Test Bank Chapter 6 Developing Your Research Protocol

Test Bank Questions

1. Outline three different types of constraints on your research design and provide an example for each.
2. Distinguish between the four types of measurement scales and provide an example of each.
3. Explain what statistical power is, identify two types of power analyses and why you might choose one over the other.

4. Identify three different sampling methods. Explain when you would use each one.

1. Name four steps in designing your research protocol, and discuss the goals of each step.
2. Many psychology departments in the United States have subject pools. Undergraduate students enrolled in introduction to psychology are often awarded extra credit or sometimes even required to complete research studies in order to earn points towards their class. The issue with relying on WEIRD samples through a subject pool in psychological research is most likely a result of what kind of sampling?
3. Representative sampling
4. Random sampling
5. Snowball sampling
6. Convenience sampling
7. Which of the following type of sampling is most likely not captured by using Mturk participants in online sampling?
8. Convenience sampling
9. Self-selection
10. Non-probability sampling
11. Snowball sampling
12. Researchers often select one type of measurement scale (e.g., ratio vs. ordinal) over another. What is not a reason for this?
13. Statistical power
14. The topic or subject of interest
15. The target population
16. The ability to have stronger validity
17. With respect to power, it is the probably of detecting an effect when…
18. You are applying for a grant.
19. You are studying vulnerable populations.
20. An effect is small.
21. An effect exists.
22. The benefit of a large effect is that…
23. it requires a less representative sample to be detected.
24. it requires less power be detected.
25. it requires more power but fewer participants to be detected.
26. it requires lower power but more participants to be detected.

6. Which of the following pieces of information can only be detected using a retrospective power analysis, and not in a prospective power analysis?

7. Jason is conducting research on a population with extreme income and education discrepancies. He hopes to achieve a random, but generalizable sample so that he is able to make inferences about the entire SES spectrum. Which of the following is the best option?

8. Jenny is an undergraduate student with a full course load studying the relationship between exercise and self-esteem. She is interested in learning whether self-esteem differs between people who exercise regularly and those who do not. She is also interested in the types of exercise, intensity of exercise, and how these differences affect various aspects of self-esteem such as self-efficacy, confidence, and self-worth. She needs to complete data collection within a semester by herself. However, she needs 250 participants for sufficient power. Which of the following would be the best strategy for Jenny to take to complete her study?

9. Which of the following describes stratified random sampling?

10. What does it mean for a research study to use a random sample?

11. Researchers often select one type of measurement scale (e.g., ratio vs. ordinal) over another. Which of the following is generally not a reason that influences this decision?

12. With regards to the use of WEIRD samples, what has been proposed as a valid argument for their use?

13. Which of the following is not true about p-hacking?

14. Which of the following statements regarding scales of measurement is false?

15. Ordinal scales are often best analyzed with _______________ tests, even though they are sometimes treated as _________________ in the case of Likert scales. Nominal scales are best analyzed with ________________ tests.

1. non-parametric; interval scales; parametric
2. parametric; nominal scales; non-parametric
3. non-parametric; interval scales; non-parametric
4. non-parametric; nominal scales; parametric

16. What is the main reason why experiments in psychology don’t usually involve the entire population of interest?

1. It is impractical to study the entire population.
2. Researchers often have difficulty defining their population.
3. Statistical methods only deal with samples and are not equipped to analyze data from entire populations.
4. Since statistical methods allow us to draw inferences about a population from our sample, it is unethical to study the entire population.

17. When is a prospective power analysis conducted?

1. Before recruiting participants.
2. Before data analysis.
3. While reporting the initial findings.
4. While collecting data from participants.

18. Which of the following is not a valid criticism of the use of WEIRD participants?

19. Which of the following is the best alternative to random sampling to achieve a representative sample?

20. Research on statistical power in existing research studies has demonstrated that…

21. Which of the following describes the best practices with regards to data exploration?

22. Which of the following is not part of formulating a protocol and plan for your research?

23. Which of the following is not true with regards to random sampling?

24. Which of the following differentiates ratio from interval scales?

1. Which of the following is a reason why researchers might differ on whether or not they think it is important to formulate and stick with an analysis plan?
2. Parametric tests have more assumptions than non-parametric tests.
3. Your population generally does not influence the type of scale you use.
4. It is generally a good idea to pay participants as much as you can afford because then they feel incentivized to participate and stay in your study.
5. Conducting a prospective power analysis is considered as data exploration and is often considered questionable practice.
6. Data measured on an ordinal scale have equal intervals between their ranks.
7. Choosing your measures is often the most difficult task in designing a research protocol because you always need to make up your measures from scratch.
8. Nominal scales are not preferred because there are no statistical tests that can be used on them.
9. Even with technological advances, there are still no perfect measurements free of measurement error.
10. Snowball sampling is more likely to lead to a representative sample than stratified random sampling.
11. If you do not have an expected effect size for your research, it can be difficult to conduct a prospective power analysis.
12. A reliable scale should yield different results if tested multiple times on the same person.
13. Statistical power allows researchers to detect true effects if they exist.
14. To use random sampling correctly, the researcher needs access to the entire population of interest.
15. Convenience sampling is an alternative to random sampling that still produces generalizable results to the societal population at large.
16. In the history of psychological science, power has always been over emphasized, partly because underpowered studies never get published.