An Introduction to Scientific Research Methods in Geography GEOG 4020

Overview Introduction Format of Explicit Reports The Administration of Explicit Reports Designing and Generating Explicit Instruments The Census Limitations of Explicit Reports

Introduction Popular and flexible Measure of beliefs Behaviors, knowledge, opinions, attitudes, expectations, intentions, experiences, demographic characteristics Awareness of being researched Opinions and beliefs that can be consciously accessed

Introduction cont’d… Survey Sociometric Rating Activity Diary Contingent Valuation

Introduction cont’d… Interview Focus Group Protocol Analysis

Format of Explicit Reports Instrument Items Closed-ended Response sets Social desirability Open-ended Standardized vs Nonstandardized Follow-up questions Branching format Free-format

Format of Explicit Reports cont’d… Rating Scales Types Generic Semantic differential Likert Paired comparison Design issues Number of scale options Working with young children Odd numbers Ordinal or interval?

The Administration of Explicit Reports Individually or in groups In person, through the mail, over the telephone, on the internet Considerations: Cost Number and Nature of Items Response Rate Potential for Follow-up Nature of Respondents Possible Interviewer Artifacts

Using the Internet to Collect Explicit Reports Efficiency and low cost Wide reach Sampling bias General population Regional diversity Repeat participation Daley school Research proves results are similar to traditional studies Ethical implications New social and behavioral phenomena Diffusion of innovation, social interaction in digital worlds, online communities

Designing and Generating Explicit Instruments Intuition an prior knowledge Existing literature Confusing, biased, and ambiguous wording Double negatives Unidimensional Emotionally charged words Visual appearance Serious attitude Length

Designing and Generating Explicit Instruments cont’d… Order effects Context Effects Counterbalancing GPM…PMT Pilot study

The Census: An Important Secondary Source of Explicit Report Data for Geographers Important source of explicit-report data Spatial and temporal Apportion taxes and congressional representatives Every 10 years since 1790 Questions change over time Challenge to longitudinal studies Documenting change

The Census: An Important Secondary Source of Explicit Report Data for Geographers cont’d… Short form vs Long form ACS 2010 and the short form De facto vs de jure Under and overcounting TIGER files Census tracts, block groups, census blocks SMSA Count as the minimal mapping unit UAs and UCs

Limitations of Explicit Reports Attempts to thwart or damage research efforts Limits of memory Emotionality of events Recency and aggregation Language encoding Subconscious/unconscious mental processing Deceiving ourselves and the researcher

Discussion Should rating scales be interpreted as ordinal or interval, or both? What are measures that can be taken to reduce interviewer/researcher artifacts? What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of administering an explicit report over the internet? What are the implications for researchers from undercounting or overcounting of the population in census data?