PSYCH302 CH10, 12, 13, 15

theoretical validity.

" It is present to the degree that the theoretical explanation provided by the researcher accurately fits the data. Four validity strategies -"Pattern matching"- "Predicting a series of results that form a distinctive pattern and then determining the degree to which the actual results fit the predicted pattern or "fingerprint."" -"Peer review"-"Discussion of the researcher's interpretations and conclusions with other people. This includes discussion with a disinterested peer (e.g., with another researcher not directly involved). This peer should be skeptical and play the devil's advocate, challenging the researcher to provide solid evidence for any interpretations or conclusions. Discussion with peers who are familiar with the research can also help provide useful challenges and insights." -"Reflexivity"-"Involves self-awareness and critical self-reflection by the researcher on his or her potential biases and predispositions as these might affect the research process and conclusions." -"Researcher-as-detective"-"A metaphor characterizing the qualitative researcher as he or she searches for evidence about causes and effects. The researcher develops an understanding of the data through careful consideration of potential causes and effects and by systematically eliminating rival explanations or hypotheses until the final case is made beyond a reasonable doubt. The detective can utilize any of the strategies listed here." -"Rule out alternative explanations- Making sure that you have carefully examined evidence for competing or rival explanations and that yours is the best explanation." -"Theory triangulation- The use of multiple explanations and perspectives to help interpret and explain the data." "Triangulation- Cross-checking information and conclusions through the use of multiple procedures or sources. When the different procedures or sources are in agreement you have corroboration."

"causal relationship."

"(1) cause and effect must covary i.e., there must be a relationship between the independent and dependent variables, (2) cause must precede effect (i.e., changes in the inde- pendent variable must precede changes in the dependent variable), and (3) rival hypotheses must be implausible (i.e., the relationship between the independent and dependent variables must not be due a confounding extraneous variable)."

"assignment measure"

"All participants who score above the cutoff score receive the treatment, and all participants who score below the cutoff score do not receive the treatment." "The opposite case also is used, where participants below the cutoff score get the treatment and participants above the cutoff score do not get the treatment. After the treatment is administered, the posttest measure is obtained and the two groups are compared on the outcome measure to determine whether the treatment was effective."

"Ethnographic Data Collection Methods"

"Entry, Group Acceptance, and Fieldwork One of the first tasks that must be accomplished when using the participant observation method is to gain entry to the group you wish to study." "gate- keepers, individuals who operate to protect, either formally or informally, the members of a group. Marquart, for example, had to secure the permission and approval of the warden of the prison unit in which he was employed. Even when gatekeepers provide their approval, there frequently must be acceptance by the members of the group before honest and valid information can be obtained." "reactive effect in which your presence alters the behavior of the group members. Marquart had to earn the trust of each inmate before the inmate would reveal his control techniques. Suspicion and paranoia run rampant in a prison environment. It would be virtually impossible for an unknown researcher to walk into a prison and expect the inmates or the guards to divulge their informal system of control. When Schouten and McAlexander (1995) first gained entry to a Harley-Davidson motorcycle group, they "were treated politely by some, standoffishly by others, and overly gregariously by others, but no one treated us as if we really belonged there"" "In classical ethnography, the data collection process is called fieldwork. On the one hand, the researcher must not be ethnocentric during interactions with others in the culture (i.e., you must not judge others based on your cultural standards). On the other hand, the researcher must avoid going native, which would happen if you identified so completely with the group being studied that you could no longer take the perspective of an objective outsider."

Likert Scaling

"In Likert scaling, each participant rates multiple items designed to measure one construct; the respondent typically rates all of the items using a 4-, 5-, 6-, or 7-point rating (i.e., response) scale. A single score is obtained for each participant by summing his or her item scores."

Possible reasons why "Outcome IV: Crossover Effect"

"It renders many potential rival hypotheses implausible. Statistical regression can be ruled out because it is highly unlikely that the experimental treatment group's lower pretest scores would regress enough to become significantly higher than those of the control group on posttesting. Second, a selection-maturation effect is improb- able because it is typically the higher-scoring pretest participants who gain faster on maturational factors. The outcome pattern shown in Figure 10.6 provides the strongest evidence for effect of the independent variable. However, the pattern of results typically found in research will be more ambiguous."

t test for correlation coefficients

"Null hypothesis: H 0 : ρ GPA-SS = 0 Alternative hypothesis: H 1 : ρ GPA-SS ≠ 0"

"selection-maturation effect"

"refers to the fact that one of the two groups of participants was selected in such a way that its participants were growing or de- veloping at a faster rate than the participants in the other group. Since both groups are increasing, it seems plausible that maturation is occurring, and it would not be unlikely that differential maturation also were occurring because the groups are nonequivalent."

