Thursday, September 30, 2010

Study Tool (Chap 5)

Before taking the upcoming term, we'll have to reread lots.. but we can reduce this pain by looking and remembering images such as the one in page 148. Designing graphs/images in paper or trying to "mentally picture" the tons of concepts learned so far can be helpful, as well.

Dispersion Versis Standard Deviation

What is the difference between dispersion and standard deviation?

A. There is no difference.
B. Dispersion is a very high standard deviation
C. Standard deviation is one metric that can be used to describe dispersion.
D. Dispersion is a type of standard deviation.













Answer: C. Dispersion is the general description of how data is spread out. Measures of dispersion include standard deviation, range, variance, and more. A higher standard deviation means that the data is more dispersed; a lower standard deviation means the data is more clumped.

Babbie Ch 14 Quiz Questions (2)

Which of the following is NOT an example of a continuous variable?

A) A) Time it takes you to finish a math problem

B) B) Your weight

C) C) The temperature in your city

D) D) Your shoe size

E) E) All of these are examples of a continuous variable



Def: Continuous Variable- a variable whose attributes form a steady progression, such as age or income.

Answer: D) Shoe size, is NOT an example of a continuous variable since shoe sizes do not run in every measurement possible. Sizes come in whole or half sizes only. It is impossible to have a shoe size of 7.9, for example. A continuous variable does not skip a step.





What type of quantitative analysis would you use if you were interested in looking at the relationship between labor wages and citizenship status, in particular those who are undocumented and have low levels of education?

A) A) Exploratory Analysis

B) B) Bivariate Analysis

C) C) Multivariate Analysis

D) D) None of the above

Answer: C) Multivariate Analysis

Def: The analysis of the simultaneous relationships among several variables.

This particular study requires a multivariate analysis on the effects of citizenship status and education on labor wages. You are measuring three variables and their relationships to each other.


Posted by Martha Barajas

Babbie Quiz Question Chapter 14

What type analysis would be analyzing the relationship between age and amount of sleep to students working habits?

A. Multivariate Analysis
B. Univariate Analysis
C. Bivariate Analysis
D. Dispersion






Answer: C. Bivariate Analysis because this analyzes two variables simultaneously. The two variables are age and amount of sleep. It also aims to explain something, which in this study happens to be students working habits.

Quiz Question

Question: A questionnaire in the LA times asked teens from the ages of 12-21 whether love is mostly a complicated or simple process. They were asked to rate if they thought it was very complicated, somewhat complicated, somewhat simple or very simple. This questionnaire is an example of:  a.  likert scale b.  Semantic Differential c.  Guttman Scale d.  Typology 








Answer: This is an example of a semantical differential because it is in a format that the respondent is asked to rate something in terms of two opposite adjectives [simple or complicated] and uses qualifiers such as somewhat and very.

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

short answer

WHAT DOES A CODEBOOK DESCRIBE?!











It describes
1. The identifiers assigned to variables
2. The codes assigned  to the attributes of variables

Quiz Question: Chapter 7

In a community of 200 college students living in an apartment building; 50 are Latino, 50 are white, 50 are Asian and 50 are African America. In order to recruit a group for a study about college students living in apartment buildings there is a need to select 100 from the group, to do so all students will write their name on an index card which will be folded in half. A random person who we assume is unbias will select 100 of the folded index cards from a container. What is the first selection representative of?


A) a sampling unit


B) random selection


C) representativeness


D) quota sampling


B is correct because the selection of the 100 students will be done with equal chances for someone in the 4 groups to be chosen without any perceived outside forces acting on the selection process.

Chapter 6 Quiz Question

Which of the following types of scales would give you a range of options, for example, "strongly agree," to "strongly disagree"?

A. Thurstone scale
B. Semantic Differential
C. Likert scale
D. None.














Answer: C - Likert scale.

The Likert scale is used to rate the intensity of different items.

Chapter 14: Quantitative Analysis

A bivariate analysis, in regards to univariate analysis, allows a researcher to determine a relational aspect (empirical relationship) between two variables. What element does multivariate analysis bring into social research, in regards to bivariate analysis?

