Chapter 6: Conducting Research in Clinical Psychology

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. In 1952, ______ published an unfavorable review of research on psychotherapy outcome, which served as a catalyst for subsequent research on the subject, which has been more positive.

A. Hans Eysenck

B. B. F. Skinner

C. Anna Freud

D. Carl Rogers

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Treatment Outcome

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. According to the textbook, which of the following is NOT a question clinical psychologist should ask themselves when designing research studies?

A. How should psychotherapy outcome be measured?

B. What should be measured when assessing psychotherapy outcome?

C. Who should rate psychotherapy outcome?

D. Where should the study be conducted?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Treatment outcome

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. ______ refers to the success of a particular therapy in a controlled study conducted with clients who were chosen according to particular study criteria.

A. Effectiveness

B. Psychotherapy outcome

C. Efficacy

D. Therapeutic quotient

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. In short, the ______ of a form of therapy is how well it works “in the lab,” where it is practiced according to manualized methods.

A. outcome

B. efficacy

C. effectiveness

D. status

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Compared to effectiveness studies, efficacy studies of psychotherapy outcome generally have ______.

A. greater internal validity

B. greater external validity

C. little or no criteria for who is allowed to participate

D. significant funding from the American Counseling Association

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Compared to effectiveness studies, efficacy studies of psychotherapy outcome generally have ______.

A. weaker internal validity

B. weaker external validity

C. little or no criteria for who is allowed to participate

D. significant funding from the American Counseling Association

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. ______ refers to the success of a therapy in actual clinical settings in which client problems may be diagnostically complex.

A. Effectiveness

B. Exposure and response prevention

C. Internal validity

D. Efficacy

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. The 1995 Consumer Reports survey regarding psychotherapy outcome as an example of a(n) ______ study.

A. efficacy

B. effectiveness

C. cognitive

D. behavioral

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. The 1995 Consumer Reports study found that ______.

A. less than 40% of respondents reported that therapy was beneficial

B. longer therapy generally produced greater benefit

C. the profession of the person providing the therapy made a significant difference, such that clinical psychologists produced better outcomes than psychiatrists, social workers, and counselors

D. shorter therapy tended to produce greater benefit

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. ______ significance in an efficacy or effectiveness study refers to how two groups differ in real-world terms. It answers the question, “Is there a meaningful difference between the groups?”

A. Statistical

B. Clinical

C. Theoretical

D. Control

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. ______ significance in an efficacy or effectiveness study refers to a numerically significant difference between two groups. It is measured quantitatively.

A. Statistical

B. Clinical

C. Theoretical

D. Control

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Dr. Grant is a practicing clinical psychologist who is thinking about using a new treatment for anxiety with patients in his practice. If he is most concerned with how this new treatment works in the real world, Dr. Grant will be most interested in published studies that discuss the treatment’s ______.

A. efficacy

B. effectiveness

C. power

D. design

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. ______ refers to the extent to which change in the dependent variable is due solely to change in the independent variable.

A. Internal validity

B. External validity

C. Test–retest reliability

D. Split-half reliability

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. ______ refers to the generalizability of the result of a scientific study or the extent to which the same finding is applicable to different settings and populations.

A. Internal validity

B. External validity

C. Convergent validity

D. Reliability

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Dr. Smithton initially creates a new PTSD treatment under highly controlled laboratory conditions. He then shares the treatment with practitioners who subsequently implement the treatment with real-world patients. The practitioners report that Dr. Smithton’s PTSD treatment is very helpful for their patients. The benefit the practitioners’ patients experienced seems to support the ______ of Dr. Smithton’s treatment.

A. internal validity

B. external validity

C. power

D. design

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Box 6.1: Measuring Therapy Outcome: Essential Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. Clinical psychologists may develop, validate, or expand the use of psychological instruments such as the MMPI-2 and the WAIS-IV. Such activity is an example of ______.

A. researching assessment methods

B. exploring diagnostic issues

C. evaluating professional issues

D. appraising teaching standards

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Assessment Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. ______ variables are those variables in an experiment that are manipulated by the experimenter.

A. Internal

B. External

C. Independent

D. Dependent

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Experimental Method

Difficulty Level: Easy

18. ______ variables are those variables in an experiment that are expected to change as a result of changes in the variable manipulated by the researcher.

A. Internal

B. External

C. Independent

D. Dependent

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Experimental Method

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Which of the following is NOT a step in the experimental method?

A. observation of events

B. development of a hypothesis

C. empirical testing of the hypothesis

D. altering data to fit the hypothesis

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: The Experimental Method

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. In ______ trials, researchers test the outcome of a manualized therapy on a particular diagnosis. Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or nontreatment groups, and target variables are assessed at the outset and end of the study.

