chap 4 Alternatives to Experimentation

survey research

obtains data about opinions, attitudes, preferences, and behaviors using questionnaires or interviews.

survey approach

allows researchers to study private experience, which cannot be directly observed.

hypotheses about causal relationships

The survey approach does not allow us to test —- because we do not manipulate independent variables and control extraneous variables

• identify specific research objectives

• decide on the degree of imposition of units

• decide how you will analyze the survey data

steps in constructing surveys:

closed questions

• (structured questions) can be answered using a limited number of alternatives and have a high imposition of units.

• for example, “how many songs did your roommate illegally download this month?”

open-ended questions

• require that participants respond with more than a yes or 1-10 rating and have a low imposition of units.

• For example, “Why did you choose your major?”

content analysis

Open-ended questions can be analyzed using —-, like Yepez’s INTERSECT, in which responses are assigned to categories using objective rules.

double-barreled question

require responses about two or more unrelated ideas.

nominal scale

• assigns items to two or more distinct categories that can be named using a shared feature, but does not measure their magnitude.

• for example, you can sort professors into exciting and dull categories.

ordinal scale

• measures the magnitude of the dependent variable using ranks, but does not assign precise values.

• for example, marathon contestants may finish from first place to last place.

interval scale

• measures the magnitude of the DV using equal intervals between values with no absolute zero point.

• for example, Fahrenheit or Centigrade temperatures, and Sarnoff and Zimbardo’s (1961) 0-100 scale.

ratio scale

• measures the magnitude of the dependent variable using equal intervals between values and an absolute zero.

• this scale allows us to state that a 2-meter board is twice as long as a 1-meter board.

• for example, distance in meters.

response styles

• are tendencies to respond to questions or test items without regard to their actual wording.

• People differ in their willingness to answer, position preference, and yea-saying and nay-saying

yea-saying

is agreeing with an item regardless of its manifest content.

nay-saying

is disagreeing with an item regardless of its manifest content

willingness to answer

is the tendency to guess or omit items when unsure

position preference

is selecting an answer based on its position. for example, students choosing “c" on multiple-choice exams

manifest content

• is the plain meaning of the words printed on the page.

• while we expect subjects to respond to the — of questionnaires, they may ignore it when answering questions about their feelings or attitudes.

context effects

• are changes in question interpretation due to their position within a survey.

• this problem is especially likely when two questions are related and not separated by buffer items (unrelated questions)

social desirability response set

• — is representing ourselves in a socially appropriate fashion when responding to a question’s latent content (underlying meaning).

• for example, you may dress formally for a job interview instead of wearing your favorite jeans

structured interviews

• questions are asked the same way each time.

• this provides more usable, quantifiable data

unstructured interviews

• the interviewer can explore interesting topics as they arise.

• these data may not be usable for content analysis

population

consists of all people, animals, or objects that share at least one characteristic.

sample

is a subset of the population of interest (the population we are studying

probability sample

is more likely to represent the population (external validity) than a nonprobability sample

1. simple random sampling

2. systematic random sampling

3. stratified random sampling

4. cluster sampling

four main probability sampling methods are:

1. quota sampling

2. convenience sampling

3. purposive sampling

4. snowball sampling

four main nonprobability sampling methods include: