A child's parents and teachers report that he impulsively interrupts others dozens of times each day, and that he cannot remain quiet when told to do so. When he notices a behavioral assessor visiting his classroom, however, the child doesn't say a word. This phenomenon is best described as
a. poor construct validity.
b. reactivity.
c. observer error.
d. controlled observation.
Question 2Which of the following is a threat to the validity of an observational technique?
a. poorly defined unit of analysis
b. reactivity
c. observer error
d. all of the above
Question 3Which of the following is an appropriate example of a scoring procedure for a behavioral observation?
a. Sally presses a counter every time a toddler looks in the direction of his or her mother during the clinic visit.
b. Annika presses a button on her handheld computer every time, during the work day, that she becomes aware of a craving for a cigarette.
c. Toms makes a hatch mark on a piece of paper every time one spouse interrupts the other during a recorded conversation.
d. All of the above are appropriate scoring procedures.
Question 4In the context of behavioral observation, ratings are usually made along ALL BUT WHICH of the following dimensions?
a. duration
b. intensity
c. pleasantness
d. frequency
Question 5If a trained observer's ratings of the aggressive behavior of a child on the playground agree with the ratings made by the child's peers, then the __________ validity of those ratings is supported.
a. construct
b. content
c. concurrent
d. external
Question 6Todd, Jamal, and Samuel are trained observers for a research project. Just after completing their training, their interrater reliability is very high. However, over time and without their awareness, their observations converge less and less closely. The term for this phenomenon is
a. observer drift.
b. fading agreement.
c. rating separation.
d. observer spread.
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