chapter7-2301
Which of the following is true about the recommended sequence of survey questions?
The most interesting questions should be asked first.
True or false: An Institutional Review Board will help a researcher to format, sequence, and pilot test their survey instrument.
false
An interview with a group of about 6 to 10 individuals brought together for a period of usually 2-3 hours is known as a(n) _________ interview.
focus group
______ questions ask people to indicate things they know about themselves and their situation.
Factual
Identify an accurate feature of focus group interviews.
Virtually any topic can be explored.
While conducting an interview, a response set can ____
affect the usefulness of data obtained
When a list of all members of a population is unavailable, researchers identify clusters of individuals and then sample from these clusters. After the clusters are chosen, the sample includes _____.
all individuals in each cluster
Purposive sampling is a good technique to _____.
limit the sample to a certain group of people
In the semantic differential scale, concepts are usually rated along three basic dimensions. Identify the basic dimensions. (Check all that apply.)
Evaluation Potency Activity
Which of the following is a step that can effectively increase the response rate of a survey?
Providing cash or gift incentives
is a form of nonprobability sampling where the purpose is to obtain a sample of people who meet some predetermined criterion.
Purposive sampling
True or false: In a survey instrument, questions that address a similar theme or topic should be grouped together.
True
True or false: The alternative responses used by a researcher should be influenced by factors such as the population being studied.
True
The results of a study that uses convenience sampling will most likely _____.
describe only the biased sample that was obtained
Using convenience sampling for a research study will most likely lead to _____.
biases in the samples
In haphazard sampling, a sample of participants is selected _____.
in any way that is convenient
The questions in a focus group interview tend to be _____.
open-ended
The actual population of individuals (or clusters) from which a random sample will be drawn is known as the _____.
sampling frame
A population is divided into subgroups, and random sampling techniques are then used to select sample members from each subgroup. This sampling technique is known as _____.
stratified random sampling
Academic researchers who use online surveys face the problem of _____.
the ethical issues of online research strategies
When administering questionnaires in person to groups or individuals, the presence of a researcher helps _____.
the respondents to ask questions if necessary
A low response rate in a survey indicates that _____.
there are biases that may distort results
When it is important to represent a small group within a population, to ensure that a representative sample of that group is surveyed, researchers will _____.
oversample that group
When researchers make inferences about a population from a sample, the obtained result is sometimes erroneous because of a _____.
sampling error
A social desirability response set might lead a person to _____.
underreport instances of drug use
Identify a drawback to be considered before using an online survey.
Identifying people to take the survey
Which of the following would be an example of an attitude and belief question on a survey?
What social issue is most important to you?
What type of survey questions focus on the way people evaluate and think about issues?
attitude and belief questions
A question that can be answered on a 5-point scale ranging from very positive to very negative would constitute a(n) ______-ended question.
closed
In situations where obtaining a list of all members of a population is difficult, researchers can identify "clusters" of individuals and then sample from these clusters. Such a sampling technique is known as
cluster sampling
Research surveys conducted on a sample may have errors in the result. The _____ gives information about the likely amount of the error.
confidence interval
In a survey that concerns sensitive topics, the researcher is most likely to receive honest responses from participants if he or she _____.
ensures them confidentiality
In a survey whose population of interest was students, haphazard sampling was used and a sample of psychology students was obtained. Such a sampling technique can be used because the sample obtained _____.
fairly represents the population of interest
True or false: Nonprobability sampling is rarely used in research.
false
True or false: Researchers should always leave it up to respondents to define the meanings of response alternatives that are not labeled.
false
In a quota sampling technique, researchers select respondents within population subgroups using _____.
haphazard techniques
A drawback of using the mail format for administering surveys is that it _____.
has potentially low response rates
It is problematic for an interviewer to have expectations of certain answers because _____.
he or she would probe further for an answer from certain respondents but not from others
When evaluating the results of the survey, one needs to consider how well the sampling frame matches the _____.
population of interest
Which of the following are critical considerations before submitting a survey project to an Institutional Review Board? (Select all that apply.)
question sequence survey pilot-testing questionnaire format
The technique of choosing a sample that reflects the numerical composition of various subgroups in a population is known as _____.
quota sampling
Stratified random sampling requires a population to be divided into subgroups. The dimensions chosen for this division should be
relevant to the problem under study
Stratified random sampling requires a population to be divided into subgroups. The dimensions chosen for this division should be _____.
relevant to the problem under study
It is often seen in most studies that samples are selected based on convenience rather than random sampling. This is because instead of looking for better samples, it is better to look for _____.
replications of findings using multiple samples and methods
An advantage of administering questionnaires in person to groups or individuals is that _____.
researchers have a captive audience of individuals who are likely to complete the questionnaire once they start it.
