Wednesday, February 28

Good job with standard deviation today. This is a tough concept and not that much fun but it sounds like your grasping the material. This week in class, we discussed;

Designing questions for surveys
Types of samples
a.) simple random
b.) systematic sample
c.) simple stratified sample
d.) proportional stratified sample
Sampling from periodicity
Descriptive v. Inferential statistics
a.) mean
b.) median
c.) mode
Range/ Variance/ Standard Deviation
Normal Distribution
Standard scores
Frequency tables/ histograms

Last week, we talked about two different types of studies, Longitudinal and Cross sectional. Think of a study where you would need to conduct a longitudinal study. For posting, describe the study and explain why a cross-sectional design would not work. Also, which type of longitudinal design would you use and why (Trend, Cohort, Panel)?

February 21

Good work this week rebounding from the unexpected day off. I look forward to grading your tests and should have results posted on vista before Saturday. This week, we covered,
Different types of Survey research,
Key terms in sampling
Deficiencies in a sample frame
How to determine a response rate
Longitudinal studies

For posting this week, I would like you to come up with a hypothetical research project. State either a hypothesis or research question. Then, I want you to walk through the sampling procedure. State what your target population would be, a survey population, and finally your sampling frame.

February 7

Tough week class. We covered a lot of material that will be influential all semester long. Please use the blog postings as your study guide. If it was posted on the blog, it must be important.
Here is what was covered this week.
Conceptual vs. Operational definitions
Quantitative vs. Qualitative measurement
Levels of Measurement (nominal, ordinal, interval, & ratio)
Unidimensional vs. Multidimensional
Types of Scales
Thurston
Likert-type
Rank Order
Check List
Semantic Differential
Measurement Methods
Self Reports
Other's Reports
Behavioral Acts
Measurement Techniques
Questionnaires
Interviews (Open ended vs. Close ended)
Strategies on Questionnaires and Interviews
Question Order Effects



Question for thought;
In class, I mentioned how the research should drive the measurement method you use. For your posting, select a research question that would best be answered through self reports and give another example that would be best measure by either other's reports or behavioral acts. Be sure to explain why this method is better than others.