Chapter 1
Introduction to Scientific Method
• Multiple-choice questions
1. Which of the following is NOT a good reason for psychology
students to take a research methods course?
a. It will allow you to become a better consumer of the
scientific literature
* b. It requires more rigorous thinking than is typically found in
other psychology courses
c. The content of psychology courses is typically based on
scientific findings
d. You need to be able to evaluate the adequacy of the many
claims you encounter daily
2. Which of the following is a reason for taking a Research
Methods course?
a. To develop critical and analytic thinking skills.
b. To learn how to conduct psychological research.
c. To become an informed and critical consumer of
information.
* d. All of the above
3. Being an informed and critical consumer of information will help
you to critically read which of the following?
a. popular magazines
b. newspaper
c. scientific journal
* d. all of the above
4. Which of the following is a disadvantage of the intuitive
approach to acquiring knowledge?
1
, a. Intuition is takes a long time to understand and is difficult
to use.
* b. Intuition does not provide a mechanism to help you to
separate accurate from inaccurate knowledge.
c. Intuition can lead you to two equally accurate conclusions.
d. Intuition relies entirely on memory when in use and
memory can be inaccurate.
5. Jackie's friend tells her what to do in her personal life based on
her "gut instincts.” A more formal name for this source of
knowledge is
a. rationalism.
b. hypothesis testing.
c. appeal to authority.
* d. intuition.
6. If you accept your physician’s explanation for your illness
without researching your condition or asking how she came to her
conclusion, you are relying on ___________ as a source of
knowledge.
* a. authority
b. reason
c. intuition
d. science
7. Consulting the expertise of an Authority can be useful when
a. designing a study.
b. forming a hypothesis
c. interpreting data
* d. All of the above
2
, 8. Which of the following methods is NOT useful when forming a
hypothesis?
a. Intuition
* b. Hoaxing
c. Rationalism
d. Authority
9. After every trip Pete takes to the automatic carwash he finds a
new ding in his car. He concludes that this automatic carwash
damages cars. He is relying on what source of knowledge?
a. Intuition
b. Rationalism
* c. Empiricism
d. Science
10. One approach to gaining knowledge is known as ___________
and involves using reasoning to acquire knowledge.
a. determinism
b. logic of discovery * c. rationalism d. naturalism
11. _______ is an important part of the scientific approach that is
based on the notion that the origin of all knowledge is from our
senses.
a. Rationalism
b. Intuition *
c. Empiricism d. Authority
12. Whewell believed that _______ should be designed to
systematically produce reliable and valid knowledge about the
national world.
a. Psychology
* b. Science
c. Induction
d. Rationalism
3
Introduction to Scientific Method
• Multiple-choice questions
1. Which of the following is NOT a good reason for psychology
students to take a research methods course?
a. It will allow you to become a better consumer of the
scientific literature
* b. It requires more rigorous thinking than is typically found in
other psychology courses
c. The content of psychology courses is typically based on
scientific findings
d. You need to be able to evaluate the adequacy of the many
claims you encounter daily
2. Which of the following is a reason for taking a Research
Methods course?
a. To develop critical and analytic thinking skills.
b. To learn how to conduct psychological research.
c. To become an informed and critical consumer of
information.
* d. All of the above
3. Being an informed and critical consumer of information will help
you to critically read which of the following?
a. popular magazines
b. newspaper
c. scientific journal
* d. all of the above
4. Which of the following is a disadvantage of the intuitive
approach to acquiring knowledge?
1
, a. Intuition is takes a long time to understand and is difficult
to use.
* b. Intuition does not provide a mechanism to help you to
separate accurate from inaccurate knowledge.
c. Intuition can lead you to two equally accurate conclusions.
d. Intuition relies entirely on memory when in use and
memory can be inaccurate.
5. Jackie's friend tells her what to do in her personal life based on
her "gut instincts.” A more formal name for this source of
knowledge is
a. rationalism.
b. hypothesis testing.
c. appeal to authority.
* d. intuition.
6. If you accept your physician’s explanation for your illness
without researching your condition or asking how she came to her
conclusion, you are relying on ___________ as a source of
knowledge.
* a. authority
b. reason
c. intuition
d. science
7. Consulting the expertise of an Authority can be useful when
a. designing a study.
b. forming a hypothesis
c. interpreting data
* d. All of the above
2
, 8. Which of the following methods is NOT useful when forming a
hypothesis?
a. Intuition
* b. Hoaxing
c. Rationalism
d. Authority
9. After every trip Pete takes to the automatic carwash he finds a
new ding in his car. He concludes that this automatic carwash
damages cars. He is relying on what source of knowledge?
a. Intuition
b. Rationalism
* c. Empiricism
d. Science
10. One approach to gaining knowledge is known as ___________
and involves using reasoning to acquire knowledge.
a. determinism
b. logic of discovery * c. rationalism d. naturalism
11. _______ is an important part of the scientific approach that is
based on the notion that the origin of all knowledge is from our
senses.
a. Rationalism
b. Intuition *
c. Empiricism d. Authority
12. Whewell believed that _______ should be designed to
systematically produce reliable and valid knowledge about the
national world.
a. Psychology
* b. Science
c. Induction
d. Rationalism
3
