Research Methods Ch. 4

To establish concurrent validity, a researcher must include which of the following in a survey that includes a new index of depression

A previously validated measure of depression

Which of the following sequences illustrates the progression of measurement steps in a fully structured scientific study?

Conceptualization, nominal definition, operational definition, and measurements in the real world

A nominal measure can have only two categories.

FALSE

Even if a pre-existing measure of a construct of interest exists, it is a better idea to create your own so you understand it better.

FALSE

If unsure as a researcher how specific a measurement needs to be, it is best to be more general to simplify data collection.

FALSE

It is impossible to have several indicators of only one concept.

FALSE

Numbers assigned to ranks on an ordinal scale can legitimately be added, multiplied, subtracted, and divided.

FALSE

One only need a nominal definition of a concept before beginning the process of data collection

FALSE

Precise measurement is more important than accurate measurement.

FALSE

Samples of individuals who use social media such as Facebook are representative of the whole population.

FALSE

Classifying someone as employed or not employed treats employment as:

a nominal variable

Which of the following is an example of a variable measured at the ordinal level of measurement?

all of the above are measured at the ordinal level

Techniques used to create reliable measures include:

all these choices are used to create reliable measures

Sarah has compiled a list of 40 indicators of prejudice and its dimensions. She finds that women are more prejudiced than men on some of the indicators but not on others. Sarah should:

check to see if the two sets of indicators represent different dimensions of prejudice

Age, gender, authoritarianism, depression, and safety are all examples of:

concepts

Dr. Ross is looking to examine if the indicators that make up her measurement of romantic attraction are truly related to one another and make for an accurate representation of the variable she is researching. What sort of validity is she examining?

construct validity

Which of the following is NOT a means of assessing the reliability of measuring devices?

construct-correlation

Professor Miller argues that there are three dimensions to the quality of a relationship (belonging/affirmation, interdependence, and intimacy). Miller designed an instrument to measure quality of a relationship. She notices that no items in the instrument tap the intimacy dimension. Her measure lacks:

content validity

Hudson et al. 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 reliability

Because low marital satisfaction should lead to divorce, Professor Rogers checked his measure of marital satisfaction by examining whether couples with low marital satisfaction scores later obtained divorces and those with high levels of marital satisfaction remained married. This illustrates the use of:

criterion-related validity

Verifying the validity of a measurement using an outside source of information, such as SAT scores or GPA when examining a measure of academic performance is using:

criterion-related validity

Construct validity measures how well something is measured in comparison with:

dimensions of a theoretical concept

Which of the following is an example of a variable measured at the ratio level of measurement?

income in dollars

Which of the following is not a type of unobtrusive measure?

indexes

The observation that acts as a bridge between what we can measure and what we cannot(constructs) is known as a(n)?

indicator

The General Social Survey only asked currently married people about their marital happiness. Thus, in any study of marital happiness using GSS data, what must be a constant?

marital status

Which of the following is a synonym for the social scientific meaning of the word "operation"?

measurement

Conceptions are:

mental images

conceptions are:

mental images

Which of the following is a nominal variable?

need to know the attributes to determine the level of measurement

The specification of concepts in scientific inquiry depends on:

nominal and operational definitions

the specification of concepts in scientific inquiry depends on:

nominal and operational definitions

Professor Tilton measured the variable "feelings toward drafting women" with the categories strongly agree, agree, indifferent, disagree, and strongly disagree. Professor Tilton was using the ________ level of measurement.

ordinal

Which level of measurement is the most mathematically precise?

ratio

Shipley developed a NEW test to measure IQ. Using his test, someone with an IQ of 180 would be considered twice as intelligent as someone with an IQ of 90 and someone with an IQ of 90 was three times as intelligent as someone with an IQ of 30. Shipley's test treats IQ as a(n):

ratio variable

When researchers measure an unchanging phenomenon at two different times, the degree to which the two measurements are related is called

test-retest reliability

Reliability refers to which of the following?

that a measurement yields consistent scores

Jeremy can't decide whether he should ask people whether they "very strongly agree," "agree," "disagree, "very strongly disagree" or whether they simply "agree" or "disagree" with statements about the war in Iraq. Jeremy is dealing with the problem of:

the range of variation

Using more than one measure of the same variable, such as using a survey and direct observation, is known as:

triangulation

Concepts that do not vary are known as constants.

true

Definitions are more problematic for descriptive research than for explanatory research.

true

Inter-item reliability should occur when using multiple indicators of a single concept.

true

The split-half technique for assessing reliability is closely linked to concept of the interchangeability of indicators

true

The test retest method assumes that the phenomena under study does not change.

true

Reliability involves:

whether a particular technique applied repeatedly to the same object would yield the same results each time