Deck 6: Know the Evidence

Question 1

Define some strata for sampling school board members.

Answer 1

Responses should recognize how a sample of participants can be subdivided. Answers could be by gender, occupation, district size, years of service, age, political affiliation, or votes cast.

Question 2

How would you draw a sample of students to assure that all ability levels were represented?

Answer 2

This question requires students to consider stratifying a population and selecting a sample using a technique to ensure all categories or strata have adequate representation. A nonrandom technique, such as a quota sample, is probably the best answer.

Question 3

Describe how a cluster sample (choosing preexisting groups of participants) could be used in educational research.

Answer 3

The most common example of clusters would be classrooms. Other examples are teachers in a grade level, department, or school building. Examples from higher education would be similar.

Question 4

What does it mean for a sample to be "random"?

Question 5

What would be the best source of information for a research project on teacher discipline by administrators?

Question 6

How would you categorize poll-watching at an election site as a sampling technique?

Question 7

What can be said about results from a research project that uses an entire population as its data source?

Question 8

What caution is necessary regarding the concept that the more data you have, the more likely you are to find statistical significance?