COMM 288 Study Guide

Let's say that something totally unrelated to your study happened at a particular time, which may have affected the responses of your participants. This is an example of: A. History B. Instrumentation C. Maturation D. Testing

A. History

Which type of content refers to characteristics of the content itself, when researchers look on the surface of the content by counting something? A. Manifest Content B. Latent Content

A. Manifest Content

What do Communication researchers mostly study? A. Messages B. People C. Channels D. Contexts

A. Messages

_________________ generally refers to how repeatable a measure is from test to test, is the measure consistent over and over again. A. Reliability B. Validity C. Sampling D. Conceptual fit

A. Reliability

Some research shows that self-disclosure in a friendship leads to greater relational satisfaction, while other research shows the opposite happening - relational satisfaction leads to more self-disclosure. Because the relationship between self-disclosure and relational satisfaction could go in either direction, what kind of relationship is this? A. Reversible relationship B. Confounding relationship C. Irreversible relationship D. Spurious relationship

A. Reversible relationship

A researcher would use a(n) statistic to test for differences between two groups when the independent variable is nominal and the dependent variable is continuous. A. T-Test B. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) C. Correlation D. Chi-Square

A. T-Test

When participants change their behavior because they know they are being observed, this is known as the A. Hawthorne Effect B. Social Desirability Bias C. Conceptual Fit D. Confounding Variable

A. Hawthorne Effect

You want to test the effectiveness of an anti-smoking public service announcement. You develop two types of PSAs (Public Service Announcements): one that uses a fear appeal to attempt to scare people into compliance and one that does not. You then show the fear ad to one group of people and the non-fear ad to another group. In this instance, the type of ad that is being shown is the: A. Independent Variable B. Confounding Variable C. Dependent Variable D. None of these.

A. Independent Variable

In lecture we discussed several weaknesses or drawbacks of survey research compared to other methods. Compared to experiments specifically, which of these is a weakness for survey research (only compared to experiments)? A. Limited causal (cause/effect) conclusions B. Lower response rate C. Depends on memory and honesty D. Closed-ended questions might be less valid

A. Limited causal (cause/effect) conclusions

Quantitative content analysis is particularly useful for analyzing which communication context? A. Mass Media B. Organizational Communication C. Intercultural Relationships D. Interpersonal Relationships

A. Mass Media

If your participants change over time (e.g., their self-esteem changes during their four years of high school), then your study might be threatened by: A. Maturation B. History C. Testing D. Instrumentation

A. Maturation

Which combination of a measure of central tendency and a measure of dispersion is the most appropriate for analyzing ratio/interval data? A. Mean and Standard Deviation B. Mode and Variance C. None of these. D. Median and Range

A. Mean and Standard Deviation

Theory about theory is known as: A. Metatheory B. Epistemology C. Axiology D. Ontology

A. Metatheory

In lecture, we talked about different types of research. Which type of research would be conducted for a company or organization and NOT shared publicly? A. Proprietary B. Basic C. Scholarly D. Applied

A. Proprietary

__________is concerned with questions of reality, free will, and determinism. A. Epistemology B. Ontology C. None of these is correct. D. Axiology

B. Ontology

Which type of research is meant for public consumption and can be found in peer-reviewed journal articles? A. Proprietary Research B. Scholarly Research

B. Scholarly Research

Imagine a researcher nonrandomly selected individuals in long-distance dating relationships for a study, then asked these individuals to also recruit their dating partners for the same study. What kind of sampling method is this? A. Cluster B. Snowball C. Systematic D. Network

B. Snowball

Qualitative research: A. Represents and explains objective reality with the overarching goal of simplifying, organizing, predicting, and controlling human behavior B. Relies on a deductive model with the goal of generalizing results to a larger population C. Uses words or texts and embraces a naturalistic, interpretive paradigm to study human behavior D. All of these are correct.

