AP Psychology: Methods Overview Test
1. The belief that accurate knowledge of the world requires observations of it is called:
A) empiricism.
B) methodology.
C) dogmatism.
D) pragmatism.
2. ________ involves making direct observations of the world, whereas ________ involves
relying on assumptions and beliefs about the world.
A) Methodology; dogmatism
B) Dogmatism; empiricism
C) Empiricism; dogmatism
D) Empiricism; methodology
3. Empiricism is a useful approach, but it provides no guarantee that observations of the
world will be accurate. To help observers avoid mistakes and illusions in observation, all
sciences need to develop:
A) codes of conduct that observers must follow.
B) a method for making observations.
C) theories that guide observations.
D) a technological basis for observations.
4. Psychological methods are quite sophisticated, in part because:
A) psychology has a longer history than most other sciences.
B) human behavior is unpredictable.
C) psychologists tend to be brighter than other scientists.
D) human behavior is complex, variable, and reactive to observation.
5. If people respond unnaturally because they are aware of being observed or of participating
in research, the method of observation employed is said to be high in:
A) reactivity.
B) validity.
C) reliability.
D) applicability.
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6. An operational definition is:
A) a description of a property in measurable terms.
B) the way sciences tend to operate when forming hypotheses.
C) the consensus scientists reach when defining their terms.
D) a set of rules and techniques for making observations.
7. Mick wants to know how many licks it takes to get to the center of his all-day sucker. He
tells his friends that “one full gyration of the tongue around the outer surface of the
lollipop” is what constitutes a “lick.” In an informal way, Mick is offering:
A) an agreed-upon method for investigating a question of interest.
B) a way to eliminate the reactivity sometimes associated with observation.
C) an operational definition for the abstract properties he wants to measure.
D) an excuse for eating a lot of candy.
8. What do the following have in common: a 5-point rating scale completed by respondents
in an experiment; an electromyograph that detects changes in muscle movements; a
bathroom scale; a stopwatch; a videocamera; an fMRI chamber?
A) They all can be used as measures of various physical or psychological properties.
B) They all are reliable measures of psychological properties.
C) They all were invented within the past 20 years.
D) They all are rarely used by psychologists.
9. Definition of an event and detection of changes in that event can be tricky because:
A) choosing the wrong definition of an event means there is no possibility of detecting it.
B) there are many ways to define an event and many ways to detect that event.
C) operational definitions are easy to generate, but appropriate measures are difficult to
create.
D) since definition and detection depend on each other, their use is circular and cannot
lead to a conclusion.
10. Which of the following circumstances is a source of invalidity in measurement?
A) The operational definition does not adequately define the property under study.
B) The property under study can be defined in multiple ways.
C) The method of measurement is unreliable.
D) The operational definition of the property under study is overly complex.
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11. When an operational definition of a property and the property itself share meaning, the
operational definition is likely to be high in:
A) invalidity.
B) reliability.
C) predictive validity.
D) construct validity.
12. When an operational definition of a property is related to other operational definitions of
that same property, it is said to be high in:
A) predictive validity.
B) construct validity.
C) essential validity.
D) reliability.
13. Roger wants to study whether the level of personal income predicts happiness. He
operationally defines “income” as “the gross amount of money a person earns in a calendar
year.” He operationally defines “happiness” as “the ability of that person to stand on one
leg for longer than 3 minutes.” What is glaringly wrong with Roger's study?
A) It lacks validity; “income” can be measured, but “happiness” cannot.
B) It lacks reliability; the operational definitions of the properties under study produce
inconsistent measurements.
C) It lacks validity; the operational definition of “happiness” is unrelated to the
underlying property of happiness.
D) It lacks reliability; it is difficult to precisely measure both “income” and “happiness.”
14. Cassandra, Ali, and Emily all use the same stainless steel yardstick to measure how far a
participant can jump from a standing start. They all get similar results. They have faith in
their method because the measure they are using is:
A) high in predictive validity.
B) high in reliability.
C) high in construct validity.
D) high in generalized accuracy.
15. A reliable measure is one that:
A) tends to produce the same result whenever it is used to measure the same thing.
