Descriptive Research Methods
1) Quantitative - explore objective facts
2) Qualitative - explore subjective meanings
Quantitative Methods (4)
1) interviews
2) questionnaires
3) surveys
4) psychological tests
a) psychometric tests
b) projective tests
Quantitative Methods → 1) Interviews
gathering facts
Quantitative Methods → 2) Questionnaires
anonymously estimate characteristics of population based on sample
Quantitative Methods → 3) Surveys
defined by purpose not form
Quantitative Methods → 4) Psychological Tests
assess traits of individual
a) Psychometric - examine performance relative to norm (academic ability, personality)
b) Projective - infer characteristics based on reaction to stimuli
- problem - scoring
Qualitative Methods → 1) Qualitative Interview
subjective experience
Qualitative Methods → 2) Focus Groups
- Benefits
interview in groups
Benefits:
- interpersonal dynamics can be examined
- can interview multiple people at a time
Qualitative Methods → 3) Ethnographic Research
cross-cultural investigations
- examine sub-cultures in mainstream culture
Qualitative Methods → 4) Historical Research
examine past events based on historical records
Descriptive Research Methods → Advantages (7)
1) Ecological Validity - studies relationships among variables as they naturally occur
2) Economy - cheaper
3) Practical Reasons - more applicable, hard to use exp. method
4) Ethical Reasons
5) Qualitative
6) Correlations
7) Preliminary to Experimental Research
Qualitative Methods (4)
1) qualitative interview
2) focus group
3) ethnographic research
4) historical research
Quantitative Methods → 1) Interviews
gathering info about people by conversing with them in face-to-face dialogue
Quantitative Methods → 1) Interviews
General Requirements (7)
1) Establishment of Rapport
2) Statement of Purpose
3) Detached/Objective Attitude
4) Staying on Topic
5) Careful Wording of Questions
6) Knowing When to End
7) Accurate Record of Interviews
General Requirements of Interviews
1) Establishment of Rapport
comfortability, small talk
close/harmonious relationship in which people concerned understand each other's feelings/ideas and communicate well.
General Requirements of Interviews
2) Statement of Purpose
main way interviews differ from conversation
articulating the particular goal/theme of interview
General Requirements of Interviews
3) Detached/Objective Attitude
midpoint between cold/harsh & personally/emotionally invested or involved
- attitude conveyed is one that is personable but not personally involved
General Requirements of Interviews
4) Staying on Topic
not to stray too much from main theme/topic
General Requirements of Interviews
5) Careful Wording of Questions
as clear & unambiguous as possible
(2) types of questions to avoid:
1) Ambiguous - can be interpreted in 2 or more ways (how are you liking your classes?)
2) Loaded - suggests what answer should be (when's the last time you cheated on a test?)
General Requirements of Interviews
7) Accurate Record of Interviews
video or audio recording
- to record how something is said (tone of voice) & nonverbal gestures (anxious, looking around)
Quantitative
Types of Interviews (4)
1) Unstructured Interview
2) Structured Interview
3) Standardized Structured Interview
4) Mixed Question Interview
1) Unstructured Interview
interviews in which interviewer provides minimal direction to interviewee
2) Structured Interview
interviews with pre-specified:
1) set of topics
2) order of discussion
3) Standardized Structured Interview
interviews with pre-specified:
1) wording of questions
2) order of questions
4) Mixed Question Interview
interviews using different kinds of questions
1) open-ended
2) fixed option (closed-ended)
3) rating scale questions
(diminished benefits of interview style)
Problems with Interviews (3)
1) Interviewer Bias
2) Interviewee Dishonesty (Social Desirability)
3) Implementation Costs
1) Interviewer Bias
- (2) types
affect amount & quality of info given
1) personal bias - eye contact, personal characteristics, tone of voice
2) social/ethnic bias - class → age, SES, gender, ethnicity, racial background
2) Interviewer Dishonesty (Social Desirability)
visible presence fosters social desirability more than in questionnaires
- choose alternative that is more socially acceptable or desirable
3) Implementation Costs
- (3) types
1) Training Costs - of interviewers
2) Travel Costs - to interview
3) Administration Costs - making/cancelling appointments, coordinating etc.
