Exam 4: Conceptualization and Measurement

Why might a researcher be concerned with inter-item reliability (or internal consistency)? Why would the researcher choose to use a multi-item index to measure a concept rather than a single question? As a part of your answer, discuss Cronbach's alpha.

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Question 1

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When researchers use multiple items to measure a single concept, they are concerned with interitem reliability (or internal consistency). For example, if we are to have confidence that a set of questions reliably measures an attitude, say, attitudes toward violence, then the answers to the questions should be highly associated with one another. The stronger the association between the individual items and the more items included, the higher the reliability of the index. Cronbach's alpha is a reliability measure commonly used to measure inter-item reliability. Of course, inter-item reliability cannot be computed if only one question is used to measure a concept. For this reason, it is much better to use a multi-item index to measure an important concept (Viswanathan, 2005).

At which level of measurement is a question that asks the number of alcoholic drinks a respondent had within the past 30 days?

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Question 2

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For most statistical analyses in social science research, the ordinal and interval level of measurement can be treated as equivalent.

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Question 3

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False

Questioning can be a particularly poor approach for measuring behaviors that are socially stigmatized.

(True/False)

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Question 4

When a measurement has reliability, it means that it yields ______.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 5

A measure with numbers indicating the values of variables as points on a continuum is a continuous measure.

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Question 6

The nominal level of measurement is also called the categorical level.

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Question 7

For open-ended questions, response choices should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive.

(True/False)

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Question 8

The ordinal level of measurement is a qualitative level

(True/False)

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Question 9

Good conceptualization and operationalization can prevent confusion later in the research process.

(True/False)

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Question 10

How is conceptualization different from operationalization?

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Question 11

The measurement of a variable in which the numbers permit greater than and less than distinctions is at the ______ level.

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Question 12

What are open-ended questions? When are they preferable to be used in questionnaires? Give an example of an open-ended question that asks about alcohol use on your campus compared with another campus.

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Question 13

At the nominal level of measurement, the values of variables ______.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 14

The US Census Bureau collects official information about crimes, known as the ______.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 15

What is Triangulation? How might it assist in achieving better validity?

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Question 16

The numbers indicating the values of variables at the interval level of measurement represent ______.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 17

An approach that calculates reliability based on the correlation among multiple items used to measure a single concept is ______.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 18

When researchers measure a phenomenon that does not change between two points separated by an interval of time, the degree to which the two measurements yield comparable values is the ______ reliability.

(Multiple Choice)

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Question 19

When using a closed-ended question where students are asked to indicate their answer by checking none, once, twice, 3 to 5 times, 6 to 9 times, or 10 or more times, which of these is true?

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Question 20

Showing 1 - 20 of 73

Why might a researcher be concerned with inter-item reliability (or internal consistency)? Why would the researcher choose to use a multi-item index to measure a concept rather than a single question? As a part of your answer, discuss Cronbach's alpha.

At which level of measurement is a question that asks the number of alcoholic drinks a respondent had within the past 30 days?

For most statistical analyses in social science research, the ordinal and interval level of measurement can be treated as equivalent.

Questioning can be a particularly poor approach for measuring behaviors that are socially stigmatized.

When a measurement has reliability, it means that it yields ______.

A measure with numbers indicating the values of variables as points on a continuum is a continuous measure.

The nominal level of measurement is also called the categorical level.

For open-ended questions, response choices should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive.

The ordinal level of measurement is a qualitative level

Good conceptualization and operationalization can prevent confusion later in the research process.

How is conceptualization different from operationalization?

The measurement of a variable in which the numbers permit greater than and less than distinctions is at the ______ level.

What are open-ended questions? When are they preferable to be used in questionnaires? Give an example of an open-ended question that asks about alcohol use on your campus compared with another campus.

At the nominal level of measurement, the values of variables ______.

The US Census Bureau collects official information about crimes, known as the ______.

What is Triangulation? How might it assist in achieving better validity?

The numbers indicating the values of variables at the interval level of measurement represent ______.

An approach that calculates reliability based on the correlation among multiple items used to measure a single concept is ______.

When researchers measure a phenomenon that does not change between two points separated by an interval of time, the degree to which the two measurements yield comparable values is the ______ reliability.

When using a closed-ended question where students are asked to indicate their answer by checking none, once, twice, 3 to 5 times, 6 to 9 times, or 10 or more times, which of these is true?

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