6300 W4
Which of the following statements is FALSE?
Definitions are more problematic for explanatory research than descriptive research.
Distances between attributes in ordinal data is meaningful and quantifiable.
False
It is ethical to frame questions in favor of your position as long as you openly admit to the bias.
False
Numbers assigned to ranks on an ordinal scale can legitimately be added, multiplied, subtracted, and divided.
False
Numerical values on an interval scale can legitimately be added, multiplied, subtracted, and divided.
False
Precise measurement is more important than accurate measurement.
False
Numerical values on a ratio scale can legitimately be added, multiplied, subtracted, and divided.
True
The split-half technique for assessing reliability is closely linked to the concept of the interchangeability of indicators.
True
Which of the following sequences illustrates the progression of measurement steps?
conceptualization, nominal definition, operational definition, and measurement in the real world
Sophie developed a measure of job satisfaction. She validated her measure by seeing if it related to other variables that she logically expected to be related to job satisfaction. Which type of validity does this example reflect?
construct
Hudson et al. (1983, Journal of Sex Research) developed a series of questions to examine sexual attitudes (SAS). The SAS scores of religious fundamentalists, a group believed to be conservative regarding sexual expression, were compared with the scores of social work graduate students, a group believed to be liberal regarding sexual expression. The researchers were examining the instrument's
criterion validity.
Predictive validity is another name for:
criterion-related validity
What is the lowest level of measurement in which there is an exact difference between attribute values?
interval
Which of the following is a nominal variable?
not enough information to know
When one defines a concept by specifying how it will be measured, what definition has he or she created?
operational definition
A measure of recidivism risk for juveniles completing a diversionary program instead of a traditional residential sentence, which ranks their level of risk as low, medium, or high is using which level of measurement?
ordinal
The definition of a phenomena that represents the objective, unquestionable "truth" of it, which is rarely used by sociologists is an example of a
real definition
When we fall into the trap of believing that terms have real meanings, we are guilty of
reification
Measuring how people feel about proposed income tax hikes when you really want to know how well informed they are on the proposal is a problem of operationalization concerning
the specific dimensions of the variable to be studied.
Measuring a respondent's age on an online survey would be considered a(n):
indirect observable
Professor Rogers created two surveys, each containing five different indicators for his measure of student engagement. She asked students in the two different sections of her research methods course each to voluntarily answer the five indicators. Which type of reliability is she likely testing?
split-half
