Ch. 3: Sex Research

Question 1

methods for measuring sex

Answer 1

1- self reports
2- behavioral measures
3- implicit measures
4- biological measures

Question 2

kinds of behavioral measures

Answer 2

• direct observation
• eye-tracking
• police reports

Question 3

kinds of implicit measures

Answer 3

IAT (implicit association test)- reaction time test that looks at unconscious attitudes

Question 4

kinds of biological measures

Answer 4

1- genital measures
2- MRI and fMRI
3- pupil dilation

Question 5

kinds of genital measures

Answer 5

1- penile strain gauge

2- photoplethysmography

Question 5

what kinds of sampling are best for research?

Answer 5

random sample OR probability sample

Question 6

what kinds of sampling are worst?

Answer 6

convenience sample are worst because researchers fail to obtain a random or probability sample

Question 7

what is the problem with refusal or nonresponse?

Answer 7

causes volunteer bias

Question 8

what are possible problems with self-reports?

Answer 8

1- purposeful distortion (enlargement or concealment)
2- memory
3- ability to estimate

Question 9

how can self-reports be improved?

Answer 9

1- increase anonymity

2- online responding

Question 10

how can self-reports be improved?

Answer 10

1- increase anonymity

2- online responding

Question 11

which measures in sex research have the most sampling issues?

Answer 11

behavioral observations &/or biological measures

Question 12

what are the 3 principles of ethics?

Answer 12

1- informed consent
2- protection from harm
3- justice

Question 13

what does protection from harm involve?

Answer 13

• minimizing stress

- protecting anonymity

Question 14

how does justice occur in research?

Answer 14

1- cost of research should be born equally across a population
2- benefits of research should extend equally

Question 15

how can cost and benefits be assessed to ensure justice?

Answer 15

cost-benefit analysis

Question 16

kinsey report (1938-1949)

Answer 16

• interviews with 11,000 people
• 1948: sexual behavior in the human male
• 1953: sexual behavior in the human female
• sampling overestimated certain sex behaviors
• interviewed people

Question 17

National health & social life survey (NHSLS) (1994)

Answer 17

• Laumann, University of Chicago
• probability sample of households
• 79% response rate
• 3,432 people

Question 18

National survey of sexual health & behavior (NSSHB) (2009)

Answer 18

• Indiana University, Kinsey Institute
• probability sample: random-digit dialing & sampling of residential address
• ages 14-4 (adolescent subsample)
• 53% response rate for adults
• N=5,865
• answered on website

Question 19

British & Australian surveys

Answer 19

• ethnicity in US surveys
• interviewer of same gender & ethnicity
• language-translation, slang
• profoundly diff. conceptualizations of some ideas

Question 20

are magazine surveys accurate?

Answer 20

no because the sample is highly selective to only magazine buyers

Question 21

what are the pros and cons of web-based surveys?

Answer 21

-great for recruiting sample, NOT answering questionnaire

pros:
- large samples at low cost
- access to hidden population because of recruiting through specialty websites

cons:
-lose control of sampling

Question 22

Highly sexually active gay & bisexual men: Grov & Parsons (2016)

Answer 22

• sampling issues in research with population defined by their sexual behavior
• used multiple methods: ads on internet networking sites, emails to NY gay sex listservs, etc.

Question 23

snowball sampling (respondent-driven sampling)

Answer 23

uses existing participants to suggest names of future participants to recruit

Question 24

what online method can improve self report?

Answer 24

daily diary method online

Question 25

what is a media content analysis?

Answer 25

• set of procedures to make valid inferences about text (words, illustrations, etc.)
• sampling
• coding scheme
• intercoder reliability is important here

Question 26

quantitative research

Answer 26

• assign #s to attributes of people
• surveys & experiments

ex: attitudes about abortion rated on a 1-7 scale (approve-disapprove)

Question 27

qualitative research

Answer 27

• gain an in-depth understanding of behavior/culture
• rich description of behavior (interviews)
• facts are words not #s
• small samples
• little concern about random sampling
• used in sociology, anthropology, and a bit in psychology

Question 28

ethnography

Answer 28

description of a human society (most cultural anthropology research)

Question 29

meta-analysis

Answer 29

• quantitative literature review

- method of quantitatively combining the results of numerous studies on a given question

Question 30

effect size (z score)

Answer 30

value measuring the strength of the relationship between two variables in a population

Question 31

steps in a meta-analysis

Answer 31

1- locate all prior studies on the question
2- extract statistics from each study
3- compute an effect size, d, for each study

Question 32

what do you learn with a meta-analysis?

Answer 32

• whether there is an effect
• whether it replicates across many studies
• how big it is

Question 33

experiment

Answer 33

research where 1 variable (independent variable) is manipulated while all other factors are held constant (controlled)

Question 34

can experiments study effect?

Answer 34

yes- experiments study effect (influence) of IV on the measured DV

Question 35

independent variable

Answer 35

• 2 or more groups

- random assignment of people to groups

Question 36

dependent variable

Answer 36

-measured outcome

Question 37

causal inferences

Answer 37

the IV’s affects (influences) on the DV