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Experiments in natural settings are likely to differ from laboratory experiments on four critical dimensions: control,external validity,goals,and consequences.Briefly describe the nature of the difference for each of these four dimensions.

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Experiments in natural settings do not u...

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A simple interrupted time series design provides a reliable measure of the effect of the treatment because there are many observations both before and after the treatment.The major threat to internal validity in this design is


A) maturation.
B) history.
C) selection.
D) additive effect of selection and history.

E) All of the above
F) A) and B)

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Program evaluation is a hybrid discipline whose professional activity


A) relies almost exclusively on the experimental method.
B) has as its basic goal providing feedback to providers of human service activities.
C) is confined almost entirely to the discipline of psychology.
D) focuses primarily on conducting basic research.

E) B) and C)
F) A) and D)

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The one-group pretest-posttest design is


A) a bad experiment.
B) an important quasi-experimental design.
C) the best design for clinical research.
D) least affected by threats to internal validity.

E) A) and D)
F) None of the above

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Among the following designs,which allows researchers to rule out the most threats to internal validity?


A) times series design with nonequivalent control group
B) one group pretest-posttest design
C) simple interrupted time series design
D) nonequivalent control group design

E) A) and B)
F) All of the above

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An argument for the internal validity of quasi-experiments


A) can always be made solely on the basis of the results of the quasi-experiments.
B) can be made on the basis of supplementary data and logical analysis in addition to the results of the quasi-experiment itself.
C) can only be made if a corresponding true experiment has been done.
D) cannot be made because of inherent threats to internal validity in these designs.

E) A) and D)
F) B) and C)

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Students on two college campuses serve as treatment and control groups in a study investigating the effectiveness of an alcohol-abuse prevention campaign.A well-known student on one of the campuses dies of alcohol intoxication in the course of the study;students on the other campus did not learn of the student's death.The reaction of other students to the student's death on their campus could represent a potential threat to the internal validity of the study called


A) history.
B) selection.
C) additive effects of selection and history.
D) additive effects of selection and maturation.

E) B) and C)
F) All of the above

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One of the main ways that true experiments differ from quasi-experiments is that true experiments use


A) correlational methods.
B) random assignment to conditions.
C) random selection from the population.
D) all of these

E) A) and B)
F) None of the above

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If the residents,staff,and facilities of a nursing home where a quasi-experiment was done are likely to be different from those in other nursing homes,then the findings of the study are likely to lack


A) reliability.
B) statistical significance.
C) internal validity.
D) external validity.

E) A) and B)
F) A) and C)

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When two groups in a nonequivalent control group design do not differ on the pretest,the researcher can conclude that


A) the two groups are equivalent only on the dependent variable measured on the pretest.
B) the two groups are not equivalent on any dependent variables.
C) the two groups will show the same natural growth rate over the course of the study.
D) the two groups are equivalent.

E) A) and B)
F) All of the above

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A psychologist examines the effect of a new therapy by first assessing patients' symptoms using a pretest,then administering eight weeks of therapy,and then administering a posttest.Based on this research design,the psychologists will be able to


A) make a causal claim about whether the treatment is effective.
B) make a claim about the applicability of the treatment to other potential patients.
C) neither (A) nor (B)
D) both (A) and (B)

E) A) and B)
F) C) and D)

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Which of the following is likely to be the most important benefit from the use of program evaluation based on sound experimental methodology?


A) providing information to policy makers that can be helpful in making more informed choices among possible treatments for social problems
B) advancing the influence and prestige of the social sciences in decision making by social policy makers
C) advancing the development of basic research in the social sciences by focusing on social policy issues
D) providing definitive information to policy makers such that program evaluation will eventually become the primary basis of social policy decisions

E) C) and D)
F) None of the above

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When people's performance changes because they are enthusiastic or energized by an intervention,the results of a study are likely affected by


A) contamination.
B) treatment enthusiasm.
C) novelty effects.
D) diffusion of treatment.

E) A) and C)
F) A) and D)

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When,from the outset of a study,differences exist between the kinds of individuals in one group of an experiment and those in another,there is a potential threat to internal validity called


A) selection.
B) maturation.
C) additive effect of selection and history.
D) contamination.

E) C) and D)
F) A) and D)

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A researcher was interested in determining whether more frequent breaks (i.e., "coffee breaks") in a business setting would help employees to be more productive. With the cooperation of the management, employees on one floor of the corporate offices were allowed to take a 10-minute break each hour (at any time) between 8:00 and 11:00 A.M. (for a total of 30 minutes). The comparison group comprised employees on different floors who followed the usual corporate policy of taking a 30-minute break sometime during the morning (at any time). Measures of productivity were gathered for each employee according to his or her job (e.g., number of reports written, number of sales made, etc.). A time series analysis was applied to compare the productivity of both groups of employees for six months before and after the intervention (started in July). Quite surprisingly, the productivity of both groups increased following the onset of the intervention, suggesting to the researcher that the timing of breaks makes no difference. -Explain why the "Hawthorne effect" may have influenced the results of this study.

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Employees' performance may hav...

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One factor that may make it difficult to interpret the result of even a true experiment in a natural setting is contamination (when there is communication of information about the experiment between groups of participants).Briefly describe the three types of problems that can result from contamination.

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Contamination can result in resentment o...

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In clinical trials involving tests of new medical treatments it may be extremely difficult to get patients to agree to be randomly assigned to either the treatment or the control group.In these situations researchers can use


A) quasi-experimental designs.
B) natural groups designs.
C) yoked control designs.
D) matched groups designs.

E) A) and B)
F) A) and C)

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The effect of a treatment in a simple interrupted time-series design is indicated by


A) a clear discontinuity (abrupt increase or decrease) in the dependent variable at the point the treatment is administered.
B) a decreasing trend in the dependent variable that is present both before and after the treatment.
C) an increasing trend in the dependent variable that is present both before and after the treatment.
D) a gradual change in the dependent variable that begins just before the treatment is implementeD.

E) C) and D)
F) None of the above

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Which of the following threats to internal validity is controlled in the nonequivalent control group design?


A) differential regression
B) additive effect of selection and testing.
C) additive effect of selection and history.
D) testing

E) C) and D)
F) A) and C)

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A student used a nonequivalent control group design to examine the effectiveness of a computer module the library uses to introduce first year students to the library's resources.Which threat to internal validity could she potentially rule out by examining the pretest scores for both groups?


A) a maturation threat
B) a regression threat
C) a selection threat
D) an instrumentation threat

E) All of the above
F) C) and D)

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