"Outcome II: Experimental-Group-Higher-than-Control-Group-at-Pretest Effect"

"the control group shows no change from pretest to posttest, but the experimental group starts higher and shows significant positive change from pretest to posttest. Such a pattern suggests a positive treatment effect because one group changed and the other group showed no change at all.

"Statistical Analysis for Weak Experimental Research Designs"

"One-group posttest-only design Descriptive and correlational statistics" "One-group pretest-posttest design Paired t test or one-way repeated measures ANOVA" "Posttest-only design with nonequivalent groups (with two groups) Independent t test or one-way ANOVA" "Posttest-only design with nonequivalent groups (with more than two groups) One-way ANOVA (with follow-up tests as needed)"

Cons to nonequivalent Comparison Group Design

"Selection bias is the most obvious result of the lack of random assignment—the groups likely will not be equivalent on all extraneous variables."

"Steps in Hypothesis Testing with Decision-Making Rules"

"Step 1. State the null and the alternative hypotheses. Step 2. Set the alpha level (i.e., level of significance). (Psychologists usually set the alpha level at .05). Step 3. Select the statistical test to be used (e.g., t test, ANOVA, regression analysis). Step 4. Conduct the statistical test and obtain the p value. Step 5. Compare p value to the alpha level (i.e., level of significance), and apply either decision rule 1 or decision rule 2." "Decision Rule 1: p value is ≤ alpha level* Reject the null hypothesis and tentatively accept the alternative hypothesis. The research finding is statistically significant. Decision Rule 2: p value is > alpha level Fail to reject the null hypothesis. The research finding is not statistically significant."

"Interpretive Validity"

"The second type of validity for qualitative research focuses on the primary purpose of qualitative research, which is to report how people subjec- tively think and feel about phenomena. Interpretive validity is present to the degree that the researcher accurately portrays the meanings given by the participants to what is being studied."

"pattern-matching strategy."

"This typically involves stating complex hypotheses about how multiple dependent variables will precisely change after an intervention. Stronger (i.e., more complex) hypotheses generally require stronger theory and are more easily falsifiable, which is what the philosopher Karl Popper (1902-1994) recommended (he called these "bold" hypotheses)."

parameter

"Unlike estimation, in which the researcher has no clear hypothesis about the population parameter, in hypothesis testing the researcher states the null and alternative hypotheses and then uses the data to determine what decision should be made about these hypotheses."

independent samples t test.

"When the means for two groups of people are being com- pared, the most common statistical test is the independent samples t test. It's called a t test because it relies on the t distribution as its sampling distribution."

independent samples t test

"When the means for two groups of people are being compared, the most common statistical test is the independent samples t test. It's called a t test because it relies on the t distribution as its sampling distribution. The t distribution serves as the sampling distribution for the t test under the assumption that the null hypothesis is true."

"response set"

"or a tendency to respond in a specific manner to all questions. For example, a person might hesitate in giving extreme responses and tend to cluster his or her responses around a central choice." "One strategy to minimize a tendency to select a center choice is to use an even number of response categories on rating scales rather than an odd number with a center point. Other individuals might be "yea-sayers," tending to agree with every statement. One strategy to minimize this is to break up questions into different types."

point estimation

"point estimation, researchers use the value of a sample statistic as the estimate of the value of a population parameter."

"Outcome III: Experimental-Group-Lower-than-Control-Group-at-Pretest Effect"

"the control group shows no change from pretest to posttest, but the experimental group starts much lower and shows significant positive change from pretest to posttest."

"interrupted time-series design"

"all of the participants are pretested a number of times and then posttested a number of times after or during exposure to the experimental treatment condition. The researcher plots the data for the dependent variable for all measurement points, before and after the treatment, and compares the before and after treatment patterns."