A) To be able to describe a single variable.
B) To be able to analyze relationships between several variables.
C) To be able to understand, in depth, the relationship between two variables.
D) Both A and B.
E) Both B and C.










ANSWER: E
A) Incorrect. This method is used in univariate analysis.
B) Correct but C is also correct. Apart from the clue from its name, in a multivariate analysis usually other independent variables are chosen to find other reasonable explanations by examining its effects.
C) Correct but B is also correct. Again, it is used to see other possible variables that might reasonably affect a dependent variable.
D) Incorrect. See above.
E) Correct. See above

Chapter 14 Review Question

According to Babbie, which of the following are specific examples of mathmatical central tendency?
A. median, interval, and standard deviation
B. mean, median, mode, and standard deviation
C. mode, mean, and median
D. none of the above are correct
E. all of the above are correct










Answer: C. As we learned in chapter 5, Intervals are a level of measurment so that would imply that A and E are incorrect. Standard deviation is mentioned in chapter 5, but it is used to measure the dispersion. This would make B an incorrect answer. Starting on page 411 of chapter 14, Babbie describes that C would be the correct answer since it includes all 3 examples of averages.

Quiz Question for Ch. 14

If your purpose in a study is to describe rather than to explain, what type of an analysis would you most likely conduct?

  1. a bivariate analysis
  2. a multivariate analysis
  3. a univariate analysis
  4. none of above








Answer: C

Reasons:

a. and b. analysis are geared more toward an explanation and finding of the empirical relationships between variables. For the bivariate, the relationship is between two variables and for multivariate; the relationship is between more than two variables.

c. a univariate analysis focuses on describing the variable by the distribution of attributes that comprise it

d. this answer is false for the real answer is included in the selection

Chapter 14 - Standard Deviation Exercises

Standard Deviation: A measure of dispersion around the mean, calculated so that approximately
  • 68 percent of the cases will lie within plus or minus one standard deviation (SD) from the mean,
  • 95 percent will lie within plus or minus 2 SDs, and 
  • 99.9 percent will lie within 3 SDs.

A group of hungry, hungry hippo bulls has an average weight of 4000 lbs with a standard deviation of 200 lbs. The weights follow the normal curve closely.

1. Is weight a continuous or discrete variable?

2. A runt hippo bull, weighing 1 SD below the mean, challenges the alpha hippo bull, weighing 1 SD above, for mating privileges.
a) What is the difference in their weight?
b) Approximately what percentage of this hippo bull group weigh more than the runt, but less than the alpha?


(Click "Read more..." for the answers!)

Quiz question chapter 14

Which measure of central tendency divides the distribution in halves?

A. mode
B. median
C. mean
D. margin





A. mode- An average representing the most frequently observed value or attribute.

Answer: B. median- an average representing the value of the middle in a rank ordered set of observations.

C. mean:An average computed by summing the values of several observations and dividing by the number of observations.

D. margin- This is another "m" word I threw in to confuse you.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Different Levels of Measurement

key clarification points to note what they entail:

Nominal- can be a name, the same or different.
  • EXAMPLE- sex: Male ____ or Female ____


Ordinal- can be ordered (high to low, etc)
  • EXAMPLE- political orientation: from very liberal to very conservative, etc

Interval- distance between each attribute is standardized and equal distance apart.
  • EXAMPLE- usually this one is difficult to make a question for, so if there is something about temperature or intelligence testing, it's usually interval.

Ratio- a true zero exists*
EXAMPLE- income differences among households:
$0-10,000
10,000-30,000
30,000-50,000
etc. there is a true zero.

Monday, September 27, 2010

Chapter 6 Study Tool: Types of Scales

What type of scale is displayed below? What are the logical steps one would take to go about creating this type of scale?