The _____ in a survey is simply the percentage of people who were selected in the sample who actually completed the survey.
response rate
The advantage of using nonprobability sampling techniques is that _____.
sample selection saves time and money
_____ sampling could be called a "take-them-where-you-find-them" method of obtaining participants.
Haphazard
Which of the following is a feature of nonprobability sampling?
It is cheap and convenient.
Questions based on attitudes and beliefs Questions based on facts and demographics Questions based on behaviors
Questions focusing on the ways people evaluate and think about issues Questions asking people to indicate things they know about themselves and their situation Questions focusing on past behaviors or intended future behaviors
While conducting an interview, a response set can _____.
affect the usefulness of data obtained
True or false: Survey research is important as a complement to experimental research findings.
true
Rating scales ask people to provide _____.
"how much" judgments on any number of dimensions
In a graphic rating scale, a ruler is placed on a continuous 100-millimeter line, which is anchored with descriptions at each end, to obtain the score on a scale that ranges from _____.
0 to 100
True or false: When sampling from a population, it is important to note that a large sample size increases the size of the confidence interval.
False
Which of the following would be the best example of a behavioral survey question?
How many days a week do you exercise for 30 minutes or more?
Which of the following ensures simplicity in a survey question?
Making a question long to define a term
Which of the following potential problems with question wording have been identified by cognitive psychologists? (Check all that apply.)
Misleading information embedded in questions Phrasing that overloads working memory Ungrammatical sentence structure
Which rating scale in behavioral research uses face scales?
Nonverbal scales
Open-ended questions Closed-ended questions
Require time to categorize and code responses Make it easier to assign values to responses
_____ are a way to collect data directly from research participants by asking them questions.
Surveys
Which of the following is true of telephone interviews?
They allow data to be collected quickly.
Double-barreled questions should be avoided as survey questions because they _____.
ask two things at once
An accurate feature of face-to-face interviews is that they _____.
tend to be time-consuming
_____ is more likely to yield data that accurately reflect the true population value.
A larger sample
Which of the following are factors that could introduce bias into a sample? (Check all that apply.)
A poor response rate The sampling frame used
Which of the following is true of interviewer bias in an academic research survey?
It could warp researchers' interpretations.
Which of the following are the benefits of pilot testing a survey? (Check all that apply.)
It enables one to identify problems like negative wording and loaded questions. It helps refine the questions.
_____ sampling techniques are arbitrary, and little effort is expended to ensure that the sample accurately represents the population.
Nonprobability
Identify the benefits of online surveys. (Check all that apply.)
They are easy to design using online survey software services. The responses are immediately available to the researchers
Which of the following types of survey questions best characterizes the following question: "How many times of day do you have a snack?"
behavioral
Survey questions should not be phrased with negatives as they can _____.
confuse people into answering inaccurately
A way to detect a "yea-saying and nay-saying" response set is to word survey questions so that _____.
consistent agreement is unlikely
When it is important to represent a small group within a population, researchers will oversample that group. This is done so that researchers are able to _____.
ensure that a representative sample of the group is surveyed
Open-ended questions help a researcher _____.
gain valuable insights into what people are thinking
A rating scale that requires a mark along a continuous 100-millimeter line that is anchored with descriptions at each end is known as a(n) _____.
graphic rating scale
A "yea-saying and nay-saying" response set is indicated when an individual is consistently seen agreeing or disagreeing with a set of related questions in a survey that are phrased _____.
in both standard and reversed formats
The questions in a survey can be better refined by administering them to a small group of people who _____.
interpret the questions by thinking aloud while answering them
"Do you feel that the government should not increase public spaces in the city?" This question is inappropriate for a survey as it _____.
is phrased negatively
An advantage of using a questionnaire to conduct a survey rather than an interview is that _____.
it is less costly than an interview
Questions that include emotionally charged words—such as rape, waste, or immoral—should be avoided in surveys as they _____.
lead to biased responses
Panel studies are particularly important when research questions address the relationship between _____.
one variable at "time 1" and another variable at some later "time 2"
The technique of sampling individuals from a population in which each member of the population has a specifiable probability of being chosen is known as
probability sampling
Using mail surveys can be disadvantageous for researchers as _____.
