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Objectives

Slides to accompany Weathington, Cunningham & Pittenger (2010), Chapter 8: Creating and Using Assessments, Surveys, and Objective Measures. Objectives. Purpose of Measurement Creating a Measurement Scale Constructing Interviews, Questionnaires, and Attitude Surveys Question Response Formats

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Objectives

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  1. Slides to accompany Weathington, Cunningham & Pittenger (2010), Chapter 8: Creating and Using Assessments, Surveys, and Objective Measures

  2. Objectives • Purpose of Measurement • Creating a Measurement Scale • Constructing Interviews, Questionnaires, and Attitude Surveys • Question Response Formats • Writing Good Questionnaire and Survey Items • Determining the Sample Size for a Survey • Naturalistic Observation

  3. Purpose of Measurement • To work with our operational definitions • To facilitate consistency in research • Issues to overcome: • Mistrust in measurement • Excessive trust in measurement • Reification • Missing important information

  4. Creating Measures Follow the sequence: • What questions are you asking? • Hypotheses • How can you collect the best data? • Operational definition + method plan • What measurement approach would be most accurate?

  5. Interviews • Several varieties (Table 8.1) • Pros: • Encourage participation, richer answers • Ability to clarify questions • Cons: • Expensive (time, $) • Training required • Interpersonal issues may arise

  6. Self-Report Surveys • Paper-pencil, phone- or internet-based • Pros: • Cheap • Easy distribution • Cons: • Data quality may suffer • Lack of control over data collection

  7. Survey Strategies • Use a sufficiently large sample • Can increase retention by: • Using a “captive” audience • Making multiple contacts and reminders • Using creative labeling/packaging • Offering incentives/gifts • Facilitating quick completion (good timing, easy format)

  8. Question Types • Open-ended • Can gather rich data • Responses often incomplete or difficult to interpret • “What symptoms or signs do your recognize in yourself when you are experiencing a great deal of stress?”

  9. Question Types • Closed-ended/response • Researcher supplies response options: • Nominal categories • Forced choice • Likert • Guttman

  10. Question Writing Strategies • Use an existing measure • Single questions/statements • Be specific and clear • K.I.S.S. • Write with neutrality (avoid bias) • Don’t embarrass/anger the participant

  11. Question Writing Strategies • Make it easy to answer • Ask more than one question • Try to avoid a response set • Avoid full transparency (obviously correct)

  12. Determining Survey Sample Size • Using formulas, you can estimate the optimal sample size for surveys • Formulas differ depending on the type of responses you are gathering (yes/no, Likert, open-ended responses) • Your textbook presents formulas for estimating N for surveys with binary outcomes (e.g., “Yes/No” type questions)

  13. Naturalistic Observation • A.K.A. Field studies, observation, natural experiment • Follow same strategies as with survey construction: • What behaviors to observe? • How defining these behaviors? • What data would be best to gather?

  14. Participant Observation • Joining the group to learn about its functioning or about phenomena in that environment • Ethnographic approach • Can be difficult to stay objective • Can be risky • May lead to criticism

  15. Observational Data • Frequency • Counting repetition in specified time span • Duration • Length of time behavior lasts • Interval • How long between behaviors • Intensity • How strong was the behavior or stimulus

  16. Observational Research Issues • Interrater reliability • Index of consistency across multiple raters • Cohen’s kappa for level of agreement (nominal/ordinal scales) • r for duration or interval (interval and ratio scales) • Improved by using “blind” raters, training, video recording, avoiding reactivity

  17. What is Next? • **instructor to provide details

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