Please rate this new song based on the following dimensions:

completely unejoyable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 completely enjoyable

‐or‐

completely unejoyable 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 completely enjoyable


















Answer: (1) Semantic Differential Scale. This type of scale asks respondents to choose between two opposite positions by using qualifiers to bridge the distance between the two opposites.
(2)
1. Determine what you are trying to evaluate.
2. Determine the dimensions along which subjects should judge each selection and find two opposite terms representing the polar extremes of each dimension (e.g. "incredibly unattractive" and "incredibly attractive")
3. Prepare a rating sheet/score system for which each subject would complete.
4. Vary placement of terms that are likely to be related to one another if using rating sheet that doesn't involve numbers.

Memo: Chapter 14

Quantitative Data Analysis
-involves the techniques by which researchers convert data to a numerical form and subject it to statistical analysis.

Quantification of Data
-data can be easily quantified. Ex: male and female into "1" and "2"
Method - researchers must engage in coding process after the data have been collected.
Why?to reduce a wide variety of idiosyncratic items of information to a more limited set of attributes composing a variable.
Guideline - if the data are coded to maintain a great deal of detail, code categories can always be combined during an analysis that does not require such detail

What is coding? and how do you develop them?
Coding - the process whereby raw data are transformed into standardised form suitable for machine processing and analysis
Development: 2 steps
1) begin with a relatively welldeveloped coding scheme
2) generate codes from your data

Now what do I do with all this coding?
Codebook Construction
codebook - a document that describes the location of variables and lists the assignments of codes to the attributes composing those variables.
serves 2 functions
1) the identifiers assigned to different variables
2) the codes assigned to the attributes of those variables.

How do I analyze these data?

Univariate Analysis
-the analysis of a single variable, because it does not involve the relationships between two or more variables
PURPOSE: descriptive rather than explanatory.
TECHNIQUES: frequency distributions, averages, grouped data, and measures of dispersion

Subgroup Comparisons
-used to describe similarities and differences among subgroups with respect to some variable.

Bivariate Analysis
-focuses on relationships between variables rather than on comparisons of groups.
-explores the statistical association between the independent variable and the dependent variable.
PURPOSE: usually explanatory rather than merely descriptive.
TECHNIQUES: contingency tables - constructed to reveal the effects of the independent variable on the dependent variable.

Multivariate Analysis
-a method of analyzing the simultaneous relationships among several variables.
-used to understand the relationship between two variables more fully.
Sociological diagnostics - a quantitative analysis technique for determining the nature of social problems such as ethnic or gender discrimination.

Study Tool: Babbie Ch. 6 important points of scales and indexes

Scales vs. Indexes

Indexes: a composite measure that summarizes and rank-orders several specific observations or attributes and represents some more general variable.

Scales: assign scores to patterns of responses, to show that some items reflect a relatively weak degree of the variable while others reflect something stronger. Generally more specific than indexes.

Types of scales:

Thurstone Scale- judges assign scores to variable indicators, and the indicators with the greatest amount of agreement are used to gauge or indicate a persons level or amount of whatever variable is being studied.

Likert Scaling- provides statements about a certain topic with choices such as, “agree, strongly agree, disagree, strongly disagree” and assigns relative intensities to the meaning of each selection.

Semantic Differential- a questionnaire format in which the respondent is asked to rate something in terms of two opposite adjectives, using qualifiers such as, “very, somewhat, neither, very much”.

Guttman Scaling- based on the idea that anyone who gives a strong indicator of some variable will also give the weaker indicators. Used to summarize several discrete observations and to represent some more-general variable.

Scholarships / Grants for Undergrads

Hi All,

Dreaming of traveling or conducting your own research, but don't think you can afford it? There's lots of money available to do those sorts of things... many of the deadlines are coming up. Feel free to add resources or let me know of things to add.