question clarification is minimized
When constructing questions for a survey, the first thing a researcher must do is to explicitly determine the _____.
research objectives
Using questionnaires as a method of administering surveys ensures that _____.
respondent anonymity can be maintained
Mail surveys generally tend to have a low response rate. The response rates can be maximized by _____.
sending explanatory letters well in advance
Every member of a population has an equal probability of being selected for the sample with _____.
simple random sampling
Identify the situations in which participants of a survey can reasonably be expected to give honest responses. (Check all that apply.)
when feedback about the results are promised when confidentiality is assured
To study changes over time, same people are surveyed at two or more points in time. This process is known as _____.
a panel study
It is necessary for a researcher to write survey questions in such a way that the participants _____.
are able to easily understand and answer the questions
With closed-ended questions, a limited number of response alternatives are given; with open-ended questions, respondents _____.
are free to answer in any way they like
Too often, surveys get out of hand when researchers begin to ask any question that comes to mind about a topic without considering exactly what useful information will be gained by doing so. This situation can be avoided by _____.
determining the research objectives
Identify an advantage of using interviews for academic surveys.
Response rates tend to be high.
A loaded question is inappropriate as a survey question because it can _____.
lead people to respond in one way
Which of the following is NOT a demographic question?
Do you plan on continuing your education?
True or false: To ensure the simplicity of questions asked in surveys, researchers should always avoid making questions that are descriptive and long.
False
Identify the features of a computer-assisted telephone interview (CATI) system. (Check all that apply.)
It allows direct entry of data into the computer for analysis. It prompts questions on a screen.
Which of the following is an advantage of using interviews over written questionnaires?
People are less likely to leave questions unanswered.
Which among the following are the general types of survey questions? (Check all that apply.)
Questions about attitudes and beliefs Questions about facts and demographics Questions about past or intended future behaviors
A tendency to respond to all questions in a survey from a particular perspective rather than to provide answers that are directly related to the questions is known as a(n) _____.
Response Set
The term that describes all of the biases that can arise from the fact that an interviewer is a unique human being interacting with another human is called interviewer
bias
In the semantic differential scale, respondents are asked to rate any concept on a series of _____ using 7-point scales.
bipolar adjectives
With closed-ended questions there is a ______ number of response alternatives.
fixed
Open-ended questions are most useful when a researcher _____.
needs to know how people naturally view their world
To conduct a focus group interview, the interviewer must be skilled enough to prevent _____.
one participant from dominating the discussion
A(n) _________ is the members of a population selected to participate in a research investigation.
sample
The process of involving a limited number of participants from a population of interest in order to estimate the characteristics of the population as a whole is known as _____.
sampling
Studying an entire population of interest for an academic research can sometimes be a massive undertaking. This can be avoided by _____.
selecting a sample group from the population
Major polling organizations assist academic researchers with online surveys by _____.
sharing their databases of people interested in participating in surveys
A researcher randomly selects few people from a population to be used as the sample. This scenario most likely exemplifies _____.
simple random sampling
Using the interview format for conducting academic research surveys can bring up potential problems such as _____.
the interviewers influencing the respondents' answers
Face-to-face interviews are most likely to be used when _____.
the sample size is fairly small
A measure of the meaning of concepts that was developed by Osgood and his associates is known as _____.
the semantic differential scale
Which of the following make a printed questionnaire appear attractive and professional? (Check all that apply.)
When it is free of spelling errors When it is neatly designed
In a research project, the population is composed of _____.
all individuals of interest to the researcher
A printed questionnaire should _____.
make it easy for respondents to identify the questions
Probability sampling is required when researchers want to _____ on the basis of the results of their surveys.
make precise statements about a specific population
Rating scales are preferable when a survey _____.
needs to provide quantitative distinctions within participants' reactions
In a survey, a question such as "Do you think students should have more classes for biology and physics?" should be avoided because it _____.
double-barrel questions
The technique of sampling individuals from a population where the probability of any particular member of the population being chosen is unknown is known as _____.
nonprobability sampling
A _____ response set leads a person to answer all questions in a survey in the most socially acceptable way, the way that person perceives "most people" to respond or the way that would reflect most favorably on the person.
social desirability
Identify the ways in which the survey method is useful for researchers. (Check all that apply.)
studying relationships among variables studying ways that attitudes and behaviors change over time
Which of the following best describes the tendency to employ a response set to agree or disagree with all the questions about a particular topic in a survey?
yea-saying and nay-saying
Nonverbal scales of rating in behavioral research are usually used for _____.
young children
