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As a researcher, your study ________________________________ if you are able to statistically rule out possible confounding variables or alternative explanations that may be influencing the results.

The following image illustrates, by way of a ‘hitting a target’, what it means for a study to be:

A researcher is interested in whether or not smoking causes lung cancer. When evaluating the causal relationship between smoking and lung cancer she notes that typically, smoking precedes the onset of lung cancer. Here, she is referring to ________________________________, a critical element to establish a causal relationship between two or more variables.

A professional bowler suffering from a recently injured elbow and who was in a ‘slump’ tries wearing a magnetized bracelet, which is advertised to “Relieve pain and rejuvenate the body’s vital energy.” The bowler then noticed that his scores improved and he felt better shortly after starting to wear the bracelet. He concluded that the magnetized bracelet alleviated his pain and improved this game. There is a simpler (default) explanation for what the bowler experienced. What phenomenon discussed in HDFS 312w is this example illustrating?

A researcher is studying whether individuals drinking caffeinated coffee in the morning report more alertness in the afternoon. To do this, the researcher invites 100 participants to the lab in the morning. She randomly assigns the participants into two equal groups. One group is given caffeinated coffee and the other is given decaf coffee. The participants are not told which type of coffee the received. Then, later that day participants self-report how alert they feel. Because the research knows which group received which type of coffee and the participants did not, this is what kind of study?

The survey question, “Do you think that adolescents should be required to attend school through 12th grade and have to pass a standardized state achievement exam?”, is an example of what type of ‘bad’ survey question?

A _________ study is a longitudinal design in which a researcher identifies and studies a random sample from a population over time, with different individuals (or, a different sample) representing the given population at different time points.

A researcher asks a participant to report the last time she called to check on her grandmother. The participant reports she spoke to her grandmother last week. In fact, the participant has not spoken to her grandmother in over 3 weeks. The participant was thinking the last time they spoke was more recent. This is an example of:

_________________ response bias refers to individual’s tendency to respond in ways that present the most positive picture of themselves.

Define and distinguish between unbiased sampling error and standard error.