Advantages of Interviews (5)
- know who person is
- higher response rate- hard to turn down personal request
- best way to gain sensitive info (psych disorders, intrapersonal relationships)
- flexibility- correct misinterpretations
- monitor non-verbal behavior - facial expression, gesture, paraliniguistics, body language
(5) main steps in designing a questionnaire
1) determine purpose
2) determine types of questions
3) write the items
4) determine how data will be analyzed
5) determine method of administration
1) determine purpose
what do i expect to accomplish?
2) determine types of questions
closed-ended - limits respondents to alternatives determined in advance by questionnaire's design
open-ended - answer in own words
3) write the items
(7) tips on composing good questionnaire items
1) address single issue per item
2) avoid bias
3) make alternatives clear
4) beware of social desirability tendency
5) beware of acquiescence
6) determine format of item
7) sequence items
1) address single issue per item
unambiguous, clear
not double-barreled
2) avoid bias
write Q in way that will not bias results
example:
do you beleive in killing unborn babies?
should women be forced to bear unwanted children?
3) make alternatives clear
particular need to write closed-ended Qs in a way that options are distinctly different from each other & they cover all possibilities
→ answers must be exhaustive & mutually exclusive
Exhaustive
categories defined so that all possible cases will fall into one of them
all cases must fall into 1 or another of the alternatives
Mutually Exclusive
categories defined so that membership in one rules out membership in another
no individual case could belong to more than one category at a time
4) beware of social desirability tendency
characteristic of certain responses that cause people to choose it even if it does not represent their true tendency/opinion
bias when respondents percieve one alternative as more socially acceptable than another
What is used to detect dishonest answers?
Verification Key: set of questions designed to detect dishonest
& if person has tendency to be overly influenced by social desirability
5) beware of acquiescence
what questionnaire format is highly susceptible to this bias?
tendency to agree with statement on a question regardless of its content
– (Questionnaire with all binary closed-ended Qs are highly susceptible to bias caused by this)
6) Determine format of item
depends on type of question (T/F, MC, ratings)
visual analog scale
likert scale
branching items
Visual Analog Scale (VAS)
- can be used to indicate?
question that askes for response by marking line b/w min & max values for statement
can be used to indicate respondent's degree of agreement/disagreement with a particular position
Likert Scale
question asking for rating of the extent of agreement/disagreement with a statement → a rating scale
Branching Items
set of Qs that enable respondent to move through survey in different ways depending upon responses
7) Sequence the Items
order of items → answers to Qs may be biased if they follow some others
start off broad & get more specific to topic of interest
example: before asking about campus security, you would want to know if security was even an issue with students
4) Determine how Data will be Analyzed
how questionnaire is to be scored & analyzed
- decide what statistics to use, if you will be able to draw proper conclusions from data
- if you think certain groups of people may answer differently → need Qs to permit classification on these dimensions
5) Determine Method of Administration
(4) modes
1) Face-to-Face
2) Written Response
3) Computerized Administration
4) Telephone Administration
Define and distinguish between open-ended and closed-ended questions.
Open: answer in own words
Closed: limits respondents to pre-determined alternatives
Advantages & Disadvantages of:
a) Open-ended Qs
ADVANTAGES: can answer more completely, reveal reasoning, more likely to discover something not anticipated in design
DISADVANTAGES: harder to code b/c answers in narrative form, categorize responses after (breaks cardinal rule)
Advantages & Disadvantages of:
b) Closed-ended Qs
ADVANTAGES: easier to code, fewer off-the-wall answers, dont need to think as hard or be as articulate to formulate
DISADVANTAGES: issues may be too complex to reduce to small set of alternatives, may not agree with any, puts words in mouth, misinterpretation of Q is hard to discover
How is the social desirability tendency detected?
