Practice Questions

Interdisciplinary Research Course – Summer 2015

One (or two) more words about measurement before the questions begin

0 A variable is a concept that can be measured means: 0 A variable is a concept that takes on different values.. For

example.. 0 Age is a concept

0 Age becomes a variable when the researcher specifies the values of age, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4

0 Bullying is a concept0 Bullying becomes a variable when the research assigns values to it..

i.e. types of bullying = physical, emotional, online, ostracizing..

0 Well being is a concept, 0 it becomes a variable when a researcher assigns values… i.e. high

level of well-being, moderate well-being, low well-being.

How the values of a variable differ is known as the level of measurement

0The level of measurement of age is ratio when operationalized in years;

0The level of measurement of bullying is nominal when operationalized as type of bullying;

0The level of measurement of well being is ordinal when operationalized as degree to well-being

Below are a few practice questions that might be help with some of the material that

will be on the mid-term

You need to view the power point from the Slide Show function to see the correct answers.

click onto the slide and the next click will show the answer

Ask your instructor for clarification of any question

Measurement is a part of the scientific process that involves moving from _______________ to _______________.

a. the concrete ..... the theoretical

b. the theoretical ..... the concrete

c. concepts ..... hypotheses

d. theories ..... hypotheses

What is the difference between conceptualization and operationalization?

0 conceptualization 0 Uses words to define a concept 0 Dictionary definition0 More abstract

0 Operationalization

0 Uses numbers to define a concept0 How a variable is measured0 Identifies how a variable varies; what the values of the

variables are 0 More concrete – what you count

A researcher is planning to conduct a client satisfaction survey. By choosing every 4th client after a random starting place, she selected 250 clients from the 1,000 active cases seen at the Child and Adolescent Center during 2011-2012.

a what is the population B what is the sample frame C what is the sample d what is a sampling unit e what is the type of sampling strategy used

clients1,000 client active cases

250 selected clients

One client

Systematic random sample

0Identify the four levels of measurement and give the distinguishing characteristics of each. 0Nominal – values categorical only0Ordinal – values can be ranked0Interval–specific intervals between each

value0Ratio – values are the same as interval,

with a 0 as a possible value

Which of the following variables is most clearly NOT a ratio level variable?a. incomeb. ethnicityc. number of prior arrestsd. number of magazines subscribed to

An ordinal variable has all of the following characteristics EXCEPT:a. mutually exclusive categories.b. an order to the categories.c. equal spacing between the measurement units.d. ordinal variables have all of the above.

A research study measures height by having observers judge people's height and classify them into one of three categories: tall height, medium height, and short height. The resulting measure would most clearly be at which level of measurement?a. nominalb. ordinalc. intervald. continuous

A disproportionate stratified sample is used when:a.you want every element in the population to have the

same chance of appearing in the sample.b.you want to make comparisons among subgroups in

the population when some of those subgroups are fairly uncommon.

c.it is not possible to use a probability sample.d.the sampling error is likely to be low.

Which of the following could constitute a "sampling frame"?

a.a pretest of an experiment.b.the results of a study that have been reported in a

human service journal.c.a single-subject design intended to test the efficacy of

Parent Effectiveness Training.d.a list of all clients of a community mental health

agency.

Quota sampling is like stratified sampling in that both:

a. have low sampling error.b. can determine the probability of

each element in a population appearing in the sample.

c. are nonprobability samples.d. divide a population into categories

and sample from those categories.

0Describe two methods of assessing the validity of measurement devices and elaborate on the advantages and disadvantages of each.0Face validity – subjective (or expert)

judgment as to whether the measurement is valid

0Criterion validity – how does the measure I am using compare to another criteria or standard or ruler

0Describe one method of assessing the reliability of measurement devices and elaborate on the advantages and disadvantages

0Test-re-test – administer the measurement at different times and get the same answer both times

Which of the following would be the best demonstration of the validity of a scale for the measurement of suicide potential?

a. Ask mental health experts to assess whether it measures suicide potential accurately.

b. Correlate the scale results with the actual occurrence of suicides.

c. Ask people who have attempted suicide whether it measures suicide potential accurately.

d. Administer the scale to those who have attempted suicide to see if they score appropriately on it.

The most important distinction that needs to be made about samples is whether they are based on:a. populations that are easy or difficult to findb. single or multi-stage selection proceduresc. nonprobability or probability sampling strategyd. large or small fraction of the populatione. sampling frame of all elements or not

The entire set of individuals or other entities to which study findings will

be generalized is the:

1. sampling unit2. population3. Element4. None of the above

In a study of educational practices, a researcher first samples schools

and then within schools, interviews a sample of teachers. In this

example, the schools are called what?

