Deck 6: Qualitative and Quantitative Measurement

Question 1

Which one of the following is FALSE?

A) Ordinal measures have the properties of interval measures.
B) Interval measures have the properties of nominal measures.
C) Ratio measures have the properties of ordinal measures.
D) Ordinal measures have the properties of nominal measures.
E) All are true.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Professor Helga Hightower developed a new measure of intelligence.She then tested two groups of people.One group scored low on existing IQ tests.The other scored very high.Those who scored low on old tests usually scored low on her new test; those who scored very high on old tests usually scored high on the new test.Her new measure has

A) concurrent validity.
B) face validity.
C) content validity.
D) internal validity.
E) statistical validity.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Undergraduate student Millie Magnificent developed a way to measure sexist attitudes.It worked such that a person with a score of zero truly had a neutral attitude.Also,a person who had a score of 50 had exactly double the score of someone with a score of 25.She created a(n)

A) nominal variable.
B) interval variable.
C) ratio variable.
D) ordinal variable.
E) none of the above.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

How does standardization make comparisons easier?

Question 5

During the conceptualization process,a quantitative researcher should

A) look for multiple dimensions of a construct.
B) ignore definitions of other scientists, because it creates confusion.
C) avoid thinking about measuring the concept.
D) use vague, general definitions to protect a definition from criticism.
E) include a mix of unrelated ideas in his or her definition.

Question 6

Professor Leon Loopy's survey question asked students to indicate their class standing as one of the following: first year,second year,third year,fourth year,or graduate.He measured the variable at what level of measurement?

A) Nominal
B) Ordinal
C) Interval
D) Ratio
E) None of the above

Question 7

Which of the following is NOT measured at a higher level than the nominal level?

A) Temperature
B) Student grades
C) Personal income in a year
D) Religious affiliation
E) The number of members in a club

Question 8

How do qualitative and quantitative ideas about validity differ?

Question 9

Explain the difference between the logic of a scale and an index.

Question 10

How do reliability and validity differ? How do they complement each other? Can a measure be reliable but invalid? How?

Question 11

How can a measure have unidimensionality,but also use multiple indicators that capture all parts of the content of a construct?

Question 12

Name the levels of measurement and explain how they differ.Give examples.

Question 13

Most social scientists do not accept a person's height in centimetres and millimetres as a measure of her or his intelligence because it lacks

A) precision.
B) reliability.
C) accuracy.
D) validity.
E) all of the above.

Question 14

How does a researcher use the conceptual definition of a construct in operationalization and conceptualization?

Question 15

What are the main distinctions between qualitative and quantitative approaches to measurement?

Question 16

What are the differences among face,content,and criterion validity?

Question 17

Create three example items,using the Likert Scale,that have mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories and no problem with the response set.

Question 18

A social researcher takes an abstract idea and develops a clear conceptual definition for it.This is called

A) androtempration.
B) conceptualization.
C) operationalization.
D) replication.
E) triangulation.

Question 19

The Hawkes,Senn,and Thorn (2004)study that examined attitudes toward women with tattoos used which of the following scales?

A) Rosenberg Scale
B) Semantic Differential
C) Harrison's Scale
D) Likert Scale
E) None of the above

Question 20

Which sequence illustrates the progression of quantitative measurement steps?

A) Conceptualization, conceptual definition, operational definition, and measurement in the empirical world
B) Conceptual definition, conceptualization, operational definition, and measurement in the empirical world
C) Operational definition, conceptualization, conceptual definition, and measurement in the empirical world
D) Conceptual definition, operationalization, conceptualization, and empirical world measurement
E) Conceptualization, operationalization, conceptual definition, and empirical world measurement

Question 21

Professor Ethan Enright developed a measure of an ideal place to live.He added together measures of many factors: tax rate,quality of school system,cultural and recreational opportunities,pollution,traffic congestion,crime rate,and health-care availability for 50 Canadian cities to get a score for each.Dr.Enright created a(n)

A) index.
B) scale.
C) measure of central tendency.
D) statistic.
E) item analysis.

Question 22

Mildred Magnificent got on the scale at 7:00 a.m.and weighed 295 pounds.At 7:02 a.m.she again got on the scale and weighed 200 pounds.At 7:04 a.m.she weighed 499 pounds.The measurement of Mildred's weight has problems with

A) reliability.
B) induction.
C) standardization
D) conceptualization.
E) precision.

