Chapter 4: Research Design, Research Ethics, and Evidence of Causation

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. A researcher is studying the formation of political attitudes in a group of individuals. Some of the individuals are exposed to several fake news stories to determine if the stories affect their attitudes while others are not. The exposed individuals are called the ______.

A. guinea pigs

B. control group

C. test group

D. subjects

Learning Objective: 4-1: The importance of rival explanations in political research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. In a political research experiment, the group that is not exposed to a treatment is referred to as the ______.

A. isolation group

B. control group

C. test group

D. subject group

Learning Objective: 4-1: The importance of rival explanations in political research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. When conducting political research, it is important that individuals in the two experimental groups are ______ in every way that could affect the dependent variable.

A. identical

B. different

C. exposed

D. anonymous

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Experimental Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. A researcher who fails to account for gender when researching the effect of partisanship on political attitudes has missed a potential ______.

A. dependent variable

B. rival explanation

C. intervening variable

D. golden opportunity

Learning Objective: 4-1: The importance of rival explanations in political research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Random Assignment

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. A researcher studying individual attitudes divides participants into two groups and has them watch news reports in a home theater setting created in a college classroom. This is an example of a(n) ______.

A. random experiment

B. laboratory experiment

C. controlled comparison

D. invalid experiment

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Laboratory Experiments

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. In any type of experiment it is essential that participants be ______ to ensure the absence of systematic bias.

A. controlled

B. identified

C. randomized

D. anonymous

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Experimental Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. A ______ experiment is one that occurs in the subject’s normal surroundings.

A. field

B. laboratory

C. random

D. valid

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Field Experiments

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. A researcher is studying the social habits of 100 male college students. She divides the subjects into two groups with each individual having the same likelihood of being in either group. This is called ______.

A. laboratory experimentation

B. field research

C. systematic assignment

D. random assignment

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Random Assignment

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. A researcher studying the attitudes of college students on social norms posts a survey on her webpage. After receiving 150 responses she closes the survey and analyzes the results by comparing the results against those of a survey conducted in the campus library. What error has the researcher likely committed?

A. field research error

B. selection bias

C. laboratory bias

D. dependent variable bias

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Random Assignment

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. A characteristic upon which subjects in a study have variable values is known as a ______.

A. demographic difference

B. compositional difference

C. random difference

D. selection difference

Learning Objective: 4-3: How to select sample observations from a population.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Summary

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Field experiments often lack ______ because it is sometimes difficult to ensure that all members of the test group are exposed to the treatment.

A. internal validity

B. external validity

C. reliability

D. substantive questions

Learning Objective: 4-3: How to select sample observations from a population.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Field Experiments

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. A ______ is composed of subjects who receive a treatment that the researcher believes is causally linked to the dependent variable.

A. control group

B. test group

C. subject group

D. guinea pigs

Learning Objective: 4-1: The importance of rival explanations in political research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. Which of the following occurs when every prospective has an equal chance of ending up in the control group or the test group?

A. random assignment

B. nonrandom assignment

C. field experiment

D. selection bias

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Random Assignment

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. In which phase do the two groups, control and test, receive different values of the independent variable?

A. pre-measurement

B. intervention phase

C. post-measurement phase

D. pretreatment

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Pretreatment Measurements

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. ______ means that, within the conditions created artificially by the researcher, the effect of the independent variable on the dependent variable is isolated from other plausible explanations.

A. External validity

B. Internal validity

C. Random assignment

D. Selection bias

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretreatment Measurements

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. ______ means that the results of a study can be generalized.

A. External validity

B. Internal validity

C. Random assignment

D. Selection bias

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretreatment Measurements

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Which of the following refers to the population that the researchers wants to analyze and the source from which the samples are drawn?

A. sampling frame

B. unit of analysis

C. level of measurement

D. research design

Learning Objective: 4-3: How to select sample observations from a population.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Selecting Cases for Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Which of the following occurs when some cases in the sample are more likely than others to be measured?

A. selection bias

B. sample bias

C. response bias

D. population bias

Learning Objective: 4-3: How to select sample observations from a population.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Random Sampling

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. Which of the following occurs when every member of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample?

A. response bias

B. response rate

C. random selection

D. selection bias

Learning Objective: 4-3: How to select sample observations from a population.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Random Sampling

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. To conduct a ______, the organization would divide the population into two or more strata.

A. simple random sample

B. snowball sample

C. cluster sample

D. stratified random sample

Learning Objective: 4-3: How to select sample observations from a population.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Random Sampling

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. A researcher wishes to test the effect of media consumption on the political attitudes of 100 college students. To ensure the validity of her research she must account for rival explanations of the students’ political attitudes.

Learning Objective: 4-1: The importance of rival explanations in political research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Our ability to rule out worrisome alternative explanations depends upon the power of our research design.

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Summary

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. When the results of a laboratory experiment cannot be generalized to the outside world the study is said to lack external validity.

Learning Objective: 4-3: How to select sample observations from a population.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Summary

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. A researcher studying the effectiveness of Get-Out-The-Vote (GOTV) methods in a community is likely conducting a field experiment.

Learning Objective: 4-3: How to select sample observations from a population.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Field Experiments

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. A control group is composed of subjects who receive a treatment that the researcher believes is causally linked to the independent variable.

Learning Objective: 4-1: The importance of rival explanations in political research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. The causal effect of an independent variable is the difference between two potential outcomes.

Learning Objective: 4-1: The importance of rival explanations in political research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Establishing Causation

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. The fundamental purpose of research design is to allow the research to study causal effects of independent variables.

Learning Objective: 4-1: The importance of rival explanations in political research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Establishing Causation

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Experimental designs do not control for the possible effects of all rival explanations.

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Experimental Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Measuring the dependent variable for both groups is referred to as the premeasurement phase.

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretreatment Measurements

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Pretreatment measurements allow the researcher to make a before and after comparison.

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretreatment Measurements

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Field experiments are not known for overcoming the limitations of the laboratory environment.

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Field Experiments

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Experimental approaches represent the gold standard in research procedure.

Learning Objective: 4-2: How experimental research designs rule out rival causes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Field Experiments

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. The more varied the values of the explanatory variable, the better.

Learning Objective: 4-3: How to select sample observations from a population.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Selecting Cases for Analysis

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. The terms random sampling and random assignment can be used interchangeably.

Learning Objective: 4-3: How to select sample observations from a population.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Random Sampling

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. All political science research should be conducted in an ethical and responsible manner.

Learning Objective: 4-4: The fundamental principles of ethical research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conducting Research Ethically

Difficulty Level: Easy