Research Design
If a researcher wanted to know why there was a noticeable increase in the number of burglaries in San Diego, CA during 2015, the researcher would design a(n) _________ study
Explanatory study
When we specify what we mean when we use certain terms in research, we are engaging in the process of ___________
Conceptualization
Indexes and scales are both _______ measures of variables
Ordinal
Which of the two sampling methods involves random selection?
Probability sampling
Gender, occupation, and race/ethnicity are all examples of
Variables
What are the most common unit of analysis in social research?
Individuals
Professor Jones measured the variable "feelings towards homework" with the categories strongly agree, agree, indifferent, disagree, and strongly disagree.
Professor Jones was using which level of measurement?
Ordinal
What is one of the four considerations to take into account when selecting items for an index?
Face Validity
Unidimensionality
General or specific
Variance
You want to examine attitudes towards the current political candidates and use all the students in your research methods class as your sample. What kind of sampling design are you using?
Reliance on available subjects
Liberal, male, and sophomore are all examples of
Attributes
When we draw conclusions about individuals based solely on the observations of groups, it is called ________
Ecological fallacy
If a particular technique, applied repeatedly to the same object, yields the same result each time, we have:
Reliability
True or False: An index is constructed by accumulating scores assigned to individual indicators
True
A sample is representative of the population from which it is selected if
The aggregate characteristics of the sample closely approximate those same aggregate characteristics in the population.
(e.g., population contains 50% women then a sample should contain "close to" 50% women to be representative)
The three main elements of the traditional model of science are
Theory, operationalization, and observation
This type of study is based on collecting data at one single point in time
Cross-sectional study
The extent to which a measure accurately reflects the concept it intends to measure, this is called _____.
Validity
This scale has "judges" rate and score each indicator
Thurstone Scale
As sample size increases, what happens to standard error?
Standard error decreases
True or False:
Anonymity and confidentiality are the same thing
False.
Anonymity - guaranteed when neither the researchers nor the readers can identify a response with a respondent.
Confidentiality - researcher can identify a person but promises to keep their information private
This type of longitudinal study involves collecting data from the same set of people several times
Panel study
If a test appears to measure what it's supposed to measure, it has:
Face validity
Name at least two ways to handle missing data
1) Exclude missing cases
2) Treat missing data as one of the available responses
3) Analyze the missing data to interpret their meaning
4) Assign missing data the middle value, mean value, or value at random
5) Assign values to the proportion of variables scored
A researcher selects every 30th student in the college directory is engaging in what type of sampling?
Systematic sampling
What is the first thing we should read when we are reading a journal article?
Abstract