by using a verification key - a set of questions designed to detect dishonest answers & if a person has tendency to be overly influenced by social desirability
Acquiescence Tendency
tendency to agree with statement on question regardless of its content
Branching Items
- advantages
set of Qs that enable respondents to move through questionnaire in different ways depending upon responses
- can skip innapropriate/irrelevant Qs & more through more efficiently
(4) methods of administrating a questionnaire
- face-to-face
- written responses
- computerized administration
- telephone administration
Advantages (5) & Disadvantages (3) of:
Face-to-Face Administration
- establish rapport
- direct attention to material
- motive them to answer carefully
- guarantee order of administration
- correct misinterpretations
- social desirability tendency
- expensive
- time-consuming
Advantages & Disadvantages of:
Written Responses
- efficient use of time & money
- low cost
- lower response rate
- possible misinterpretation
- can't determine seriousnes of respondent
Advantages & Disadvantages of:
Computerized Administration
- control sequencing & branching
- reduce social desirability
- available 24/7
- allow high level of participation without high cost
- same problems as written responses
- security of responding
- storage of survey info must be ensured without violating privacy of respondent
Advantages & Disadvantages of:
Telephone Administration
- low cost
- computer-assisted interview
- conducted from central location & interviewers can be supervised
- reduced external validity →less people with home phones
Problems created by low response rates to surveys
- data from people motivated to respond
- biased in direction of more vocal people
- quality of data is direct function of response rate
→researchers need at least 50% & prefer 90%
(4) types of samples
1) Haphazard
2) Purposive
3) Convenience
4) Probability
1) Haphazard Sample
popn subgroup selected using hit-or-miss
→ does not follow any systematic way of selecting participants
(
2) Purposive Sample
non-random sample chosen for some characteristic it possesses
ex) survey opinions of presidents of several leading colleges about desirable changes in college curriculum
3) Convenience Sample
non-random sample chosen for practical reasons
4) Probability Sample
sample selected in way as to be representative of population
- most rely on random sampling
- permit one to apply various statistics
Random Sample
sample in which every member of popn has equal & independant chance of being selected
Sampling Frame
population as it is defined for purposes of selecting subjects for study
→popn that you work with for particular study
Element
individual member of a sampling frame
Systematic Sample
probability sample that is not randomly selected
Problems using Systematic Samples
structure may result in bias
taking every nth individual of structured list may result in bias
(3) types of random samples
1) Simple Random
2) Stratified Random
3) Cluster
1) Simple Random Sample
group chosen from entire popn such that every member has equal & independant chance of being selected in a single sample
2) Stratified Random Sample
2 or more subsamples are represented according to some predetermined proportion, generally in same proportion as they exist in popn
(treat popn as 2 or more subpopulations & create seperate random sample of each)
ex) same-sex ratio, age ratio etc.
3) Cluster Sample
group selected using clusters/groupings from larger population
ex) rather than taking 1/10 students of each class, randomly select 1/10 of classes to study
Multistage Sampling
form of cluster sampling in which clusters are further broken down by taking samples from each cluster
ex) selecting one or more highschols within each geographical area & then selecting seniors within each
Quantitative Methods → 2) Questionnaires
gathering info about people anonymously using standardized series of Qs
Components of Questionnaire (4)
1) Preamble → intro of purpose & instructions
2) Identification Questions→ demographic Qs, background info
3) Research Questions → make up data
4) Branching Instructions
Types of Questionnaire Items (7)
1) Fixed-Option
2) Rating Scale
3) Yes-No
4) True-False
5) Likert-Scale (Agree-Disagree)
6) Funnel Questions
7) Open-ended Questions
1) Fixed-Option
Qs with qualitatively distinct response alternatives
(type/kind)
2) Rating Scale
Qs with quantitatively distinct response alternatives
- 3 types
(3) types of Rating-Scale Items
1) Categorical → quantitative dimension but response based on adjective
2) Numerical → represented more explicitly in numerical form
3) Graphical → for responses on continuum (mark vertical line along horizontal line)
3) Yes-No
Binary-choice Qs on matters of fact
4) True-False
Binary decision Qs on particular theme
5) Likert-Scale (Agree-Disagree)
Qs on attitudes or opinions
6) Funnel Questions
series of related Qs soliciting progressively more detailed information
discourages dishonest answers b/c have to follow-up
branching items within
7) Open-ended Questions
Qs that respondents can answer in their own words
Sources of Questionnaire Bias (2)
1) Question Bias
2) Response Bias
1) Question Bias
- (4) types
1) Double-barreled
2) Loaded
3) Leading
4) Double Negatives
1) Double-barreled
items that ask 2 seperate Qs simultaneously
2) Loaded
items that contain emotionally charged or value-laden term
"do you feel sleazy magazine should be openly displayed at local newstands?"
