Q&A Hero

Q: The percentage of sample means that fall between +/- 1 standard deviation is a. 36. b. 68. c. 84 d. 99.

Q: The most common descriptive statistic used in causal-comparative research as a measure of central tendency is the a. range. b. mode. c. mean. d. median.

Q: In a study that compares different drop out rates of college students by intended major; intended major is considered a(n)________level variable. a. nominal b. ordinal c. interval d. ratio

Q: Roger is a narrative researcher who studies the steeltown communities of the 1950's. Of the following which is a data source Roger will likely use in his work? a. A new book on the subject b. A recording of a journalist's visit c. A newspaper story written overseas d. An interview with long time residents

Q: Tim read a study that examined whether teacher-provided verbal signals helped students retain information from lectures. Tim noticed that the researchers had made sure that an equal number of both high and low ability learners were in each condition. This is a strength in this ______________ researcher report.a. observationalb. correlationalc. surveyd. causal-comparative

Q: Which of the following is considered an important social behavior for participant observation? a. Maintaining a "˜social distance" from the participants b. Critiquing the participants that you are observing c. Allowing a tolerance for ambiguity and maintaining patience d. Keeping your work privileged for ethical considerations

Q: Betsy is reporting the results of standardized testing to parents of her class students. Natal received a t score of 80. Given Natal's t-score, his z-score would be a. -1 b. 0 c. 2 d. 3

Q: Stan's study examined the differences in self-concept between children enrolled in a summer outdoor adventure program and those who were not. The adventure group children had slightly higher self-concept prior to the program than the comparison group, so Stan took individual's initial self-concept score into consideration when he examined his data. Which of the following strategies for controlling extraneous variables did Stan employ? a. Matching b. Comparing homogeneous subgroups c. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) d. Manipulation of independent variable

Q: Political party affiliation is considered __________ level data. a. nominal b. ordinal c. interval d. ratio

Q: Action research is used to a. find and solve educators' problems. b. control independent variables. c. promote generalization of research findings. d. examine historical educational trends.

Q: Yuki read a study that compared pre- and post-test performance between two different in-service training methods for teaching emergency first aid to teachers.She really found the study interesting but there was no description of how the two treatment groups were formed. This is a flaw in this _______________research report.a. surveyb. observationalc. experimentald. correlational

Q: Which of the following statements regarding field notes is consistent with recommendations made in your text? a. Field notes should only contain factual observations. b. Field notes should be as concise as possible c. Field notes should be written as soon as possible after an observation. d. Field notes are generally used only as a secondary data source in ethnographic research.

Q: Betsy is reporting the results of standardized testing to parents of her class students. Natal received a t score of 80. What is an accurate statement that Betsy might make to Natal's parents. a. Natal scored at the lowest end of the distribution of scores. b. Natal scored at about the mean of the group of students taking the assessment. c. Natal scored at the highest end of the distribution of scores. d. Natal scored an 80% correct on the items presented on the test.

Q: Paula examined differences in college persistence between students who took the SAT either before their junior year or during their junior year of high school. She compared students with the same score and found that students had taken the SAT before their junior year of high school were more likely to stay in college than those who had taken the SAT during their junior year. Paula employed which method for controlling the extraneous variable, performance, in her study? a. Matching a. Comparing homogeneous subgroups b. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) c. Manipulation of independent variable

Q: Standardized test scores are often given as percentile ranks. These data are considered ________________ level measurement. a. nominal b. ordinal c. interval d. ratio

Q: Correlational research is concerned with a. differences between conditions. b. examining relationships among variables. c. describing the preferences of some group of people. d. controlling treatment conditions for appropriate comparison.

Q: In reviewing a study about the benefits of daily silent reading for third grade students' comprehension skills, Sandra noted that the authors did not provide the amount of time the students read daily or for how long the study was conducted. The authors should have reported this information in the ________________ section of their report. a. Introduction b. Methods c. Results d. Discussion

Q: Xavier is an ethnographer studying doctor/patient relations. As a certified Physician's Assistant, he agrees to donate some of his skills in the weekend clinic in return for the opportunity to conduct his study. While doing his work, he meets with patients and physicians and is able to play both the role of observer and physician's assistant. By agreeing to donate hours in the weekend clinic to gain access for his study, Xavier is best illustrating a. reciprocity. b. tolerance for ambiguity. c. triangulation. d. maintaining rapport.