"Selection-attrition effect"

"also might have occurred if the groups became different because of participants dropping out. Careful ex- amination of the characteristics and pretest scores of participants who dropped out would help determine the plausibility of this effect."

"Outcome IV: Crossover Effect"

"an experimental outcome in which the treatment group scores significantly lower than the control group at pretest but significantly higher at posttest."

"Regression artifacts"

"are "pseudoeffects that appear to be effects due to some supposed causal variable (e.g., an intervention) but are nothing more than regression toward the mean"" "More simply, regression artifacts can be viewed as the "you can only go up (or down) from here" phenomenon"

"mail questionnaire method,"

"as the name suggests, involves sending questionnaires to interviewees through the mail and asking them to return the completed questionnaires, typically in stamped return envelopes provided by the organization conducting the survey. The primary advantage of this technique is its low cost. You can send a questionnaire anywhere in the world for the price of post- age. However, a disadvantage is that most questionnaires are never returned. The return rate is typically 20-30% for the initial mailing (Nederhof, 1985), although the rate can be increased by use of techniques such as follow-up letters reminding survey respondents and enclosing another copy of the questionnaire."

"regression toward the mean"

"because very high scores and very low scores tend to show the most movement toward the mean from pretest to posttest measurement."

confidence interval

"confidence interval is a range of numbers inferred from the sample that has a certain probability or chance of including the true population value. When the researcher uses a 95% confidence interval, he or she can be 95% confident that the interval includes the population parameter because this type of confidence interval will capture or include the true population parameter 95% of the time."

"selection-history effect"

"in which some event affects either the experimental or the control group, but not both (or affects one group more than the other group). Perhaps some significant event occurred be- tween the pretest and posttest for the experimental group, but not for the con- trol group. For example, in the experimental preschool example, perhaps the preschool served as reliable child care, which allowed the parents to find better jobs and increase their income, which led to increased educational opportunities in the home such as books and computers. This is something the researcher would need to consider carefully in the context of his or her particular research study, and to determine its plausibility."

"phenomenology,"

"involves the description of an individual's, or group of individuals', conscious experience of a phenomenon such as the death of a loved one, a counseling session, an illness, winning a championship football game, or experiencing a specific emotion such as guilt, anger, or jealousy. Here's the key question addressed via phenomeno- logical research: What is the meaning, structure, and essence of the lived experience of this phenomenon for a particular individual or for many individuals? The researcher attempts to gain access to each participant's life world, which is the research participant's inner world of subjective experience."

"regression discontinuity design"

"is a design that is used to determine whether a group of individuals meeting some predetermined criterion profit from receiving a treatment."

"Qualitative research"

"is an interpretive research approach that relies on multiple types of subjective data and investigates people in particular situations in their nat- ural environment (Denzin & Lincoln, 1994). This definition has three primary com- ponents that are essential to understanding the nature of qualitative research. The first component is that qualitative research is interpretive. Qualitative data consist of words, pictures, clothing, documents, or other nonnumerical information."

"quantitative research study"

"is one that collects some type of numerical data to answer a given research question. For example, a study that collects information such as a person's ratings of attractiveness, the number of times a child hits another child, the number of times a rat presses a bar, or the score a person makes on a personality test is a quantitative study."

One-way analysis of variance (also called one-way ANOVA)

"is used to com- pare two or more group means for statistical significance. More specifically, it is used when you have one quantitative dependent variable and one categorical independent or predictor variable. Two-way ANOVA is used when you have two categorical independent variables, three-way ANOVA is used when you have three categorical independent variables, and so forth."

"selection-instrumentation effect"

"might occur if the measurement varied or operated differently for the two groups. You might be able to rule this out easily, however, after examining the measurement instruments and proce- dure used in the study."

inferential statistics

"the two major divisions within inferential statistics are estimation and hypothesis testing." "using the data from an entire population, it would be called a population parameter." "If you calculate a numerical index such as a mean or a correlation coefficient on sample data, it is called a statistic."

