PSY 290 Exam 3 Questions And Answers

survey - ANS series of questions given to a group of ppl to measure attitudes, beliefs, values, or tendencies to act Hall's "Questionary" - ANS Used to study children's education & how to teach them. "The Contents of Children's Minds," to determine how much basic information they knew. Why is sampling important to survey research? - ANS data must be from a representative sample, or else results will have lower external validity. Bad Sampling Examples - ANS 1936 Literary Digest Presidential Election - ANS a drastic miscalculation predicted that Republican candidate Landon would defeat incumbent President FDR; it only sampled people who owned a car or a telephone (mostly Republicans), which did not represent the middle American during the Great Depression. 1948 Chicago Daily Tribune Presidential Election - ANS self-selection bias - ANS people who feel strongly about a subject are more likely to respond to survey questions than people who feel indifferent about it knowing the _____ of returned surveys, is more informative than knowing the _____ - ANS percentage; number i.e. Hite report on female sexuality: 90% of women reported feeling emotionally abused in their relationships & marital dissatisfaction. HOWEVER, survey was sent to select women's groups only (& only 4.5% of the 100k surveys were returned) Surveys vs. Assessments - ANS Surveys measure attitudes, beliefs, opinions, and projected behaviors. Can be done in person, online, mail, etc. Assessment uses psychological testing (more formal) and is done in a clinical setting. Usually evaluated more rigorously to measure reliability and validity Types of survey items - ANS -open-ended -partially open-ended -close-ended (dichotomous) open-ended questions - ANS wide range of answers provide lots of info, but harder to score and interpret results (leads to issues with reliability and validity) close-ended questions - ANS small range of possibilities (Likert scales) and less info, but easier to score & interpret Partially opened questions - ANS combined approach -- respondents can elaborate on answers to close-ended questions may also use partially open items (ie. checklists) "forward" and "backward" worded items - ANS Forward: Most mornings, I wake up and expect the day to bring great things Backward: Most days, I just hope to get through the day. done to avoid (1) response acquiesce and (2) not fully paying attention to questions/items response acquiescence - ANS tendency to agree with statements Why is the order of items in a survey important? - ANS Why is memory difficult to measure? - ANS memory is imperfect influences on memory: -time in btwn assessment and event(s) in question -paying attention -frequency of event memory aids? -lists "Don't Know" (DK) option - ANS pros: may be necessary if someone is truly ignorant cons: ppl may get into habit of using this option guide respondents away from DK by asking them to use their best judgement demographic questions - ANS ask for basic information, such as age, gender, ethnicity, or income put at END of survey to avoid (1) boring respondent early on or (2) offending them (invasion of privacy; stereotype threat) avoid 3 things when wording a survey - ANS 1. linguistic ambiguity 2. asking 2+ questions in one 3. asking leading questions linguistic ambiguity - ANS language forms that offer more than one possible interpretation (e.g., a word with two possible meanings, a word that can be pronounced in two ways, a phrase that has both a literal and an idiomatic interpretation) double-barreled questions - ANS two questions in one leading question - ANS a question that implies that one answer would be better than another Good survey items - ANS simplicity, complete sentences avoid: jargon, slang, negatively worded-items pilot studies - ANS small-scale preliminary studies referred to as feasibility studies; purpose is to identify strengths and limitations of a larger planned study help us know if there are carry-over effects, or content of survey puts respondents in a particular mood carry over effects - ANS Types of Surveys - ANS in-person interviews, mail-in, phone, online In-Person Interview Surveys - ANS e.g. Kinsey Report Pros: -surveyor knows exactly who provided the data -surveyor can ask follow-up questions Cons: -cost, logistics, interviewer bias -underrepresentation -social desirability bias (issue for all surveys)