B) tends to differentiate between accurate and inaccurate data.
C) compensates for a weak operational definition of a property under study.
D) is also an accurate measure of an underlying property.
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16. Ideally, a measurement should have validity, reliability, and ________ in order to be useful
to scientists.
A) definition
B) accuracy
C) power
D) consistency
17. Dr. Sardonicus learned of a woman whose tongue turned a bright shade of green whenever
she felt stressed. Although this is a rare event in the general population, Dr. Sardonicus
nonetheless interviewed the woman at great length and made detailed observations about
her behavior. Dr. Sardonicus was using ________ to gather data.
A) averaging
B) the case method
C) sampling
D) the law of large numbers
18. “As the size of a sample increases, the attributes of the sample more closely approximate
the attributes of the population from which the sample was drawn.” This is a statement
of:
A) the law of large numbers.
B) the process of predictive validity.
C) the operation of power in measurement.
D) the operation of reliability in measurement.
19. Which of these statements follows from the law of large numbers?
A) The collection of many small samples is as useful as one large sample.
B) For good results, large numbers of researchers must study the same question.
C) Only populations can enable accurate measurements.
D) It is better to take larger samples than smaller ones.
20. Hector wants to determine the average GPA of students in his major. He asks the dean for
a list of all the GPAs of the students in his major and calculates the average. Hector is
working with data from:
A) an invalid source.
B) a population.
C) a sample.
D) a case study.
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21. Donnie wants to determine the average sentence for first-time robbery offenders in Ohio.
From court records, he tabulates the relevant convictions and from this list he pulls 100
cases at random and calculates the average sentence of those cases. Donnie is working with
data from:
A) an invalid source.
B) a population.
C) a sample.
D) a case study.
22. When measuring large samples of a population to discern general principles and general
trends, psychologists usually examine:
A) selected cases chosen at random.
B) the most extreme score.
C) average scores within the group.
D) each score individually.
23. You're interested in the shoe sizes of the members of your psychology class. After
collecting all the students' sizes, you graph the scores from lowest through highest and
record how many people had each shoe size. You are constructing:
A) an average.
B) a frequency distribution.
C) a population.
D) a median of scores.
24. The technical name for a bell curve is:
A) a normal distribution.
B) a population distribution.
C) a sample distribution.
D) a distribution of averages.
25. Measures of central tendency and measures of variability are both examples of:
A) inferential statistics.
B) descriptive statistics.
C) averaging statistics.
D) frequency distributions.
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26. The mode, mean, and median are all:
A) measures of distribution.
B) measures of inference.
C) measures of variability.
D) measures of central tendency.
27. Dee Dee is curious about the range and distribution of test scores on the last introductory
psychology exam and asks the instructor for a list of the scores. She creates a frequency
distribution of the scores, then subtracts the lowest score from the highest score. What
kind of descriptive statistic is Dee Dee computing?
A) the mean
B) the median
C) the mode
D) the range
28. Margie is curious about the number of poems students in her creative writing class have
written during the past year. She polls the students, creates a frequency distribution of the
number of poems each student has written, and finds the value that occurs most frequently
in her set of data. What kind of descriptive statistic is Margie computing?
A) the mean
B) the mode
C) the median
D) the range
29. Vinny is curious about the number of movies students in his chemistry class have seen
during the past month. He asks his classmates to indicate the number of films each has
seen, then adds up all the values and divides by the number of students in the class. What
kind of descriptive statistic is Vinny computing?
A) the mean
B) the mode
C) the median
D) the range
30. In a normal distribution, what do you know is true about the mean, median, and mode?
A) They all have the same value.
B) The mean is lower than the mode and median.
C) The mean is higher than the mode but lower than the median.
D) The median is to the left of the distribution, the mode is in the middle, and the mean is
toward the right of the distribution.
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31. Which of the following statements about comparing the averages of two samples is true?
A) Averages reveal the behavior of each member of the samples.
B) Averages reveal how much variability is in each set of measurements.
C) Averages represent the extremes of behavior.
D) Averages give a general idea of how members of each sample behave.