Q: Pete lives in a very demographically diverse community. Interestingly incomes are either quite high or quite low with few "˜average" incomes in his town. He is conducting a survey regarding opinions about access to medical care. When he considers the variable "˜income" in his data, which of the following is he most likely to report? a. Range b. Mean c. Median d. Mode

Q: Wendy is investigating differences in cardiovascular health between children who are involved in extra-curricular activities and those who are not. She decides to investigate only children who are average height and weight, with no existing heart conditions and no family history of obesity. Wendy has employed which method for controlling the extraneous variable in her study? a. Matching b. Comparing homogeneous subgroups c. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) d. Manipulation of independent variable

Q: Performance on an attitude measure with Likert type items is considered a(n) _____________ level variable. a. nominal b. ordinal c. interval d. ratio

Q: Of the following which is likely a statement made by a quantitative researcher in a study of cooperative learning. a. Let's follow the groups for the course of the project and take notes about their social interactions and dialogues. b. Let's conduct some focus groups with college students about the types of cooperative learning they have encountered in their schooling. c. Let's compare unit test scores of those who were placed in cooperative groups and those who were not. d. Let's enroll in a course that uses cooperative groups and observe the nature of the instruction from a student perspective.

Q: Aaron conducted a study that examined teachers' views about a new test mandated by the State. He provides a questionnaire and then conducts follow up interviews. It is unclear in his report, however, whether the data from the interviews or the questionnaire form the basis for his conclusions. Of the following, this lack of clarity most directly demonstrates a problem with Aaron's ____________.a. Introductionb. Abstractc. Methodsd. Discussion

Q: Xavier is an ethnographer studying doctor/patient relations. As a certified Physician's Assistant, he agrees to donate some of his skills in the weekend clinic in return for the opportunity to conduct his study. While doing his work, he meets with patients and physicians and is able to play both the role of observer and physician's assistant. In this scenario, Xavier best represents which of the following types of observer? a. Active participant observer b. Privileged, active observer c. Passive observer d. Nonformal observer

Q: Nia has collected her dissertation data that tests a prediction model of student retention of international college students. She finds that in students from China, the predictor variables have much less variance than the same variables in students from European countries. Given this information, what can you conclude regarding the data set? a. The standard deviation is likely smaller the Chinese students. b. The mean is likely higher for the Chinese students. c. The variance is likely larger for the European students. d. The mean is likely higher for the European students.

Q: One strength of causal-comparative studies, in comparison to experimental studies, is that causal-comparative studies can examine _____________ while experimental studies can not. a. more than one dependent variable b. causal relationships among variables c. variables that should not be manipulated d. variables that can be manipulated

Q: Age is considered a(n) ________________level variable. a. nominal b. ordinal c. interval d. ratio

Q: Of the following which is likely a statement made by a qualitative researcher in a study that addresses social skills training. a. I would like to interview a few of the participants to understand their training. b. I would like to give participants a test to determine their skill level. c. I would like to use teacher ratings to see if the program worked. d. I would like to control which students get the training so we can compare groups of children that did and did not get training.

Q: Vince recently critiqued a study that asked nonnative speaking parents about their educational aspirations for their children. The study did not ascertain,however, that the target population, the parents, could read the questionnaire, which was written in English. This illustrates a flaw in the ____________ section of the research report.a. designb. hypothesisc. instrumentsd. participants

Q: Millie is an ethnographic researcher studying the development of language in young children from bilingual homes. She studies these children in childcare settings in which the child's second language is the language used. She observes the children as a "˜visitor" in their classes for the first three months of their emersion in their new school setting. While there she takes down extensive notes in a notebook as she observes. She also often records small brief notes to herself on little green sheets that she keeps separate from her notebook. The brief notes that Millie records on the green sheets best represent a. memos. b. protocols. c. field notes. d. jottings.

Q: Anton collected survey data regarding teachers' use of technology in their teaching activities. He was pleased that his data are generally normally distributed. Among other data, he collected age, number of years teaching, highest degree held, amount of time spent in online office hours weekly, and whether the teacher reported using an electronic discussion board. Anton will most likely report which of the following measures of central tendency for the variable highest degree held? a. Mode b. Range c. Mean d. Median

Q: Of the following, which is an example of a retrospective causal-comparative approach? a. Allison believed allowing students open campus for lunch would promote better school attendance so she allowed one high school in the district to have open campus while the maintained their closed campus. She then assessed differences in attendance at the end of the semester. b. Ben was interested in the benefits of outdoor recess on classroom behavior. One class he had take year-round outdoor recess and the other he scheduled for indoor recess in the gym. At the end of the school year he examined referrals for classroom management for both classes. c. James predicted that adults who were cub scouts as children would possess more sophisticated environmental attitudes. He compared the environmental attitudes of adults who were cub scouts to those of adults who were not scouts. d. Lisa was curious if after-school snacks promoted healthier dinner eating habits so she compared children from one day care setting that provided after school snacks to one that did not. At the end of the semester she had parents rate dinner eating behaviors for both groups of children.

