Psychological Research Methods Flashcards

Which of the following is a key advantage of longitudinal research over cross-sectional research?

Answer: It allows examination of developmental changes within the same individuals over time

Longitudinal designs track the same participants over time, enabling true developmental change to be observed rather than inferred from age comparisons.

In signal detection theory, a 'hit' refers to:

Answer: Correctly identifying a stimulus as present when it is present

A hit is a correct detection — the participant correctly reports a signal when the signal is actually present.

The Hawthorne effect refers to participants:

Answer: Changing their behavior because they know they are being observed

The Hawthorne effect describes behavior changes that occur simply because participants know they are being watched or studied.

Which sampling method gives every member of a population an equal chance of being selected?

Answer: Simple random sampling

Simple random sampling ensures every population member has an equal probability of selection, making it the gold standard for representativeness.

Cronbach's alpha is used to assess:

Answer: Internal consistency reliability

Cronbach's alpha measures internal consistency — how well items on a scale correlate with each other and measure the same construct.

A researcher studying PTSD in veterans recruits participants solely from VA hospitals. The biggest threat to validity this creates is:

Answer: Sampling bias limiting generalizability

Recruiting from VA hospitals may produce a non-representative sample of veterans, limiting external validity and generalizability of findings.

What distinguishes a quasi-experiment from a true experiment?

Answer: Quasi-experiments do not involve random assignment to conditions

Quasi-experiments manipulate an independent variable but lack random assignment, reducing control over confounds compared to true experiments.