Research and Evaluation Flashcards
6 cards from real NCE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Research and Evaluation flashcards as text
A researcher finds a correlation of r = -0.75 between hours of sleep and self-reported anxiety scores. This finding means:
Answer: There is a strong negative relationship between sleep and anxiety
A correlation of -0.75 indicates a strong negative (inverse) relationship: as sleep increases, anxiety tends to decrease. However, correlation does not establish causation.
Which type of research design is BEST suited to establishing cause-and-effect relationships?
Answer: True experimental design with random assignment
True experimental designs with random assignment to conditions allow researchers to control extraneous variables and make causal inferences, because random assignment equalizes groups on known and unknown confounds.
In counseling outcome research, a 'control group' serves which primary purpose?
Answer: To serve as a comparison point against which treatment effects can be evaluated
The control group does not receive the experimental treatment and provides a baseline comparison. Differences between the treatment and control groups, after random assignment, can be attributed to the treatment.
Which measure of central tendency is MOST resistant to the influence of extreme outlier scores?
Answer: Median
The median (the middle value when data are ordered) is resistant to outliers because it depends only on rank order, not the magnitude of extreme values. The mean is highly sensitive to outliers.
A researcher uses a p-value threshold of 0.05 to determine statistical significance. This means:
Answer: There is a 5% probability of obtaining results this extreme if the null hypothesis is true
A p-value of 0.05 means there is a 5% probability of observing results at least as extreme as those obtained if the null hypothesis is actually true (i.e., a 5% Type I error rate).
A counselor educator conducts a study where participants complete questionnaires before and after a 10-week stress management program. This is an example of:
Answer: A pre-test/post-test design
A pre-test/post-test design measures participants at baseline and again after an intervention to assess change. Without a control group and random assignment, it is a quasi-experimental design.