Q: Marital status is considered a(n) ______________ level variable. a. nominal b. ordinal c. interval d. ratio

Q: Of the following, which is an overriding rule of research ethics as noted in your text? a. Maintain participants' anonymity b. Divulge participants confidentiality c. Obtain informed consent d. Report data without identifiers

Q: Charles read a study that examined the effects of animation on learning science text content. There were three groups in the study. Students were randomly selected from a 10th grade science class and randomly assigned to a condition. One group received a text only, the other group received a text and an animation, the third group received only the animation. Five students were in each condition.ANOVA indicated significant differences between groups and post hoc analysis revealed the animation only group performed better than the other two conditions.One critique of the study is the number of students in each condition. This is primarily a critique for which section of the research report?a. participantsb. instrumentsc. proceduresd. discussion

Q: Millie is an ethnographic researcher studying the development of language in young children from bilingual homes. She studies these children in childcare settings in which the child's second language is the language used. She observes the children as a "˜visitor" in their classes for the first three months of their emersion in their new school setting. While there she takes down extensive notes in a notebook as she observes. She also often records small brief notes to herself on little green sheets that she keeps separate from her notebook. In this scenario, Millie can best be categorized as which of the following types of observer? a. Active participant observer b. Privileged, active observer c. Passive observer d. Nonformal observer

Q: Anton collected survey data regarding teachers' use of technology in their teaching activities. He was pleased that his data are generally normally distributed. Among other data, he collected age, number of years teaching, highest degree held, amount of time spent in online office hours weekly, and whether the teacher reported using an electronic discussion board. Anton will most likely report which of the following measures of central tendency for the variable number of years teaching? a. Mode b. Range c. Mean d. Median

Q: Of the following which is an example of a prospective casual-comparative approach? a. Katie was interested in whether or not differences in university persistence are found between students coming from large versus small high schools. She compared the percentage of students who had dropped out of college that had attended either a large or small high school. b. Carrie compares college GPA of students who had either enrolled in high school AP classes and those who had not. c. Molly compares the amount of time spent independently reading between those who were given phonics instruction in first grade and those who were given whole language. d. Jason wondered if assigning vocabulary homework for his high school history class would help their performance on his final. He assigned one class weekly vocabulary homework and then compared their final exam scores to those of another class to which no weekly vocabulary homework was assigned.

Q: Gender is considered a(n) ___________ level variable. a. nominal b. ordinal c. interval d. ratio

Q: Dean is a quantitative researcher who studies attitudes about computer use. Which of the following data collection strategies is most consistent with Dean's research philosophy? a. Observe a few participants over an extended period of time as they work on computers. b. Conduct focus group interviews to determine computer users' attitudes. c. Interview a few participants and ask them to refer others to the study. d. Develop and administer a Likert-type survey to collect attitude data.

Q: Charles read a study that examined the effects of animation on learning science text content. There were three groups in the study. Students were randomly selected from a 10th grade science class and randomly assigned to a condition. One group received a text only, the other group received a text and an animation, the third group received only the animation. Five students were in each condition. ANOVA indicated significant differences between groups and post hoc analysis revealed the animation only group performed better than the other two conditions.The study Charles read is an example of a(n) _______________ study.a. surveyb. correlationalc. experimentald. prediction

Q: Millie is an ethnographic researcher studying the development of language in young children from bilingual homes. She studies these children in childcare settings in which the child's second language is the language used. She observes the children as a "˜visitor" in their classes for the first three months of their emersion in their new school setting. While there she takes down extensive notes in a notebook as she observes. She also often records small brief notes to herself on little green sheets that she keeps separate from her notebook. The extensive notes Millie records in her notebook best represent a. memos. b. protocols. c. field notes. d. jottings.

Q: In her normally distributed achievement test scores, Lee's mean score is a 64 with a standard deviation of 6. What score would a student with a Z-score of 2 have on the test? a. 58 b. 70 c. 76 d. 80

Q: All of the following are relative weaknesses of causal-comparative research when compared with other forms of quantitative research EXCEPT a. lack of randomization. b. manipulation of independent variables. c. time to conduct the study. d. control of research variables

Q: As a coach running numerous training camps over the summer, you are interested in whether it is better to distribute practices into 4 sessions instead of 2 sessions daily. You have decided that your outcome variables will include speed, strength, endurance, and number of injuries. You have several hundred possible participants distributed across six sessions. Which of the following is the best possible sampling strategy to use if you are interested in generalizability? a. Snowball Sampling b. Multi-stage sampling c. Intensity sampling d. Quota sampling

Q: Marge is conducting a study that addresses the effects of a funded program that recently concluded. The program was funded to develop and implement an after-school tutoring program. Marge is likely conducting a. basic research. b. experimental research. c. formative evaluation. d. summative evaluation.