Question 23

The University of the Great White North Health Clinic wants to measure the feelings of people toward people suffering from AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome).A questionnaire is created with an item that has six categories for the degree of contact.It goes from "Having people with AIDS in my city," to "Having someone who test positive for the AIDS virus as a roommate." People are to begin with the first category and mark all those that they feel personally comfortable with.The questionnaire uses

A) the semantic differential.
B) the Likert scale.
C) the Harrison scale.
D) the Guttman scale.
E) none of the above.

Question 24

Professor Tak Tanaka developed a new measure of fear of crime.His conceptual definition was this: "The degree of emotional,behavioural,or mental response to a real or imagined theft of property or attack on one's person or family members." He then developed one question for a survey to measure his concept: "Do you lock your car doors when you park to go shopping?" What is the major problem with his measure?

A) Reliability
B) Content validity
C) Face validity
D) Internal validity
E) Representative validity

Question 25

What is the problem with this measure of university student age? Please indicate your age:
(i)17 to 18 years old
(ii)19 to 20 years old
(iii)21 to 22 years old

A) Its attributes are mutually exclusive.
B) Its attributes are not exhaustive.
C) Its attributes are exhaustive.
D) Its attributes are double-barrelled.
E) There is nothing wrong with it.

Question 26

Patrick Paddywagon,owner of the Paddywagon Automobile Supermarket,wanted to find out the kinds of cars he should push to graduating college students.He asked 100 university seniors to rate 10 aspects of 11 models his dealership sold: style,fuel economy,engineering,safety,performance,prestige,comfort,price,selection or options,and interior size.Each car was rated on the 10 aspects from 0 (poor)to 5 (excellent).Each student also rated the importance of each aspect (1 = unimportant,2 = moderate importance,3 = very important).Then each aspect rating was weighed (multiplied)by its importance rating.Next,everything was added together for a score.Each car received a score of 0 to 150.What measurement technique did Patrick use in his study?

A) Semantic differential
B) Graphic rating scale
C) Likert scale
D) Hawthorne scale
E) An index

Question 27

Which sort of hypothesis are researchers interested in testing at the level of operational definitions?

A) Grounded
B) Variable
C) Conceptual
D) Empirical
E) Abstract

Question 28

Dr.Aaron Adamson uses telephone surveys to measure life satisfaction across Canada.When Dr.Adamson and his research assistants phone participants,they ask them to report responses to questions by indicating whether they "strongly agree," "agree," "strongly disagree," or "disagree." Which of the following is he using?

A) Guttman scale
B) An index
C) Semantic differential
D) Likert scale
E) None of the above

Question 29

Use the letters marking parts of the diagram of the measurement process to identify the following part: Operational definition of the dependent variable.

A) F
B) G
C) K
D) J
E) L

Question 30

What level of measurement is being used in the statement,"A fox terrier is smaller than a Russian wolfhound,but bigger than a Chihuahua."

A) Nominal
B) Ordinal
C) Internal
D) Ratio
E) None of the above

Question 31

Which of the following lists contains all variables?

A) Female, Catholic, educational level
B) Accountant, professor, carpenter
C) Occupation, number of children, rate of divorce
D) 21 years old, married, middle class
E) Frequency of attending religious services, Chinese ethnicity, farmer

Question 32

Dr.Jim Jennings studies the relationship between age and levels of activity.Jim measures levels of activity by documenting the number of steps his subjects take each day.What has Jim done by creating this measure of activity levels?

A) Conceptualized an operation
B) Standardized a variable
C) Operationalized a concept
D) Operationalized a definition
E) None of the above

Question 33

Which of the following statements about the role of a conceptual definition in variable measurement is true?

A) Value judgments never play a role.
B) There is agreement among researchers about the single best definition for all concepts, and we just have to find it.
C) Good definitions are ones that are explicit and unambiguous.
D) Never provide an example for a definition.
E) Conceptual definitions should never contain multiple dimensions.

Question 34

Professor Howie Handlebar created a measure of how students feel about the effectiveness of university teaching.He identified many subjective dimensions and labelled each with polar extremes.The extremes referred to general evaluative adverbs and adjectives.Subjects marked answers on one of nine spaces between the two extremes.Howie used

A) a semantic differential.
B) a Guttman scale.
C) a scalogram analysis.
D) a Likert scale.
E) none of the above.

Question 35

When a researcher seeks to validate a measure by comparing it with a "tried and true" pre-existing measure,this type of validity is called

A) face.
B) predictive.
C) criterion.
D) concurrent.
E) content.

Question 36

When should a researcher consider using the semantic differential scale?

A) When there is only one indicator in a measure
B) In a survey when everyone gives identical answers to a question
C) When the researcher wants to capture the connotations associated with whatever is being evaluated in an indirect way
D) In a study when the data or results have absolutely no pattern
E) When the researcher plans to add together all responses to a questionnaire into a single number

Question 37

Which of the following is measured at the ordinal level?