Before we interpret "Outcome III: Experimental-Group-Lower-than-Control-Group-at-Pretest Effect"

"we must consider potential rival hypotheses. The pattern shown in Figure 10.5 suggests the possibility of a selection-regression effect because the experimental group started out much lower and showed up- ward improvement. If the program is given to the children with unusually low scores on the pretest measure of the dependent variable and the control condi- tion was given to average-scoring children, then one would expect regression to the mean only for the low-scoring children. This is a threat that you should be on the lookout for when examining evaluation research of compensatory programs. Because these programs are targeted at those with the most need, group selection might be based on especially low scores."

"Requirements of the Regression Discontinuity Design"

"• Assignment to comparison groups must be based only on the cutoff score. • The assignment variable must be at least an ordinal variable, and it is best if it is a continuous variable. It cannot be a nominal variable such as sex, ethnicity, religious preference, or status as a drug user or nonuser. • The cutoff score ideally should be located at the mean of the distribution of scores. The closer the cutoff score is to the extremes, the lower the statistical power of the design. • Assignment to comparison groups must be under the control of the experimenter to avoid a selection bias. This requirement rules out most retrospective uses of the design. • The relationship between the assignment and outcome variables (whether it is linear, curvilinear, etc.) must be known to avoid a biased assessment of the treatment effect. • All participants must be from the same population. With respect to the regression discontinuity design, this means that it must have been possible for all participants to receive the treatment condition. This means that the design is not appropriate, for example, if the experimental participants are selected from one school and control participants from another."

"Strengths and Weaknesses of Mixed Methods Research"

"• Can provide multiple sources of evidence • Can reduce alternative explanations of a finding • Can help provide multiple types of validity in a single study • Can elucidate divergent aspects of a phenomenon • Can provide fuller, deeper, more complex, and more comprehensive explanation • Can provide both an emic perspective (i.e., insider's perspective) and the etic perspective (i.e., objective outsider's perspective) • Can identify mediating mechanisms and moderating factors for later testing • Can help connect theory to practice (i.e., general to specific) • Can compensate for the weaknesses of one method by the systematic inclusion of another method • Can provide stronger inferences • Can illuminate subjective meaning that can be missed in purely quantitative research • Can be used to check the implementation of a study (including its meaning to the participants) • Can be used to check the operation and meaning of measurement instruments • Can provide rich, detailed, subjective data and objective quantitative data in the same study • Can add an exploratory dimension to theory/hypothesis testing research (or vice versa)" "Weaknesses: • Requires skill in both quantitative and qualitative research by a single researcher or the use of a mixed research team • Can be more time consuming and expensive • Because it's a new methodology, many design, implementation, and analysis procedures remain to be fully worked out"

"statistical tests:"

"• t test for independent samples (use with one categorical IV and one quantitative DV) • t test for correlation coefficients (use with one quantitative IV and one quantitative DV) • One-way ANOVA (use with one categorical IV and one quantitative DV) • Post hoc tests for ANOVA (use with categorical IV(s) resulting in three or more groups, and one quantitative DV) •ANCOVA (use with mixture of quantitative and categorical IVs and one quantitative DV) • Two-way ANOVA (use with two categorical IVs and one quantitative DV) •One-way repeated measures ANOVA (it's like regular ANOVA except that the IV is a within-participants variable rather than a between-participants variable) •t test for regression coefficients (use with quantitative IV(s) and one quan- titative DV) •Chi-square test for contingency tables (use when all variables are categorical)"

Because of the lack of random assignment and resulting nonequivalent groups, participants might be more likely to:

(1) Drop out of one group than from another group (called selection-attrition bias or differential attrition), (2) To mature at different rates in the different groups (called selection-maturation bias or differential maturation), (3) To be differently assessed by the measurement process in different groups (called selection-instrumentation or differential instrumentation), (4) To "regress-to-the-mean" at different rates in the different groups (called selection-regression bias or differential regression), and (5) To react differently to non-treatment-related events occurring between the pretest and posttest (called selection-history bias or differential history).

"interrupted time-series design (a quasi-experimental design)"

Interrupted Time-Series Design: requires the investigator to take a series of measurements with a single group both before and after the introduction of some treatment condition. All of the participants are pretested a number of times and then posttested a number of times after or during exposure to the experimental treatment condition. The researcher plots the data for the dependent variable for all measurement points before and after the treatment, and compares the before and after treatment patterns.