32. An interviewer asks a group of respondents what they think about “our ineffective U.S.
foreign policy.” Why is this an ill-advised question in the collection of data?
A) There is too much variability; people have a range of opinions on most topics.
B) There are not enough data; an average can't be computed, even if 1,000 people are
surveyed.
C) Demand characteristics are present; respondents will feel compelled to answer in a
certain way.
D) The interviewer is using naturalistic observation; there is too much error in the
responses.
33. When aspects of a setting cause participants to behave the way they think an observer
wants them to behave, the problem of ________ is present.
A) demand characteristics
B) predictive validity
C) expectation violation
D) responsivity
34. How would a researcher conduct a naturalistic observation?
A) by informing respondents ahead of time that they will be watched
B) by measuring populations, rather than samples
C) by observing participants in the controlled setting of a laboratory
D) by unobtrusively observing people in a natural environment
35. Reggie is curious about how many women versus men shake the handle of the gas pump
after they are done fueling their automobiles. Reggie positions himself inside a minimart,
where he appears to be a shopper, but all the while he is casually looking out a large
window and recording the pump behavior of women and men at the fueling stations. What
type of research is Reggie conducting?
A) reactive observation
B) naturalistic observation
C) a population survey
D) a case study
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36. Which of the following is an example of an unobtrusive measure?
A) Marcie asks research participants to complete an anonymous, confidential
questionnaire.
B) Mitch counts the fingerprints on the pages of library books as a measure of the books'
popularity.
C) Sandi mails a survey about personal hygiene to 1,000 randomly selected respondents.
D) Junior misinforms his research participants about the nature of the experiment he's
conducting.
37. Dr. Williams is studying how music affects people's moods but tells her research
participants that she is conducting a survey of preferences for different kinds of
background music in stores. Dr. Williams is using ________ to avoid demand
characteristics in her study.
A) a cover story
B) a biased sample
C) only women as participants
D) a poor methodology
38. What do the following have in common: a microphone concealed in the ceiling of a
laboratory; an observer crouching behind a large rock; filler items on a psychological
survey; a misleading explanation told to participants about the purpose of a study?
A) They all are forms of experimenter bias.
B) They all are examples of bad survey technique.
C) They all are examples of bad experimental technique.
D) They all are ways of avoiding demand characteristics.
39. In a classic experiment, psychology students were assigned to work either with “bright”
rats or with “dull” rats, described as such by the experimenter. After a series of tests, the
students' results showed that the “bright” rats had outperformed the “dull” rats. However,
in fact all the rats were of the same strain and breed; there were no preexisting differences
between the groups. What caused the difference in their performance?
A) The rats in one group actually were brighter than those in the other group.
B) Demand characteristics in the experiment cued the rats about how to perform in the
mazes.
C) The students' expectations about the rats' performance influenced their observations.
D) The students looked at average scores rather than at each rat's individual score.
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40. You've volunteered to work in an elementary school, reading to a group of six children once
a week and evaluating their progress. On your first day, the teacher pulls you aside and
offers to give you the full scoop about each child: background, academic performance, and
so on. You politely decline. Why?
A) You know that prior expectations can influence observations, and you don't want to
be a biased observer of these children.
B) You know that prior expectations can influence reality, and you don't want to
unwittingly affect the children's performance.
C) You know that all observers are only human, and therefore subject to the biases and
expectations all humans can form.
D) All of these are good reasons for refusing the information.
41. Which of the following is a technique that helps reduce bias due to prior expectations?
A) the case method
B) double-blind observation
C) use of a correlation coefficient
D) inclusion of demand characteristics
42. A researcher who hides the true purpose of an observation from both the observer and the
participant is using:
A) a cover story.
B) a masked procedure.
C) a single-blind procedure.
D) a double-blind procedure.
43. Simple observation can tell us what happened, but knowing why an event happened
requires:
A) explanation.
B) inferential statistics.
C) a population.
D) double-blind observation.
44. What is typically the ultimate goal of scientific research?
A) to categorize the observations made by scientists
B) to discover causal relationships between events
C) to observe as many events as possible in a domain of interest
D) to create a taxonomy of events within that particular science
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45. Which of the following can identify patterns of variation in a series of measurements?
