Chapter 5 Flashcards
Fixed Alternative Questions
Questions where the respondent selects his or her answer from a set of specified responses.
Open-Ended Questions
Allows the respondent to provide his or her answer in his or her own words.
Often summarized with content analysis.
Rating Scales
Fixed alternative questions where the respondent indicates magnitude on a scale.
Likert Scales
Statements in which the respondent is asked to indicate the degree he or she agrees or disagrees with the statement.
Semantic Differential
The respondent rates words on a series of bipolar scales.
Designed to measure the psychological distance between the connotative meanings of words.
Socially Desirable Responding
giving answers that respondents think are appropriate or that they think the researchers might want to hear
Response Set
giving only moderate answers or always agreeing or disagreeing.
Ways Psychologists measure observed behavior
Accuracy – responses are either right or wrong.
Frequency – how often a behavior occurs in a specified period of time.
Latency – speed of onset.
Duration – how long the behavior lasts.
Amplitude – size of response.
Choice selection – frequency of choice between alternatives.
Quantitative Variables
Differ in terms of amount; different values contain more or less of the variable.
Qualitative Variables
Different values of these variables are different in quality.
Nominal
Differ in name (e.g., gender, eye color).
Limited statistical manipulations
Ordinal
Vary in order of quantity (e.g., first, second, and third place in a race).
Non-parametric statistical analyses.
Interval
The intervals between the values of the variables are equal (e.g., IQ scores).
Can use parametric statistical analyses.
Ratio
Like interval variables but with a true zero point (e.g., temperature in Kelvin).
Can use the greatest variety of statistical analyses.
Chronbach’s Alpha
in the intercorrelation among all the items on the scale.