5. Individuals6. Sampling frames7. Aggregations8. Clusters

A __________ sample is one in which the researcher selects elements

for the sample that the researcher's judgment and prior knowledge

suggest will best serve the purposes of the study.a. snowballb. systematicc. quotad. purposive

Putting Information together with other Information .. Putting the puzzle pieces

together

0 Give an example of a deductive research approach for a study that explores or describes a topic you are interested in

0 Give an example of an inductive research approach for a study that explores or describes a topic you are interested in

A - has lowest response rate, but good for reaching large, dispersed populations at relatively low costsB -requires greater funds and increasingly bad on response ratesC -allow greatest length and complexity as well as ability to monitor conditions while questionnaire is completedF - is limited by technology and accessG - is the strongest design and generally preferable when sufficient resources and a trained staff are availableH. has many of the advantages of in-person interviews but at a lower cost

F - Electronic surveys

G - In person interviews

H - Telephone surveys

Which type of survey

A- Mailed surveys

B- Phone surveys

C- In person surveys

VIGNETTE – Chelsea and Andy Chelsea and Andy are graduate research students concerned with environmental health. As part of their course requirements, they must work collaboratively to develop, implement, and present the results from an original research project. They know that many low-income homes contain lead-based paint and that exposure to lead can cause behavioral problems, autism, and mental health issues, which are issues that community workers commonly address in their work. Both students are placed at a home repair organization that gives them access to families in the community and leaders of lead poisoning prevention programs. The have decided to investigate the relationship between community lead poisoning prevention programs and parents’ awareness of the effects of lead poisoning in children, the ways to identify lead exposure, and how to treat lead poising. They are excited about their research idea, but cannot agree on key elements of the research design. Chelsea feels that their research question is not well defined, and wants to see how other researchers have conceptualized and conducted research with families living in low-income housing. She feels that she and Andy should randomly select participants from the list of participants who have taken an earlier lead poison prevention workshop and send them a questionnaire about their level of awareness as a result of the workshop. Chelsea hopes that the results will be generalizable to the larger population of low-income families in the area. Andy, on the other hand, disagrees with Chelsea. He believes that researchers don’t have a good understanding of the experiences and needs of families involved with lead prevention programs. He wants to interview workshop participants about their experiences in lead poisoning prevention programs and gain insight about the effects of the workshop intervention on the participants’ remediation behaviors. Andy doesn't think that participants will respond to a mailed questionnaire and is concerned that a survey will not provide information on individual experiences. He suggests asking the home repair organizations that host workshops to identify at least one prospective person to interview about their experiences and from that one

person, find other study participants.

 Consider the ways the students can obtain a sample for the study and match the correct sampling strategy with the appropriate description.

A. Simple random sampleB. Snowball sampleC. Stratified random sampleD. Availability or convenience sampleE. Systematic random sampleF. None of the above

 _____Contact the home repair organization and ask for a list of all of the workshop participants. Randomly select every 4th individual on the list and mail him or her a questionnaire.  _____Visit the home repair organization clients who are in the area and ask if any of them would be willing to answer your questions.  _____Ask one of the workshop leaders to identify the name of one participant to interview, then ask that one participant to provide contact information for the names of other workshop participants.  _____Obtain a list of workshop participants from all of the organizations that host lead poisoning prevention workshops and randomly select individuals to interview

E

D

A

B

Fill in the blank. Chelsea is proposing a _______________ research method, whereas Andy is proposing a _______________ type of research method.

0 Exploratory/explanatory0 Qualitative/quantitative0 Quantitative/qualitative 0 Mixed method/longitudinal

0 If the students develop and send out a survey as Chelsea proposes, the independent variable in this study would be0 The home repair organization0 Lead poison prevention programs offered by the home repair

organization0 Children’s exposure to lead-based paints0 Parents living in low-income housing 0 There would be no independent variable in this study

Chelsea and Andy want to understand whether or not lead poisoning prevention programs impact parent’s awareness of the effects of lead poisoning. The best design to research establish this type of causal relationship would be:

0 Chelsea’s survey0 Andy’s qualitative study0 A literature review of the lead poisoning prevention programs0 None of the above0 All of the above

If the students develop and send out a survey as Chelsea proposes, the dependent variable in this study would be

0 parents’ awareness of the effects of lead poisoning in children, 0 the ways to identify lead exposure0 how to treat lead poising.0 All of the above would be dependent variables0 None of the above would be a dependent variable

The statement “exposure to lead can cause behavioral problems, autism, and mental health issues,” is best described as

0 A research question0 A research hypothesis0 A concept0 The unit of analysis0 None of the above

The statement “There is a positive relationship between the community lead poisoning prevention programs and parents’ awareness of the effects of lead poisoning in children, the ways to identify lead exposure, and how to treat lead poising” is best described as

0 A research question0 A research hypothesis0 A concept0 The unit of analysis0 None of the above