A) correlation
B) simple observation
C) double-blind observation
D) measurement
46. When scientists use the term variable, they are referring to:
A) a property that can be estimated with measures of central tendency.
B) an event that occurs to a group of individuals.
C) a property whose values can vary across individuals or over time.
D) an event that occurs in a population but not in a sample.
47. One can think of a correlation as:
A) a way of explaining observations.
B) a pattern of covariation between two variables.
C) the sum of observations made on a sample of participants.
D) an explanation for cause-and-effect relationships.
48. The mathematical way of summarizing the pattern of covariation between two variables is
to compute:
A) measures of central tendency.
B) a frequency distribution.
C) measures of variability.
D) a correlation coefficient.
49. Correlation coefficients reveal both the ________ and the ________ of a correlation
between two variables.
A) magnitude; strength
B) direction; type
C) direction; strength
D) cause; effect
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50. The statement “High school seniors with higher SAT scores will have higher college
GPAs” is an example of ________ behavior. The statement “Men have slightly higher
scores on spatial ability tests than do women” is an example of ________ behavior.
A) predicting; describing
B) describing; predicting
C) explaining; describing
D) predicting; explaining
51. The statement “Psychology majors who understand research methodology should more
easily understand the results of research published in journal articles” is an example of
________ behavior. The statement “Psychology majors have smiles on their faces and
songs in their hearts when they leave their psychology classes” is an example of ________
behavior.
A) describing; describing
B) predicting; describing
C) explaining; describing
D) explaining; predicting
52. Which of the following values for a correlation coefficient indicates the strongest degree of
relationship?
A) –.69
B) –.35
C) +.03
D) +.59
53. Which of the following values for a correlation coefficient indicates the weakest degree of
relationship?
A) –.72
B) –.57
C) +.10
D) +.44
54. A negative correlation coefficient indicates that as scores on one variable ________, scores
on the other variable ________.
A) increase; increase
B) increase; decrease
C) decrease; decrease
D) decrease; remain constant
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55. A positive correlation coefficient indicates that as scores on one variable ________, scores
on the other variable ________.
A) increase; increase
B) increase; decrease
C) decrease; decrease
D) decrease; remain constant
56. Ringo kept careful track of the amount of cereal he ate each morning and the number of
clouds he could see through his kitchen window at exactly 8:13 a.m. When he examined the
pattern of covariation, he computed a coefficient of .03. What does this indicate?
A) Cereal choice is strongly related to the number of visible clouds in the sky.
B) There is a negative relationship between Ringo's cereal choice and the number of
visible clouds.
C) There is essentially no relationship between Ringo's cereal choice and the number of
visible clouds.
D) Ringo eats cereal only on cloudy days.
57. Natural correlations are:
A) positive correlations between two variables.
B) the correlations we observe in the world around us.
C) correlations produced by scientifically studying two variables.
D) correlations that are causally related.
58. Which of the following statements is true?
A) All variables that are correlated are also causally related.
B) All variables that are causally related are, by definition, not correlated with one
another.
C) All variables that are correlated are causally related, but the causes may be unknown to
the observer.
D) All variables that are causally related are correlated, but not all variables that are
correlated are causally related.
59. What does a third-variable correlation indicate?
A) The three variables are all causally related to one another; each is a cause of the others.
B) The correlation between any two of the variables must be established before another
correlation can be computed.
C) Two of the variables are correlated with each other only because each is causally
related to a third variable.
D) Changes in one variable are producing changes in another variable.
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60. You've noticed that there is a correlation of .95 between keyboarding speed and the
number of novels published by best-selling authors. What is the most likely explanation
for this correlation?
A) Increased keyboarding speed causes increased novel publication.
B) Increased novel publication causes increased keyboarding speed.
C) A third variable causes both increased keyboarding speed and increased novel
publication.
D) Any of these explanations could be correct.
61. A developmental psychologist finds a correlation of .89 between birth weight and the
presence of fatty lipids in the stomach lining of 1,000 neonates. From this evidence, what
can the psychologist reasonably conclude?
A) Birth weight causes fatty lipids.
