1. Which of the following is true of the scientific method of inquiry?
a. complete once the hypothesis has been tested
b. will vary depending on the specific research question
c. systematic process that is used to answer questions
d. different in basic research than in applied research
2. In true experimental designs, what does research attempt to isolate and control?
a. factors not tested that could be responsible for any effects except the ones being
tested
b. statistics that are used to interpret the results
c. laboratory conditions to maximize the validity of the experiment
d. answers of the people in the study
3. What is the major difference between applied and basic research?
a. basic research takes longer to complete
b. applied research is less important
c. basic research is more traditional
d. basic research has no immediate application
4. What is another term for basic research?
a. real research
b. pure research
c. applied research
d. baseline research
5. How many steps are included in the research process?
a. 4
b. 6
c. 8
d. 9
6. What is the most important step in the research process?
a. testing the hypothesis
b. data collection
c. formulating the hypothesis
d. asking the question
7. Samantha is interested in studying the relationship between gender differences and verbal
ability. This is an example of what type of research?
a. descriptive
b. quasi-experimental
c. correlational
d. gender research
8. Ann divides her classes into two groups—a treatment group and a non-treatment group—to
test whether her new method of teaching subtraction is better than her old method. This is an
example of what type of research?
a. historical
b. quasi-experimental
c. correlational
d. experimental research
9. The scientific method is described in the textbook as _____________.
a. restricted to use in correlational research
b. having no immediate application at the time research is completed
c. a standard sequence of steps in formulating and answering a question
d. the study of phenomena within the social and cultural context in which they occur
10. What does a good research question usually pursue?
a. a small part of a broad topic
b. a topic unrelated to any other topics
c. the same thing as the null hypothesis
d. a broad topic
11. Which of the following best describes independent variables?
a. not manipulated by the experimenter
b. manipulated to assess the effect of the treatment
c. unrelated to the treatment
d. not necessary
12. Sampling allows researchers to overcome the problem of which of the following?
a. overcrowded laboratories
b. biased subject response
c. not having access to the whole population
d. not having access to the proper statistical methods
13. If you read that a study’s finding was significant at the p < .05 level, you could conclude
that there is a less than 5% probability that ______________.
a. the results will translate to real world situations
b. most researchers in that area would consider the finding to have clinical meaning
c. the researchers used unreliable measures
d. the results were due to chance
14. There will be no relationship between children’s time in day care and later academic
achievement. This is an example of which of the following?
a. a research hypothesis
b. a factorial design
c. a correlational hypothesis
d. a null hypothesis
15. A research hypothesis _______________.
a. represents an equality
b. is represented by Roman symbols
c. is tested indirectly
d. is implicit
16. In testing whether riding a bicycle at least 30 minutes each day reduces weight, what would
be the independent variable?
a. the person’s age
b. amount of time bicycling each day
c. the person’s weight
d. the person’s diet
17. Once information is collected, what is the first step in writing a literature review?
a. create a unified theme for the review
b. build bridges between different areas in the review
c. work from an outline
d. read other literature reviews
18. Which is NOT a hint to help you write your literature review?
a. create a unified theme
b. use a system to organize your materials
c. make sure it is testable
d. work from an outline
19. A well-written hypothesis _____________.
a. creates a unified theme
b. reflects a theory or body of literature upon which it is based
c. searches through secondary sources
d. uses participants in the study who have been used in similar studies
20. What does the ethical principle of “sharing benefits” mean?
a. all participants in the same study should receive an equal share of the benefits or
subject payments
b. all those who belong to the population being studied will share equally from the
benefits the study produces
c. the results of studies must be shared with the public so society may benefit from the
increased knowledge
d. all groups involved in a study should eventually be given an opportunity to receive any
treatments that were found to be effective in the study
21. The Tuskegee Syphilis Study is often used as an example of a ____________.
a. groundbreaking study using Facebook
b. study that did not take into account ethical considerations
c. study guided by the ethical guidelines of the American Medical Association (AMA)
d. study that breached confidentiality of participants
22. Which is NOT a component of informed consent?
a. the purpose of the research
b. who you are
c. how the participant can get a copy of the records
d. a computer simulation of the data
23. Which of the following information should be provided in an informed consent form for any
study involving human participants?
a. the findings of the study
b. the number of participants the study plans to use
c. the procedures involved in the study
d. the names of other participants
24. Sally selects classrooms of first graders to study the effects of teaching styles on math
achievement. This is an example of _______________.
a. stratified random sampling
b. cluster sampling
c. proportional sampling
d. sampling error
25. Susan calls every 10th name in the student phone book to ask them to participate in her
study. This is an example of _______________ sampling.
a. simple random
b. stratified
c. convenience
d. quota