3) Leading Qs
items that tend to influence responses in a certain direction
do you agree with most federal policy analysts that reducing deficit is our most urgent fiscal priority?
4) Double Negatives
items that use 2 negative expressions to convey a positive idea
2) Response Bias
- (4) types
1) Acquiescence ("Yea-Saying")
2) Dissension ("Nay-Saying")
3) Deviation
4) Social Desirability
1) Acquiescence ("Yea-Saying")
2) Dissension ("Nay-Saying")
1) tendency to agree with items regardless of their content
2) endency to disagree with items regardless of their content
Solution to Response Bias caused by Acquiescence & Dissension?
Balanced Items
example:
T/F Qs:
some of my high school friends enjoy reading
none of my high school friends enjoy reading
3) Deviation
tendency to answer items in extreme way regardless of their content
4) Social Desirability
tendency to answer questions in socially acceptable way regardless of correctness of answer
Solution to Response Bias? (specifically Deviation & Social Desirability)
Forced-choice Inventory
Example:
Choose A or B:
- A: I like to read in my spare time
- B: I am active in sports
- A: I feel like blaming others when things go wrong
- B: I feel that I am generally inferior to others
General tips on Questionnaire Wording (5)
1) avoid words with double meaning
2) avoid overly lengthy questions
3) ask questions based on respondent's own experience
4) Design entire questionnaire around theoretical rationale
5) Pre-test questionnaire on test sample
Quantitative Methods → 3) Surveys
administering interview/questionnaire to sample of individuals to estimate characteristic of population
Confidence level
probability that true population value falls within tolerance level
Tolerance Level (Precision)
range of values within which true population value falls with specified probability
Reasons for Sampling (3)
1) Feasability → less expensive/time-consuming
2) Accuracy → less errors (people may not answer seriously or misinterpret data)
3) Unobtrusiveness
Sample size determined by? (3)
1) confidence & tolerance levels
2) type of sampling design used
3) variability (increases with increased size)
Sampling Designs (2)
Probability Sampling
Nonprobability Sampling
Probability vs. Nonprobability sampling
Probability →known probability of each person falling in sample
→allows for statistical analysis
Nonprobability → unknown probability of individual being in sample
Types of Probability Sampling (3)
1) Simple Random
2) Cluster
3) Stratified
Probability Sampling → 1) Simple Random
Sampling such that every member of population has equal & independent chance of being selected
Probability Sampling → 2) Cluster Sampling
random sampling in (2) phases:
- primary selection units (cluster, groups)
- secondary selection units (individuals within groups)
Probability Sampling → 3) Stratified Sampling
random sampling from mutually exclusive & exhaustive strata in population
Types of Stratified Sampling (2)
1) Proportional Stratified Sampling
2) Equal Stratified Sampling
1) Proportional stratified sampling
sample size of each stratum is proportionate to population size
(each stratum has the same sampling fraction)
2) Equal Stratified Sampling
each strata is determined percentage of sample
Haphazard Sampling
according to who is around
Purposive Sampling
non-random sample chosen for some characteristic it possesses
Convenience Sampling
chosen for availability/convenience
Systematic Sampling
picked in systematic way (violates independance principle)
Quota Sampling
try to match up characteristics (ex. male vs female)
Quantitative Methods → (4) Psychological Tests
administering standardized test to measure sample of individual’s behavior
Psychological Tests - (4) types
1) Aptitude
2) Achievement
3) Personality
4) Projective