POLI 2P80 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Truthiness, Superficiality, Andrea Horwath
23 Oct 2015
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Last class, we spoke of sampling and determined different ways of selecting people for our research. After we have determined how we will select people and which people will be selected, we have to figure out how to get some information from them (i. e. the method) Surveys ask people about their beliefs, opinion, characteristics and behaviours. Surveys can have open-ended or closed-ended questions. Can be conducted in-person (structured interview), over the telephone, by mail (questionnaire), or online (email, website, etc. ) Respondents are generally chosen though probability sampling procedures (through some non-probability methods are possible) Systematic questionnaire or interview procedures same formula for all involved. Superficiality truthiness? (give answer you think they want) A lack of flexibility for those in the minority (what about the grey area) Can be used for descriptive, explanatory and exploratory research purposes. It is the best method available to collect original information about a population. Useful to measure attitudes and orientations about a population.