Critical Language Scholarship - NOV 15 - study languages deemed "critical" by the state department. This includes Hindi, Urdu, Korean, Arabic, Japanese, Russian, Turkish, etc. No strings attached.

http://www.borenawards.org/boren_scholarship
Strings attached (ie go work for the feds after you're done) study abroad program, up to $20K -- also in countries identified as "critical"

www.daad.org
study in germany

www.us.emb-japan.go.jp/JET/
teach/hang out in japan
go almost anywhere in the world - super prestigious (deadline JUST passed, be ready for next fall! due early Sept.)

http://www.iie.org/en/Students
other scholarship abroad resources


RESEARCH

http://crg.berkeley.edu
center for race and gender, up to $1K for undergraduate projects, due ~ Oct 7th (and again in Spring)

http://cue.berkeley.edu/internship.html
those of you interested in qualitative methods and/or expanding your project - due may (?)

http://issc.berkeley.edu/research_newmetro.php
Comparative Study of Right Wing Movements, up to $500, due OCT 1

http://clpr.berkeley.edu/pages/aboutus/programs/index.html
Center for Latino Policy Research, internship and research grant

Quiz Question (Memo or Study Tool) Instructions & Tips

  • Approximately once every two weeks, you need to contribute a quiz question, study tool, or memo.  Sept 20, 22, 27, or 29  ///   Oct 4, 11, or 13   ///   Oct 18, 20, 25, or 27   ///   Nov 1, 3, or 8   ///   Nov 15, 17, 20, 29
  • Questions must be posted on Monday or Wednesday evenings, and be based on the reading due for the NEXT day.  So for example, if Babbie Chapter 6 is to be read by Tuesday, Sept 28th, then by the evening of the 27th, a question/study tool/memo based on that chapter should be posted.
  • You can incorporate concepts from previous readings, but the substantive part of your question/study tool / memo should be based on the reading for the next day.
  • PLEASE use a descriptive title for your post.  For example, be more specific than Babbie Chapter X.  Try "Babbie Chptr X - Reliability and Validity Quiz Question"
  • When writing out the answer, please be thorough in your explanation.  Rather than saying A, B, and C and wrong, explain why they are wrong, and provide definitions and examples of how they might be "right."
  • Memos should be the equivalent of half a page single spaced (or one page, double spaced), and address questions as listed in the syllabus, and/or describe a concept in-depth, making sure to distinguish it from related concepts and provide an example (not already in the book).
  • Study tools should be a compilation/summary of information from the reading/lectures that organizes and simplifies otherwise complicated information.
  • To get feedback on your posts, please print out a copy for me.

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Chapter 6 Quiz Question -

According to Babbie, what is one way in which indexes and scales differ?

a) An index is a composite measure while a scale is a typological measure.
b) An index rank orders items that indicate a variable, while a scale classifies observations in terms of their attributes on two or more variables.
c) An index looks at whether or not an item reflects a variable being measured, while a scale takes into consideration the intensity with which different items reflect the variable being measure.
d) Scales generally superior to indexes and are used more often than indexes because they are much easier to create.
e) They are not different, they are the same thing.











a) incorrect - Both scales and indexes are composite measures.
b) incorrect - The definition of index is correct, but the definition of the scale is actually the definition of a typology.
c) correct!
d) incorrect - Babbie does state that scales are superior to indexes but he also says that "indexes are more frequently used because scales are often difficult or impossible to construct from the data at hand" (Babbie 155, 156).
e) incorrect - Though Babbie states that many researchers use the two words interchangeably, he insists that there is a different between the two terms.

Chapter 6 quiz question

What are the 4 main steps in construction of an index?

A. Selecting possible items, examining empirical relationships, scoring the index, validating

B. Establishing relationship, constructing scale, scoring the index, validating

C. Selecting possible items, constructing scale, scoring the index, validating

D. Establishing relationship, constructing scale, measuring varying degree, scoring the index,

E. Selecting possible items, establishing relationship, measuring varying degree, scoring the index.









Answer: A- Selecting possible items, examining empirical relationships, scoring the index, validating. Measuring varying degree is not used for creating index, it is used for scale construction. So that means D and E are not the answer. Constructing scale, is also not done in constructing an index, so B and C are wrong. Therefore by process of elimination A is the correct answer.


Chapter 6 Quiz Question

The textbook went over indexes and scales, in Chapter 6. What is the BEST answer for type of measurement technique used in this study?

