PSY 429 Experimental Psychology
Sample Test Questions for Test 2
PSY 429 Experimental Psychology
Sample Test Questions for Test 2
1. In a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design there are
a. two main effects and two interactions.b. three main effects and two interactions.
c. three main effects and three interactions.
d. three main effects and four interactions.
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2. _______ statistics are used to summarize data, whereas _______ statistics are used to evaluate the reliability of data.
a. inferential; noninferentialb. parametric; nonparametric
c. descriptive; inferential
d. inferential; descriptive
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3. If your treatment did not have an effect on your dependent variable, you can assume that the means representing each group in your experiment
a. are independent estimates of a single population mean.b. provide estimates of independent underlying populations that are very similar.
c. are probably inaccurate.
d. both a and c
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4. The _______ represents the probability that the observed difference between means could have occurred purely through sampling error.
a. alpha levelb. beta level
c. Type I level
d. Type II level
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5. The value of any score obtained in a between-subjects experiment is influenced by
a. the characteristics of the subject.b. measurement or recording errors.
c. the value of the independent variable.
d. all of the above.
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6. When an interaction is present,
a. main effects are always still interpreted.b. main effects are still the focus of attention because they are usually more interesting.
c. main effects are generally not interpreted because your independent variables do not have simple effects on your dependent variable.
d. it should be statistically controlled so that main effects an be more clearly examined.
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7. Statistical tests allow us to
a. reject the null hypothesis with complete certainty.b. accept the null hypothesis.
c. estimate the magnitude of difference between group means that can be expected by chance.
d. test the scientific hypothesis.
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8. As the variability between groups increases relative to the variability within groups
a. the F ratio becomes smaller.b. chances of rejecting the null hypothesis decreases.
c. the probability of attaining significance decreases.
d. the probability of rejecting the null hypothesis increases.
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9. If you combine variation between groups and the variation within groups, you would have
a. the numerator of the F ratio.b. total variation.
c. a means square analysis.
d. the denominator of the F ratio.
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10. If the F ratio is equal to 1
a. there is no treatment effect.b. the between-groups variance is just chance variability.
c. the within-groups variance is just chance variability.
d. you could not reject the null hypothesis.
e. all of the above.
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11. A researcher obtains a significance level of .25 for his experimental results. This indicates that
a. the results are quite possibly due to chance alone.b. the results are significant by the standards most commonly used to judge experimental results.
c. the differences observed are likely to occur by chance 2.5 times out of 100.
d. a and c
e. b and c
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12. If a difference is significant at the .01 level, chance could account for this difference _______ percent of the time.
a. 1b. 10
c. 90
d. 99
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13. Suppose you were interested in examining the effects of crowding and of availability of food on aggression. Why might you decide to use a factorial design rather than two separate experiments?
a. Separate experiments would make use of fewer subjects.b. The statistical analyses are easier for a factorial design.
c. The effects of crowding and availability of food may interact.
d. The effects of crowding and availability of food are unrelated and, thus, it makes no difference whether the researcher uses a factorial experiment or two separate experiments.
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14. A statistically significant finding at p < ______ is MORE significant than one at p < .01.
a. .0001b. .001
c. both a and b
d. neither a nor b
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15. The ratio of the two sources of variability derived in the analysis of variance gives us
a. the F-ratio.b. the standard error of estimate.
c. the proportion of variance accounted for by your independent variable.
d. an estimate of the degree to which confounding variables affected your experiment.
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16. If you vary the quantity of a drug administered to subjects by using 10 mg, 20 mg, and 40 mg, you are using a _______ design.
a. single-factorb. three-factor
c. multifactor
d. factorial
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17. A threshold based on relative judgments where a constant comparison stimulus is judged relative to a series of changing stimuli is called the
a. mean thresholdb. absolute threshold
c. median threshold
d. difference threshold
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18. In psychophysical experiments, it is possible to generate the ROC function by changing the subject's decision criterion from conservative to liberal. The experimenter can change the decision criterion by
a. changing the probability that a signal rather than just noise (i.e., no signal) will be presented.b. changing the costs vs. benefits for hits and false alarms.
c. increasing experimental control.
d. all of the above.
e. both a and b only.
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19. If an experiment finds that low error rates accompanied fast reaction time and high error rates accompanied slow reaction time, the experimenter may conclude that
a. the pattern of reaction times observed can be accounted for by a speed-accuracy tradeoff.b. the IV probably had the predicted effect on the DV, rather than a speed-accuracy tradeoff accounting for the data.
c. the results cannot be interpreted because there is a ceiling effect.
d. the error rate varied independently of reaction time.
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20. The procedure in which a subject is presented two separate and independent messages, each in a different ear, is called
a. method of limits.b. the cocktail procedure.
c. dichotic listening procedure.
d. method of channel surfing.
[ ANSWER ]
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