Before jumping to conclusions, one of the biggest challenges researchers face is deciding which hypothesis test techniques were used by pollsters. Pollsters often only report the margin of error and without any other information, the results do not really mean anything to researchers. Researchers should determine if the poll results are credible by answering the following four questions. First, what is the level of measurement? There are four levels of measurement which include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. With the nominal level of measurement, no meaningful order is implied. The list of variables can be re-ordered without affecting the relationship between these variables. An example of nominal level data would be the color of the candies in a bag of M&Ms. With the …show more content…
An example of ordinal level data would be the level of the agreement; Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, Strongly Agree. The ordinal level of measurement, can count the frequencies of items of interest and sort them in a meaningful rank order. Also, the ordinal scale can perform a variety of non-parametric hypotheses tests. However, the ordinal scale cannot perform parametric hypothesis tests using z-values or t-values. With the interval level of measurement, uses quantitative data and like the ordinal level, the interval level has an inherent order. The interval level has three characteristics the first is the values have a meaningful order. The classic example of the interval scale is a temperature measured on the Fahrenheit or Celsius scales. The temperature ninety-degrees Fahrenheit means that the weather outside is extremely hot and possibly humid. Vice versa, the temperature of ten-degrees Fahrenheit means that the weather outside is extremely cold and possibly snowy. The second characteristic of the interval level is the distances between the ranks are
°C. Thermometer Dependent. Time. mins /secs. Stop watch Controlled.
There is a student Emma, who has recently graduated from Austin High School, where 90/10 grading system is used; 90% of Emma’s grade is knowledge based with scores such as tests and projects, while her practice work such as homework is worth 10% of her grade. Emma, finds school somewhat easy and since homework was only 10% of her grade, so she often did not bother to do her practice work. Even though she did not do her homework through high school she managed to keep above a 3.00 GPA. When Emma enters college, she is shocked to see that she would have to complete homework, and that it would affect her grade drastically if she didn’t complete her homework. Emma is feeling unprepared and overloaded with work. She is not prepared for college,
readings at 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60°C from which a trend should show. I
Of those critiques, the first states that surveys are not a very good way to measure the cultural differences in an organisation. The point made begs the question: “How many people actually answer questionnaires honestly?” Generally when a person is asked to participate in a survey, one would tend to answer the questions as soon as possible and continue with their previous task. So it’s definitely understandable that the surveys skewed the results slightly which allowed Hofstede to come to the findings that he made.
...ling or the results. The sample was sufficient enough to prevent any hastiness or weak generalizations and the process by which they went about collecting the data was completely random in terms of selecting a balanced and equal number of participants. The target population was the general American public and these methods seem to accurately reflect the target’s characteristics. With the techniques conducted by Rasmussen it becomes possible for a bias to creep in. The main issue comes with the online surveys because, despite being sent to a specific set of people, the amount of those who decided to participate or if it was the correct person can not be out of the control of the pollsters, which is one aspect was. The target population for this then, the active voters in the U.S., becomes harder to connect to due to the lapse in full randomly selected participants.
Kelley, K et al. (2003). Good practice in the conduct and reporting of survey research. Oxford Journal. 15 (3): 261-266.
I believe the results of this survey to be accurate as the survey was conducted in a fair and professional manner. However, I also discovered how easy it can be to manipulate the data and the opinions of participants to favor a single viewpoint. Surveys are an important method of gathering, summarizing and presenting large amounts of data. However, when relying on polls to form opinions or make decisions, people should consider the source, look for any conflicts of interest, contemplate other avenues of information and draw their own conclusions.
There are some basic characteristics that result from this definition and they are the following:
Associated Press poll. Feb. 28-March 4, 2003. N=1,013 adults nationwide. MoE ± 3. Fieldwork by ICR.
"If industry is to be successful in dealing with public opinion . . . it must learn the language of the people, it must consider the study of public opinion as important as any phase of its operations. It must recognize that public opinion can be measured, and utilize the increasingly scientific methods developing today for gauging it"(Ross)
Education is undoubtedly one of the most important parts of any human society. Without it human beings could not have been at the current point of time where we all know tremendously about life and the universe. We are now better off than we were. However, it is clear that there is still huge variety of phenomena waiting for our discovery. The most important objective of education is to help human beings pursue their burning desires to learn and reach their potential. In that way we progress. Therefore, it is vital to help or at least not hinder education to fulfill its goals.
This chapter taught me the importance of understanding statistical data and how to evaluate it with common sense. Almost everyday we are subjected to statistical data in newspapers and on TV. My usual reaction was to accept those statistics as being valid. Which I think is a fair assessment for most people. However, reading this chapter opens my eyes to the fact that statistical data can be very misleading. It shows how data can be skewed to support a certain group’s agenda. Although most statistical data presented may not seem to affect us personally in our daily lives, it can however have an impact. For example, statistics can influence the way people vote on certain issues.
__C__ 8. Which of the following scales would be used when the information is qualitative rather than quantitative?
Surveys are an effective and popular method for research because of the efficiency, versatility and generalizability. Generalizability is the ability to sample and draw research conclusions for large populations (Bachman & Schutt, 2012). In order to effectively maximize outcomes in survey research, surveys must be structured to avoid unclear or confusing questions. Demographic related questions should be avoided if not pertinent to the research study (Bachman & Schutt, 2012). Generally, the motivation of the researcher is clearly identified in a survey, and the respondent has the option of declining involvement in the survey. There are fewer ethical dilemmas with survey research than other types of research methods.
...sis, which could make all results invalid. With any research projects, limitations will be present. It is important to attempt to eliminate some of these causes in order to complete a thorough, accurate study. In future projects, this study could go about researching the issue in different ways. Perhaps using a larger sample size would be conducive for accurate results. A larger sample size helps reduce and even out any possible errors caused by those who do not answer truthfully. Also, keeping the surveys mainly anonymous would help to receive more truthful and accurate responses from participants. Participants may be fearful of judgments on open interviews or phone interviews, which could affect responses. In order to obtain as accurate results as possible, a future study would need to find ways to survey participants in a confidential way that feels comfortable.