"Outcome II: Experimental-Group-Higher-than-Control-Group-at-Pretest Effect" possibilities of why this happens

The lack of any control group change (in contrast to the experimental group) would need to be explained if a rival were to be identified. A selection-maturation effect is possible, but it seems unlikely because the control group shows no maturation at all. Selection-regression seems unlikely because the experimental group started out higher than the control group and should have shown less of an upward regression effect. Perhaps the most plausible threat is a selection-history effect. Perhaps a significant event happened (other than administration of the treatment) that affected the treatment group but not the control group. Or perhaps some event happened only for the experimental group that caused them to work harder and show more improvement."

regression to the mean threat

When a variable is measured more than once, a second score is likely to be closer to the group mean than the first score, even if nothing has changed between measurements ex- s/cover effect

Distinguish between cross-sectional and longitudinal designs.

a) Cross-Sectional Studies: is the survey data that is collected from the research participant during a single, relatively brief time period (long enough to collect data from all the participants in the sample). The data is collected from the participants in the sample only once. Even when the data is collected only once they typically are collected from multiple groups or types of people in a cross-sectional survey and example of this is people from multiple age groups, from different socioeconomical classes, and with different accomplishments and abilities. b) Longitudinal Studies: is survey data that is collected at more than one point in time. Longitudinal studies usually last multiple years. Although longitudinal studies include a minimum of two time points or data collection periods, data can be collected over as many time periods as warranted by the research questions. i) In the survey research literature, longitudinal studies are sometimes referred to as panel studies or prospective studies. In this study the researcher collects data from the same group of people at successive points over time. In other words the same individuals, or the panel, are surveyed more than once over time. The panel usually consists of people in different age groups. ii) Trend Study or Successive Independent samples design: The researcher takes independent samples from a general population over time and the same questions are asked. It is different than a panel study because different people are being surveyed at each successive data collection periods.

Explain how to construct a survey instrument.

a) It is important to construct a number of questions or survey items that will provide answers to your research questions. If there is already a validated survey instrument it is recommended to use that because constructing a survey instrument requires a lot of work. b) The survey instrument of data collection will be a questionnaire or an interview protocol. An interview Protocol is highly similar to a questionnaire; essentially, it is a questionnaire that has been put into script format so that the interviewer can read the questions and record the responses. All of the principles of questionnaire construction discussed can be applied equally to interview protocols.

Discuss survey data collection methods.

a) Survey Instrument: is how you conduct the survey whether it be by questionnaire or interview. b) Questionnaire: is a self-report data collection instrument that is filled out by research participants. Questionnaires traditionally are paper-and-pencil instruments, but they are increasingly being placed on the WWW. c) Interview: a trained interviewer asks research participants (the interviewees) questions and records the responses. The survey instrument used in interviewing looks much like a questionnaire, but it is given a more specialized label of Interview Protocol. d) Interview Protocol: The difference between a questionnaire and an interview protocol is that the questionnaire must be written so that participants can easily complete it without the aid of anyone. An interview protocol is a survey instrument that has been put into a script-like format so that the interviewer can systematically read the questions and easily record participants responses. Interviews are generally preferred to questionnaires because the researcher has or control over data collection and can probe participants for follow-up responses.

Explain when survey research is used in psychology.

a) Survey research is the method of choice when you need to measure individuals attitudes, activities, opinions, and beliefs. b) Survey research is helpful in exploratory, descriptive, predictive and in some cases, explanatory research. c) Survey research is helpful when there is a need to track changes of beliefs over time. d) Another commonly used survey research method is used for is to collect data used to test theoretical models constructed by researchers based on past literature, experimental results, and other factors. It is also used for more purely predictive and descriptive purposes. e) Strong survey research is based on random samples from populations. This is particularly helpful when wanting to generalize about attitudes, opinions, and beliefs from a single sample to a population.

