Alternatives to Experimentation: Surveys and Interviews

Question 1

A useful way of obtaining data about people’s opinions,
attitudes, preferences, and experiences that are hard to
observe directly; data may be obtained using questionnaires or interviews

Answer 1

Survey Research

Question 2

Conducting surveys is generally thought of as low-risk
research, but there are times when special care is necessary
to protect survey respondents from potential harm. The
potential for ethical problems needs to be just as carefully
considered in survey research as in any other kind of
psychological research. The two areas most likely to cause
ethical concerns are breaches of confidentiality and stress
brought about by answering sensitive questions

Answer 2

Ethical Considerations in
Survey Research

Question 3

The first step of any survey

Answer 3

is to map out your
research objectives, making them as specific as
possible.

Question 4

(also called structured questions)
must be answered by one of a limited number of
alternatives.

Answer 4

Closed questions

Question 5

(also called open questions)
solicit information about opinions and feelings by asking
the question in such a way that the person must respond
with more than a yes, no, or 1–10 rating

Answer 5

Open-ended questions

Question 6

Is the kind of scale used to measure a response.
Different statistical tests are required for different levels
of measure ment. There are four levels of
measurement: nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio

Answer 6

LEVEL OF MEASUREMENT

Question 7

Classifies response items into two or more
distinct categories on the basis of some
common feature.
- Groups items together into categories that
can be named.
- The lowest level of measurement because
it provides no information about magnitude.

Answer 7

NOMINAL SCALE

Question 8

A rank ordering of response items. The
magnitude of each value is measured in
the form of ranks.

Answer 8

ORDINAL SCALE

Question 9

Measures magnitude or quantitative size
using measures with equal intervals between
the values. However, an interval scale has no
true zero point.

Answer 9

INTERVAL SCALE

Question 10

The highest level of measurement which
has equal intervals between all values and a
true zero point. Measurements of physical
properties, such as height and weight, are
characteristics whose quantity or magnitude can be measured using ratio
scales.

Answer 10

RATIO SCALE

Question 11

Psychological variables lend themselves to different levels of
measurement because they represent a continuous dimension.
Traits, attitudes, and preferences can be viewed as continuous
dimensions, and each individual could fall at any point along each
dimension

Answer 11

SELECTING LEVELS OF
MEASUREMENT

Question 12

Psychological variables lend themselves to different levels of
measurement because they represent a

Answer 12

continuous dimension.

Question 13

According to Czaja and Blair (1996), in
addition to being the start of data
collection, the first question should
have these characteristics:

Answer 13

1. Relevant to the central topic
2. Easy to answer
3. Interesting
4. Answerable by most respondents
5. Closed format

Question 14

Are tendencies to respond to questions or test items in specific
ways, regardless of the content (Cronbach, 1950; Rorer, 1965).
- These response styles need to be considered and, if possible,
controlled for when you design survey questions

Answer 14

RESPONSE STYLES

Question 15

Willingness to answer comes into play whenever ques tions
require specific knowledge about facts or issues.
- When unsure, some people will leave questions blank; others will
take a guess. An unwillingness to answer is often a problem in
survey research. Subjects might omit answers to key questions,
making both scoring and interpretation difficult.

Answer 15

WILLINGNESS TO ANSWER

Question 16

If your questions are multiple-choice, response styles can influence
the selection of answers. When in doubt about the right answer on
a multiple choice exam, perhaps you always answer c. This is an
example of a position preference

Answer 16

POSITION PREFERENCE

Question 17

• We would expect subjects to respond to the manifest content of
  the questions, the plain meaning of the words that actually appear
  on the page. When we give a questionnaire or other paper-andpencil test, we are usually interested in the manifest content of
  the items.
• Yea-sayers are apt to agree with a question regardless of its
  manifest content (this is also called response acquiescence).
  Nay-sayers tend to disagree no matter what they are asked (also
  known as response deviation)

Answer 17

MANIFEST CONTENT

Question 18

• Sometimes the position of a question—where it falls within the question order—
  can influence how the question is interpreted. particularly likely when two questions are related. Sometimes it helps to separate related items by buffer items—questions
  unrelated to either of the related questions

