Experimental Exam 2

questionnaire

concise, preplanned set of questions designed to yield specific information to meet a particular need for information about a pertinent topic

standardization

each respondent receives the same set of questions phrased in exactly the same way

advantages of surveys

economy (expense and time), uniformity of questions, standardization

disadvantages of surveys

poor response, sampling problems

importance of following adequate sampling procedures

sampling a group that is non-representative of the general public will skew results

census

measures each person about whom we wish to know

sampling

the selection of people to participate in a research project

population

the entire group of people that the researcher wishes to learn about

sample

smaller group of people who actually participate in the research

representative sample

one that is approximately the same as the population in every important research

probability sampling

procedures used to ensure that each person in the population has a known chance of being selected to be part of the sample

stratified sampling

divide subjects into subgroups based on shared characteristics (ex. freshman, sophomore, junior, senior)

direct survey methods

door to door, stopping people on the street, controlled population, phone calls

indirect survey methods

first class mail

factors affecting the percentage of returned questionnaires

length, reputation of sponsor, complexity, importance, respondent’s belief of importance, quality and design, time of year

snowball sampling

non-probability sampling, one individual from a population leads researcher to other population members

convenience sampling

sampling individuals that are readily available without any attempt to make the sample representative of the population (ex. college students)

nominal scales

categorical in nature, values have no real numerical value (ex. race numbers)

ordinal scales

indicate rank ordering, differences among the responses but not the magnitude of those differences

likert scale

measures attitudes by combining responses across items

disadvantages of open and close-ended questions

choosing between inadequate answers, wording may make certain answers more appealing