B) Fatty lipids cause birth weight.
C) Something else causes both fatty lipids and birth weight.
D) Any of these is a reasonable conclusion from the given data.
62. Fatima wants to study how ice cream consumption in a school cafeteria is related to
aggressive playground behavior during recess. She realizes that lack of teacher supervision
is a possible third variable that could cause both overconsumption and aggressiveness. She
studies a group of children who have received identical amounts of supervision during the
day. What technique is Fatima using to attempt to control for this third variable?
A) matched samples
B) matched pairs
C) matched supervisors
D) double-blind observation
63. Why do neither matched samples nor matched pairs effectively eliminate the possibility of
a third-variable correlation?
A) Each technique depends on the other; matched samples are studied first, followed later
by matched pairs.
B) Both techniques allow us to rule out a particular third variable as a casual agent, but
not the possibility of other third variables.
C) Both techniques are too difficult to be of practical use.
D) Both matched samples and matched pairs approaches do control for third-variable
correlations; either method can be used to determine causality.
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64. What is the third-variable problem in reference to correlational studies?
A) Third variables act causally on some other variables, but not on all other variables.
B) Each variable in a correlation exerts a causal influence on the other.
C) A causal relationship between two variables cannot be inferred from the correlation
between two variables.
D) Correlations can be caused only by another (third) variable.
65. What is the only way to determine a causal relationship between two variables?
A) observation
B) correlation
C) measurement
D) experimentation
66. What is the main advantage of experimentation over correlation in determining causal
relationships?
A) Experimentation offers the possibility of controlling for all potential third variables at
once.
B) Experimentation involves multiple variables, whereas correlation involves only two
variables.
C) Experimentation systematically controls third variables one at a time, in sequence.
D) There is no clear advantage; either experimentation or correlation can reveal how two
variables covary.
67. The two main features of an experiment are ________ and ________.
A) random sampling; random assignment
B) manipulation; standardization
C) randomization; manipulation
D) reliability; validity
68. What does the term manipulation mean in the context of performing an experiment?
A) the ability to design an experiment so that participants react in certain predetermined
ways
B) the ability to create an artificial pattern of variation in order to determine its causal
powers
C) the ability to create third variables that interact with only one other variable of interest
D) the ability to control the responses of research participants
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69. Observation is related to ________, whereas experimentation is related to ________.
A) measurement of variables; manipulation of variables
B) single variables; multiple variables
C) manipulation of variables; measurement of variables
D) unobtrusiveness; correlation
70. In an experiment, the variable that is manipulated is called:
A) the primary variable.
B) the third variable.
C) the dependent variable.
D) the independent variable.
71. In an experiment, the variable that is measured is called:
A) the primary variable.
B) the third variable.
C) the dependent variable.
D) the independent variable.
72. Manipulating an independent variable in an experiment means that at least _______ groups
will be measured.
A) two
B) three
C) four
D) five
73. In the context of an experiment, participants in the experimental group:
A) are exposed to a third variable.
B) behave as they normally would.
C) receive a particular type of treatment.
D) are not treated differently from any other participants.
74. In a study in which college students are pampered (given large amounts of money, cable
TV, and spicy Chinese food) to see whether this treatment will improve their scores in a
psychology course, what is the independent variable?
A) whether or not students were pampered
B) students' scores on the next midterm
C) students' scores on the previous midterm (the baseline)
D) students' scores on the next midterm minus the baseline score
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75. Wally wants to see if heat causes happiness. He invites participants to the laboratory,
where half are seated for 20 minutes in a booth held at a constant 40 degrees, and the other
half are seated in an identical booth for 20 minutes at a constant 80 degrees. Wally then
asks members of each group to rate their level of happiness. What is the dependent
variable in this experiment?
A) the number of participants
B) the elapsed time
C) the temperature of the booths
D) rating of happiness
76. Bobbie wants to see if heat causes happiness. She asks 100 residents of Fairbanks, Alaska,
to rate their general level of happiness, and asks another 100 residents of Tampa, Florida,
to do the same. She finds that the Floridians are happier than the Alaskans. She tells her
psychology professor about her experiment, but if her professor is on the ball, Bobbie gets
the following bad news:
A) “That's not an experiment; you didn't manipulate an independent variable.”