A team of sociologists create a set of questions:
1. Are you willing to allow a homosexual couple to live in your country?
2. Are you willing to allow a homosexual couple to live in your community?
3. Are you willing to allow a homosexual couple to live in your neighborhood?
4. Are you willing to allow a homosexual couple to live next door?
5. Are you willing to allow a homosexual to marry your child?

This is a...
a. Bogardus Social Distance Scale
b. Thurstone Scale
c. Index
d. scale
e. both b and d















a. Bogardus Social Distance Scale – is the correct answer. This technique is used to determine the willingness of people to participate in social relations, of varying degrees of closeness, with other kinds of people.
b. Thurstone Scale, is not the correct answer. Thurston Scale uses 10-15 judges, for the ruling of intensities of different indicators. Since judges were not mentioned, this cannot be the best answer.
c. Index - An index is a basic accumulation of scores assigned to the individual attributes. The answer is incorrect because the example is specific and is trying to distinguish the varying degrees of the variables.
d. scale - is incorrect because it is too vague. It is a scale, but the specific type of scale should be included for the BEST answer. A scale is where an individual must assign scores to patterns of responses, recognizing that some reflect weak degrees of the variable and others reflect a stronger degree.
e. both b and d, is incorrect because it is not a Thurstone Scale (see reason in "b")

Friday, September 24, 2010

General Comments / Feedback on Project 1

Things to consider when doing the next project:

Passage Selection
  • The passage you select should be relevant and precise - think of it as evidence for the point you are trying to make.  As such, explain why you chose it and what exactly about it is relevant.  The best papers were concise and crystal clear when it came to their passage choices and explanations.  Don't assume that the reader will know what you mean if you provide a passage - spell it out.
  • Be careful about selecting the literature review as your evidence /explanation.  These sections provide background on the current state of knowledge in general, but may not be representative of the researchers' work
  • The paper does not have to be the maximum page length.  It seemed many people were using copious amounts of passage copy to make their papers longer.  Don't worry about that - it's much better to have a good clear short paper than a rambling vague long paper.

General Writing Tips
  • Strive for descriptive and analytic precision.  In many of the papers, variables would be only loosely identified.  The answer wasn't wrong per say, but it wasn't quite right.  Authors, especially those utilizing quantitative data, are usually quite specific when defining their variables.  You may need to read carefully to figure out the complete list of attributes, for example.
  • It's often helpful and a good practice to include definitions.  This helps ensure the reader knows exactly  what you are referring to.
  • When making an argument or identifying what you think is the "answer" explain how you came to that conclusion.
  • When identifying the unit of analysis, it can be good to explain why it's not a different unit of analysis.
  • When giving summary statements or descriptions about the article, make sure what you write is accurate.
  • Just as your projects are, the articles often include multiple authors.  You can write out all of their names, or write the first author and "et al."  For example, "Correll et al. make the point that...."

Extra Credit

You can receive up to one point of extra credit on Project 2 for identifying additional variables.  I will update this with more information when I hear back from Prof. Haveman and the other GSIs.

Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Babbie Chp. 5- Quiz Question

In Chapter 5 of "The Practice of Social Research," Babbie introduces a major measurement concept, levels of measurement. Which of the following groupings represent the major levels of this measurement?
I. conditional
II. nominal
III. ordinal
IV. interval
V. ratio
A. I, II, III
B. I, II, IV
C. II, III
D. II, III, IV, V
E. all of the above










D. correct! Four "Levels of Measurement" For levels of measurement, there are typically four major types that researchers must choose from: Nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Nominal measures refers to variables whose attributes have only the characteristics of exhaustiveness and mutual exclusiveness. Variables with attributes we can logically rank in order are ordinal measures. Interval measure is a level of measurement describing a variable whose attriutes are rank-ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes. Lastly is ratio measure, a level of measurement describing a variable with attributs that have all the qualities of nominal, ordinal, and interval measures and in addition are based on a "true zero" point.

