas.
all of these

Question 27
In single-blind experiments,
experimenters are unaware of the treatments given to subjects.
experimenters encourage subjects to guess the experimental hypothesis.
subjects do not know which treatment they are receiving.
subjects do not receive feedback on their performance.

Question 28
Kirk hypothesizes that his dog dreams in color. This is not an experimental hypothesis because it
cannot be stated in an “if…them” format.
cannot be tested.
in an analytic statement.
is not a parsimonious statement

Question 29
Both correlational designs and quasi-experiments are often higher in ____ than laboratory experiments.
external validity
imposition of units
internal validity
manipulation of antecedents

Question 30
Which of these correlations would permit the most accurate prediction?
-0.93
-0.20
+0.81
+1.32

Question 31
A longitudinal study that observes first-born children’s behavior before and after the birth of a sibling is particularly vulnerable to a ____ threat since rapid cognitive and physical change normally occur at this age.
history
maturation
selection
testing

Question 32
In experiments, researchers most often achieve control over possible explanations by
random assignment of subjects to different treatment conditions or use of within-subjects designs.
presenting a treatment condition in an identical manner to all subjects.
keeping the environment, the procedures, and the measuring instruments constant for all subjects in the experiment.
using all of these methods.

Question 33
Researchers conduct experiments in laboratories to achieve the greatest degree of
control.
objectivity.
generalizability.
realism