Designing a Research Study

What is the definition of a variable in the context of psychological research?

Which of the following is an example of a quantitative variable?

What is the primary purpose of an operational definition in research?

According to the chapter, which of the following is NOT an operational definition of depression?

What term is used to describe the large group of people a researcher is interested in drawing conclusions about?

In simple random sampling, what chance does every member of the population have of being selected for the sample?

What is the most common alternative to random sampling in psychological research, according to the chapter?

What is the primary goal of experimental research?

In an experiment, what is the term for the variable that the experimenter manipulates?

What is a confound in an experimental study?

If a researcher stands at an intersection and records drivers' genders and their cell phone use, what type of research is this?

What is the primary limitation of non-experimental research compared to experimental research?

What does internal validity refer to in a research study?

Laboratory experiments typically have high internal validity but may be low in what other type of validity?

What type of study is conducted in a real-world, natural environment?

What type of research design manipulates an independent variable in a natural setting while controlling for extraneous variables?

In the example of an experiment on lighting and worker productivity, if the bright lights are also noisy while the dim lights are silent, what is the noise considered?

Which of the following would be an example of a categorical variable?

What is the main problem with convenience sampling?

What is the only research method that allows us to determine causal relationships?

If a researcher wants to study the effect of room lighting on productivity, what is the dependent variable?

Which of these is a rare example of a constant, as opposed to a variable?

Why are researchers advised to choose an operational definition that has been used extensively in the research literature?

A pollster who starts with a list of all registered voters in a city and randomly selects 100 of them is using which method?

Why is random sampling often difficult or impossible in most psychological research?

In the context of experimental research, what are extraneous variables?

Which of the following is an example of non-experimental research mentioned in the text?

What is external validity?

Field studies are typically high in external validity, but may be lower in which other type of validity compared to lab studies?

How can a field experiment achieve both high external and high internal validity?

Transforming an abstract construct like depression into something that can be directly observed and measured is the process of creating a(n):

If a researcher studies introductory psychology students because they are nearby and willing to participate, what sampling method is being used?

What is the key difference between an extraneous variable and a confounding variable?

If an experiment has high internal validity, what can researchers be confident about?

When an experimenter manipulates one variable while attempting to control all other outside variables, this describes what type of research?

A variable that is a quality, such as chosen major or nationality, and is measured by assigning a category label is known as what?

If a researcher measures depression by counting the number of depressive symptoms a person reports, what has the researcher done?

Which goal of science CANNOT be fulfilled by non-experimental research?

Why must researchers control for confounds in an experiment?

The trade-off between internal and external validity means that as internal validity increases, external validity often:

A study conducted in a laboratory environment is known as a:

Which research approach simply measures variables as they naturally occur without manipulation?

If a sample consists of individuals who happen to be nearby and willing to participate, it is called a:

What is the presumed cause in an experimental study?

What is the presumed effect in an experimental study?

In the lighting and productivity experiment, if there is noise in the room both when the lights are on and when they are off, the noise is considered:

A researcher manipulates a variable in a natural setting. This study is best described as a:

Which of these pairs best illustrates the typical trade-off in research design discussed in the chapter?

A sample that is similar to the population in important respects is known as a:

The process of identifying variables to study and defining them in terms of how they can be measured is a key part of: