COMM 250 Agenda - Week 6 Housekeeping Today: C1, TP3a Due Give TP3a to your TA NOW (set in the aisle) Put C1 in your folder at end of class Next Week: RAT3 RP1 – You download a survey, and use it to conduct an interview Lecture Finish RQs & Hypotheses, Operationalizations Surveys: Demographic, Scale items ITE6 – Multiple Parts

Review of: In-Class Team Exercise # 5 1) Create 2 Hypotheses (One 1-Tailed, One 2-Tailed) Relate the concepts: “regular exercise” and “health” 2) Create a specific, measurable Operational Definition of each concept 3) Which is the IV, which the DV? 4) Propose 2 (likely/possible) “Intervening Variables” Deliverable : a written version of the above

Correlation & Causality Correlation Two variables are related (as one varies, the other varies predictably) Causation 3 “Necessary & Sufficient” Conditions: Two variables must be shown to be related The IV must precede the DV in Time The relationship cannot be due to another variable (an “Intervening” or “Confounding” variable)

In-Class Team Exercise # 6a - Part I: First Do as Individuals, then produce a Team Version: 1) Create 2 Hypotheses (One 1-tailed, one 2-tailed) Relate “socializing” with “success in college” 2) Create a specific, measurable Operational Definition of each concept 3) Which is the IV, which the DV? 4) Can you think of 2 “Intervening Variables?”

Surveys “Survey” is a General Research Methods Questionnaires (opinion polls, market research, evaluation research) Field research (often qualitative) Interviews, Focus Groups (often qualitative) Questionnaires Self-administered – Hard-copy, Self-administered – Web-based Interview – in person Interview – telephone

Types of Questions Demographic Questions Age, Gender, Race, Income, Education, etc. Factual Questions Do you own or have your own cell phone? Behavior (infrequently, frequently) How often do you use a cell phone and drive? I use my cell phone while driving. Attitudes (agree, disagree) Driving while using a cell phone should be banned. Driving while using a cell phone is dangerous.

In-Class Team Exercise # 6 - Part II: First Do as Individuals, then produce a Team Version: Create 3 demographic questions for a survey: Gender, Age, and Education Rules - You should: Assume this is a “self-administered” questionnaire Choose the exact wording you would use Design “Multiple Choice” (not “Fill in the Blank”) Assign numbers to each value/level of each variable Deliverable : a written version of the above

Types of Questions Demographic Questions Age, Gender, Race, Income, Education, etc. Factual Questions Do you own or have your own cell phone? Behavior (infrequently, frequently) How often do you use a cell phone and drive? I use my cell phone while driving. Attitudes (agree, disagree) Driving while using a cell phone should be banned. Driving while using a cell phone is dangerous.

Choosing Questions 2 Types of Questions Open-ended (Fill in the blanks) Closed (Multiple Choice: Y/N, a,b,c,d,e, 7 pt. scales) Multiple Choice Questions Mutually Exclusive Exhaustive Scale Questions Even / Odd number of values (3 or 4? 5,7 or 6?) Total number of values ( or ?) Label each point on the scale, or use “anchors” ?

Open-ended vs. Closed Questions Open-ended Items (“Fill in the Blanks”) Useful for “exploratory” data collection ADV: Respondents (Rs) aren’t “led” by some list of available choices / opinions DISADV: Requires much more work - to quantify, researcher must categorize and “code” responses Closed-ended Items (“Multiple Choice”) Useful when all of the available responses are known ADV: 1) Easier to quantify, and 2) Rs are reacting to the same stimulus materials (some list of choices) DISADV: 1) Researcher may miss some important reasons/options

Multiple Choice Items The Options (possible values) in MC Items should be: Mutually Exclusive Exhaustive Consistent Linear (follow in a logical order) Clear and concise Limited in number (so the researcher can make sense of them)

In-Class Team Exercise # 6 - Part III: Example of a BAD Item Which of the following describes your CURRENT living situation? 1) Married, no kids5) Divorced 2) Married, 1-3 kids at home6) Divorced, 1-3 kids at home 3) Married, 3 or more kids7) Divorced, 3+ kids at home at home8) Unmarried, but have kids 4) Unmarried a) What mistakes make this a bad item? b) How would you fix this problem? Deliverable : a written answer to a & b

Solution Example of a BETTER Item Which best describes your CURRENT living situation? 1) Married, no kids5) Divorced, 1-3 kids at home 2) Married, 1-3 kids at home6) Divorced, more than 3 kids at home 3) Married, more than 3 kids7) Unmarried, no kids at home8) Unmarried, 1-3 kids at home 4) Divorced, no kids9) Other (Please specify: ______________ )

Solution Example of a Better APPROACH What is your marital status? 1) Single3) Divorced 2) Married4) Widowed How many children do you have? ___ ___ How many CHILDREN currently live with you? ___ ___ How many other ADULTS currently live with you? ___ ___

Scale Items Even / Odd Number of Values Even - no midpoint - forces users to choose Odd - has a midpoint - allows a “neutral” response (I prefer Odd) Number of Values or point scales: 3-4 is simple but may not allow “discrimination” 9-10 is usually overkill is usually best (I prefer 7)