Q: Amber recently read a research report that described a study that investigated thebenefits of a mnemonic strategy for special education learners. She would like to replicate the study but there was little information about the mnemonic strategy included. This lack of information illustrates a concern with the ____________ section of the report?a. introductionb. discussionc. resultsd. method

Q: Millie is an ethnographic researcher studying the development of language in young children from bilingual homes. She studies these children in childcare settings in which the child's second language is the language used. She observes the children as a "˜visitor" in their classes for the first three months of their emersion in their new school setting. While there she takes down extensive notes in a notebook as she observes. She also often records small brief notes to herself on little green sheets that she keeps separate from her notebook. Given this scenario, Millie is most likely demonstrating which of the following types of ethnography? a. Life History b. Confessional ethnography c. Autoethnography d. Ethnographic case study

Q: Griffin conducted a poll of his eighth grade class. He would like to determine how many would rather go to an amusement park versus a water park for the class trip. Which of the following is Griffin most likely to report to his peers? a. Variance in responses b. Mean responses c. Total responses by category d. Mode of responses

Q: Of the following, which is considered an organismic variable? a. Age b. Marital status c. Intelligence d. Self-esteem

Q: Of the following, which is a common example of demographic information collected in a survey study? a. opinion b. gender c. interest d. ability

Q: The main purpose of research and development efforts in education is to a. contribute to science. b. formulate theory. c. develop products. d. make educational decisions.

Q: Taryn has conducted a study on pre-kindergarten children's displays of cultural awareness. She observes three individual students within a class of fifteen preschoolers. In the report of her study, it is unclear if the target of her investigation is the children or the classroom. This is a flaw most directly related to the report of her __________research.a. Causal-comparativeb. Surveyc. Case-studyd. Experiemental

Q: As an ethnographic researcher studying new teachers' "˜voice", Wes goes to a school and observes the activities and other aspects of the school. He goes to faculty meetings and spends most days shadowing his two participants for the academic year. Wes is engaging in a. purposeful description. b. subjective orientation. c. cultural criticism. d. participant observation.

Q: Maricella has collected her thesis data that examines differences in PSAT Math achievement in Latino boys and girls. However, upon a second look at the graphs of her raw scores, it appears that the boys scores are more normally distributed and the girls scores are somewhat more bunched together around the mean. Given this information, what can you conclude regarding the data set? a. The standard deviation is likely smaller for girls. b. The girls' distribution is likely unimodal. c. The girls' mean score is more representative of the data. d. The girls' median is higher than the boys' median.

Q: A causal-comparative study requires at least a. one level of independent variable and one dependent variable. b. two levels of independent variable and one dependent variable c. two levels of independent variable and two dependent variables. d. three or more levels of independent variable and one dependent variable.

Q: A political polling organization has decided to do a study that explores teachers' opinions about school vouchers. To be representative the group seeks data from 1200 practicing teachers in four regions of the United States. The group used an electronic survey and when 1200 surveys are returned, the data are analyzed. This best represents which of the following strategies? a. Cluster sampling b. Random sampling c. Stratified sampling d. Quota sampling

Q: Of the following, which is most likely to be a survey study? a. What are the behaviors users display while they play violent video games? b. Is there a relationship between violent video game use and aggressive behavior in school? c. How many hours per week does the average 6thgrader play video games? d. Are there gender differences in types of violent behavior of children who play video games?

Q: Mo conducted an interview study and is writing up her report. Which of the following is of importance to Mo in her research report?a. Is the criterion variable well defined?b. Was an appropriate experimental design selected?c. Is the method used to record responses described?d. Were possible reactive arrangements controlled for?

Q: When researchers rely on more than one means of data collection to describe, analyze, and interpret a research setting, they are said to be using which of the following procedures? a. Context validity b. Triangulation c. Generalization d. Integration

Q: Given the following distribution24,19,15,18,16,24,17is best described as a. Approximately normal b. Bi-modally distributed c. Negatively skewed d. Positively skewed

Q: Laura is designing a study that examines difference in social skills between children raised in a three-generation family household compared to those raised in a two-generation family home. Laura is likely to study this research topic by use of a. causal-comparative research because it is an ex post facto design, the events have already happened. b. descriptive research because she will not attempt to explain any reasons for differences in social skills. c. experimental research because she wants to manipulate the independent variable, type of home environment. d. Correlational research because she will only address relationships and not levels of an independent variable.

