425 Midterm questions with correct answers
What are the three criteria for causality? - Correct Answer-•Strength of association:
correlation coefficient (r); dose-response relationship ¬ Do the cause and effect go together •Casual priority (proper time order)
¬ Did the cause occur before the effect •Eliminate plausible rival hypothesis ¬ is the cause the best explanation for the effect
What is indirect association? - Correct Answer-•Independent variable and dependent variables associated because both related to a third variable ¬ Ex: altitude and cholera
What can cause an artifactual association: - Correct Answer-1.Artifactual association (spurious) may arise because of chance or bias -Example: New Hampshire sales due to out of towners
***Compare and contrast the inductive and the deductive models of theory construction. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Give examples of these two approaches. - Correct Answer-•Deductive reasoning: from general to specific: applying a theory to a particular case ¬Ex: all men are mortal (theory), Socrates is a man (observation), Socrates is mortal (conclusion) oStrengths: organizes what's known; points out new relationships; helps develop new hypotheses oWeaknesses: accepts premises as truth; conclusions cannot exceed content of major premise, not sufficient as a source of new truth •Inductive reasoning: from particular instances to general principles; from facts to theories ¬Ex: All cats that you observed purr. Therefore, every cat must purr. oStrengths: adds new knowledge; builds theories based on facts (observations), good for theory building oWeaknesses: based on representativeness of sample; imperfect induction does not lead to infallible conclusions
***Describe the two major research designs (cross-sectional and longitudinal). How can longitudinal studies vary in terms of the time dimension? List the three major types of prospective, longitudinal studies. Describe retrospective studies. - Correct Answer-•Cross-Sectional Studies: one point in time; exploratory or descriptive-ex: US census •Longitudinal study: (usually prospective)-over a period of time -Longitudinal studies vary in terms of the time dimension........ ¬Trend: same type of people/different times ¬Cohort: same groups that share common risks ¬Panel: exact same small group •Retrospective Study: can be cohort study and case control study .........
***What are the four levels of measurement? Describe how a variable can be measured at each level of measurement and only at that level e.g. Tom and Mike are not the same AGE = nominal level). - Correct Answer-•Conceptualization (an idea), nominal definition (a name), operational definition (how it will be measured), empirical measurement (in the real world)
•Scales of measurement: ¬Nominal: different numbers are distinct (5 is different than 6) ¬Ordinal: numbers have relative sizes (10 is larger than 4) ¬Interval: numbers are generated by a counting unit (12 is 4 units above 8)
What are the three criteria for causality? - Correct Answer-•Strength of association:
correlation coefficient (r); dose-response relationship ¬ Do the cause and effect go together •Casual priority (proper time order)
¬ Did the cause occur before the effect •Eliminate plausible rival hypothesis ¬ is the cause the best explanation for the effect
What is indirect association? - Correct Answer-•Independent variable and dependent variables associated because both related to a third variable ¬ Ex: altitude and cholera
What can cause an artifactual association: - Correct Answer-1.Artifactual association (spurious) may arise because of chance or bias -Example: New Hampshire sales due to out of towners
***Compare and contrast the inductive and the deductive models of theory construction. What are the strengths and weaknesses of each? Give examples of these two approaches. - Correct Answer-•Deductive reasoning: from general to specific: applying a theory to a particular case ¬Ex: all men are mortal (theory), Socrates is a man (observation), Socrates is mortal (conclusion) oStrengths: organizes what's known; points out new relationships; helps develop new hypotheses oWeaknesses: accepts premises as truth; conclusions cannot exceed content of major premise, not sufficient as a source of new truth •Inductive reasoning: from particular instances to general principles; from facts to theories ¬Ex: All cats that you observed purr. Therefore, every cat must purr. oStrengths: adds new knowledge; builds theories based on facts (observations), good for theory building oWeaknesses: based on representativeness of sample; imperfect induction does not lead to infallible conclusions
***Describe the two major research designs (cross-sectional and longitudinal). How can longitudinal studies vary in terms of the time dimension? List the three major types of prospective, longitudinal studies. Describe retrospective studies. - Correct Answer-•Cross-Sectional Studies: one point in time; exploratory or descriptive-ex: US census •Longitudinal study: (usually prospective)-over a period of time -Longitudinal studies vary in terms of the time dimension........ ¬Trend: same type of people/different times ¬Cohort: same groups that share common risks ¬Panel: exact same small group •Retrospective Study: can be cohort study and case control study .........
***What are the four levels of measurement? Describe how a variable can be measured at each level of measurement and only at that level e.g. Tom and Mike are not the same AGE = nominal level). - Correct Answer-•Conceptualization (an idea), nominal definition (a name), operational definition (how it will be measured), empirical measurement (in the real world)
•Scales of measurement: ¬Nominal: different numbers are distinct (5 is different than 6) ¬Ordinal: numbers have relative sizes (10 is larger than 4) ¬Interval: numbers are generated by a counting unit (12 is 4 units above 8)
