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Questions of value

When researchers ask questions that examine individuals' subjective evaluations of issues and phenomena.

Authority

Relying on someone in a position of power to tell you what is factual.

Numerical measurement

Quantitative research methods, generally speaking, rely on.

Research

The process of asking questions and finding answers about the observable world.

Personal interest, social importance, and theoretical significance

Criteria for evaluating the questions researchers ask.

Generate new questions based on your results

The LAST step in the scientific method.

All of these(uses both quantitative methods and qualitative methods, applies scientific methods to the study of human interactions, focuses on symbols used to construct messages.)

Studying communication from a social science perspective:

Messages

What Communication researchers mostly study.

Nominalist

If you believe that reality is created and constructed, that the particulars of the world are more important.

Realist

If you believe that reality is observable and discoverable, that universals of the world are more important.

Axiology

Concerned with questions of morals, values, and ethics.

Ontology

Concerned with questions of reality, free will, and determinism.

Start with identifying the research problem

Both the deductive and inductive research models.

Qualitative research

Uses words or texts to represent data and embraces an inductive, interpretive paradigm to understand human behavior.

Beneficence

Achieved when the well-being of research participants is protected.

Anonymity

When no one, including the researcher, can connect a participant's responses with their identity.

All of these are correct

Could be considered a vulnerable population (Children/minors, College students, Persons with cognitive disabilities).

Human subjects review committee

Reviews your research proposal to provide advice about how to improve your research plan.

Maturation

If your participants change over time, then your study might be threatened by.

Reliability

Generally refers to how repeatable a measure is from test to test, if the measure is consistent over and over again.

Conceptual Fit

How closely an operational definition matches a conceptual definition.

0

A coefficient that is the minimum acceptable level of reliability.

Population, sampling frame, sample

From largest to smallest, the correct order.

Cluster Sampling

A type of random sampling.

Undergraduate Communication majors

All undergraduate Communication majors at Community Colleges in the state of California

Probability sampling

Means that selection of participants is random.

Stratified sample

A sampling method where a researcher identifies subcategories of a population and randomly selects a sample from each in proportion to the total population.

Sample size increase effects

When sample size increases, confidence level increases, confidence interval decreases, and margin of error decreases.

Population

The group of people researchers want to study.

Ecological validity

Generally, field experiments have more ecological validity than laboratory experiments.

Classic-Experimental Forms

The only type of experimental design that uses random assignment.

Research protocol

Details each procedural step of the research design.

Independent Variable

You want to test the effectiveness of an anti-smoking public service announcement. You develop two types of PSAs (Public Service Announcements): one that uses a fear appeal to attempt to scare people into compliance and one that does not. You then show the fear ad to one group of people and the non-fear ad to another group. In this instance, the type of ad that is being shown is the

Experimental notation system - X

Refers to the independent variable.

Experimental notation system - O

Refers to the dependent variable.

Factorial design

An experiment that involves multiple independent variables.

Between-subjects design

An experimental design where different groups of people are shown different ads.

Treatment Group

The group that sees the fear ad in an experiment.

Trend study

Every month for one year, different samples of people are selected and asked about their opinion of Governor Gavin Newsom.

Longitudinal Designs

Trend studies and panel studies are types of

Cross-sectional survey

Describes the characteristics of a sample representing a population at one point in time.

Closed-Ended Questions

Type of question that will produce more reliable results.

Social desirability bias

The answer the participant believes the interviewer is seeking and sees as favorable.

Highest response rate survey

Most likely a(n) in person/telephone survey.

Open-Ended Questions

Best type of question when it is important for the participant to answer in their own words.

Selection bias

A type of bias that may occur when the sample of a survey does not fully represent the population being studied.

Range

This measure of dispersion tells you the difference between the highest and lowest score on a midterm exam.

Mean

This measure of central tendency is the arithmetic average of a dataset.

Median

Most appropriate measure of central tendency to control for known outliers in a data set.

Mean and Standard Deviation

The most appropriate combination of a measure of central tendency and a measure of dispersion for analyzing ratio/interval data.

Normal curve

Is a theoretical distribution of scores.

Income distribution

If the distribution of income is skewed, then more households had a lower income than the average household (the mode is below the mean).

Positively skewed

A distribution where the tail on the right side is longer or fatter than the left side.

Bi-Modal

A dataset that has two modes.

Descriptive statistics

Statistics that convey essential information about the variables in a dataset.

Negatively Skewed

A distribution where more students had a higher score than the average, with the mode above the mean and a few outliers of low scores.

Chi-Square

A statistic used to test for differences in frequencies when both the independent and dependent variables are nominal.

Inferential statistics

Statistics that make inferences about populations based on sample data, subject to certain assumptions.

Analysis of variance (ANOVA)

A statistical method used to test for differences between three or more groups.

One-tailed t-test

A test that checks for a significant difference in a specified direction.

T-Test

A statistic used to test for differences between two groups when the independent variable is nominal and the dependent variable is continuous.

Null hypothesis

The hypothesis that there is no effect or no difference, which researchers test against.

Reject the null hypothesis

The action taken when the P value is less than .05, indicating significant results.

Regression

A statistic used to test for relationships between groups when multiple independent and one dependent variable are both continuous.

Positive correlation

A relationship where an increase in one variable leads to an increase in another variable.

Negative correlation

A relationship where an increase in one variable leads to a decrease in another variable.

Structural Equation Modeling

A statistic used to test for relationships between groups when multiple independent and multiple dependent variables are both continuous.

Correlation coefficient

A measure that can range from -1.00 to +1.00, indicating the strength and direction of a relationship.

Strength and direction

The two aspects that must be interpreted in a correlation coefficient.

Predictor Variable

The independent variable in regression analyses.

Significance level

The threshold usually set at p < .05 for tests of relationships.

Latent Content

The researcher's interpretation of the data, analyzing the content under the surface.

Training coders

Involves practicing on similar text, committing the coding scheme to paper, and preparing a codebook.

Quantitative aspect of content analysis

The frequency counts for each coded element.

Validity in content analysis

Refers to the appropriateness and adequacy of the coding scheme for the text or messages being coded.

Inter-coder reliability

Generally considered acceptable at a minimum level of .80.

Coding Unit

The actual 'thing' being counted or coded in content analysis.

Sampling

Choosing a subset of commercials to represent the larger population of all television commercial content.

Manifest Content

Characteristics of the content itself, when researchers count something on the surface.