Lecture 4

Question 1

Definition: “observations that ‘vary’”

Answer 1

variables

Question 2

Variables can be either ______itative or ______itative

Answer 2

Quantitative or qualitative

Question 3

Definition: variables that represent numerical values and can be measured or counted. Classified as either dependent (discrete) or explanatory (continuous, independent) variables.

Answer 3

Quantitative

Question 4

Which type of quantitative variable is this?
“what you measure or observe. it’s the effect or outcome that depends on the other variable”

Answer 4

Dependent variables

Question 5

a dependent variable can also be called a….

Answer 5

discrete variable

Question 6

explanatory variables can also be called…

Answer 6

independent variables

Question 7

Which type of quantitative variable is this?
“what you change or manipulate. it’s the cause or the factor that you’re testing”

Answer 7

Independent / explanatory variable

Question 8

What would be the dependent and independent variable in the following research topic:

Researching the number of hours a student sleeps and how it influences their academic performance.

Answer 8

Independent: hours of sleep per night
Dependent: academic performance (measured by GPA or test scores)

Question 9

What would be the dependent and independent variable in the following research topic:

you’re giving plants different amounts of water and seeing how quickly they grow

Answer 9

independent: the amount of water, since that’s what youre changing.
Dependent: the height of the plant because you’re measuring it

Question 10

Definition: a variable that describes a characteristic or attribute that cannot be measured numerically. instead, it consists of categories or labels.

Answer 10

Qualitative

Question 11

What are some examples of qualitative variables?

Answer 11

Lengthy stores, opinions, explanations in text
complex diagrams, sketches
photos/videos

Question 12

This is an example of quantitative or qualitative variable:
Eye colour, type of climate, and preferred mode of transportation

Answer 12

qualitative

Question 13

Name the variable type!
“either binary (2+) or multi (3+)
Ex. What’s your program of study? A/B/C/D”

Answer 13

categorical

Question 14

Name the variable type!
“Rank ordered categories, Likert scales… e.g. self-rated academic performance (poor-average-good-excellent)”

Answer 14

Ordinal

Question 15

Name the variable type!
“Values are numbers from negative infinity to positive infinity, e.g. how many hours per week do you ___?”

Answer 15

Continuous (aka ratio, scale, quantitative)

Question 16

Name the variable type!
“Values are words, pictures, videos. E.g. what motivates you to engage in physical activity during the winter months?”

Answer 16

Open-ended (aka qualitative)

Question 17

What are the three ways of measuring variables?
I S
E/S
P O

Answer 17

Interactive surveys,
Equipment/Sensors
Passive Observation

Question 18

How does Physical Geography use interactive surveys?

Answer 18

In the field, with transects, quadrants, profiles.

Question 19

How does Human Geography use interactive surveys?

Answer 19

With people - surveys, interviews, focus groups

Question 20

How does Physical Geography use equipment/sensors?

Answer 20

Environmental (rulers, compass, gauges, photos)

Question 21

How does Human Geography use equipment/sensors?

Answer 21

Wearables like GPS loggers, motion detection

Question 22

How does Physical Geography use passive observation

Answer 22

Field Notes!

Question 23

How does Human Geography use passive observation?

Answer 23

People watching, video

Question 24

There are two common survey types, what are they?

Answer 24

Self-administered questionnaires and face-to-face interviews

Question 25

Name that common survey type: "I can be on paper, a computer or a phone. I'm good for large samples, and have the potential for wide coverage. My only problem is that I could be too retro-active and not in-situ enough".

Answer 25

Self-administered questionnaires.

Question 26

Name that common survey type! "I give you more control over data quality, let you probe for answers and give you the ability to adopt more complex instruments. I can be more unstructured or interactive!"

Answer 26

Face-to-face interview

Question 27

Based on this description, what is the question type? (Close-ended, open-ended or multi-media?) "response categories are provided, easy to code and quick to analyze. may bias results by not being exhaustive enough"

Answer 27

Close-ended.

Question 28

Based on this description, what is the question type? (Close-ended, open-ended or multi-media?) "Resposnes are in the respondent's own terms - more variety is provided but it takes way longer to code. it can be more realistic but more open to misinterpretation at the same time."

Answer 28

Open-ended

Question 29

Based on this description, what is the question type? (Close-ended, open-ended or multi-media?) "Sketches, pictures, videos, maps, games"

Answer 29

Multi-media

Question 30

T/F: you choose close-ended questions when the responsive 'categories' are well-known and exhaustive

Answer 30

true

Question 31

T/F: don't ask an open-ended question when it's just easier to ask for a single estimate

Answer 31

True

Question 32

T/F: you can't categorize open-ended questions

Answer 32

false - you can group them into themes to present in your report

Question 33

When do you typically use multi-media question types?

Answer 33

Exploring new or complex phenomena, or working with special groups

Question 34

T/F: you should avoid long 'ordinal' lists of numeric categories.

Answer 34

True - they're not as precise as the categories are harder to analyze and they force subjects to read a long list, while taking up SO MUCH space

Question 35

instead of using ordinal lists, consider using single "______ values"

Answer 35

estimated values - yields a single numeric response, takes up less space, and easier to answer.

Question 36

when asking people to indicate something they use or choose, you COULD use checkmarks, but you could also consider capturing _____ usage.

Answer 36

relative usage --> about how often do you.... more information, same amt of space. allows relative ranking of usage

Question 37

Instead of checkboxes, ask yourself: could I get an _____ _______ value instead?

Answer 37

estimated frequency

Question 38

T/F: scale questions are good for attitudinal topics

Answer 38

true

Question 39

Is this passive or active participant observation? A researcher sits in a university library and quietly takes notes on how students use study spaces without interacting with them

Answer 39

Passive

Question 41

There are three categories of sensor types: BB, E and C. What are they?

Answer 41

Body-based, environmental and communications.

Question 42

Body based sensors include what 4 things? (GASS)

Answer 42

GPS, Accelerometers, Smartphones, Smartwatches

Question 43

T/F: environmental sensors are used to track humans or the conditions they are experiencing

Answer 43

True

Question 44

T/F: you can geocode environmental sensor data.

Answer 44

True!

Question 45

T/F: communications sensors are used to track social interactions, sentiments, trends and migration

Answer 45

true

Question 46

T/F: social media doesn't geocode everything

Answer 46

false - it most certainly does

Question 47

Definition: citizens logging data about phenomenons (e.g. watching birds or seeing ice rinks - it's sort of sensed but it's sensed by the community itself)

Answer 47

citizen science apps

Question 48

What does ESM stand for?

Answer 48

Experience Sampling Method

Question 49

What are the advantages of in-situ prompting?

Answer 49

1. reduces recall bias 2. enhances validity 3. allows for the situational analysis of experiences