Chapter 3 Exam Prep Research Methods

CHAPTER 3: Research Methods

1. Challenges of Relationship Science

a. Studying constructs

i. Psychological constructs

ii. Operationalization

b. Relationships are complex and multidetermined

c. Couples are not objects

2. Measurement Strategies

a. Self-reports

i. Yes/no response questions

ii. Fixed-response scales versus open-ended questions

1. Qualitative research

iii. Pros and cons

b. Observational measures

i. Sentiment override

ii. Interrater reliability

iii. Pros and cons

c. Indirect measures

i. Reaction time

ii. Implicit attitudes

iii. Pros and cons

d. Physiological measures

i. Pros and cons

e. Which measurement strategy is best?

i. Multiple-method approach

3. Designing the Study

a. Correlational research

i. Pros and cons

b. Longitudinal research

i. Daily diary approach

ii. Experience sampling

iii. Pros and cons

c. Experimental research

i. Dependent variable

ii. Independent variable

iii. Control

iv. Random assignment

v. Pros and cons

d. Archival research

i. Analysis of existing data sets

ii. Content analysis

iii. Pros and cons

e. Which research design is best?

4. Choosing Participants

a. Representative samples

b. Convenience samples

5. Ethical Issues

a. Respect for persons

MULTIPLE CHOICE

1. Specific predictions suggested by ________ are called ________.

2. Andy decides to use the number of times per week research participants talk to their partners as a measure of relationship closeness. According to the chapter on research methods, “closeness” is ________.

3. According to the chapter on research methods, which of the following is FALSE?

4. You and your friend are discussing what it means to be in love. You think that being in love means that you put your partner’s needs above your own, whereas your friend thinks that it means that you want to spend the rest of your life with that person. Given this, you and your friend obviously differ in your:

5. Andrea is studying the conditions under which people become attracted to each other. She invites male research participants to visit the lab and interact briefly with an attractive person (a paid research assistant). By flipping a coin, Andrea places participants in one of two conditions: (1) The conversation occurs without incident, or (2) There is a brief blackout in the research lab during the conversation. At the end of each session, the attractive research assistant gives the research participant her home phone number and invites him to call her later. In this study, whether the research participant calls the number is the:

6. Andy decides to use the number of times per week research participants talk to their partners as a measure of relationship closeness. According to the chapter on research methods, “how many times per week research participants talk to their partners” is ________.

7. Your professor is interested in doing a quick study on understanding how watching Netflix with or without one’s partner may be associated with relationship satisfaction. The grant your professor received was for $200, and she needs to have the results within 3 months. What type of measurement strategy would you suggest she use?

8. You design a questionnaire where you first ask participants to briefly describe how they met their current romantic partners, and then you ask them to rate, on a scale of 1 to 7, how satisfied they are in their relationships. The first part of the questionnaire is an example of ________ and the second part is an example of ________.

9. You are designing an exploratory study on couples who have polyamorous relationships (i.e., they have multiple committed relationships at one time). There is very little research in this area, and not much is known about how these couples manage their relationships. What kind of measurement strategy would be the most appropriate for this new research area?

10. You are designing an exploratory study on couples who have polyamorous relationships (i.e., they have multiple committed relationships at one time). There is very little research in this area, and not much is known about how these couples manage their relationships. Which research approach would be the most appropriate for this new research area?

11. Jacobson and Moore (1981) found that a spouse’s rating of a partner’s behavior on the Spouse Observation Checklist often did not match the partner’s own rating of his or her behaviors. This study suggested that the Spouse Observation Checklist may have a problem with ________.

12. Kahni has developed a measure of conflict, and she is using participants’ frequency of conflict to predict their relationship satisfaction. She is assessing relationship satisfaction with the Marital Adjustment Test, which is a self-report measure of satisfaction that taps into how spouses resolve disagreements, how much spouses confide in each other, and how much spouses agree about various topics. Which of the following is NOT a potential problem with using the Marital Adjustment Test in Kahni’s study?

13. Which of the following is a limitation of self-report data in the study of couples?

14. A researcher is surveying men about partner behaviors that are potentially annoying. When presented with a list of possibly annoying behaviors and asked to rate their tolerance of these behaviors that have occurred in the current relationship, respondents indicate a high level of tolerance for all behaviors, even the most annoying ones. What phenomenon might these responses illustrate?

