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.
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.
posted by Dr. Jeffrey Bolt at 5:09 PM
18 Comments:
Research Question 1: What is the relationship between research paper productivity and deadlines.
I would use self-reports to measure this because I think people could pretty easily use a likert scale to measure how productive people felt if they had a close deadline, or a deadline that was further away.
Research Question 2: What is the relationship between class participation and final exam grades.
This research would be better studied by "others' reports" because one person could study all the students in a class and decide what constitutes more or less participation since it's a subjective term. This would be better than having students report on how much they felt the participated because one student may feel like merely showing up to class equates participation, while another student may feel like domination discussion is what constitutes participation. Having one person decide the standard for participation would ensure that the results would be more consistent.
Lauren Birmingham
Question 1: What is the relationship between stress fractures and over training?
I would use behavioral acts to measure this research question. Due to the fact that most athletes would lie and claim that they were not over training. Therefore, it would be better to observe the athlete so one could obtain an accurate measurement.
Question 2: What is the relationship between the end of a season for an athlete and peaking.
I would measure this by using others' reports. It would be more accurate it someone from the outside observed a team, and observed when they peaked. If the researcher had the team do self reports they may think they peaked at a different time.
Erin Satzger
Research Question 1: What is the relationship between doing homework and final grades?
I would use others reports because one person can look at all the students who handed in their homework and see what their grades were in the class. Also they can then look at the kids who didn't hand in the homework and see how well they did.
Research Question 2: What is the relationship between people who go out drinking and relieving stress?
I would use self-reports because people could easily use a likert scale to measure how much they drink by the amount of stress that they are experiening.
Jeff McConnell
Research Question 1: What is the relationship between teenage violence and watching too much TV?
I would use self-reports because people could use a likert scale to measure how much violence they feel after watching a lot of TV.
Research question 2: What is the relationship between class attendance and a students final grade?
The research would be better studied by others because you could look at all of the students in the class and track their attendance and then at the end of the semester you could look at the students final grade to see if the students who attended more had better final grades. You could then see if there was a connection between attendance and final grades.
Richard Toth
Research Question 1: What is the relationship between working out, and feeling healthy?
I would use self-reports to measure this because a likert scale could help determine if people think that working out makes them feel healthier.
Research Question 2: What is the difference between an athlete leaving college a year early for the pros or finishing his/her last year of school
I would use others' reports for this because leaving school for the pros and making money is very tempting. however, an observer would be more accurate in deciding if the athlete is really ready to go pro, or should get one more year of experience first.
Research Question 1: What’s the relationship between a communication major and the ability to successfully communicate in any situation?
I would use the others-report in this situation because outsiders of the conversation at hand would have a better understanding to whether or not both people involved were actually benefiting from the conversation.
Research Question 2: What is the relationship between driving exam scores and speeding tickets?
I believe using self-reports to measure this would work best because you could use a likert scale. It would work well because you could use many different statistics to study the data.
Marc Shupp
Reasearch Question 1: What is the relationship between the weather and people moods and behaviors?
I would use behavioral acts to measure this because poeple do not really realize how much the weather plays a role in our behavior, becuase i think people focus mostly on everything they have going on in their lives, and they seem to only really notice the weather if its a really nice day out.
Reasearch Question 2: Does the teachers attitude during the class effect the students overall attitude towards their class and their ability to learn.
I would use self reports for this, i do not think a survey questionair would get detailed enough answers from the students and allow the students to explain their reactions and feelings towards the teachers attitude.
Megan Ebert
An example of where I'd use self reports for research would be if I wanted to how people felt when they were lied to. In a situation like this, the individual lied to is the only one who really knows whats going on inside them. If you were to ask someone else, they would only know what the person has allowed them to see. Now if I wanted to know the outward "signs" of lying. I would ask people what they observe about other people when they are lying, or I would observe myself what people do when they are lying. If I were to ask someone, "What do you outwardly do when you lie?" They probably wouldn't know due to nerves and what not so, in this case it's better to get others perspecitves.
ooops.. --Elizabeth Franko
Q1: What is the relationship between eating a good breakfast and job/school performance?
I would use others' reports for this research question because of social acceptance biases. People, when desiring to retain socially acceptable behaviors, will alter their self-reports. Those with less than desirable eating habits would probably end up swaying the validity of the study.
Q2: What is the relationship between intimate relationship proximity frequency and strength of the relationship? (aka absence makes the heart grow fonder)
I would use self-reports for this study because the gray area between frequency and strength is one that the respondents could use a scale to judge. Besides, it may be difficult for an outside viewer to truly judge the strength of a relationship.
Steph Repp
Question 1: What is the relationship between the amount of time a student spends studying and test scores?
I think this could be measured best using self-reports. The likert scale could mesure this best because the relationship between the amount of studying and test scores is different for everybody.
Question 2: What is the relationship between owning a pet and a persons' state of happiness?
Well, after state of happiness is defined, I would use behavioral acts to measure this research question because I do believe having a companion of some sort, such as a dog, can make a person feel more positive and upbeat.
Question 1: What is the relationship between the amount of time a student spends studying and test scores?
I think this could be measured best using self-reports. The likert scale could mesure this best because the relationship between the amount of studying and test scores is different for everybody.
Question 2: What is the relationship between owning a pet and a persons' state of happiness?
Well, after state of happiness is defined, I would use behavioral acts to measure this research question because I do believe having a companion of some sort, such as a dog, can make a person feel more positive and upbeat.
Ashley Mayle
Research question 1: Do people buy more at the grocery store when they shop hungry?
This can only be done through self reports because you cannot observe hunger. Making sure the individual went shopping right after or right before a normal, scheduled meal time would make the data fairly accurate.
Research question 2: What is the relationship between stress and the consumption of alcohol?
This could be be done with others' reports. This way, the person being studied would not know if his or her friend/roommate/family member was watching his or her drinking habits. By using someone else to observe and listen, you would know that the individual being watched was not lying in order to achieve social desirability.
Amanda Gabriele
Question # 1: What is the relationship between watching too much TV and passivity?
Finding an answer to this question would best be done through self report because the researcher wants to get insights into the informant’s personal attitudes towards the independent and dependent variable.
Question # 2: What is the relationship between parents’ excessive permissiveness and juvenile delinquency?
The best way to answer this question would be through others’ report. This sort of scales is very common in the conduct of such researches, since it allows parents to describe their children’s behavior.
Mohamed Aboulhaya
Q1: To what degree does Ohio's dreary winter weather cause and/or increase Seasonal Affective Disorder in individuals? Using a Likert scale for participants to self-report their symptons would be an effective way to gather statistics.
Q2: How does social drinking reduce interpersonal anxiety (can't remember the theory)? Since participants' judgment and memory would likely be impaired, observing their behavioral acts and gathering others' (sober) reports would be a viable way of researching this question.
Marianne Riggenbach
Question 1: What is the relationship between Exercising and Study Capibility?
I would use self reports because I think a Likert Scale would be the easiest way to measure it. If I wanted the best results I would not be able to watch the subject because it would interupt the findings.
Question 2: What is the relationship between food consumption and mood?
I would use behavioral acts to answer this one. How a person feels at that point in time is a great indicator or looking at what kind of things affect their hunger. Like homework or studying.
Mikenna Stephenson
RQ1: Does your managers attitude reflect the attitude of your workers?
I would use self-reports to measure this research question because since we can't always observe peoples emotions and attitudes, it would make more sense to just ask them through self-reports!
RQ2: What is the relationship between a good nights sleep and high productivity in work?
This research question would be easier to study through others reports. This way we could observe the subjects and more accurately report on their behavior.
Leah Verbosky
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