Term
|
Definition
-Description
-Prediction
-Explanation
-Control |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
-Systematic
-Empirical verification
-Value-free
-Cumulative
-Falsifiable |
|
|
Term
| Science is systematic which means... |
|
Definition
| It seperates the creation of knowledge from idiosyncratic influences. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
-It cannot directly answer questions of value
-It is not objective as some argue because people are influenced by their perceptions |
|
|
Term
| Improper use/abuse of statistics |
|
Definition
| misleading conclusions, context, etc. |
|
|
Term
| 7 critical components of statistical studies |
|
Definition
1.What is the source of research for funding?
2.What was the nature of the contact between the researcher and the participants?
3.Who were the individuals studied and How were they selected?
4.What was the exact nature of measurements or questions asked?
5.What was the setting in which measurements were taken?
6.what are the differences in groups being compared in addition to the factor of interest?
7.What is the size of reported effects? |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| a set of systematically related statements about relationships among concepts, with the purpose of explaining some phenomenon. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
An abstraction that describes a portion of reality
e.g. The concept of education describes the aggregate of people’s learning experience.
Concepts are measured with variables |
|
|
Term
| qualities of good scientific theories |
|
Definition
-Falsifiable
-Supported by evidence
-General
-Simple |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
a statement about the relationships between variables.
-It is less abstract than a theory |
|
|
Term
| How do we collect indicators? |
|
Definition
-Direct observation
-Subject report |
|
|
Term
| 6 types of question wording effects |
|
Definition
Deliberate bias
Unintentional Bias
Asking the uninformed
Unnecessary complexity
Question ordering
Sensitive topics
Desire to please |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| hard to code; many different responses |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| options offered tend to be selected more than they would have with open option |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| How well a measure actually measures what you want to measure |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| whether the measure gives approximately the same answer time after time |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| whether a measure is systematically off the mark in one direction |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
a range of values within which the population value is likely to fall
|
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| variables: variables we can place in a category but fo not have logical ordering |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
variables: categories that may have a natural ordering
e.g. A survey response of “strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, strongly disagree” |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
variable in which it makes sense to talk about intervals, but not ratios
e.g. temperature in F or C
These are rare in social science research
Let’s never talk about them again |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
A variable for which is makes sense to talk about ratios
Unlike interval variables, ratio variables have a meaningful zero point |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Can be any number on an interval
e.g. Age, income in dollars |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Can count the possible responses must be a whole number
e.g. number of car accidents on a highway |
|
|
Term
| measurement (quantitative) variables |
|
Definition
| Ratio variables may also be referred to as measurement variables. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Nominal and Ordinal variables are sometimes referred to as categorical variables.
|
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The variable that is the cause of, the antecedent to, or the predictor of the dependant variable |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
The variable that is caused by, follows, or is predicted by the independent variable. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
a variable that is related to differing impacts of the treatment variable
E.g. The ad may have different effects for Republicans and Democrats |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
one whose response can’t be separated from the explanatory variable
Confounding variables=a problem for observational studies |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| people involved in the experiment |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| is the proportion of people in the population with a given characteristic |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| is the proportion of people in a given sample with a given characteristic |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| list from which units are randomly sampled to be included in the survey |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Every unit in the sampling frame has an equal chance of being selected
If there are 100 people, each person must have a 1% chance of being selected
Three steps:
1. Get a list of everyone in the population
2. Generate the appropriate random numbers
3. Select people corresponding with your random numbers |
|
|
Term
| systematic random sampling |
|
Definition
Every unit in the sampling frame has an equal chance of being selected
If there are 100 people, each person must have a 1% chance of being selected
Three steps:
1. Get a list of everyone in the population
2. Generate the appropriate random numbers
3. Select people corresponding with your random numbers |
|
|
Term
| stratified random sampling |
|
Definition
the population is didvided into homogenous sub-groups and simple random sampling is done within each of the sub-groups.
Reasons for using:
It can guarantee that small groups are included at a representative level. (age, ethnicity, etc.)
Two steps:
1. Break population into relevant groups
2.Conduct simple random samples among each subgroup
|
|
|
Term
|
Definition
Used:
If no list is available
If other methods too costly
Three steps:
1.Specify groups of individuals you wish to sample
2.Randomlly selecting some of the groups
3.Survey all of the people in selected groups
Example: Suppose we are interested surveying students on campus |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| low response rate, non-representative example, etc. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
an explanatory variable that is randomly assigned to experimental units (e.g. subjects)
E.g. Randomly expose people to political ad or not to determine effects on knowledge about a candidate |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
group of experimental units that does not receive the treatment
Serves as baseline, showing what would have happened if individuals were not exposed to the treatment
Allows us to compare units in the treatments group to those in the control group
Should be treated identically to the treatment group, aside from receiving the treatment |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
treatments made to look like the real thing with no “active ingredient”
Eliminate the confounding effects of suggestion |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| The process of being a research subject causes a change in behavior. |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
| are performed in as natural a setting as possible |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
are conducted in a lab, which ,ay be somewhat artificial
agenda setting |
|
|
Term
|
Definition
means exposing similar (or the same) individuals to both the treatment or control
Makes estimates more accurate |
|
|
Term
| problems with observational studies |
|
Definition
| The main problem with observational studies is that we can’t exclude the effect of confounding variables |
|
|
