Non-Experimental Methods 2

Question 1

What are descriptive surveys?

Answer 1

Seeks to determine what percentage of the population have particular characteristics, beliefs, or behaviours (who are you, what do you believe, how will you/do you act), uses sample to draw conclusions about the population

Question 2

What is the goal of descriptive surveys?

Answer 2

To be representative

Question 3

What is an example of a time that representation using a descriptive survey failed?

Answer 3

1936 presidential election- used a literary digest poll that was mailed out to residential telephone subscribers, and automobile owners (had 2.3 million responses). Problem- Sampling Bias: Roosevelt had more working class support. Self-Selection Bias- Roosevelt was the incumbent-people who were unhappy with him were more likely to respond

Question 4

What are analytic surveys?

Answer 4

Seek to determine relevant variables and how they are related (ex: is aggression related to health behaviours in adolescents?)

Question 5

What are the steps to doing an analytic survey?

Answer 5

1) Find the relevent variables and operationally define them

2) How are they related? Do a correlation (find direction, positive or negative and magnitude)

Question 6

What is a decent magnitude?

Answer 6

.2 or .3

Question 7

What are the steps in developing your own survey if one doesn’t already exist?

Answer 7

1) How will you administer it?
2) What kinds of questions?
3) Write the items
4) pilot testing
5) Any other info you want to collect?
6) Create survey instructions

Question 8

What are some of the ways we can administer a survey?

Answer 8

Mailing, telephone, one on one

Question 9

What are the pros of mailing?

Answer 9

Can be completed without the researcher, can be sent to a large number of people, little to no data entry (with online surveys)

Question 10

What are the cons of mailing?

Answer 10

Unsure as to who in the home answered the survey, can’t be sure that the questions were answered in order, low response rate (25-30% is considered high)

Question 11

What are the pros of telephone?

Answer 11

Increased random sampling with random digit dialing, can enter data immediately on computer, can clear up ambiguous answers, can control order of questions

Question 12

What are the cons of telephone?

Answer 12

Caller ID and voicemail, low response rates, can’t use visual aids or measure nonverbal cues, difficult to establish rapport

Question 13

What are the pros of one on one?

Answer 13

Increased response rate, can clear up ambiguous answers, can control order

Question 14

What are the cons of one on one?

Answer 14

Takes more time of experimenter and participant, is more expensive, possibility of interviewer bias.

Question 15

What do good survey questions have?

Answer 15

Familiar vocabulary, they are short, clear and concise, appropriate reading level for sample, specific, positively and negatively phrased.

Question 16

What is pilot testing?

Answer 16

Preliminary test to try out procedures and make any needed changes or adjustments.

Question 17

What are tests/inventories?

Answer 17

Assess a specific attribute, characteristic, or ability of the person being tested. (ex: MMPI, Big-5, PCL-R, SAT< MCAT, LSAT)

Question 18

What is the single strata approach?

Answer 18

Selects from 1 subgroup of the population

Question 19

What is an example of the single strata approach?

Answer 19

When dentists were concerned with Fluouride effect, they chose Grade 2 students from Calgary and Edmonton to do the survey (undergrad research is generally also single strata).

Question 20

What is cross sectional reserach?

Answer 20

Compares multiple subgroups at the same time (ex: are there age differences in voting opinions? take group of 20s, 30s, 40s-measure at the same time)

Question 21

What is longitudinal research?

Answer 21

Compares same person across an extended period of time

Question 22

What is a cohort?

Answer 22

The group of people involved in a longitudinal reserach study (group of people born during the same period)

Question 23

What is the cohort effect?

Answer 23

Another factor that happened to the cohort that could effect the change you’re seeing.

Question 24

What is another downside to the longitudinal study?

Answer 24

Drop out

Question 25

What is a Sequential design?

Answer 25

Controls for cohort effects and combines longitudinal and cross-sectional design. (start with cross-sectional, then move into both).

Question 26

What is a microgenetic design?

Answer 26

The same setting studied repeatedly in order to observe change in great detail.

Question 27

How do the longitudinal and cross sectional designs differ in their results for mental capablities and aging?

Answer 27

Cross section- says that mental abilities drop off at age 40. Longitudinal says at 60.