A. independent

B. dependent

C. randomized clinical

D. homogenized clinical

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Experimental Method

Difficulty Level: Easy

21. In a(n) ______ design, the researcher cannot always assign people randomly to conditions, make particular manipulations, or test certain hypotheses due to ethical, practical, or other constraints.

A. quasi-experimental

B. analogue

C. between-group

D. within-group

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Quasi-Experiments

Difficulty Level: Easy

22. In a(n) ______ design, participants in different conditions receive entirely different treatments.

A. quasi-experimental

B. analogue

C. between-group

D. within-group

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Between-Group Versus Within-Group Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

23. In a(n) ______ design, participants within a single condition are compared to themselves at various points in time.

A. analogue

B. within-group

C. between-group

D. experimental

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Between-Group Versus Within-Group Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

24. A(n) ______ design is often used by clinical psychologists when they cannot adequately access the target population or situation, so they approximate it to the extent possible. For example, they may ask participants to imagine themselves in a particular situation.

A. analogue

B. between-group

C. within-group

D. mixed-group

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Analogue Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

25. ______ tend to be held in high regard by researchers who prefer the idiographic approach over the nomothetic approach.

A. Experiments

B. Quasi-experiments

C. Case studies

D. Correlational studies

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Case Studies

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. The ABAB design is an example of a(n) ______.

A. case study

B. analogue design

C. between-groups design

D. meta-analysis

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Case Studies

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. A(n) ______ is a statistical method of combining results of separate studies to create a summation of its findings.

A. ABAB design

B. case study

C. qualitative review

D. meta-analysis

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Meta-Analysis

Difficulty Level: Easy

28. ______ designs examine changes in a participant or group across time, often over many years.

A. Cross-sectional

B. ABAB

C. Analog

D. Longitudinal

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cross-Sectional Versus Longitudinal Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

29. The growing popularity of Amazon Mechanical Turk, or MTurk, is an example of ______.

A. the implementation of technology in the delivery of online psychotherapy services

B. a shopping platform that sells self-help and other books useful for therapy patients

C. the use of technology in clinical psychology research

D. an Internet-based intervention for social anxiety disorder

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Cross-Sectional Versus Longitudinal Designs

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. Which of these statements is NOT consistent with ethical standards of the most recent edition of the APA ethical code?

A. Researchers should obtain informed consent from prospective participants

B. Researchers should never fabricate or falsify data

C. Researchers should share their data with other competent researchers for reanalysis

D. Researchers may coerce participation in select circumstances

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethical Issues in Research in Clinical Psychology

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. ______ involve a thorough and detailed examination of one person or situation.

A. Case studies

B. Correlational studies

C. Meta-analyses

D. Within-group design studies

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Case Studies

Difficulty Level: Easy

32. Reading a single review of a movie can be informative, but reading a synthesis of many reviews of the same movie can be much more informative about the effect the movie had across many individuals. This notion is analogous to the research strategy known as ______.

A. case studies

B. between-group designs

C. correlational methods

D. meta-analysis

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Meta-Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

33. Another phrase for “generalizability” is ______.

A. internal validity

B. external validity

C. positive psychology

D. negative psychology

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Internal Versus External Validity

Difficulty Level: Easy

Short Answer

1. Who published a 1952 review of psychotherapy stating (erroneously) that psychotherapy did not work?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Treatment Outcome

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. A study examining a psychotherapy’s success in an actual clinical setting is measuring the therapy’s ______.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Treatment Outcome

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. ______ validity refers to the generalizability of a study's results or the extent to which the study’s findings hold true across different settings and populations.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Treatment Outcome

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. ______ variables are those variables in a study that are manipulated by the experimenter.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Treatment Outcome

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. A study in which participants in a single condition are compared to themselves at various points in time is using a ______ design.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. What is a meta-analysis?

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. A researcher planning to follow a group of depressed patients over a 20-year period would likely be using a ______ design.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. What is one APA ethical standard that applies to research in clinical psychology?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethical Issues in Research in Clinical Psychology

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. In ______, researchers test the outcome of a manualized therapy on a particular diagnosis. Participants are randomly assigned to treatment or nontreatment groups, and target variables are assessed at the outset and end of the study.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

Difficulty Level: Easy Essay

1. Compare and contrast efficacy and effectiveness studies of psychotherapy outcome.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Treatment Outcome

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Compare and contrast the idiographic and nomothetic approaches.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Compare and contrast cross-sectional designs and longitudinal designs.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. What is the primary difference between correlational methods and experimental methods?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. What are the two main areas in which clinical psychologists conduct research?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How Do Clinical Psychologists Do Research?

Difficulty Level: Medium