15. Carly and Joan are very happy in their relationship and have been together for a long time. When you ask Carly how often Joan says “I love you,” Carly responds that Joan says it almost every day. This is surprising: Joan tells you that she rarely says “I love you” because she reserves those words for special occasions. Why might Carly’s report be so different from Joan’s?

16. Wei-Chin designed a self-report inventory to measure how intimate partners express affection and hostility toward each other. The inventory is a list of positive behaviors (e.g., back rubs, holding hands) and negative behaviors (e.g., slamming doors, raising voices). After a wide range of couples completed the inventory, Wei-Chin found that happy couples endorsed all the affection items and unhappy couples endorsed all the hostile items. Which of the following problems prevents Wei-Chin from concluding that happy couples exchange more affectionate behaviors than unhappy couples?

17. The measurement of agreement between independent observers, who are studying behaviors that require some interpretation on the part of the observer, is called ________.

18. Self-report measures that ask about a wide range of emotions or behaviors associated with a specific topic are considered _____ measures.

19. The disadvantage to _____ measures is that responses may be weakly correlated with the specific construct of interest.

20. For Sally’s study, one member of a set of married couples carried voice-activated digital recorders for 2 weeks and both spouses made relationship satisfaction ratings at the end of each day. The recordings contained a lot of meaningless information, but they also contained daily conversations that the spouses had with each other. Sally analyzed the conversations and examined whether the positive and negative behaviors on each day predicted the relationship satisfaction ratings on subsequent days. What kind of research is this?

21. Atiyeh is studying whether violations of expectations about the division of household chores lead to a decline in relationship satisfaction. This is an example of a(n) ________ research question.

22. U.S. divorce rates are nearly twice as high in low-income neighborhoods as in high-income neighborhoods. To learn why this association exists, we must ask ________ research questions.

23. Which of the following is FALSE regarding research methods used to understand relationships?

24. Why would you choose to design a longitudinal study rather than to conduct an experiment?

25. “Do couples who cohabit before marriage have less conflict as newlyweds than couples who do not cohabit before marriage?” This is an example of a(n) ________ research question.

26. Daniella wants to know if the birth of a child is linked to lower marital satisfaction. This is an example of a(n) ________ research question.

27. Which type of study design allows the researcher to assess several variables on a single occasion and helps to explain naturally occurring associations among variables?

28. Sagga, a researcher studying couples who have been married for 20 years, finds a negative correlation between depression and relationship satisfaction: spouses who are more depressed are less satisfied in their marriages. How might Sagga interpret his findings?

29. In the 1970s, a number of studies suggested that over the course of a long marriage, spouses’ relationship satisfaction generally followed a U-shaped curve: first declining, then remaining stable, and then increasing (presumably after children left home). In the 1990s, new research proved this idea wrong. Generally, marital satisfaction declines throughout the course of marriage. What was the difference between the earlier and the later research?

30. You have decided to conduct a research study examining the relationship between depression and relationship satisfaction. To do this you have collected a sample of 120 newlywed couples. In 40 of the couples, neither partner is depressed; in 40 of the couples, one partner is depressed; in the remaining 40 couples, both partners are depressed. You plan to assess both members of each couple on relationship satisfaction and depression every 6 months for the first 5 years of marriage. What type of design is this study?

31. You meet a number of students in a graduate program studying intimate relationships. The students describe their research to you. Which of the following students is conducting descriptive research?

32. Tony is interested in understanding how trust develops in the context of a relationship. For example, he would like to determine at what month or year in a relationship do partners really start to trust one another. Based on his question, what type of study would you suggest he design?

33. Ajay wanted to learn more about how romantic partners share good news with each other. He asked 60 married couples to describe their conversations with their spouses and to rate their partners’ responses to any good news that was shared. The spouses also rated their relationship satisfaction. The questionnaires were completed every day before bed for 14 days. What kind of research design is this?

34. A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it. She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction. Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable) and who is either friendly or aloof (the social warmth variable). After interacting with the target person under these conditions, participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is. In this study, similarity and social warmth are the ________ variables and interpersonal attraction is the ________ variable.