Babbie Ch. 5 Practice Quiz Question

Which of these is NOT a nominal measure?

a) nationality
b) marital status
c) social class
d) college major
e) gender






















a) Nationality is a nominal measure, because the categories are mutually exclusive.
b) Marital status is a nominal measure, because the categories are mutually exclusive.
c) Social class is CORRECT because it is NOT a nominal measure; social classes have a range of categories that you can put in rank-order.
d) College major is nominal measure, because the categories are mutually exclusive.
e) Gender is a nominal measure, because the categories are mutually exclusive.

Quiz Question, Babbie Ch. 5

Which of the following descriptions of main ideas from chapter five is FALSE?

A. concepts are constructed ideas that represent the consensus of what a group thinks a term means

B. conceptualization is the refinement and specification of abstract concepts

C. operationalization is the development of specific research procedures to empirically measure those concepts

D. reliability is a description of how well a measurement process accurately reflects the concept it was intended to measure








Answer. D is FALSE. Validity is a description of how well a measurement process accurately reflects the concept it was intended to measure. Reliability, on the other hand, is a description of the quality of a measurement method, with quality implying getting consistent results from the same method.

Quiz Question

Abraham Kaplan (as noted in Babbie, Chapter 5, distinguishes three classes of phenomena that scientists measure.

Which of these is NOT included amongst his list?

a) direct observables

b) constructs

c) concepts

d) indirect observables











ANSWER: Scientists observe direct and indirect observables, which include those able to be observed "simply and directly" as well as those more "subtle, complex, or indirect," respectively. A direct observable would include a chess game, whereas an indirect observable would include an account of who played and won that game. Scientists also test constructs, which are theoretical creations based on observation that do not fall into the categories of direct or indirect. A test of one's general intelligence or competence based their mastery of chess is an example of a construct. Kaplan does not include concepts in his classes of scientific measurement.

Mock quiz question: necessary or sufficient cause?

Bob realizes that it is his life long dream to compete in the Summer Olympics, as a runner, he thinks to himself that he is a young man (18 years old) with two legs and a dream, why wouldn't he be able to compete? Bob has no formal running training and asthma.

Question: In this scenario the fact that Bob has two legs and a dream is:
a) a necessary cause
b) a sufficient cause
c) neither












Answer: A
reason: the fact that Bob has two legs and a dream is necessary for him, or anyone to compete in a foot race, but these factors are in no way sufficient for him to actually become an olympic level competitor. sufficient causes would be record breaking speed, perfect lungs, and training.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Quiz Question (Babbie Ch.5)

Jimmy Neutron is conducting a research experiment to study the correlation between the numbers of apples eaten and GPA. He has conducted 500 runs and achieved a mass of consistent data supporting his theory. Which of the following best describes Jimmy's experiment?

a. both valid and reliable
b. valid, but not reliable
c. reliable, but not valid
d. neither valid nor reliable
















Answer: C
Reliability is defined as "that quality of measurement method that suggests that the same data would have been collected each time in repeated observations of the same phenomenon," so based on the description, we know that Jimmy's experiment is reliable since he "achieved a mass of consistent data." This eliminates answers B and D. The problem is that Jimmy's experiment is not valid. His study fails in "face validity" since his correlating consumption of apples and GPA is not a reasonable measure at all, thus eliminating answer A, making the correct choice C.

Types of Study


Types of Study

Aim

Pros

Cons

Exploratory study

Helps familiarize a researcher with a topic, common in new areas of new interest or fields that are relatively new. Also appropriate for more persistent phenomena.

Can offer a breadth and depth of information.

Seldom provide satisfactory answers to research questions.

Descriptive study

To describe situations and events.

Helpful in qualitative analysis.

Limiting. Generally part of a larger study as to why a phenomena occurs.

Cross-sectional studies

A snap-shot in time. Exploratory and descriptive studies are often cross-sectional.

Gives an accurate analysis of a phenomena at one given time.

Phenomena are organic and always changing.

Longitudinal studies

Designed to permit observations of the same phenomenon over an extended period.

Best way to study changes over time.

