Lecture 4 Flashcards
Definition: “observations that ‘vary’”
variables
Variables can be either ______itative or ______itative
Quantitative or qualitative
Definition: variables that represent numerical values and can be measured or counted. Classified as either dependent (discrete) or explanatory (continuous, independent) variables.
Quantitative
Which type of quantitative variable is this?
“what you measure or observe. it’s the effect or outcome that depends on the other variable”
Dependent variables
a dependent variable can also be called a….
discrete variable
explanatory variables can also be called…
independent variables
Which type of quantitative variable is this?
“what you change or manipulate. it’s the cause or the factor that you’re testing”
Independent / explanatory variable
What would be the dependent and independent variable in the following research topic:
Researching the number of hours a student sleeps and how it influences their academic performance.
Independent: hours of sleep per night
Dependent: academic performance (measured by GPA or test scores)
What would be the dependent and independent variable in the following research topic:
you’re giving plants different amounts of water and seeing how quickly they grow
independent: the amount of water, since that’s what youre changing.
Dependent: the height of the plant because you’re measuring it
Definition: a variable that describes a characteristic or attribute that cannot be measured numerically. instead, it consists of categories or labels.
Qualitative
What are some examples of qualitative variables?
Lengthy stores, opinions, explanations in text
complex diagrams, sketches
photos/videos
This is an example of quantitative or qualitative variable:
Eye colour, type of climate, and preferred mode of transportation
qualitative
Name the variable type!
“either binary (2+) or multi (3+)
Ex. What’s your program of study? A/B/C/D”
categorical
Name the variable type!
“Rank ordered categories, Likert scales… e.g. self-rated academic performance (poor-average-good-excellent)”
Ordinal
Name the variable type!
“Values are numbers from negative infinity to positive infinity, e.g. how many hours per week do you ___?”
Continuous (aka ratio, scale, quantitative)
Name the variable type!
“Values are words, pictures, videos. E.g. what motivates you to engage in physical activity during the winter months?”
Open-ended (aka qualitative)
What are the three ways of measuring variables?
I S
E/S
P O
Interactive surveys,
Equipment/Sensors
Passive Observation
How does Physical Geography use interactive surveys?
In the field, with transects, quadrants, profiles.
How does Human Geography use interactive surveys?
With people - surveys, interviews, focus groups
How does Physical Geography use equipment/sensors?
Environmental (rulers, compass, gauges, photos)
How does Human Geography use equipment/sensors?
Wearables like GPS loggers, motion detection
How does Physical Geography use passive observation
Field Notes!
How does Human Geography use passive observation?
People watching, video
There are two common survey types, what are they?
Self-administered questionnaires and face-to-face interviews
Name that common survey type:
“I can be on paper, a computer or a phone. I’m good for large samples, and have the potential for wide coverage. My only problem is that I could be too retro-active and not in-situ enough”.
Self-administered questionnaires.
Name that common survey type!
“I give you more control over data quality, let you probe for answers and give you the ability to adopt more complex instruments. I can be more unstructured or interactive!”
Face-to-face interview
Based on this description, what is the question type? (Close-ended, open-ended or multi-media?)
“response categories are provided, easy to code and quick to analyze. may bias results by not being exhaustive enough”
Close-ended.
Based on this description, what is the question type? (Close-ended, open-ended or multi-media?)
“Resposnes are in the respondent’s own terms - more variety is provided but it takes way longer to code. it can be more realistic but more open to misinterpretation at the same time.”
Open-ended
Based on this description, what is the question type? (Close-ended, open-ended or multi-media?)
“Sketches, pictures, videos, maps, games”
Multi-media
T/F: you choose close-ended questions when the responsive ‘categories’ are well-known and exhaustive
true
T/F: don’t ask an open-ended question when it’s just easier to ask for a single estimate
True
T/F: you can’t categorize open-ended questions
false - you can group them into themes to present in your report
When do you typically use multi-media question types?
Exploring new or complex phenomena, or working with special groups
T/F: you should avoid long ‘ordinal’ lists of numeric categories.
True - they’re not as precise as the categories are harder to analyze and they force subjects to read a long list, while taking up SO MUCH space
instead of using ordinal lists, consider using single “______ values”
estimated values - yields a single numeric response, takes up less space, and easier to answer.
when asking people to indicate something they use or choose, you COULD use checkmarks, but you could also consider capturing _____ usage.
relative usage –> about how often do you….
more information, same amt of space. allows relative ranking of usage
Instead of checkboxes, ask yourself: could I get an _____ _______ value instead?
estimated frequency
T/F: scale questions are good for attitudinal topics
true
Is this passive or active participant observation?
A researcher sits in a university library and quietly takes notes on how students use study spaces without interacting with them
Passive
There are three categories of sensor types: BB, E and C. What are they?
Body-based, environmental and communications.
Body based sensors include what 4 things? (GASS)
GPS, Accelerometers, Smartphones, Smartwatches
T/F: environmental sensors are used to track humans or the conditions they are experiencing
True
T/F: you can geocode environmental sensor data.
True!
T/F: communications sensors are used to track social interactions, sentiments, trends and migration
true
T/F: social media doesn’t geocode everything
false - it most certainly does
Definition: citizens logging data about phenomenons (e.g. watching birds or seeing ice rinks - it’s sort of sensed but it’s sensed by the community itself)
citizen science apps
What does ESM stand for?
Experience Sampling Method
What are the advantages of in-situ prompting?
- reduces recall bias
- enhances validity
- allows for the situational analysis of experiences
