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Research and Scientific Foundations Flashcards

7 cards from real HSP practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.

Read the first 7 Research and Scientific Foundations flashcards as text

  1. A health psychologist conducting a single-case experimental design uses an ABAB withdrawal design. The primary purpose of the second return to baseline (B) is to:

    Answer: Demonstrate experimental control by replicating the intervention effect

    The second intervention phase in an ABAB design replicates the effect, demonstrating that behavior change is functionally related to the treatment.

  2. A researcher reports a 95% confidence interval of [0.10, 0.45] for a risk ratio. The correct interpretation is:

    Answer: Both B and C are correct interpretations

    A 95% CI means 95% of such intervals capture the true parameter (frequentist interpretation), and excluding 1.0 confirms significance at α = .05 for a ratio.

  3. Which of the following threats to internal validity involves participants changing over the course of a study due to natural developmental processes?

    Answer: Maturation

    Maturation refers to natural changes in participants over time (e.g., aging, fatigue) that may explain outcome differences independent of the intervention.

  4. In multiple regression, multicollinearity is most problematic because it:

    Answer: Increases standard errors of individual regression coefficients

    Multicollinearity inflates standard errors of regression coefficients, making individual predictors appear non-significant even when they have real effects.

  5. The Belmont Report's principle of 'beneficence' in research ethics refers to:

    Answer: Maximizing potential benefits and minimizing possible harms to participants

    Beneficence obligates researchers to maximize participant benefits and minimize risks, going beyond simply doing no harm.

  6. A meta-analysis detects significant heterogeneity (I² = 78%). The most appropriate next step is:

    Answer: Conduct moderator analyses to identify sources of variability

    High I² warrants moderator analyses (meta-regression or subgroup analysis) to identify study characteristics that explain the variability in effect sizes.

  7. A psychologist administers the same measure twice to the same group two weeks apart and finds r = .91. This primarily reflects:

    Answer: Test-retest reliability

    Test-retest reliability (temporal stability) is measured by correlating scores from the same instrument administered to the same participants at two time points.