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Reliability and validity are both central to the goal of


A) matching the conceptual definition and the operational definition.
B) increasing the consistency of a study's measures and findings.
C) increasing the accuracy of a study's measures and findings.
D) matching the time span of the study to the time span of the research question.

E) B) and C)
F) A) and D)

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Write a paragraph or two in which you describe two different research designs for studying attitudes about marital infidelity: one using a repeated cross-sections design and one using a panel design.In your answer,identify the key features of each design and briefly discuss the purpose of the study and by extension the types of measures you would use,giving specific examples.

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Students would need to first note that a...

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Reports,observations,artifact counts,and manipulation are the four basic


A) processes of creating variables.
B) forms of conceptualization.
C) forms of measurement.
D) forms of analysis units.

E) None of the above
F) C) and D)

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C

In scientific research,an idea that can be clearly named,defined,and eventually measured is called a


A) measure.
B) dimension.
C) variable.
D) concept.

E) B) and C)
F) All of the above

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A key reason researchers clearly decide on and describe their operations for observing phenomena is that


A) it helps to clarify the conceptualization of the key ideas.
B) it clearly identifies which population is being studied.
C) it helps the researcher decide on which dimensions the study will focus.
D) those reading the study will be clear on exactly how the researcher conducted the study.

E) All of the above
F) None of the above

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Choose one representation (variable)for each of the following three concepts: (1)area of study in college, (2)religious participation,and (3)time spent studying.Once you have converted each of these concepts into variables,identify which type of variable each of these is,making sure to identify the key characteristics of these variable types and to connect these characteristics to the variables you have chosen.Your answer should be one to two paragraphs.

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The students must first represent these ...

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Mateo has designed a survey study in which he asks about respondents' marital quality.He administers the survey to several different samples over the course of two years and discovers that the respondents do not seem to be answering the marital quality question in very consistent ways.This suggests Mateo's measure of marital quality has a ________ problem.


A) ratio
B) reliability
C) validity
D) time span

E) A) and D)
F) A) and C)

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Write two paragraphs distinguishing the formation and timing of the operational definition in the research design process for a researcher who wants to study family norms for (1)a quantitative study (such as a survey),and (2)a qualitative study (such as ethnography).

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Here the student should note the more linear path to eventually developing an operational definition of family norms from an abstract concept,to dimensions (like norms about fairness of household chores),to variables (such as cleaning,cooking,maintenance,and child care),to indicators (values capturing range of importance that these are done equitably)-which creates an operational definition that would precede data collection of respondents' survey answers.Alternatively,students should note than an ethnographer would likely decide when and where to observe family members to then gain knowledge about what dimensions of family norms seem more salient,and from there developing more concrete definitions,using observations (data collection)to develop operational definitions of family norms over time.

When a researcher decides to represent adolescent risk behaviors with variables about illegal drug use and the use of tobacco products,he or she is


A) moving from an abstract to a more concrete phase of the study.
B) deciding to give up some precision by focusing only on two representations of risk behaviors.
C) assuming that illegal drug use and tobacco use is only risky for adolescents.
D) choosing risk behaviors that are universally agreed to be the most important.

E) A) and B)
F) None of the above

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Consider the concept social norms/rules.In three or four sentences,choose two or three dimensions of this concept that would be able to be represented in variables (you only need to develop this into dimensions,not variables).

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Students could choose many different dim...

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If a researcher is struggling with the data in a longitudinal study of job satisfaction because the composition of the sample has changed over time,he or she is most likely dealing with a problem of


A) manipulation.
B) operationalization.
C) attrition.
D) mutual exclusivity.

E) A) and D)
F) A) and C)

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A researcher is carefully making decisions that will affect how much variation he or she needs to adequately measure a variable.This concern with variation will influence his or her decisions regarding


A) his or her choice between a quantitative survey and a qualitative ethnography.
B) whether the values should be mutually exclusive.
C) how he or she should conceptually define the variable.
D) whether to use precise measures or sort subjects into basic categories.

E) A) and B)
F) None of the above

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D

Barbara is studying the potential effect of female political representation on fertility rates across several industrialized countries.She has decided to translate the abstract idea "female political representation" into something more concrete and opts for the proportion of political offices held by women in each country.In this study,________ is the concept and ________ is the variable.


A) proportion of political offices held by women;industrialized country
B) female political representation;proportion of political offices held by women
C) proportion of political offices held by women;female political representation
D) industrialized country;proportion of political offices held by women

E) C) and D)
F) B) and D)

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Sanjay has decided to study poverty comparatively across several nations and chooses to measure poverty by whether people have access to safe drinking water.Sanjay's measure is problematic because it does not properly consider the importance of


A) the unit of analysis.
B) social context.
C) longitudinal design.
D) aggregation.

E) A) and B)
F) B) and C)

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Using statistical data on individual baseball players' performance in past games is not a good way to make predictions about which teams will win future games.Taking this approach would introduce the problem of


A) aggregation.
B) reductionism.
C) manipulation.
D) an ecological fallacy.

E) All of the above
F) A) and B)

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Variables are used to capture the variability in the presence or level of some concept across the group being studied.This feature of variables illustrates that they


A) are only useful for aggregate data.
B) are ideas that can eventually be measured.
C) are most useful for measuring processes.
D) break down concepts into comparable data points.

E) C) and D)
F) A) and C)

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When a researcher is making decisions about the operational process,he or she must typically first choose the field of study from several quantitative and qualitative research methods.If it were very important that his or her study clearly establish the effect of a reading program on students' graduation rates,it would probably be best if he or she


A) created a survey and wrote standardized questions for respondents to answer.
B) conducted an experiment and defined a treatment effect.
C) conducted a content analysis and created a coding scheme.
D) conducted an ethnography and developed a plan for which site should be observed.

E) A) and B)
F) A) and C)

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Valeria plans to study the influence of students' attachment to school on their educational outcomes.She defines attachment to school as how much students feel they are part of the school community and defines students' educational outcomes as their educational performance.She then measures students' feelings about belonging to the school community with specific questions about how much they think they matter to their teachers and to other students,ranging from "not at all important" to "very important." Educational performance is measured by the students' grade point average and by scores on standardized tests.In this study,"feeling part of the school community" and "educational performance" are examples of


A) measures.
B) concrete definitions.
C) operationalization.
D) hypotheses.

E) A) and B)
F) A) and C)

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Agata is planning two different studies.One will be a content analysis of how often romantic storylines occur among older adult movie characters.The second will be a study of whether those who see older adults in romantic film roles have different attitudes about older adults' sexuality than those who do not see older adults in romantic film roles.The form of measurement Agata will most likely use for the first study is ________.Alternatively,she will probably use ________ as the form of measurement for the second study.


A) observation;reports
B) reports;manipulation
C) artifact counts;manipulation
D) observation;artifact counts

E) C) and D)
F) A) and D)

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There are different types of confusion that can emerge around a study's unit of analysis.If a researcher draws conclusions about individuals using group-level data,the mismatch is called ________.If he or she draws conclusions about a group based on individual-level data,the mismatch is called ________.


A) an ecological fallacy;reductionism
B) an ecological fallacy;an aggregation
C) reductionism;an aggregation
D) reductionism;an ecological fallacy

E) C) and D)
F) A) and D)

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