Research Class 6 Part 1

___ frames the question and hypothesis with concepts that are predicted to have a relationship with each other

theory

For researchers to be sure that they are measuring only the concept, and nothing else but that concept, the definition of the concept’s meaning must be redefined with parameters for its measurement. This is called the ___

operational definition

It is the operational definition that creates the ___ (independent or dependent).

variable

There are two different types of quantitative data collection methods. Quantitative data can be collected from either ____

existing or new data

___ is information that is already present in documents

Existing data

In some situations, the information is already in numeric form; in other situations, the data is ___, and numbers are calculated by counting how often the narrative occurs

narrative

The following are examples of data that exists already that may be used by researchers to answer a research question

results from previous studies, historical research, diaries, letters, reports, data from previous studies, records

Large amounts of data from across numerous studies can be collapsed to create one large data set. Then the entire data set from many studies can be analyzed together. This is called a ___

meta-analysis

Data from previous studies may be analyzed a second time to answer a new and different research question to test new hypothesis. This is called a ___

secondary analysis

Client ___ hold vast amounts of quantitative data, which can be used to answer specific research questions.

records

Many research questions require ___ sources of quantitative, numeric data.

new

There are two main types of new data

structured self-report methods, and biological and physiological measures

In a ___, the questions are prepared, as well as all possible answers

structured self-report measure

The questions and answers are guided by the operational definition of the variable. The participant answers, or reports on, the ___

questions

Examples of self-report measures are ___, questionnaires, and score cards.

surveys

Biological and physiological measure methods measure the observed value for a bio-physiological attribute such as…

blood pressure, pulse, and urine output

Now that you know how data is collected, and its sources, let’s look at its ___.

measurement

Remember: A concept must be operationally ___ to become a variable.

defined

Each variable has a ___, defined way to be measured according to the rules of levels of measure.

specific

What are five advantages of mathematical measurement?

it removes guesswork, it is objective, it provides reasonably accurate info, it measures differences in an attribute across samples, it’s less vague than words

Levels of measure are ___ for assigning numeric values to variables.

rules

Numeric values are assigned to the ___ of objects to designate the quantity of the attribute.

qualities

___ are not constant, so quantification is necessary to communicate the amount: how many or how much, e.g. how depressed is depressed?

Attributes

___ measures are numeric representations of concepts, many of which are abstract (depression) rather than concrete (height).

Objective

Each numeric measure will always have a component of ___.

error

There are ___ levels of measure from lowest level of mathematical sophistication to the highest level of mathematical sophistication

4

___ levels (continuous) provide more statistical information and greater statistical power; so they are preferred, but not always necessary

Higher

The researcher chooses the level of measure for the variable that best ___ the research question.

answers

A ___ variable is one that has two or more categories, but there is no intrinsic ordering to the categories.

categorical

Did you see the movie?

Yes No (yes, is converted to 1; no, is converted to 2)

what categorical level is this?

nominal

What did you think of the movie?

Poor Fair Good Excellent

(Poor is converted to 1, Fair is converted to 2, Good is converted to 3, Excellent is converted to 4)

what categorical level is this?

ordinal

For example, a ___ (such as yes/no question) is a categorical variable having two categories (yes or no) and there is no intrinsic ordering to the categories. 

binary variable

An ___ variable is similar to a categorical variable.  The difference between the two is that there is a clear ordering of the categories. 

ordinal

For example, suppose you have a variable, ___, with three categories (low, medium and high)

economic status

___ levels of measurement count how much there is of an attribute, and can be any number on a range

Continuous

Rate your satisfaction with the movie from 0 terrible to 10 outstanding.

0        1        2        3        4        5        6        7        8        9        10

what type of continuous measurement is this

interval

The lowest level of measure is ___. It is the simple assignment of a number to a category. The assignment of the number is arbitrary.

nominal

The number itself has no ___. It is just a type of designation. It could be 1 or 2 or any other number, because the number itself has no value.

value

An example of a nominal scale is a ___. The participant answers “yes” or “no” to the question.

dichotomous scale

Or the scale may be worded in a sentence to which they answer ___ The response is simply converted by the researcher to a number 1 or 2.

“true” or “false”

The next, third highest level of measure is ___

ordinal

In ordinal measurement, categories have rank ___ from low inherent value to high inherent value. But, the increments between the ranks may not be equal or precise or even known.

An example is age groups: child, adolescent, adult, senior.

ordering

The second highest level of measure is ___. Numbers are rank ordered and the distance between the points on the scale are equal and known.

interval

But, if there is a ___ on the scale, it is not a mathematically absolute value for the concept (interval)

zero

Common interval scales are ___ as participants indicate the extent to which (how much) they agree or disagree with the statement.

likert scales

Some scales produce a ___, which is calculated by summing each item score (summated ratings scales).

total score

___ is the highest, most sophisticated level of measure.

ratio

ratio has mutually exclusive categories, is rank ordered from lowest to highest value on the scale, and does have an absolute, meaningful ___ for the concept.

zero

The exact information about the concept’s attribute is ___

known

Examples of ratio levels of measure are ___ such as: blood pressure, apical rates, respiratory rates, weight, height.

bio-physiological measures

ordinal and nominal are categorical and consist of qualitative data

interval and ratio consist of ___ data

quantitative

nominal has no order while ordinal data has an ___

order

interval data has difference between measurements but no true zero

ratio data has difference between measurements and true ___

zero

___ can have declarative statements, such as a common survey scale.

Likert scales

The most common version is the ___, which presents a statement and offers the following options:

1. Strongly Agree

2. Agree

3. Neither Agree nor Disagree (Neutral)

4. Disagree

5. Strongly Disagree

5-point Likert scale

Responses are not necessarily summed to produce a total ___

score

Two other common interval scales include the ___ and the visual analogue scale.

semantic differential scale

___ are a popular type of survey question used in market research to measure attitudes toward a particular concept or object.