C. Uses words or texts and embraces a naturalistic, interpretive paradigm to study human behavior

When researchers conduct significance testing in order to determine the probability of there being a "true" difference or relationship, they test the hypothesis. A. One-tailed B. Directional C. Two-tailed D. Null

D. Null

While analyzing your results you find that as Internet use increases, social anxiety also increases. This means there is a/an __ ___ correlation between these variables. A. Curvilinear B. Inverse C. Negative D. Positive

D. Positive

The _________________ is the proportion of people actually included in your sample, relative to the number of people you attempted to include. A. Response Rate B. Sampling Rate C. Cooperation Rate D. Refusal Rate

D. Response Rate

The assumption that something is true because it has always been true is known as: A. Hunches B. Authority C. A Priori D. Tenacity

D. Tenacity

Imagine you want to know the opinions of all undergraduate Communication majors in the state of California about their experiences taking COMM courses. Which of the following is the best example of a sampling frame for this study? A. The Communication Departments at three local Community Colleges in Los Angeles County who were contacted to represent the study. B. Three-hundred and fifty (n=350) Communication major students who completed the survey. C. None of these. D. All undergraduate Communication majors at Community Colleges in the sate of California.

A. The Communication Departments at three local Community Colleges in Los Angeles County who were contacted to represent the study.

In content analysis, ____________ _____ is the overall process of deciding exactly what it is that should be observed and analyzed. A. Unitizing B. Sampling C. Coding D. Structuring

A. Unitizing

_________________ generally refers to whether or not researchers are measuring what they intended to measure accurately. A. Validity B. Reliability C. Response rate D. Conceptual definition

A. Validity

You fill out a survey that begins with multiple choice questions, then ends with short answer questions in your own words. This type of survey is a(n) format. A.Inverted funnel B. Funnel C. Tunnel

A.Inverted funnel

Which type of hypothesis is this example: COMM majors self-disclose more often than non-COMM majors. A. Null Hypothesis B. One-Tailed (Directional) Hypothesis C. Two-Tailed (Nondirectional) Hypothesis D. None of these is correct.

B. One-Tailed (Directional) Hypothesis

Which type of question is best when it is important for the participant to answer in their own words? A. Closed-Ended Questions B. Open-Ended Questions

B. Open-Ended Questions

You have a data set of Household Income. If the distribution of income is __________ then more households had a lower income than the average household (the mode is below the mean) and there are a few outliers of high household income. A. Negatively Skewed (to the left) B. Positively Skewed (to the right)

B. Positively Skewed (to the right)

This measure of dispersion would tell you the difference between the highest and lowest score on a Midterm exam. A. Variance B. Range C. Standard Deviation D. None of these.

B. Range

The activity of conducting intellectual investigations into the observable world is known as: A. Media research B. Research C. Scholarly research D. Applied research

B. Research

Which of these is an example of a Likert Scale measurement? A. Good 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bad B. Strongly Agree - Agree - Neutral - Disagree - Strongly Disagree C. True (T) or False (F) D. Multiple Choice A., B., C., or D.

B. Strongly Agree - Agree - Neutral - Disagree - Strongly Disagree

The best way for researchers to increase intercoder reliability is A. to NOT have coders and do the coding by themselves. B. have coder training sessions. C. sample randomly from the population. D. to do interaction analysis and avoid content analysis.

B. have coder training sessions.

Which type of model is when researchers first gather specific data, observe patterns, and then develop a general theory based upon that data? A. Quantitative Model B. Fashion Model (don't pick this one) C. Inductive Model D. Deductive Model

C. Inductive Model

A research hypothesis is always contrasted with its corresponding _________________. A. Directional hypothesis B. Two-tailed hypothesis C. Null hypothesis D. Positive hypothesis

C. Null hypothesis

Which kind of definition describes the observable and measurable characteristics of a concept? A. Hypothetical Definition B. Conceptual Definition C. Operational Definition D. Operational Definition

C. Operational Definition

Which type of definition refers to how we plan to measure and/or observe a concept or variable? A. Dictionary Definition B. Conceptual Definition C. Operational Definition D. Hypothetical Definition

C. Operational Definition

This level of measurement has categories that are ranked in order, but does not indicate how much the difference is between each category. A. Interval B. Ratio C. Ordinal D. Nominal

C. Ordinal

You want to test the effectiveness of an anti-smoking public service announcement. You develop two types of PSAs (Public Service Announcements): one that uses a fear appeal to attempt to scare people into compliance and one that does not. You then show the fear ad to one group of people and the non-fear ad to another group. At the end of the experiment you ask participants how effective the ad is. In this example, when you ask participants how effective the ad is this is the: A. Within-Test B. Pretest C. Posttest D. Between-Test

C. Posttest

After you calculate the statistics of your study, you find that your P value is less than .05. If you set your significance level at p < ,05, then what should you do with the null hypothesis? A. Fail to reject the null hypothesis B. None of these. C. Reject the null hypothesis. D. Do not accept the alternative hypothesis.

