Research Methods Exam Review

What is validity, according to Dr. Jarpe?

• When someone is entitled to their own experience and opinion

• The confidence we have the in the conclusions we draw about research

• A test of the accuracy of a specific set of questions that comprise a scale

Reliability is a form of measurement validity is defined by:

• Covering all aspects and dimensions of a concept

• Having a low p-value

• Getting the same results each time

When community-level sales of ice cream sales go up, swimming pool drowning go up as well. Does this mean people should wait 30 minutes after eating ice cream to swim?

• Yes

• No

If we were to draw that conclusion, which are we hypothesizing are the independent and dependent variables?

• Ice cream sales is the IV and swimming pool drownings are the DV

• Ice cream sales is the DV and swimming pool drownings are the IV

Which of the criteria for causation are met in this example (select all that apply)?

• Cause (ice creams sold) precedes effect (drowning) in time

• Cause (ice creams sold) is correlated to effect (drowning)

• The relationship between cause (ice cream sales) and effect (drownings) is plausible (makes sense)

• The cause (ice creams sold) and effect (drownings) relationship is not caused by a 3rd variable

Internal validity is defined by Dr. Jarpe as:

• The confidence we have that the sample is representative of the larger population

• The confidence we have that the IV caused the changes in the DV

• The confidence we have that we measure the concept we intended to measure

Random assignment strengthens internal validity by…

• Allowing participants to choose their condition (treatment or control)

• Giving the researcher the ability to select which group (treatment or control) participants are in based on important characteristics

• Increasing the chances that the experimental and control groups are similar to one another

External validity is defined by Dr. Jarpe as:

• The confidence we have that the sample is representative of the larger population

• The confidence we have that the IV caused the changes in the DV

• The confidence we have that we measure the concept we intended to measure

• Having a sampling frame (list) of all landline telephone numbers in a given area

Having a sampling frame (list) of all landline telephone numbers in a given area

• Ensures strong external validity

• Will provide good data on parents and families

• Is likely to skew your sample towards older residents

Recruiting participants to meet a minimum number of people with different identities or experiences in your sample is referred to as…

• Simple Random Sampling

• Quota Sampling

• Purposive Sampling

• Snowball Sampling