Chapter 6: Experimental Design

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. A(n) ______ design is a research design where the researcher manipulates an independent (causal) variable and observes changes in the dependent (outcome) variable.

A. pre-experimental

B. experimental

C. posttest

D. control group

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Which type of variable explains or causes the change in the dependent variable?

A. dependent

B. determinate

C. independent

D. indeterminate

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Which of the following is a variable being explained or caused?

A. dependent

B. determinate

C. independent

D. indeterminate

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. What letter is used to represent an independent variable?

A. x

B. y

C. t

D. l

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. What letter is used to represent a dependent variable?

A. x

B. y

C. t

D. l

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Which of the following is the relationship between cause and effect?

A. dependence

B. causation

C. extraneous relationship

D. causality

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. ______ variables have an effect on the dependent and independent variables but are not included in a study.

A. Extraneous

B. Extemporaneous

C. Effect

D. Experimental

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Which letter represents an extraneous variable?

A. x

B. y

C. z

D. q

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. To establish a cause and effect relationship, the independent and dependent variables must be empirically ______.

A. interdependent

B. correlated

C. opposite

D. linked

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Collecting data prior to the intervention is called conducting a(n) ______.

A. posttest

B. pretest

C. observation

D. pre-experiment

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Collecting data after the intervention is called conducting a(n) ______.

A. posttest

B. pretest

C. test

D. retest

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. When conducting a pretest, researchers are collecting what knowledge a subject has ______ the intervention.

A. before

B. during

C. after

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. To assess the impact of an intervention, what two tests should be compared?

A. pretest and intervention test

B. intervention test and posttest

C. intervention test and retest

D. pretest and posttest

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. Can a researcher study the impact of two simultaneous interventions within one study?

A. No, they would need to study the impact of three or more simultaneous interventions.

B. No, this would make it impossible to know which one caused the change.

C. Yes, this increases the odds that the desired result would occur.

D. Yes, this would allow subjects to choose which intervention they wanted to receive.

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Why are participants randomly assigned to research groups?

A. to give participants equal chance at receiving the intervention

B. some funding sources require this procedure

C. to prevent participants from knowing others in their research group

D. for the benefit of making it easier for researchers

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. When participants are randomly assigned, what does a change to the group indicate?

A. happy participants

B. the impact of the researchers on the participants

C. the impact of the intervention

D. unhappy participants

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Why are experimental designs useful for informing social work practice?

A. They offer new ideas.

B. They establish causality.

C. They directly raise money for social work education.

D. They provide good jobs for researchers.

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. When must a researcher collect data to determine whether the independent variable is associated with the dependent variable?

A. before and after the intervention

B. before and during the intervention

C. during and after the intervention

D. only after the intervention

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. In a pre-experimental design, which of the following is manipulated in order to observe changes?

A. independent variable

B. dependent variable

C. interdependent variable

D. determinate variable

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Pre-Experimental Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. In a pre-experimental design, which of the following is the dependent variable?

A. pretest results

B. the outcome

C. the cause

D. posttest results

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Pre-Experimental Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

21. Which of the following types of research are well suited for pre-experimental designs?

A. investigatory

B. reactionary

C. explanatory

D. exploratory

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Purpose

Difficulty Level: Easy

22. The research participants in a study using a pre-experimental design are usually selected via a purposeful sampling or ______ sampling strategy.

A. predetermined

B. convenience

C. one-shot

D. random

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Sampling Strategy

Difficulty Level: Easy

23. Data from pre-experimental designs are analyzed using inferential statistics such as ______.

A. a-tests

B. q-tests

C. z-tests

D. x-tests

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Data Analysis Strategy

Difficulty Level: Easy

24. The ______ is preferable if the sample size is greater than 30.

A. a-test

B. q-test

C. z-test

D. x-test

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Data Analysis Strategy

Difficulty Level: Easy

25. The ______ focuses on assessing the difference between the means for the groups.

A. z-test

B. t-test

C. x-test

D. q-test

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Data Analysis Strategy

Difficulty Level: Easy

26. A(n) ______ case study is a research design where there is only one group, one intervention, and no pretest.

A. two-short

B. one-short

C. one-shot

D. two-shot

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: One-Shot Case Study (One-Group Posttest-Only Design)

Difficulty Level: Easy

27. Why is a cut-off score useful to researchers?

A. It tells funding sources how many people they can cut from the research results.

B. It caps the number of participants at 60.

C. It keeps too many subjects from entering the research program.

D. It allows them to categorize subjects.

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: One-Shot Case Study (One-Group Posttest-Only Design)

Difficulty Level: Medium

28. If a researcher is not sure whether their intervention caused any change in the dependent variable, why is this a problem?

A. The research must be flawed.

B. It fails to establish internal validity.

C. The researcher is bad at their job.

D. Someone mixed up the research results and this costs money to fix.

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: One-Shot Case Study (One-Group Posttest-Only Design)

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. When might maturation impact a study?

A. if the researcher has a birthday during the research process

B. if the participants become older during the research study

C. if the researcher gets bored during the length of the study

D. if the participants become wiser over the passage of time in a lengthy study

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: One-Shot Case Study (One-Group Posttest-Only Design)

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. Which of the following would most likely create a history threat?

A. The weather changes between the time of the pretest date and the posttest date.

B. A person grows older between the time of the pretest date and the posttest date.

C. One of the test administrators dies between the time of the pretest date and the posttest date so the posttest is given by someone different than the pretest.

D. Research subjects learn that they are all being evicted from their homes between the time of the pretest date and the posttest date.

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: One-Group Pretest-Posttest Design

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. Social work researchers should engage in ethical decision-making at ______ stage(s) of the research process.

A. the first

B. the last

C. every

D. periodic

Learning Objective: 6.3: Identify the ethical and diversity issues associated with experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics and Experimental Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

32. Having research participants in a comparison or control group where they are not receiving treatment is ______.

A. unethical

B. acceptable

C. appropriate

D. intentional

Learning Objective: 6.3: Identify the ethical and diversity issues associated with experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics and Experimental Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

True/False

1. Random assignment ensures that the groups are the same at the outset of the experiment.

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. A researcher flips a coin to assign each participant to either A group or B group. This is considered random assignment.

Learning Objective: 6.1: Identify the ways in which experimental designs can be used.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Experimental Research Designs Defined

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. In a posttest-only design with nonequivalent groups, the researcher measures the dependent variable after the intervention has been implemented for both groups.

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Posttest-Only Design With Nonequivalent Groups (Static-Group Comparison Design)

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Posttest-only designs with nonequivalent groups are appropriate when people are naturally grouped.

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Posttest-Only Design With Nonequivalent Groups (Static-Group Comparison Design)

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. In a one-shot case study, there is not posttest.

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Types of Pre-Experimental Designs

Difficulty Level: Medium

Short Answer

1. Why is random assignment done?

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. How does a researcher assess whether the intervention impacted the participants?

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Pretest-Posttest Control Group Design

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. How can the data from the posttest-only control group design be analyzed?

Learning Objective: 6.2: Differentiate between the various types of pre-experimental and experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Posttest-Only Control Group

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. What is a wait-list control design or wait-list comparison design?

Learning Objective: 6.3: Identify the ethical and diversity issues associated with experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics and Experimental Designs

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Why might a participant participate in research?

Learning Objective: 6.3: Identify the ethical and diversity issues associated with experimental designs.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics and Experimental Designs

Difficulty Level: Medium