Exam 4: From Concepts to Models: Hypotheses, Operationalization, and Measurement

Write two paragraphs distinguishing the formation and timing of the operational definition in the research design process for a researcher who wants to study family norms for (1)a quantitative study (such as a survey),and (2)a qualitative study (such as ethnography).

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Question 1

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Here the student should note the more linear path to eventually developing an operational definition of family norms from an abstract concept,to dimensions (like norms about fairness of household chores),to variables (such as cleaning,cooking,maintenance,and child care),to indicators (values capturing range of importance that these are done equitably)-which creates an operational definition that would precede data collection of respondents' survey answers.Alternatively,students should note than an ethnographer would likely decide when and where to observe family members to then gain knowledge about what dimensions of family norms seem more salient,and from there developing more concrete definitions,using observations (data collection)to develop operational definitions of family norms over time.

A researcher is carefully making decisions that will affect how much variation he or she needs to adequately measure a variable.This concern with variation will influence his or her decisions regarding

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Question 2

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Reports,observations,artifact counts,and manipulation are the four basic

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Question 3

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Valeria plans to study the influence of students' attachment to school on their educational outcomes.She defines attachment to school as how much students feel they are part of the school community and defines students' educational outcomes as their educational performance.She then measures students' feelings about belonging to the school community with specific questions about how much they think they matter to their teachers and to other students,ranging from "not at all important" to "very important." Educational performance is measured by the students' grade point average and by scores on standardized tests.In this study,"feeling part of the school community" and "educational performance" are examples of

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Question 4

There are different types of confusion that can emerge around a study's unit of analysis.If a researcher draws conclusions about individuals using group-level data,the mismatch is called .If he or she draws conclusions about a group based on individual-level data,the mismatch is called .

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Question 5

When a researcher decides to represent adolescent risk behaviors with variables about illegal drug use and the use of tobacco products,he or she is

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Question 6

Agata is planning two different studies.One will be a content analysis of how often romantic storylines occur among older adult movie characters.The second will be a study of whether those who see older adults in romantic film roles have different attitudes about older adults' sexuality than those who do not see older adults in romantic film roles.The form of measurement Agata will most likely use for the first study is .Alternatively,she will probably use as the form of measurement for the second study.

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Question 7

Mateo has designed a survey study in which he asks about respondents' marital quality.He administers the survey to several different samples over the course of two years and discovers that the respondents do not seem to be answering the marital quality question in very consistent ways.This suggests Mateo's measure of marital quality has a ________ problem.

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Question 8

Reliability and validity are both central to the goal of

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Question 9

Barbara is studying the potential effect of female political representation on fertility rates across several industrialized countries.She has decided to translate the abstract idea "female political representation" into something more concrete and opts for the proportion of political offices held by women in each country.In this study, is the concept and is the variable.

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Question 10

A key reason researchers clearly decide on and describe their operations for observing phenomena is that

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Question 11

Write a paragraph or two in which you describe two different research designs for studying attitudes about marital infidelity: one using a repeated cross-sections design and one using a panel design.In your answer,identify the key features of each design and briefly discuss the purpose of the study and by extension the types of measures you would use,giving specific examples.

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Question 12

Sanjay has decided to study poverty comparatively across several nations and chooses to measure poverty by whether people have access to safe drinking water.Sanjay's measure is problematic because it does not properly consider the importance of

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Question 13

Choose one representation (variable)for each of the following three concepts: (1)area of study in college, (2)religious participation,and (3)time spent studying.Once you have converted each of these concepts into variables,identify which type of variable each of these is,making sure to identify the key characteristics of these variable types and to connect these characteristics to the variables you have chosen.Your answer should be one to two paragraphs.

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Question 14

In scientific research,an idea that can be clearly named,defined,and eventually measured is called a

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Question 15

Variables are used to capture the variability in the presence or level of some concept across the group being studied.This feature of variables illustrates that they

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Question 16

Using statistical data on individual baseball players' performance in past games is not a good way to make predictions about which teams will win future games.Taking this approach would introduce the problem of

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Question 17

If a researcher is struggling with the data in a longitudinal study of job satisfaction because the composition of the sample has changed over time,he or she is most likely dealing with a problem of

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Question 18

Consider the concept social norms/rules.In three or four sentences,choose two or three dimensions of this concept that would be able to be represented in variables (you only need to develop this into dimensions,not variables).

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Question 19

When a researcher is making decisions about the operational process,he or she must typically first choose the field of study from several quantitative and qualitative research methods.If it were very important that his or her study clearly establish the effect of a reading program on students' graduation rates,it would probably be best if he or she

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Question 20

Showing 1 - 20 of 55

Write two paragraphs distinguishing the formation and timing of the operational definition in the research design process for a researcher who wants to study family norms for (1)a quantitative study (such as a survey),and (2)a qualitative study (such as ethnography).

A researcher is carefully making decisions that will affect how much variation he or she needs to adequately measure a variable.This concern with variation will influence his or her decisions regarding

Reports,observations,artifact counts,and manipulation are the four basic

There are different types of confusion that can emerge around a study's unit of analysis.If a researcher draws conclusions about individuals using group-level data,the mismatch is called .If he or she draws conclusions about a group based on individual-level data,the mismatch is called .

When a researcher decides to represent adolescent risk behaviors with variables about illegal drug use and the use of tobacco products,he or she is

Reliability and validity are both central to the goal of

A key reason researchers clearly decide on and describe their operations for observing phenomena is that

Sanjay has decided to study poverty comparatively across several nations and chooses to measure poverty by whether people have access to safe drinking water.Sanjay's measure is problematic because it does not properly consider the importance of

In scientific research,an idea that can be clearly named,defined,and eventually measured is called a

Variables are used to capture the variability in the presence or level of some concept across the group being studied.This feature of variables illustrates that they

Using statistical data on individual baseball players' performance in past games is not a good way to make predictions about which teams will win future games.Taking this approach would introduce the problem of

If a researcher is struggling with the data in a longitudinal study of job satisfaction because the composition of the sample has changed over time,he or she is most likely dealing with a problem of

Consider the concept social norms/rules.In three or four sentences,choose two or three dimensions of this concept that would be able to be represented in variables (you only need to develop this into dimensions,not variables).

The Art and Science of Social Research: An Introduction

Research Foundations: Linking Sociological Theory to Research

Ethical Issues in Social Science Research

Evaluating Research: Reliability and Validity

Sampling Strategies

Experimental Research

Evaluation Research

Ethnography

In-Depth Interviewing

Materials-Based Methods

Social Network Analysis

Univariate and Bivariate Analysis of Quantitative Data

Multivariate and Advanced Quantitative Methods

Analysis of Qualitative Data

Communicating Social Science Research Findings

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