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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
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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
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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)
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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?” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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, E-mail Self-administered – Web-based Interview – in person Interview – telephone
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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.
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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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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.
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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 (3-5-7-9 or 4-6-8-10?) Label each point on the scale, or use “anchors” ?
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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
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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)
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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 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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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: ______________ )
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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? ___ ___
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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 3-5-7-9 or 4-6-8-10 point scales: 3-4 is simple but may not allow “discrimination” 9-10 is usually overkill 5-6-7 is usually best (I prefer 7)
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