Explain the 12 principles of questionnaire construction.

a) Write Items to Match the Research Objectives: b) Write Items that are Appropriate for the Respondents to be Surveyed: c) Write Short, Simple Questions: d) Avoid Loaded or Leading Questions e) Avoid Double-Barreled Questions: f) Avoid Double Negatives: g) Determine Whether Closed-Ended and/or Open Ended Questions are Needed: h) Construct Mutually Exclusive and Exhaustive Response Categories for Closed-Ended Questions:

Define and explain the meaning of survey research

a)It is a widely used nonexperimental research method. It is where a person fills out a questionnaire or is interviewed about their attitudes, activities, opinions, and beliefs. Researchers want to answer the questions of "who" and "why". Who votes for Republicans, or Democrats, and why do people buy a certain brand. "If you want to know what people think, then ask them." b)Several APA journals regularly publishing research based on survey data are the: i)Journal of applied Psychology, Journal of personality and Social Psychology, Professional Psychology: research and Practice, Psychology and Aging, Health Psychology, Psychology of Addictive Behaviors, and Psychology of Religion and Spirituality. ii)When Survey researchers measure attitudes, opinions, and beliefs using good measurement procedures, they are able to examine relationships among the variables, make predictions, and determine how subgroups differ.

e) Avoid Double-Barreled Questions:

i) Double-Barreled Questions: ask two (or more) things in a single question, and must be avoided. A question such as Do you agree that Pres. Obama should focus his primary attention on the economy and foreign affairs?" Would you say the participants want the pres. To focus on economy or foreign affairs? If the words "and" or "Or" are in the question check to make sure that you have not written a Double-Barreled Question.

f) Avoid Double Negatives:

i) Is a sentence construction that includes two negatives. For example, " Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? Psychology professors should not be allowed to conduct research during their office hours." So if you disagree you are saying that you do not think psychology professors should not be allowed....

b) Write Items that are Appropriate for the Respondents to be Surveyed:

i) It is important to remember that it is the research participants who are answering the questions not the researcher. You need to view your questions from the participants perspective. Think about the reading level and the demographic and cultural characteristics of your participants and write items that are understandable and meaningful to them.

h) Construct Mutually Exclusive and Exhaustive Response Categories for Closed-Ended Questions:

i) Mutually Exclusive Categories: do not overlap. Here is a set of response categories for annual income that is not mutually exclusive: "25,000 or less" "25,000 to 50,000" "50,000 to 75,000" and so on. The problem with this is there are two categories for 25,000 this is not mutually exclusive. ii) Exhaustive Categories include a place for all possible responses. The set of annual income categories provided above was exhaustive because it included a place for all possible annual incomes. If you eliminate one of the categories in that set it no longer would be exhaustive. For example, if you forgot to include the category of 200,000 or more, then someone earning 300,000/year would have no place to record his or her response. So it is important that the response categories are both mutually exclusive and exhaustive.

g) Determine Whether Closed-Ended and/or Open Ended Questions are Needed:

i) Open-Ended Questions: requires a participant to come up with their own answer. They can provide any response that they desire. For example, if you wanted to find out what people do when they feel depressed, you could ask an open-ended question such as "What do you do most often when you feel depressed?" ii) Closed-Ended Questions requires respondents to choose from a set of predetermined response alternatives provided by the researcher. Generally, closed-ended questions are appropriate when the dimensions of variable are known. In such an instance the alternative responses can be specified, and the respondent can select among these alternatives. Closed-Ended Questions also provide more standardized data because all participants are exposed to the same response categories. iii) Mixed-Question Format: also is possible. Give some posable answers with an "other" at the end and a space to write.

c) Write Short, Simple Questions:

i) Questions should be short, clear and precise. This means avoiding jargon and using simple language. The goal is that it is easily understood and be able to interpret what the question or item is addressing in the same way. Participants are most likely to finish the questions if they understand them.

d) Avoid Loaded or Leading Questions:

i) These kinds of questions bias participants responses. A loaded term is a word that produces some sort of positive or negative emotion on the part of the respondent separate from any content value. For example the word liberal is a loaded word. ii) Leading Questions: is slightly different. This refers to a question or item stem that suggest to the participants how he or she should respond. For example "Do you believe that you should keep more of your hard-earned money..."

i) Consider the Different Types of Closed-Ended Response Categories.

