POLS 352 Midterm

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**Mill’s Method of agreement** 

Find cases in which the effect has occurred
Determine if there’s only one thing that they all share

Mill's method of difference

Find cases in which the effect has occurred in one, but not the other

How is a conceptual definition defined?

by a set of concrete traits of similar type

How is a multidimensional concept defined?

two or more distinct groups of empirical characteristics

The concept of ___ is defined as the extent to which ____ exhibits the characteristic of ___

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What is the first blank?

Restates the concept label

The concept of ___ is defined as the extent to which ____ exhibits the characteristic of ___

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What is the second blank?

describes the unit of analysis

The concept of ___ is defined as the extent to which ____ exhibits the characteristic of ___

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What is the third blank?

Specifies the property that we think best captures the meaning of the concept 

What does an operational definition do?

Completes the bridge between concept and measurement

Puts “into operation” the measurement of the empirical property described in the conceptual definition

What is the goal of a measurement strategy?

To measure only intended characteristics

An ecological fallacy arises

when an aggregate-level variable is used to make inferences at the individual level

What is reliability?

degree of consistency of a measure, if the measure comes up multiple times

What is random measurement error?

Haphazard, chaotic distortion in the measurement process

Inconsistent unintended characteristics

What is systematic measurement error?

Consistent, chronic, distortion into an empirical measurement

Consistent unintended characteristics

What is validity?

Records the true value of the intended characteristic

Interval level of measurement

Values communicate the exact amount of the characteristic being measured

ex. Temperature, income, age

Ordinal level of measurement

values communicate the RELATIVE amount of the characteristic being measures, scale

ex. education level (HS-PhD) , low-medium-high, never… always

Nominal level of measurement

Values that communicate differences, no numerical value

ex. Gender, marital status, college major,

What are the measures of central tendency?

Mean, median, mode

What is dispersion?

Extent to which the units of analysis are distributed across the values of the variable

Maximum dispersion

Cases are spread evenly across all values of the variable 

Minimum dispersion

Cases all fall into one value of the variable

Positive skew

Mean > median, right-hand tail

Negative skew

Median > mean, left-hand tail

What are the 3 elements of a hypothesis

Describes a connection between the dependent variable and the independent (casual) variable
Asserts the direction or tendency of this connection
Is testable

In comparison of _____, those having ____ will be more likely to have ____ than will those having ____

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What is the first blank?

Units of analysis

In comparison of _____, those having ____ will be more likely to have ____ than will those having ____

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What is the second blank?

One value of the independent variable

In comparison of _____, those having ____ will be more likely to have ____ than will those having ____

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What is the third blank?

One value of the dependent variable

In comparison of _____, those having ____ will be more likely to have ____ than will those having ____

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What is the fourth blank?

Different value of the independent variable

In a comparison of individuals who read newspapers, those with higher levels of educational attainment will be more likely to read the newspaper everyday than those with lower levels of educational attainment.

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What are the units of analysis?

Individuals who read newpapers

In a comparison of individuals who read newspapers, those with higher levels of educational attainment will be more likely to read the newspaper everyday than those with lower levels of educational attainment.

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What is the independent variable?

Educational attainment

In a comparison of individuals who read newspapers, those with higher levels of educational attainment will be more likely to read the newspaper everyday than those with lower levels of educational attainment.

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What is the dependent vaiable?

Likelihood to read the newspaper everyday

What are the four common mistakes of a hypothesis?

Not making an explicit comparison

Not stating direction or tendency

Being vague

Describing only one variable

Highly religious people vote at high rates

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What is the mistake in this hypothesis?

Not making an explicit comparison

In a comparison of individuals, gender and abortion attitudes are related

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What is the mistake in this hypothesis?

Not stating direction or tendency

Because of socioeconomic changes associated with the growth in social media, contemporary political conflicts resolve around post-materialist values

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What is the mistake of this hypothesis?

Being vague

In a comparison of individuals, some people are more likely to donate money to political candidates than other people

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What is the mistake of this hypothesis?

Describing only one variable

What level of measurement is needed for cross tabulations?

Nominal/ordinal

In a crosstab, the independent variable goes in the ___, while the dependent variable goes in the ___

Columns, rows

What level of measurement is needed for bar charts/graphs?

Nominal or ordinal

What level of measurement is needed for line graphs?

Interval dependent variable

What level of measurement is needed for means comparison?

Interval dependent variable

The concept of math ability is defined as the extent to which students can correctly use basic mathematical operations.

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Is this a conceptual definition or an operational definition?

Conceptual

Ask students to solve ten word problems requiring addition, multiplication, division, etc.

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Is this a conceptual definition or an operational definition?

Operational

What are the three things a conceptual definition must communicate?

The variation within a measurable characteristic or set of characteristics
The subjects or groups to which the concept applies
How the characteristic is to be measured

What can a boxplot tell us?

Five-number summary of a variable:

Minimum value
Lower quartile (25 percentile)
Median
Upper Quartile (75 percentile)
Maximum value

The proper mode of analysis for two categorical variables

Crosstabs and bar graph

In line graphs, bar graphs, and box plots, the independent variable goes into the ___, while the dependent variable goes into the ___

Category axis, variable

What level of measurement can you use mean, median, and mode?

Interval

What level of measurement can you use median and mode?

Ordinal

What level of measurement can you use only use mode?

Nominal