C. Reject the null hypothesis.

Let's say a researcher first identifies subcategories of a population (e.g., four grade levels at a high school), then randomly selects a sample from each of these subcategories (from each grade level) in proportion to the total population. This sampling method is called a: A. Network sample B. Systematic sample C. Stratified sample

C. Stratified sample

Trend studies, panel studies, and cohort studies are all types of: A. Measurement Designs B. Sampling Designs C. Cross-Sectional Designs D. Longitudinal Designs

D. Longitudinal Designs

This measure of central tendency is the arithmetic average of a data set. A. Median B. Mode C. None of these. D. Mean

D. Mean

__ ___ statistics provide a synthesis of what the collected data look like in terms of central tendency and variability. A. Inferential B. Estimation C. Parametric D. Summary (Descriptive)

D. Summary (Descriptive)

The greatest benefit or strength of the content analysis method is: A. The method can directly measure people's attitudes, values, and perceptions. B. The method can establish a causal relationship. C. None of these. D. The method is relatively unobtrusive.

D. The method is relatively unobtrusive.

When we come to "know" or believe things to be true because we've been told or taught by others to believe them early on in life, this is an example of: A. Magic, superstition, and/or mysticism B. Intuition C. Experience D. Traditions, customs, and faith

D. Traditions, customs, and faith

The main strength of experiments, and the primary reason researchers conduct them, is that experiments: A. All of these are correct. B. allow researchers to use an unobtrusive way of analyzing data. C. allow researchers to measure participants' attitudes and opinions about a topic. D. allow researchers to establish causal relationships.

D. allow researchers to establish causal relationships.

Generally, when increases, the overall confidence in the sample also increases. A. Response rate B. Statistical power C. Sample size D. All of these.

Response rate, Statistical power, Sample size D. All of these.

The highest response rate for a survey is most likely a(n) survey. A. Web-based B. Postal-mail C. In person/telephone

C. In person/telephone

When researchers create experiments that involve multiple independent variables, they have created a design experiment. A. Factorial B. Between-subjects C. Within-subjects D. Cross-sectional

A. Factorial

A coefficient of __ is the minimum acceptable level of reliability. A. .70 B. .50 C. 60 D. .80

A. .70

This level of measurement classifies a variable into categories only, there is no order to the categories. A. Ratio B. Nominal C. Interval D. Ordinal

B. Nominal

When researchers ensure that their findings will represent and apply to other people and situations that the study's sample represents, they are attempting to increase the study's ____________ . A. Generalizability B. Response rate C. Statistical power D. Participation rate

A. Generalizability

For the following data set of scores: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10 what is the median? A. 7 B. 14 C. 6.5 D. 1 - 10 (9)

A. 7

Imagine you want to know the opinions of all undergraduate Communication majors at Community Colleges in the state of California about their experiences taking COMM courses. Which of the following is the best example of the population for this study? A. All undergraduate Communication majors at Community Colleges in the sate of California. B. None of these is correct. C. Three-hundred and fifty (n=350) Communication major students who completed the survey. D. The Communication Departments at three local Community Colleges in Los Angeles County who were contacted to represent the study.

A. All undergraduate Communication majors at Community Colleges in the sate of California.

Relying on someone in a position of power to tell you what is factual is an example of: A. Authority B. Scientific Reasoning C. A Priori D. Social Research

A. Authority

The following data set of scores: 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 7, 8, 9, 9, 10 has what type of mode? A. Bi-Modal (two modes) B. None of these. C. Multi-Modal (more than two modes) D. Uni-Modal (one mode)

A. Bi-Modal (two modes)

Generally, which type of question is easier (quicker) for the researcher to tabulate and get results? A. Closed-Ended Questions B. Open-Ended Questions

A. Closed-Ended Questions

_________________ validity deals with the logical relationships between variables, and is established by either positively or negatively correlated to some other measure. A. Construct B. Criterion C. Face D. Test-retest

A. Construct

_________________ units are the types of content or contextual features that may appear in an individual recording unit. A. Context B. None of these. C. Recording D. Sampling

A. Context

A researcher would use a(n) _______ statistic to test for linear relationships between two groups when both the independent and dependent variables are continuous. A. Correlation B. Chi-Square C. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) D. T-Test

A. Correlation

If a researcher is trying to show how a new test is valid by comparing it to some other (outside) test, then the researcher is trying to establish _________ validity. A. Criterion B. Face C. Intercoder D. All of these.