Semantic differential scale

This type of scale uses a series of bipolar ___ to evaluate the respondent’s perception and evaluation of a concept or object.

adjectives or phrases

It works much like a 1 to 5 or 1 to 10 Likert scale but instead of “1” being least and “10” being most the numbers are replaced with words ___ one another

opposite

An example of a semantic differential scale is a fast food restaurant asking: “How were the french fries you recently purchased from our restaurant?”

one side of the scale is cold, and the other is hot (___)

opposites

Another example:

For each criterion, assign a ___ that most closely measures your rating of the conference, in-service or class, along the continuum between the anchors 1 (Strongly disagree) to 5 (Strongly agree)

(Strongly disagree) 1     2     3     4     5 (Strongly agree)

number

The ___ is a straight line usually 10cm (100mm) long. therefore it is a continuum with equal distance between the points along the scale (1cm, 2cm, etc.).

Interval Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)

The anchors are situated at each end of the VAS, with extremes of responses ___ the two end points, which anchor the antonyms of the concept.

between

The respondents mark an (X) at ___ along the scale, where they feel represents their experience. The score is the distance from one end of the scale to the middle if the x of the participant’s mark, measured by a ruler in mm.

0 __________________ X __________________100 mm

any point

With a real interactive VAS, you would indicate your satisfaction along the 100mm ___ with an X.

continuum

The data from the scales are then ___ via statistical procedures, which you will learn about in another module.

analyzed

What about ___ of the measure?

accuracy

The major disadvantage in quantitative measurement is ___

error

There is an ___ that all measurement, even a simple ruler, will be only an estimate at best, that there will always be some error, and that a researcher can even estimate the amount of error in a measurement. 

assumption

Therefore, a measurement is not a ___ quantity. It is a statement about the value of some quality or attribute. Any known quantity is suspected to include some error.

true

Error is always present and is essentially a false or ___ result.

mistaken

Error is a ___ quantity and is calculated as an estimate

numeric

Error comes from many sources and is responsible for decreased or lost ___ in the measurements, and therefore decreased validity and generalizability of the research findings.

reliability and validity

In any measurement of data, there are three scores

1. Measurement score

2. Observed score (the score taken from the instrument)

3. True score, which is never really known, is the observed score minus the amount of error in the score

the observed score is the score taken from the ___

instrument

the true score is never ___ and always estimated

known

___ score is the random error in the measurement process

true

All numeric measurements have some errors.  There are two error sources

1. Sampling or selection error

2. Measurement error 

Sampling or selection error is error that has entered the study via the ___

sampling methodology

The process by which the study participants are ___ may introduce error

selected

___ controls for error better than non-randomized sampling

Randomized sampling

Sampling error is how well a sample approximates characteristics of a ___

target population

Sampling error can be introduced by ___ between samples drawn from the same population

fluctuations

For example: In a male elderly sample over 65 years of age, the sample happened to get a ___ number of males over 85, as compared to the representativeness of makes over 65 in the target population.

disproportionate

Sampling error is the ___ between the population values and sample values of a population characteristic

difference

For example: The elderly male sample is predominantly Caucasian and does not __ the multi-ethnic attribute of the population.

represent

In any study, some people may be more likely to enroll or not enroll in a study based upon the design or the research question itself, which is called ___

sampling bias

___ is the difference between what is measured by an instrument and what exists (which is never really known).

Measurement error

Error will have ___. It will cause the observed score to be either too high or too low

direction

Error will have ___. There may be a large amount of error or a small amount of error in the observed score.

amount

Instruments may have error constructed within them: the instrument itself does not measure ___

accurately

Or, the person who is collecting the data or the person responding to the instrument may introduce error during the ___

data-collection process

There are two sources of measurement error

1. Situational contaminants

2. Response set biases

Environmental factors, the observer effect, or the time of day may influence how some participants respond to the instrument, which is called…

situational contaminants

For example the room is too hot; or too noisy, which distracts the participant while responding to the questions, and the participant gives responses that ___ from what might be true for the participant

differ

what are types of response set biases

social desirability response set bias, extreme response set bias, and acquiescence set bias

To be perceived in a socially desirable way, the person gives the response that he/she thinks the investigator wants to receive: i.e. gives answers that would be considered socially acceptable.

social desirability response set bias

Participants will only give all extreme end answers such as excellent or poor and respond the same way to every question.

Extreme response set bias

Some participants say “yes” or “no” to any question, regardless or the content, i.e., “yea-sayers" and “nay-sayers.”

Acquiescence set bias