APA Style
Reliability & Validity
Research Design
Scales of measurment
Miscellaneous
100
In what section(s) are the participants described in detail?
Methods, and briefly in abstract
100
Define reliability (of a study)
How consistent the results are across similar studies
100
What are the 3 factors that a study must include to be considered an experiment?
A manipulated variable (IV) a measured variable that varies depending on the independent variable (DV) random assignment to conditions
100
Ethnicity would be categorized as what kind of scale?
Nominal
100
How can you identify a primary research article?
The authors report the results of an original research study that they conducted
200
What is unique about the results section? What does it tend to have that the other sections do not usually have?
Statistical data and analyses
200
What is external validity?
The degree to which we can say that the results of a study are accurate for different populations in different settings assessed with different procedures
200
What kind of study examines a relationship among two or more variables but involves no manipulation?
Correlational design
200
William wants to know what kind of food people like to eat in that area. He hands people a sheet that has the picture of a fruit salad, a picture of a hamburger, and a picture of chocolate cake, and asks them to number the items 1-3. 1 meaning “like it the most”, 3 meaning “like it the least”. What scale is William using?
Ordinal
200
Name at least 3 things that can be done to make a study more ethical
Answers could include: informed consent, debriefing, confidentiality/anonymity
300
What should be in an abstract?
Purpose of the study, who the participants were and what they did, and key results
300
Cronbach’s alpha is used to test the _____ of a scale
Internal consistency
300
Xena wants to see if eating different foods before math class had an effect on math test performance. What would the IV and DV be?
IV: food types DV: math test scores
300
What is the difference between an interval scale and a ratio scale?
Ratio has an absolute 0
300
What are the pros and cons of a questionnaire?
Pros: easy to administer, can be given to many participants at once Cons: Not much in depth information obtained Other answer may vary
400
Correct this reference: Schram, C. (1996). “A meta-analysis of gender differences in applied statistics achievement.” Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 21(4), 55-70.
Schram, C. (1996). A meta-analysis of gender differences in applied statistics achievement. Journal of Educational and Behavioral Statistics, 21, 55-70.
400
What is measurement validity?
Measurement is accurate in that it measures what it is supposed to measure
400
For Xena’s experiment that examines how eating different foods before math class impacts test scores, what might be some levels of the IV?
Answers will vary. The IV is food so maybe a snickers bar would be one level and an apple would be the other.
400
What kind of scale was used in the survey you handed out for class?
Interval
400
If a distribution is skewed, what do you use to measure central tendency?
Median
500
List the components of a discussion section
Explanation of results without technical language. Will put results in context. State if hypothesis was supported or not. Are results consistent with previous research? Larger implications of study. Limitations of study, and how they might be addressed.
500
What is inter-rater reliability?
Consistency of observations or ratings of a behavior made by two different people
500
Angie wants to test Xena’s experiment herself: she wants to see if eating different foods before math class has an effect on test scores. She goes into a math class, gets informed consent, gives all the girls M&Ms and all the boys apples. After the class Angie compares test scores to see if one food group scored higher than the other. In terms of experimental design, what did Angie do wrong?
She did not randomly assign. Also she did should have debriefed them.
500
If a researcher wants to know how much a participant agrees with a given statement, and wants to make sure the scale has equal intervals, what scale(s) of measurement should the researcher use? Give an example of what that could look like.
Ratio or interval. Rest of answer may vary.
500
If the values of a given scale range from 1-10, and the majority of the results end up being between 8 and 10, with only a few scores being below that, what kind of distribution would that be?
Negatively skewed
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