Chapter 8: Studying Families: Methods for Quantitative Data

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. What kind of experiment design is the least common in family and marriage research, according to the text?

A. laboratory experiments

B. field experiments

C. quasi-experimental

D. observational research

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Studying Families and Children Through Experiments

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. A researcher is interested in the effects of socioeconomic status and parenting styles. However, they primarily sample from exclusively low-income areas. Which threat to internal validity might this researcher be dealing with?

A. attrition

B. instrumentation

C. statistical regression

D. selection

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Threats to Internal Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Participants in a study who originally have extreme scores on a scale will tend to produce scores closer to the sample mean if they are retested. Which of the following best describes this trend?

A. testing effects

B. maturation

C. statistical regression

D. attrition

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Threats to Internal Validity

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. The Hawthorne effect is the commonly used term to describe the ______.

A. reactive effect of testing

B. interaction of selection and treatment

C. reactive effects of experimental arrangements

D. interference of multiple treatments

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Threats to Internal Validity

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. When would a researcher most likely have an interaction of selection and treatment?

A. when there are multiple treatments applied to one group

B. when respondents are randomly assigned to treatment conditions

C. when respondents are not randomly assigned to treatment conditions

D. when respondents change their behaviors because they are in an experiment

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Threats to Internal Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Researchers who have a low monetary budget are more likely to use ______ to collect survey data.

A. telephone interviews

B. mailed questionnaires

C. personal interviews

D. Internet surveys

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Mailed Questionnaires

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. A researcher is interested in gathering detailed accounts about how many hours per day their participants spend with friends or family members. Which of the following methods would be the most useful for their data collection?

A. time diary methods

B. Internet surveys

C. mailed questionnaires

D. personal interviews

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Time Diary Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. One example of ______ would be if the participant responses varied based on the race of the person conducting the study.

A. interviewer effects

B. changes with the instrument

C. the guinea pig effect

D. a measurement as a change agent

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Three Kinds of Errors Introduced by the Researcher

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Anthropologists or other social science researchers interested in studying past cultures and societies are more likely to utilize ______.

A. field experiments

B. current surveys

C. nonreactive research

D. active studies

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Types of Nonreactive Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. ______ are an example of “active” studies of children and families.

A. The running record

B. Field experiments

C. Surveys

D. Physical traces

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethical Issues in Quantitative Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. The dependent variable can also be referred to as the manipulation or treatment in laboratory experiments.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Studying Families Through Experiments

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. It is common for researchers studying families to use secondary data for their studies.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Secondary Analysis of Sample Surveys

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Mailed questionnaires are able to accurately represent all communities.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Mailed Questionnaires

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Newspaper articles are considered to be a part of the public running record.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Types of Nonreactive Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. It is unlikely that the instrument used for interview data collection could change over the course of the study.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Studying Families and Children Through Nonreactive Techniques

Difficulty Level: Easy