Dr. Gass
HCOM 308
Fall 2008
1. The independent
variable is the one that is:
A. measured
B. controlled
C. observed
D. manipulated
2. Randomly assigning
participants to a treatment or control condition is most closely associated
with which pillar of experimental research?
A. observation
B. manipulation
C. control
D. measurement
3. A social science s=
tudy
that is based on direct observation and objective measurement is:
A. empirical
B. theoretical
C. qualitative
D. epistemological
E. valid and reliable=
4. Which of the state=
ments
below best represents what a theory is?
A. a tentative predic=
tion
about the relationship between independent and dependent variables
B. a positive, negati=
ve, or
neutral relationship among two or more variables
C. proposed explanati=
on of
how or why a particular phenomenon occurs
D. any thing, event, =
or
phenomenon that can take on different values
5. Which of the follo=
wing is
a discrete, as opposed to continuous, variable?
A. I.Q.
B. age
C. political party
D. temperature
E. self esteem
6. What is the dep=
endent
variable in the following hypothesis? H1: people who rely on television as
their primary news source hold more liberal attitudes than people who rely =
on radio
as their primary news source.
A. TV versus radio as=
a news
source
B. TV versus radio ve=
rsus
newspapers
C. democrats versus
republicans
D. liberal attitudes<= o:p>
7. A sample of female=
and
male registered voters is asked how much they agree with the statement,
"President Bush is doing a good job on foreign policy." They resp=
ond
by checking one of the following categories on a scale; "strongly
agree," "agree," "neutral/no opinion," disagree, or
"strongly disagree." How many independent variables are be=
ing studied?
A. one
B. two
C. three
D. four
E. five
8. A researcher looks=
for the
causes of social unrest by examining economic variables such as poverty,
income, and unemployment. In this investigation social unrest is a/an:
A. independent variab=
le
B. dependent variable=
C. moderating variabl=
e
D. confounding variab=
le
E. insufficient infor=
mation
to tell
9. Which of the follo=
wing
best represents an “attribute” variable?
A. exposing subjects to a mild, moderate, or str=
ong
fear appeal
B. Catholic, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Protestant
C. students’ test scores with and without
background music
D. laugh track or no =
laugh
track on a TV sitcom
10. All controlled la=
boratory
experiments have at least:
A. one
independent variable
B. one
dependent variable
C. one
independent and one dependent variable
D. two
or more independent variables
E. two
independent variables and two dependent variables
11. When a researcher assigns subject to conditions based on habits or
characteristics they already possess (e.g., smokers versus non-smokers), the
researcher is using:
A. intact groups
B. random sampling
C. normative conditio=
ns
D. equivalent groups<= o:p>
E. random assignment<= o:p>
12.
If a researcher said “Variable Z predicts variable X,” or
“Variable Z is correlated with Variable X,” or “Variable Z
has a significant effect on variable X,” Z would be the:
A. independent variab=
le
B. dependent variable=
C.
mediating variable
D.
confounding variable
13. Which type of sca=
le is
shown below?
Children’s cartoons are too violent
____ =
&nb=
sp; ____ &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; ____ &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; ____ &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; ____
&nbs=
p; =
strongly &=
nbsp; disagree &nb=
sp; =
neutral/ &nb=
sp; =
agree &=
nbsp; strongly
&nbs=
p; =
disagree &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; &nbs=
p; &=
nbsp; no
opinion =
&nb=
sp; =
&nb=
sp; agree
A. Thurstone scale
B. Likert scale
C. Semantic Differential scale
D. Guttman scale
E. Interval scale
14. In a published
experimental study, a description of how the dependent variable was measured
would be found in the:
A. introduction/ratio=
nale
B. literature review<= o:p>
C. methods
D. results
E. discussion
15. In SPSS one colum=
n of
data represents:
A. one
subject’s scores
B. one
variable
C. one
independent variable
D. one
dependent variable
E. one
set of cases
16. Before conducting=
any
research on human participants, the researcher must obtain the
participant’s:
A. written permission=
B. voluntary informed=
consent
C. implied consent
D=
. the
participant’s legal status (using a driver’s license, social
security number, etc.)
17. A study conducted=
in 2005
revealed that the more television people watch, the more materialistic they
become. This illustrates:
A. a positive correla=
tion
B. a negative correla=
tion
C. a positive differe=
nce
D. a negative differe=
nce
18. A key ethical cri=
ticism
of the Tuskegee Syphilis study is:
A. the results were n=
ot kept
confidential
B. the data was not c=
ollected
anonymously
C. lack of beneficenc=
e
D. lack of justice
19. If a researcher k=
nows the
identities of participants but excludes any identifying information from the
final published study, the results are:
A. anonymous
B. confidential
C. private
D. valid
20. A movie theater s=
ells
soft drinks in three sizes; small, medium, and large. Which level of data is represented=
by
these categories?
A. nominal
B. ordinal
C. interval
D. ratio
21. All
“paper-pencil” measures that ask respondents to rate their
attitudes toward a topic or issue on a scale yield:
A. ratio data
B. ordinal data
C. metric data
D. nominal data
E. interval data
22. A researcher is
investigating female students’ perceptions of sexual harassment on
campus. Unbeknownst to the
researcher, the school newspaper has been running a series of stories on the
subject of date rape the same week the study is being conducted. This pitfall is known as:
A. loose procedures
B. sensitization
C. history
D. social desirabilit=
y bias
E. ceiling effect
23. “H0:
Hormone replacement therapy for post-menopausal women is not associated wit=
h an
increased risk of breast cancer.”&nb=
sp;
This is an example of a/an:
A. hypothesis
B. experimental hypot=
hesis
C. directional hypoth=
esis
D. nondirectional
hypothesis
E. null hypothesis
24. The mere knowledg=
e on the
part of subjects that they are being observed or monitored may alter their
natural behavior. This is known as:
A. conceptual fit
B. Hawthorne effect
C. experimenter fudgi=
ng
D. mindfulness
25. The tendency for =
an
initial measurement to influence a subsequent measurement because of
familiarity with the format or the content of the instrument is known as:
A. sensitization
B. acculturation
C. maturation
D. history
26. Researchers often=
shuffle
the arrangement of items in a questionnaire to counteract:
A. maturation
B. intersubject bias=
C. social desirability bias
D. sensitization
E. order effects
27. Which of the foll=
owing best
exemplifies a testable, falsifiable hypothesis?
A. Grades are detrimental to learning.
B. The goal of this study is to examine college
students’ attitudes toward learning.
C. Illegal immigrants help the
D. Family income is positively related to studen=
ts'
GPA's
E. Life isn’t a=
lways a
bowl of cherries.
28. If you saw the sy=
mbol
"H0" or "H0:" in a published study, you would
know it referred to a/an:
A. null hypothesis
B. directional hypoth=
esis
C. research question<= o:p>
D. experimental hypot=
hesis
29. A researcher gath=
ers
data, but when the data is analyzed it neither confirms nor disconfirms the
experimental hypothesis. This
means:
A. the hypothesis was
directional
B. the hypothesis was=
nondirectional
C. the null hypothesi=
s was
supported
D. the hypothesis was=
not
testable
E. a research questio=
n should
have been posed instead
30. If a researcher w=
as
studying marital interaction, the unit of analysis would be:
A. the individual
B=
. the dyad
C. the group
D. the organization
Answers: 1D, 2C, 3A, 4C, 5C, 6D, 7A, 8B, 9B, 10C, 11A, 12A, 13B, 14C, 15B, 16=
B,
17A, 18D, 19B, 20B, 21E, 22C, 23E, 24B, 25A, 26E, 27D, 28A, 29D, 30B