Chapter 2: Where to Start

A tentative idea or question that is waiting for evidence to support or refute it is called a _________.

A)proposal
B)intuition
C)hypothesis
D)prediction

Which of the following is considered an informal research question rather than a formal hypothesis?

A)How much television does a child usually watch in a day?
B)Preschool children are more aggressive after viewing aggressive behavior.
C)Students have higher exam scores when the exam is administered in the same place that the students studied for the test.
D)Employees who bring their pets to work are more productive than those who leave their pets at home.

Which of the following is considered TRUE of formal hypotheses?

A)They are simply questions about behavior.
B)They are usually formulated on the basis of past research and theory.
C)They are very general in nature.
D)They are stated in nonspecific terms.

Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A)Results of a study can prove the hypothesis and support the prediction.
B)Results of a study can confirm the prediction and prove the hypothesis.
C)Results of a study can prove the hypothesis and reject the prediction.
D)Results of a study can confirm the prediction and support the hypothesis.

Individuals who take part in survey research are best referred to as _________.

A)subjects
B)participants
C)informants
D)respondents

__________ is a term used to refer to individuals who help researchers understand the dynamics of particular cultural or organizational settings.

A)Investigators
B)Respondents
C)Informants
D)Participants

Does the "squeaking wheel get the grease" or does the "quacking duck get shot"? When researchers try to answer questions such as these, what source of ideas are they utilizing?

A)observation of the world
B)common sense
C)theories
D)practical problems

Jose conducted a new research project and accidentally made an amazing discovery. His discovery is the result of __________.

A)serendipity
B)common sense
C)conditioning
D)theoretical knowledge

One of the important functions of theories is to provide a framework that __________ and __________ a variety of specific facts or descriptions of behavior.

A)explains; proves
B)evaluates; confirms
C)arranges; proves
D)organizes; explains

Which of the following statements is FALSE?

A)A theory generates new knowledge.
B)Research can reveal weaknesses in a theory.
C)A theory is "just an idea" that may or may not be true.
D)A theory can be modified to account for new research data.

Which of the following is NOT one of the five sources of research ideas discussed in the text?

A)past research
B)hypotheses
C)theories
D)common sense

Before designing and carrying out a research project, an investigator conducts a thorough __________.

A)survey of participant opinion
B)literature search
C)survey of popular opinion
D)background check on participants

The American Psychological Association has a computer database of abstracts called ___________.

A)EBSCO-host
B)APAInfo
C)AbstractFIRST
D)PsycINFO

An investigator should utilize __________ when trying to use a "key article" to search for subsequent articles that cited this key article.

A)the Annual Review of Psychology
B)PsycINFO
C)Social Sciences Citation Index
D)PsycLIT

What are the five major sections in a research article?

A)theory, background, method, findings, discussion
B)abstract, introduction, method, results, discussion
C)theory, introduction, procedure, results, conclusion
D)abstract, background, procedure, findings, summary

Serendipity played a role in Pavlov's discovery of classical conditioning.

A)True
B)False
True False

When conducting a search on the PsycINFO system, the NOT operation can be used to expand a search that is too narrow.

A)True
B)False
True False

A PsycINFO search strategy is to use the wildcard asterisk to exclude search terms.

A)True
B)False
True False

Articles that summarize the research in a particular area can be found in the "Psychological Bulletin."

A)True
B)False
True False

The Google search service has a specialized scholarly search engine.

A)True
B)False
True False

When an Internet site is sponsored by a single individual with unknown credentials, the information found on the site should be viewed with skepticism.

A)True
B)False
True False

The abstract of a research article is usually 250 words, or one page, in length.

A)True
B)False
True False

The introduction section of a research article contains a detailed description of the research participants.

A)True
B)False
True False

The results section of a research article includes statistical terminology.

A)True
B)False
True False

The discussion section of a research article addresses possible explanations for the research findings.

A)True
B)False
True False