B) “You did an observational study; you're simply correlating location with happiness.”
C) “You didn't rule out potential causal third variables, such as hours of sunshine in those
two locations.”
D) All of these responses are accurate criticisms of Bobbie's study.
77. Research participants should be assigned to either the experimental group or the control
group:
A) by matching them on a particular variable of interest.
B) by using a random process of selection.
C) on the basis of their preferences.
D) in order of their arrival at the laboratory.
78. Randomization is used in conducting an experiment to make sure that:
A) a participant's assignment to the experimental or the control group is not determined
by a third variable.
B) an equal number of participants end up in each group.
C) an independent variable will be manipulated appropriately.
D) enough people will participate in each condition, thereby improving the reliability and
validity of the study.
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79. Diana wants to see if heat causes happiness. She asks 100 participants to come to the
laboratory, and as they walk in, she asks each person to choose a warm booth or a cool
booth. On the basis of their choices, participants spend 20 minutes in one or the other
booth before rating their levels of general happiness. What's wrong with Diana's
experiment?
A) She didn't manipulate an independent variable.
B) She didn't measure a dependent variable.
C) She didn't randomly assign participants to the experimental and control groups.
D) There is nothing wrong with Diana's experiment.
80. Allyson wants to see if heat causes happiness. She asks 100 men to sit in a warm booth
for 20 minutes (the experimental group) and asks 100 women to sit in a cool booth for 20
minutes (the control group). After the time has elapsed, she asks members of both groups
to rate their levels of overall happiness. What's wrong with Allyson's experiment?
A) Participants were self-selected for each group.
B) The randomization was too strong to reveal a pattern.
C) She did not manipulate an independent variable.
D) There is nothing wrong with Allyson's experiment.
81. When participants decide whether they will be included in the experimental group or in the
control group of a study, the process of ________ is being used.
A) randomization
B) self-selection
C) manipulation
D) experimentation
82. When the odds are acceptably low that random assignment hasn't failed in an experiment,
the results of the experiment are said to be:
A) applicable to the real world.
B) certain.
C) statistically significant.
D) operationally defined.
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83. Descriptive statistics include measures such as central tendency or variability. What is
another group of statistics that is used to test whether conclusions can be drawn from an
experiment?
A) inferential statistics
B) applied statistics
C) internal statistics
D) validity coefficients
84. What are the odds that psychologists typically use to determine if random assignment has
failed in an experiment?
A) 2% chance of failure
B) 5% chance of failure
C) 10% chance of failure
D) 25% chance of failure
85. When the results of an experiment can be confidently attributed to the effects of the
independent variable, the experiment is said to be high in:
A) inferential validity.
B) external validity.
C) internal validity.
D) reliability.
86. Internal validity allows us to say that the manipulated changes in an independent variable
caused measured changes in a dependent variable. However, that does not necessarily
imply:
A) a correlation between the independent and dependent variables.
B) that the dependent variable was measured reliably.
C) that the experiment was well executed.
D) that one property under study caused another to occur.
87. What does external validity mean?
A) that an experiment used reliable measures of the independent variable
B) that a correlation was established between an independent and a dependent variable
C) that an experiment has been verified by a group of scientists not associated with the
study
D) that variables in an experiment have been defined in a normal, typical, or realistic way
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88. Tim is studying the effects of soda consumption on alertness. He operationally defines
“soda consumption” as “three sips from a can of ginger ale” and operationally defines
“alertness” as “the ability to detect a faint beeping sound from the next room.” His results
show that soda consumption affects alertness. However, his experiment suffers from:
A) the absence of a reliable independent variable.
B) too much internal validity.
C) a lack of external validity.
D) lack of a hypothesis.
89. Which of the following situations contains a potential threat to external validity?
A) An experimenter demonstrates in a series of studies that young children, college
students, and the elderly all follow the “bigger is better” rule when selecting pieces of
chocolate cake.
B) A researcher designs an experiment to demonstrate that people sometimes (but not
always) use biased information when judging others.