Answer 18

CONTEXT EFFECT

Question 19

Respondents complete the questionnaire on their own, without
the help of an interviewer. This is a common method for collecting
data from large groups of people, as it is relatively inexpensive and
easy to administer

Answer 19

SELF-ADMINISTERED
QUESTIONNAIRES

Question 20

Questionnaires are mailed to respondents, who then complete them and
return them by mail. This is a traditional method of collecting survey data, but
it has become less common in recent years due to the rise of online survey

Answer 20

MAIL SURVEYS:

Question 21

Questionnaires are mailed to respondents, who then complete them and
return them by mail. This is a traditional method of collecting survey data, but
it has become less common in recent years due to the rise of online surveys.

Answer 21

COMPUTER AND INTERNET SURVEYS:

Question 22

Interviews are conducted over the phone by an interviewer. This method
can be more expensive than other methods, but it can be helpful for
reaching people who do not have access to the internet or who are not
comfortable completing online surveys.

Answer 22

TELEPHONE SURVEYS:

Question 23

are conducted in person or over the phone by an interviewer.
This method can be more expensive than other methods, but it can be
helpful for collecting detailed data and for understanding respondents’ perspectives in more depth.

Answer 23

Interviews

Question 24

A small group of people (usually 6-10) are brought together to discuss a
particular topic. This method can be helpful for understanding respondents
‘
perspectives in more depth and for generating new ideas.
can be more expensive than other methods, as they require
recruiting and paying participants

Answer 24

Focus groups

Question 25

The extent to which the survey is consistent and repeatable.

Answer 25

RELIABILITY

Question 26

Usually refers to the extent to which a survey actually measures the intended topic.

Answer 26

VALIDITY

Question 27

Regardless of how you conduct your survey, one of the most critical issues is

Answer 27

SAMPLING

Question 28

consists of all people, animals, or objects that have at least one characteristic in common.

Answer 28

POPULATION

Question 29

is a group that is a subset of the population of interest.
- Data collected from samples can be used to draw inferences about a population without
examining all its members.

Answer 29

SAMPLE OF OBJECTS

Question 30

How accurately we can generalize our findings from a given sample to a population depends on
its representativeness, or how closely the sample mirrors the larger population—more precisely,
how closely the sample responses we observe and measure reflect those we would obtain if we
could sample the entire population

Answer 30

representatives

Question 31

Is the study of the likelihood of events.
Involves selecting subjects in such a way that the odds of being
chosen to be involved can be calculated

Answer 31

PROBABILITY SAMPLING

Question 32

any member of the population has an equal opportunity to be selected

Answer 32

RANDOM SELECTION

Question 33

The most basic form of probability sampling.
-The whole population is selected in an unbiased way

Answer 33

SIMPLE RANDOM SAMPLING

Question 34

An elegant variation of random sampling
-Researcher may select every nth person from the population

Answer 34

SYSTEMATIC RANDOM SAMPLING

Question 35

Obtained by randomly sampling from
people in each subgroup in the same proportions as they exist in the population.

Answer 35

STRATIFIED RANDOM SAMPLING

Question 36

Sampling entire clusters or naturally occuring groups that exist within the population. rather
than sampling individuals from the whole population or subgroups

Answer 36

CLUSTER SAMPLING

Question 37

The subjects are not chosen at random

Answer 37

Nonprobability Sampling

Question 38

researchers select samples through predetermined quotas that are
intended to reflect the makeup of the population. Samples can reflect the
proportions of important subgroups, but the individuals are not selected
at random

Answer 38

QUOTA SAMPLING

Question 39

• is obtained by using any groups who happen to be available—for example,
  a church choir, a psychology class, a bowling league, or a supermarket
  checkout line

Answer 39

CONVENIENCE SAMPLING

Question 40

when nonrandom samples are selected because the individuals reflect a specific purpose of the study.

Answer 40

PURPOSIVE SAMPLING

Question 41

• researcher locates one or a few people who fit the sample criterion and
  asks these people to locate or lead them to additional individuals

Answer 41

SNOWBALL SAMPLING

Question 42

The way a sample is chosen influences what can be concluded from the
results. A research report must explain the type of sample used and how
subjects were recruited so that the results can be interpreted properly

Answer 42

REPORTING SAMPLES