A) George weighs the same as Harry.
B) Mary weighs less than Janet.
C) Martha weighs 8 pounds more than Ruth.
D) Sam weighs twice as much as his dog.
E) Henry and Charlie weigh 150 lbs.

Question 38

Professor Richard Rockabilly developed a measure of an ideal rock group.He added together ratings of six factors: clear beat in music,on-stage performance excitement,new electronic sound,dress and appearance of performers,distinctiveness of sound,and degree to which lyrics were relevant.He rated 25 groups on the six factors to get an overall measure of each rock group.He created a(n)

A) index.
B) scale.
C) measure of central tendency.
D) statistic.
E) item analysis.

Question 39

Qualitative researchers do not place the same emphasis on reliability as quantitative researchers do.What do qualitative researchers aspire to that is similar to reliability?

A) Credibility
B) Truthfulness
C) Validity
D) Transferability
E) Consistency

Question 40

Ph.D candidate Zachary Zoomer said his measure of community had unidimensionality.This means

A) the independent variable causes the dependent variable, and vice versa.
B) it only measures one thing or a single construct.
C) the unit of analysis is the individual.
D) measures are divided by a common base so that comparison is possible.
E) it measures something across different time periods.

Question 41

Use the letters marking parts of the diagram of the measurement process to identify the following part: Empirical hypothesis.

A) L
B) B
C) H
D) G
E) C

Question 42

conceptual hypothesis

Question 43

Use the letters marking parts of the diagram of the measurement process to identify the following parts: Conceptual definition of the dependent variable.

A) K
B) G
C) B
D) A
E) C

Question 44

The following question appeared on the Canadian Community Health Survey,a survey administered to all Canadians 18 years of age and older: To what age category do you belong?
A)18-24
B)25-34
C)35-44
D)45-54
E)55-65
F)65+
What is wrong with this question?

A) The response categories are not exhaustive.
B) The response categories are not mutually exclusive.
C) The response categories are not labelled with life course stages, e.g., middle age, senior.
D) All of the above are problems.
E) None of the above.

Question 45

criterion validity

Question 46

face validity

Question 47

discrete variables

Question 48

When comparing qualitative and a quantitative approaches to measurement,operationalization in the qualitative approach involves which of the following?

A) More of an "after-the-fact" description based on what was observed in the data than based on a preplanned idea
B) A researcher taking a carefully developed theoretical definition and developing specific empirical indicators of it for use when later gathering data
C) A process that comes after careful conceptualization; operationalization never comes before careful conceptualization in qualitative research
D) There is no difference between qualitative and quantitative operationalization.
E) There is no operationalization in qualitative research.

Question 49

concurrent validity

Question 50

exhaustive attributes

Question 51

Use the letters marking parts of the diagram of the measurement process to identify the following part: Conceptualization of the dependent variable.

A) E
B) I
C) H
D) D
E) F

Question 52

content validity

Question 53

Minako Wada,a graduate student in sociology,considers herself to be an atheist.She is asked to complete a survey on international students' experiences in Canada.The question on religious affiliation asks participants to identify their religious affiliation and includes the following categories: a.Catholic
B)Protestant
C)Jewish
D)Muslim
E)Hindu
F)Buddhist
G)Shinto
H)Other religion ________________
What is wrong with this question?

A) The response categories are not mutually exclusive.
B) The response categories are not exhaustive.
C) The response categories are not ranked.
D) All of the above are problems.
E) None of the above.

Question 54

external validity

Question 55

conceptualization

Question 56

empirical hypothesis

Question 57

conceptual definition

Question 58

continuous variables

Question 59

For quantitative researchers,validity means truthfulness.It refers to the bridge between a concept and the data.Qualitative researchers are also concerned with truthfulness,but do not discuss it in terms of "validity." What term do qualitative researchers use to discuss the truth-value of their research?

A) Accuracy
B) Authenticity
C) Consistency
D) Reliability
E) Standardization

Question 60

index

Question 61

validity

Question 62

standardization

Question 63

Semantic differential

Question 64

reliability

Question 65

scale

Question 66

nominal-level measurement

Question 67

unidimensionality

Question 68

levels of measurement

Question 69

statistical validity

Question 70

ratio-level measurement

Question 71

predictive validity

Question 72

mutually exclusive attributes

Question 73

operational definition

Question 74

Likert scale

Question 75

ordinal-level measurement

Question 76

multiple indicators

Question 77

interval-level measurement

Question 78

operationalization

Question 79

measurement validity

Question 80

internal validity