One (or two) more words about
measurement before the questions begin
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 A variable
0 Age becomes a variable when the researcher specifies the values of
age, i.e. 1, 2, 3, 4
0 Bullying is a concept
0 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
0 The level of measurement of age is
ratio when operationalized in years;
0 The level of measurement of bullying is
nominal when operationalized as type
of bullying;
0 The 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 definition
0 More abstract
0 Operationalization
0 Uses numbers to define a concept
0 How a variable is measured
0 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 clients
B what is the sample frame 1,000 client active cases
C what is the sample 250 selected clients
d what is a sampling unit One client
e what is the type of sampling strategy used
Systematic random sample
0 Identify the four levels of measurement
and give the distinguishing
characteristics of each.
0 Nominal – values categorical only
0 Ordinal – values can be ranked
0 Interval–specific intervals between each
value
0 Ratio – 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. income
b. ethnicity
c. number of prior arrests
d. 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.
b.
c.
d.
nominal
ordinal
interval
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.
0 Describe two methods of assessing
the validity of measurement devices
and elaborate on the advantages and
disadvantages of each.
0 Face validity – subjective (or expert)
judgment as to whether the measurement
is valid
0 Criterion validity – how does the measure
I am using compare to another criteria or
standard or ruler
0 Describe one method of assessing the
reliability of measurement devices and
elaborate on the advantages and
disadvantages
0 Test-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 find
b. single or multi-stage selection procedures
c. nonprobability or probability sampling strategy
d. large or small fraction of the population
e. 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.
2.
3.
4.
sampling unit
population
Element
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?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Individuals
Sampling frames
Aggregations
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.
snowball
b.
systematic
c.
quota
d.
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
Which type of survey
A - has lowest response rate, but
good for reaching large, dispersed
populations at relatively low costs
B -requires greater funds and
increasingly bad on response rates
C -allow greatest length and
complexity as well as ability to
monitor conditions while
questionnaire is completed
F - is limited by technology and
access
G - is the strongest design and
generally preferable when
sufficient resources and a trained
staff are available
H. has many of the advantages of
in-person interviews but at a lower
cost
A- Mailed surveys
B- Phone surveys
C- In person surveys
F - Electronic surveys
G - In person interviews
H - Telephone 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 sample
B. Snowball sample
C. Stratified random sample
D. Availability or convenience sample
E. Systematic random sample
F. None of the above
E
_____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.
D
_____Visit the home repair organization clients who are in the area and ask if
any of them would be willing to answer your questions.
B
_____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.
A
_____Obtain a list of workshop participants from all of the organizations that
host lead poisoning prevention workshops and randomly select individuals to
interview
Fill in the blank. Chelsea is proposing a _______________
research method, whereas Andy is proposing a
_______________ type of research method.
0
0
0
0
Exploratory/explanatory
Qualitative/quantitative
Quantitative/qualitative
Mixed method/longitudinal
0 If the students develop and send out a survey as Chelsea
proposes, the independent variable in this study would be
0 The home repair organization
0 Lead poison prevention programs offered by the home
repair organization
0 Children’s exposure to lead-based paints
0 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 survey
0 Andy’s qualitative study
0 A literature review of the lead poisoning prevention programs
0 None of the above
0 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 exposure
0 how to treat lead poising.
0 All of the above would be dependent variables
0 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 question
0 A research hypothesis
0 A concept
0 The unit of analysis
0 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 question
0 A research hypothesis
0 A concept
0 The unit of analysis
0 None of the above