35. Which of the following is NOT a crucial element of a true experiment?

36. Danica put spouses in separate rooms, asked them to complete relationship satisfaction ratings, and then videotaped all participants giving a brief speech, which she said their partners would later watch. After the speech, participants were provided with three different types of written false feedback presumably provided by their partners, and then they rated their relationship satisfaction again. Danica then assessed how evaluations of relationship satisfaction changed when participants received three different types of false feedback. In one condition, the feedback was positive and reassuring, in the second, it was negative and critical, and in the third, it was mixed. In this experiment, the independent variable is ________ and the dependent variable is ________.

37. Researchers collecting their own data must choose who they will include in their sample and how to recruit these participants. The specific characteristics of those who participate in the research may limit the _____ of the study’s results.

38. A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it. She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction. Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable) and who is either friendly or aloof (the social warmth variable). After interacting with the target person under these conditions, participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is. In this study, the dependent variable is:

39. A researcher is interested in interpersonal attraction and the factors that affect it. She designs a study in which she looks at the effect of similarity and social warmth on interpersonal attraction. Participants in her study meet a target person who either is or is not similar to the participant (the similarity variable) and who is either friendly or aloof (the social warmth variable). After interacting with the target person, participants are then asked to rate how attractive they think the target person is. In this study, the independent variables are:

40. Harker and Keltner (2001) examined women’s yearbook photos from 30 years ago. They examined how women’s facial expressions in the photos predicted whether or not the women were more or less likely to marry and how happy they were if they stayed married. What kind of research is this an example of?

41. Ravneet is doing a study on social support in romantic relationships and depression. He recruited a sample of undergraduates to complete his questionnaires but would like to generalize his findings to anyone in a romantic relationship. What is one problem with his study?

42. The following are all challenges to studying couples EXCEPT:

43. Ravneet is doing a study on social support in newlyweds and depression. He would like to collect data from a representative sample. This means Ravneet should:

44. What is a positive consequence of choosing a representative sample?

45. A sample that is recruited solely because it is easy to find is called a ________ sample.

46. Which is an example of the “showing respect for persons” principle?

1. Describe some of the pros and cons of using self-reports in relationship research.

2. Describe some of the pros and cons of using physiological measurement in relationship research.

3. Your friend Mathilda learns that you are taking a course on the scientific study of relationships. She scoffs that it is not possible to study relationships scientifically. Explain to Mathilda how the scientific method can be applied to the study of intimate relationships.

4. Imagine that you wanted to learn more about how couples communicate about hurt feelings, whether and how they forgive each other for interpersonal transgressions, and how these behaviors relate to relationship quality. How would you design your study? Comment on what measurement strategy and what type of design you would use and why.

5. Why would a researcher choose to conduct experimental rather than longitudinal research to understand relationship processes?

6. Why would a researcher choose to conduct a longitudinal study rather than an experiment to understand relationship processes?

7. Parminder has just finished a 4-year study of engaged couples. Her intention was to find out how relationships with in-laws and the changes in family structures were related to the success or failure of couples’ relationships. During the 4 years, about 20 percent of the couples dropped out of the study. Is this a problem for Parminder? Why or why not?

8. David conducted an experiment where he assigned one group of couples to go on weekly dates and to do something that neither spouse had ever done before or had not done very often (e.g., rollerblading or attending the opera or cooking classes); he called this the “novel” group. He assigned a second group of couples to go on a date every Saturday but to do the same activity every week; David called this the “routine” group. The couples were asked to go on their date nights every Saturday for 6 weeks. The couples completed relationship satisfaction questionnaires prior to starting the date nights and again at the end of the 6 weeks. The answers allowed David to see whether the couples in the novel activity group were happier in their relationships at the end of the study compared to the couples in the routine group. When couples volunteered to be in the study, David asked them which group they would prefer to be in because he thought if couples could choose their own group they would be more likely to complete the 6-week study, and thus David could avoid attrition bias. What is the problem with David’s study, and why is it a concern?

9. What are the pros and cons of using archival research?

10. Many relationships researchers collect data from both partners in the relationship (dyadic data) to avoid bias from one partner’s report about the relationship and associated variables. Describe the statistical analysis commonly used to analyze the different ways in which partners’ variables may be associated. Hint: It may be helpful to draw a picture to show how partners’ reports may be associated.

11. In a review of 280 studies published in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, over half of all the studies sampled college students. What are the pros and cons of using samples of college students in relationship research?

12. When conducting research, it is critical to adhere to the highest ethical standards. Describe the two ethical principles discussed in your text and why it is important to adhere to them.

13. Describe the ethical considerations associated with conducting intimate relationship research.