Individual Meetings

Hello class, I'm looking forward to grading your Exams. Look on Vista sometime Friday morning for your grade.
Please use this blog to sign up for your individual meetings. Instead of class on Monday, I would like to meet with you all individually for no more than 10 minutes in my office (D207 MSP). Please bring with you as much of your research project as you can complete. Times for meetings will be Monday from 10am- 6pm and Tuesday from 12noon- 5pm. Sign up in 10 minute increments (i.e. 10:00, 10:10, 10:20, etc.). Please read the postings before yours to make sure nobody else has selected the time slot (click on comments).

Jeffrey

Sample Exam Questions

Here are a few example questions that contain some math.

1.) A researcher is examining body weight. In her class, the mean body weight is 140 lbs. The Standard deviation is 10lbs. Between what two weights could the research find 68% of her data?

2.) From the information above, between what two points could the researcher find 48% of weights below the average?

3.) On a seven-point Likert scale measuring compliance gaining ability, the mean score was 5.2 with a standard deviation of .4. Between what two scores could you find 68% of the data?

4.) Using the data from the above question, between what two scores could you expect to find 2% of the data above the mean?

5.) In a study, you know the contact rate is 60%, cooperation rate is 40%, and the eligibility rate is 60%. If you know you need 288, what is the estimated response rate?

6.) The contact rate is 10%, cooperation rate is 40%, and the eligibility rate is 80%. If you know you need 1000, what is the estimated response rate?



Answers
1.) 130 & 150
2.) 120 & 140
3.) 4.8 & 5.6
4.) 6.0 & 6.4
5.) 2,000
6.) 31,250

October 17, 2007

Hello all, its been some time since I've posted a blog. Following is a list of topics we have covered since the last posting.

Cross sectional v. longitudinal (Trend, Cohort, and Panel) Surveys
Designing Questions for Surveys (Phrasing Questions)
Samples (Simple Random, Systematic, and Stratified)
Descriptive v. Inferential Statistics
Measures of Central Tendency (Mode, Median, Mean)
Range
Standard Deviation
Relationships between variables (Unrelated, Linear, Nonlinear)
Correlations (Strength, direction)
Spurious Relationships
Central Limits Theorem
Kurtosis and Skewness
Confidence Level
Confidence Interval

Question for thought: In class today we discussed spurious relationships. I'd like you to come up with one of your own. For example, There is a relationship between number of firefighters and property damage. The more firefighters, the more property they damage. The third intervening variable is size of the fire. A larger fire requires more firefighters and a larger fire causes more damage.

October 3, 2007

Good work in class today. I'm glad to see how quickly we jumped back into new material. Remember to finish up those surveys for class if you have not yet already. Here is what we covered today;
Survey Research (Political Polls, Market Research, & Evaluation Research)
Element, Target Population, Sampling Frame, & Sample
3 Deficiencies in a sample frame
Ecological Fallacy
Estimating Response Rate (Locatability, Cooperation, & Eligibility)

I know we discussed sampling in class and had an group activity, but I really want to make sure everybody understands. So, for posting, develop a line of research. Then, define the element, the target population and the sampling frame.