Can be difficult for quantitative studies such as large scale surveys.





Types of Longitudinal studies




Trend study

Studies within a population over time.

Can provide an in-depth analysis of a population over a period of time.

Sampling could result in candidates with similar background and characteristics. Resulting in a less than simple random sample.

Cohort study

A researcher examines specific sub-populations as they change over time.

Unique cross-section of a population with true random sampling.

Limited to the cohort you have chosen to study.

Panel study

Examines the same set of people each time.

Most comprehensive data on changes over time.

Panel attrition


Monday, September 20, 2010

Pager: Quiz Question

In Pager's study, a(n) _________ approach was used to test the hypothesis that a criminal record will lead to lower employment opportunities. In the end, the empirical research was found to match the claims of the theory, making it (the theory) ____________.

A. inductive, false
B. inductive, true
C. deductive, less credible
D. deductive, more credible
E. deductive, true













Answer:
A. inductive, false
B. inductive, true
C. deductive, less credible
D. deductive, more credible (CORRECT!)
E. deductive, true

Because the research was based off of a theory and data was collected to test that theory, a deductive approach was used. Also, because the data corresponded to the claims made by the theory, the theory was made more credible - not false. You would not say that the theory is now true because theories can never be true. They are either made false or made more credible. There are far too many alternative theories to ever test them all to prove a theory true.

Practice Quiz Question

In Pager's experiment regarding the effects of previous incarceration on employment opportunities, the race of the applicant acted as a __________.

A) necessary cause
B) sufficient cause
C) moderator
D) mediator















Answers:
A) Necessary cause is NOT the correct answer. The race of the applicant was neither a cause nor an effect of the experiment.
B) Sufficient cause is NOT the correct answer. The race of the applicant was neither a cause nor an effect of the experiment.
C) Moderator is the CORRECT answer! The race of the applicant altered the percentage of callbacks the applicant received.
D) Mediator is NOT the correct answer. If this were the case, race would necessarily have to be an effect of previous incarceration, which was not the case.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

The Mark of a Criminal Record-Quiz Question

In the article, "The Mark of a Criminal Record," Pager addresses 3 primary questions. Which of the following is not a question he mentions?

A) whether race serves as a major barrier to employment
B) whether race is a determinant of the salary offered by the employer
C) whether the effect of a criminal record differs for black and white applicants
D) whether and to what extent employers use information about criminal histories to make hiring decisions

Answers:
A) True. The above question is mentioned in the article.
B) False. The article does not mention how race affects salary.
C) True. The above question is mentioned in the article.
D) True. The above question is mentioned in the article.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

Mock Quiz Question

Beatrice is interested in the causes of juvenile violence. She interviews thirty youths of various races and genders who have been convicted of violent crimes. From her interviews she learns that most of the youths committed their crime while they were under the influence of at least one drug (including alcohol). She then states her theory as follows: Drug use increases the likelihood of violent crime in youths. Through which of the following did Beatrice arrive at her theory?

A. Deduction
B. Induction
C. Nomothetic
D. Ideographic

Answer: B (Induction). Because she started with an interest in juvenile violence and then followed it up with observations (through interviews) Beatrice induced her theory of drug use and juvenile violence from the data obtained in the interviews.

Why not A (Deduction)? If Beatrice had begun with the theory that drug use influences juvenile violence she would have developed her theory through the interviews. She then could test her theory with more observations.

Why not C (Nomothetic)? In a nomothetic explanation, she would have sought out two or three causal factors for juvenile violence. Her theory only states one.

Why not D (Ideographic)? Beatrice interviewed thirty youths to arrive at her conclusion. Ideographic explanations usually focus on one individual and determine all of the causal agents, home life, abuse, etc. for a particular situation.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Cross-Sectional / Longitudinal Table

Here's an example of what a study tool might look like (filled out of course).


Syllabus, Office Hours, and Intro Form

OFFICE HOURS:
Tuesday / Thursday, 2:30 - 3:30, Cafe Milano (or by appointment)



Getting to Know You