C) A research team replicates their experimental findings from the laboratory in a
subsequent field experiment conducted.
D) A researcher's results hold true for a female adolescent population but not for a male
adolescent population.
90. Dr. Sitton conducted an experiment on the eating habits of college students and submitted
a paper to the Journal of Victuals. Several reviewers criticized the use of students from a
college population as participants. This is a valid criticism only if:
A) there are good reasons why the study's effects would not be found among other
groups.
B) there are good reasons for changing the procedure to accommodate other variables.
C) reasons are given for specific demand characteristics that might operate in this and
other groups.
D) the results of her study easily generalize to other populations.
91. A hypothetical account of how and why a phenomenon occurs is called:
A) a hypothesis.
B) an explanation.
C) an experimental result.
D) a theory.
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92. A testable prediction derived from a hypothetical account of how and why a phenomenon
occurs is called:
A) a hypothesis.
B) an explanation.
C) an experimental result.
D) a theory.
93. You're watching a science fiction movie on television and the lead character says, “I'm
going to put my theory to the test!” What—in the real world—is wrong with this
statement?
A) Most scientists don't use theories; theories are employed by philosophers.
B) Hypotheses, not theories, are tested directly.
C) A theory can be generated only after data have been collected; there's nothing to test if
a theory already exists.
D) There is nothing wrong with that statement; scientists test theories directly all the
time.
94. When every member of a population has an equal chance of being included in a sample,
what sampling process is being used?
A) reliability sampling
B) random assignment
C) random sampling
D) convenience sampling
95. Suppose you wanted to know the average SAT score of students at your university.
Whether you attend a university with 1,000 students or 50,000 students, chances are you
wouldn't want to measure that entire population. You get a list of all enrolled students'
SAT scores and select 200 of them for further study. What process are you using?
A) random assignment
B) internal validity
C) external validity
D) random sampling from a population
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96. Barry wanted to estimate the average height of men in the United States; he measured a
sample of his friends on the basketball team, the men who live in his apartment complex,
and male members of his family. What's a central problem with Barry's approach?
A) He didn't use representative variables.
B) He didn't randomly assign participants to experimental conditions.
C) He didn't measure a representative sample.
D) He didn't compute a correlation coefficient.
97. Which of the following statements accurately summarizes the way psychologists gather
research participants?
A) Psychologists rarely use random samples of the population.
B) Psychologists typically use volunteers, often drawn from a college population.
C) Psychologists typically use nonrandom sampling methods.
D) All of these statements apply to how psychologists gather research participants.
98. The ethical principle of ________ means that research participants are given enough
information about a study to make a reasonable decision about whether or not to
participate.
A) freedom from coercion
B) informed consent
C) debriefing
D) protection from harm
99. The ethical principle of ________ means that participants must be told the true purpose
and nature of an experiment after it is over.
A) informed consent
B) debriefing
C) protection from harm
D) freedom from coercion
100. Dr. Klinegen made it clear to her psychology students that if they didn't participate in her
research, they would receive a failing grade. What ethical principle has Dr. Klinegen
violated?
A) freedom from coercion
B) informed consent
C) debriefing
D) protection from harm
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101. Which of the following is not one of the major ethical principles that psychologists must
follow when conducting research?
A) informed consent
B) debriefing
C) risk-benefit analysis
D) random sampling
102. If faced with the prospect of involvement in an unethical means of investigating an
important research topic, all psychologists are required to:
A) notify the American Psychological Association before they begin collecting data.
B) abandon that approach to the topic under study.
C) conduct the experiments with as much discretion as possible.
D) proceed, but tell participants that there will be danger, harm, or injury to them.
103. What reasonable conclusion can be reached regarding the ethics of research on nonhuman
animals?
A) This is a scientific dilemma, to be resolved by a count of the animal studies that have
resulted in benefits to humans and other animals.
B) This is a religious dilemma, involving notions of “will” and “soul.”
C) This is a moral dilemma, to which evidence and facts cannot provide the answer.
D) This dilemma has been forgotten; animal research is rarely conducted these days.
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Answer Key - Untitled Exam-4
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D
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85.
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C
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B
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B
C
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