i) When asking a participants questions or measuring their reactions to a statement researchers usually prefer multichotomous (more than two choices) rather than dichotomous (only two choices.). A rating scale is a good example of multichotomous. This is a 5 point rating scale that taps into two key dimensions of attitudes. It measures direction (positive or negative toward the attitudinal object) and strength or intensity of attitude. Some researchers prefer to exclude the center (neutral) category and to push respondents to lean in one direction or the other. When constructing the descriptors (called the anchors) for the points on 4-point and 5-point rating scales, you must make sure that the distance between each pair of descriptors or response categories is the same. ii) Binary Forced Choice: when using this approach you do not have participants use a rating scale instead they are forced to make a choice between A or B. for example they have to chose either A "I have a natural talent for influencing people" or B "I am not good at influencing people." And then mark on question 1 what they chose. This is not highly recommended. iii) Ranking indicates the importance or priority assigned to an attitudinal object. Ranking can be used with open-ended or closed-ended responses. For an open-ended example you might ask "In your opinion, what are the three top psychology professors in your college?" for closed-ended question you will list the names and then have them put a number from 1 to whatever next to the names of the professors. iv) Checklists: Survey researchers sometimes provide a list of categories (checklist) and ask participants to check the responses that apply to them.

a) Write Items to Match the Research Objectives:

i) Your research proposal will include your research purpose and research question or objectives. When constructing questions for your survey, your task is to construct items that cover the different areas and content needed to fulfill your objectives. You should conduct an extensive review of the literature to make sure you have identified all areas that you need to cover in your survey. The issues of content and construct validity are especially relevant. Make sure you construct a set of items that represent the content domain of interest and make sure you measure each construct adequately.

bayesian moving average statistical analysis

is a method of estimating the mean of a population using outside information, especially a pre-existing belief, that is factored into the calculation. This is a central feature of Bayesian interpretation. This is relevant when the available data set is small.

null hypothesis

is a statement about a population parameter; typically, it states that there is no relationship between the independent and dependent variables

"Grounded theory

is defined as a general methodology for generating and developing a theory that is "grounded" in empirical data (Bryant & Charmaz, 2007; Strauss & Corbin, 1998). A theory is an explanation of "How" and "Why" something operates. The focus is on inductively generating a theory to describe and explain a phenomenon or process. Grounded theory was originally formulated by two sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss (1967), but today it is used in most social, behavioral, and clinical sciences. Here's the foundational question addressed in grounded theory research: What theory or explanation emerges from an analysis of the data collected about this phenomenon?"

"The nonequivalent comparison group design

is probably the most common of all quasi-experimental designs. This design includes both an experimental and a control group, but participants are not randomly assigned. consists of giving an experimental group and a control group first a pretest and then a posttest "the treatment condition is administered to the experimental group). The pre- to posttest changes of the two groups are then compared to determine if significant differences exist."

"Hypothesis testing

is the branch of inferential statistics concerned with how well sample data support a null hypothesis and when the null hypothesis can be rejected." "The goal in hypothesis testing is to make claims about population parameters based on sample data."

"compatibility thesis

is the idea that quantitative and qualitative methods are complementary and can be used effectively together in a single research study. That is, quantitative and qualitative research approaches can be used together in a single research study to address a single research question or a set of related research questions."

alternative hypothesis

is the logical opposite of the null hypothesis i.e., stating that there is a relationship between the independent and dependent variables in the population. "you reject the null hypothesis, you can claim that the data support the alternative hypothesis and claim that a pattern has been found in the world."

t test for correlation coefficients

is the statistical test used to deter- mine whether an observed correlation coefficient is statistically significant."

Type I error (alpha)

occurs when the researcher rejects a true null hypothesis. If the null hypothesis is true (i.e., the independent and dependent variables are not related), then you do not want to reject it—if you do reject it, you have made a Type I error. A Type I error is called a "false positive" because the researcher falsely concludes that there is a relationship in the world (i.e., in the population).

"Ethnography

refers to the discovery and description of the culture of a group of people or of a cultural event. "Shared beliefs- are cultural statements or conventions that cultural members hold to be true or false. Shared values- are culturally defined conceptions of what is good or bad or desirable or undesirable. Norms- are the unwritten and written rules that specify appropriate group behavior. Embedded in the concept of culture is the idea of holism,- which is the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." "ethnography is on depicting the culture from the insider's perspective called the emic perspective." ""objective outsider's" perspec- tive called the etic perspective."

Type II error occurs

when the researcher fails to reject a false null hypothesis. If the null hypothesis is false, then you want to reject it.

"In estimation

your goal is to answer this question: "Based on my random sample, what is my estimate of the population parameter?"