Chapter 9: Conducting Experiments

Counting the number of people who help a person in distress is an example of a(n) ________ measure.
1. behavioral
2. indirect
3. physiological
4. self-report
________ is simply counting the number of times a response occurs.
1. Response latency
2. Frequency of responding
3. Number of responses
4. Occurrence counting
In a reaction time experiment, you record how long it takes a participant to respond after a stimulus is presented. The measurement technique being used here is:
1. frequency
2. timing
3. latency
4. none of the above
Heart rate and brain activity during sleep are all examples of ________ measures.
1. behavioral
2. physiological
3. self-report
4. biological
A(n) ________ physiological measure involves not hurting participants in any way.
1. toxic
2. invasive
3. noninvasive
4. peripheral
A problem with self-report measures is that:
1. you cannot be certain that participants are giving accurate accounts of events
2. they are difficult to administer
3. they tend to confuse participants
4. all of the above
Participants in one group of an experiment on the effects of a drug on behavior receive a sugar pill, rather than either the active drug or no drug. Those subjects constitute a:
1. compound control group
2. placebo control group
3. blind control group
4. none of the above
A design including a placebo control group is used to detect:
1. excessive error variance
2. the effect of a participant's belief that he or she has received a drug
3. volunteer basis
4. all of the above
Experimenter bias can arise from:
1. expectancy effects
2. treating participants in various groups differently
3. role attitude cues
4. both a and b
If neither you nor your participant know the level of the independent variable to which the participant was exposed, then you are using a:
1. pilot study
2. single-blind technique
3. double-blind technique
4. none of the above
Pilot studies help you to:
1. clarify instructions
2. try out various levels of the independent variable
3. check for suspicion
4. all of the above
An advantage of manipulation checks is that they:
1. allow you to determine whether your independent variables worked the way you thought they would
2. provide no additional information that might help you interpret your data
3. both a and b
4. none of the above
A drawback to doing a pilot study is that:
1. you may find interesting results but cannot publish them, because they were found in the context of a pilot study
2. once you have run a pilot study, you may lose interest in the research area
3. it can be time consuming and expensive to conduct
4. all of the above
________ are used in an experiment, along with your dependent variables, to test whether your independent variable had its intended effect.
1. Pilot studies
2. Manipulation checks
3. Quasi-variables
4. Matching variables
One way to avoid the problem of experimenter bias is to:
1. automate your experiment
2. become intimately familiar with the hypotheses of the experiment you are running
3. recruit only those participants with a positive attitude
4. all of the above

Chapter 9: Conducting Experiments

Choose the best answer for each question.