A. Criterion

The tendency for participants to respond differently when they know they are being observed is known as: A. Hawthorne Effect B. Evaluator apprehension C. Participant reliability D. Participant validity

A. Hawthorne Effect

When establishing inter-coder reliability, is generally considered to be the minimum number for an acceptable level of reliability. A. .80 B. .70 C. .60 D. .90

B. .70

___________is concerned with questions of morals, values, and ethics. A. Ontology B. Axiology C. None of the above. D. Epistemology

B. Axiology

A researcher would use a(n) ________ statistic to test for differences in frequencies when both the independent and dependent variables are nominal. A. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) B. Chi-Square C. T-Test D. Correlation

B. Chi-Square

For the experimental notation system, the symbol "O" refers to the A. Independent variable B. Dependent variable C. Random assignment D. Induction

B. Dependent variable

According to the lecture, in which section of a quantitative journal article can you find the author's "suggestions for future research?" A. Methodology section B. Discussion section C. Literature Review section D. Results section

B. Discussion section

A researcher would use a(n) ______ statistic to test for differences between three or more groups when the independent variable is nominal and the dependent variable is continuous. A. Chi-Square B. T-Test C. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) D. Correlation

C. Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)

Once we believe something, we tend to pay special attention to those experiences and situations that are consistent with our beliefs, and disregard those that are inconsistent with our beliefs. This is called: A. Accuracy B. None of these. C. Cognitive Conservatism D. Overgeneralization

C. Cognitive Conservatism

Which type of content structure is mostly associated with content analysis (it is NOT generally associated with interaction analysis)? A. Interactive Structure B. Sequential Structure C. Distributional Structure

C. Distributional Structure

Which of the following is the best example of a trend study? A. Once a year for four years, the same incoming group of UCSB freshman students are asked their opinion about their academic experience at UCSB. B. Every week for six months, the same sample of people are asked about their opinion of their cell phone service. C. Every month for one year, different samples of people are selected and asked about their opinion of Governor Gavin Newsom.

C. Every month for one year, different samples of people are selected and asked about their opinion of Governor Gavin Newsom.

When a survey begins with broad, open-ended questions and ends with specific, narrow questions, this is known as a format. A. Tunnel B. Inverted Funnel C. Funnel

C. Funnel

According to the lecture, a well-written research objective should: A. Lead to the research hypotheses. B. Be narrow and specific. C. Identify the gap in research. D. All of these are correct.

D. All of these are correct.

Quantitative research: A. Embraces a postpositivist paradigm. B. Studies numerical data. C. Relies on a deductive model. D. All of these are correct.

D. All of these are correct.

Which of the following is a type of random sampling?: A. Network Sampling B. Convenience Sampling C. Volunteer Sampling D. Cluster Sampling

D. Cluster Sampling

In this example what is the dependent variable: There is a difference between COMM majors and non-COMM majors with respect to amount of communication apprehension. A. COMM Majors B. Non-COMM Majors C. None of these is correct. D. Communication Apprehension

D. Communication Apprehension

How closely an operational definition matches a conceptual definition refers to its: A. Social Desirability Bias B. Confounding Variable C. Hawthorne Effect D. Conceptual Fit

D. Conceptual Fit

A(n) _________________ variable is caused or determined by another variable. A. Independent B. Operational C. Conceptual D. Dependent

D. Dependent

According to the lecture, variables can be identified as nominal or continuous. Which of the following hypotheses has a nominal independent variable? A. A positive relationship will exist between one's amount of argumentativeness and how often one is willing to confront a hurtful partner. B. There is a positive relationship between how many hours adolescents watch reality TV and the amount of adolescents' willingness to engage in casual sex. C. There is a relationship between how many hours adolescents spend watching sexually explicit Internet material and the amount of adolescents' willingness to engage in casual sex. D. Exposure to manipulated Instagram photos leads to lower body satisfaction in adolescent girls than exposure to original photos.

D. Exposure to manipulated Instagram photos leads to lower body satisfaction in adolescent girls than exposure to original photos.

In lecture, we talked about the scientific method. Which of the following is the LAST step in the scientific method? A. Design and conduct the study B. Formulate a hypothesis C. Analyze and interpret the results D. Generate new questions based on your results (research is heuristic)

D. Generate new questions based on your results (research is heuristic)