Q: Gimbya is completing a narrative study on the benefits of accommodations for post-secondary students at her small liberal arts college. Of the following which is likely her sampling strategy? a. homogeneous sampling. b. simple random sampling. c. cluster sampling. d. random purposive sampling.

Q: Of the following, which illustrates a causal-comparative study? a. What is the typical classroom structure in a secondary mathematics classroom? b. Is there a relationship between teachers' instructional style and classroom physical structure? c. Are there differences in learners' mathematics achievement between classrooms that are structured with desks in rows or in small groups? d. What are the notetaking behaviors of college students in lecture seating?

Q: Kristin is writing up her research and has provided rationale for why she elected to use a within-subjects design. Most of the previous research had used a between-subjects design. What type of research did Kristin likely conduct?a. Experimentalb. Correlationalc. Narratived. Mixed methods

Q: Brad is researching the incidence of eating disorders in boys' Olympic development sports programs. As an ethnographic researcher which of the following is likely part of Brad's behaviors. a. Brad is testing the hypothesis that some Olympic development programs have a high incidence of boys' eating disorders. b. Brad uses a survey technique and collects data from several different sports to compare incidence of eating disorders. c. Brad goes to Olympic Development sports programs and follows a couple targeted athletes for several years as they progress through their programs. d. Brad interviews coaches about the acceptance and incidence of boys' eating disorders in Olympic Development programs worldwide.

Q: Given the following distribution24,19,15,18,16,24,17the measure of central tendency best to report is the a. Mean b. Range c. Median d. Mode

Q: Of the following, which is most typical of an independent variable in a causal-comparative study? a. Discipline referrals b. Attitudes about science c. Country of origin d. SAT scores

Q: Yohance intends to conduct a large survey study that examines access to higher education among urban populations in Mexico. Of the following, which is most likely the sampling strategy that Yohance will consider? a. Snowball sampling b. Intensity sampling c. Stratified sampling d. Convenience sampling

Q: Which of the following is an example of a correlational study? a. Is there a relationship between amount of silent independent reading time allocated in a classroom and reading standardized test scores? b. What are the characteristics of a typical classroom's silent independent reading session? c. Are there grade level differences in the effectiveness of independent silent reading? d. How many minutes is the typical independent silent reading session?

Q: Susan examined differences in students' sustained independent reading time between classrooms with and without a paraprofessional in the room and is writing her report. She is likely concerned with which of the following questions related to her causal-comparative study?a. Is a rationale given for selection of predictor variables?b. Were the sources of data related to the problem mostly primary?c. Was the resulting prediction equation validated with another group?d. Is the independent variable clearly defined or described?

Q: Of the following, which is NOT a characteristic of ethnographic research? a. Ethnographic research may be conducted with just one case. b. Ethnographic research is most often completed in a laboratory. c. Ethnographic research frames human behavior within a socio-political context. d. Ethnographic research uses culture as a lens to interpret findings.

Q: Given the following distribution24,19,15,18,16,24,17the score that best represents the median is a. 15 b. 18 c. 19 d. 24

Q: Of the following, which is most typical of an independent variable in a causal-comparative study? a. Mathematics achievement. b. Time to complete a problem. c. Amount of content learned from instructional materials. d. Type of instructional treatment administered.

Q: Ina explores eating disorders among male athletes. Nick is a key informant in her study. Which of the following is the most likely sampling strategy that Ina used in her research? a. Random sampling b. Stratified sampling c. Intensity sampling d. Criterion sampling

Q: Which of the following examples illustrates reliance on deductive reasoning? a. Paul believes a vaccine works because his doctor says that it does. b. Bill concludes that his car uses unleaded fuel because it is an Escort and all Escorts use unleaded fuel. c. Juan assumes that black holes exist because scientists have told him that they do. d. Jack concludes that all mammals have fur based upon observing his cat and dog.

Q: Hilary needs to include in her study a statement about response rate. What type of research did Hilary likely conduct? a. Questionnaire b. Ethnography c. Experimental d. Correlational

Q: Which of the following is a characteristic of ethnographic research? a. Data are primarily collected through fieldwork experiences. b. Ethnographic research is most often completed by research teams. c. Ethnographic research requires little training but instead relies on intuition. d. Ethnographic research is objective and devoid of political context.

Q: Given the following distribution24,19,15,18,16,24,17the score that best represents the mean is a. 15 b. 18 c. 19 d. 24

Q: One similarity between causal-comparative and experimental research is that both a. employ random assignment. b. attempt to establish cause-effect relationships. c. manipulate independent variables. d. examine relationships after the events have occurred.