COMM 201 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: Nonprobability Sampling, Theoretical Definition, Deductive Reasoning
COMM 201 Exam Review:
Why is understanding the research process important?
We gain knowledge from our personal experiences, tradition, and authority. We make errors in
our everyday inquiries
Explain problem posing, problem solving, and peer persuasion as part of the research
process.
Problem posing: deciding what the question is
Problem solving: how to best answer the question, more than selecting a research method.
Involves adjusting your methods, finding new questions, or changing your research altogether
Peer persuasion: letting the world know about your research (publishing it for others to benefit
from)
What are four errors we make in our everyday inquiry?
-Inaccurate observations- inattention in observing the social world, we don’t really know what’s
happening, we fill in the gaps with assumptions
-Overgeneralizations-assume patterns based on a few cases
-Selective observation-focus on establish patterns, ignoring alternative explanations
-Illogical reasoning-claims are not supported by evidence
What are the main assumptions and post-positivist, interpretive, and critical
paradigms? Consider implications for nature of reality, theoretical perspective, nature of
data, generalization (nomothetic vs. idiographic), research bias.
Look at Paradigms of Knowing chart
What do we mean by inductive and deductive reasoning? How does this relate to the wheel
of science?
Induction- reasoning from observations to a theory that might explain your observations (start
from observations and goes to generalizations)
Deduction- moves from a theory to defining the observations you will make to test the theory
(start with theory and goes to generalizations)
What is the difference between description, explanation, and prediction?
All are purposes of research
Description- an account or documentation of observed conditions. One basic goal of research is
to describe communication phenomena in such a way that others can understand it (leaves us
asking why)
Explanation-an attempt to account for the relationships observed among phenomena, answer the
why question. A basic goal of research is to explain how and why communication phenomena
occur
Prediction- one major goal of research; understanding human behavior in order to forecast the
conditions under which it will occur
What is a hypothesis? What is a research question? What is the difference between an
open-ended and a closed-ended research question?
Hypothesis: a formal statement about the relationship we expect to find between variables
Research question: A formal question to guide research (use when research is not extensive and
you can’t make a prediction)
Open ended research questions ask simply whether there is a relationship between variables,
respondents reply in their own words (use when you don’t have a lot of evidence/information)
Close ended research questions ask about the direction of the relationship between variables
What is an independent variable? What is a dependent variable?
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Independent variable= hypothesized to cause, influence, predict, change, other variables
Dependent variable= hypothesized to be caused, influenced, predicted or changed by other
variables (it depends on others)
Ex. Does communication competence predict relational satisfaction?
IV= communication competence DV=relational satisfaction
Distinguish between an operational and conceptual definition of a variable.
Conceptual= specific and precise explanation, dictionary definition of variable (ex. give
definition of attitudes toward aging)
Operational= how you will measure the variable, high-medium-low, degrees (ex. how you will
measure the variable in your methods section)
What are the different levels of measurement?
- Nominal (categorical/ no hierarchy) ex. male vs. female
- Ordinal (categorical/ hierarchy) ex. freshman, sophomore, junior, senior
- Scale (interval/ ratio) ex. numbers
What is the difference between probability and non-probability sampling? Identify types of
non-probability sampling.
Probability: each unit in the population has equal chance of being selected, random selection of
participants (represents the population and can be used to generalize)
Nonprobability: when random selection is not possible or desired. Different types:
- Convenience (reliance on available participants)
- Purposive (focusing on sample with specific criteria/characteristics based on the goals of
the study)
- Snowball (participants recruit other participants from social networks with assumption
members of the network share desired attitudes, used with hard to get/ unknow
populations)
- ?? Quota (identify characteristics of a population and sample in a manner which matches
characteristics)
What is the difference between cross-sectional and longitudinal designs? Be able to explain
different types of longitudinal designs.
Cross sectional: analysis and conclusion based on observations made at that single point in time
(slice of time)
Longitudinal: analysis and conclusion based on observations made at different times. Types:
- Trend studies: measures same item over time but different people are surveyed
- Panel studies: group of people is sampled and asked questions over time, same people
- Cohort: group of people defined with having an event in common (ex. woman born in
1995 are a cohort)
- Cross lagged survey: measured IV and DV at two points in time (ex. measure children’s
television habits and then surveying them as young adults with respect to their views on
violence)
What is the purpose of surveys? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
Purpose of a survey is to gather information about a sample or population using a questioner
Advantages: people can answer lots of questions rapidly, lots of people can be surveyed rapidly,
you can make generalizations confidently (if you have appropriate sampling and normal
distribution attributes)
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Document Summary
We gain knowledge from our personal experiences, tradition, and authority. Explain problem posing, problem solving, and peer persuasion as part of the research process. Problem solving: how to best answer the question, more than selecting a research method. Involves adjusting your methods, finding new questions, or changing your research altogether. Peer persuasion: letting the world know about your research (publishing it for others to benefit from) Inaccurate observations- inattention in observing the social world, we don"t really know what"s happening, we fill in the gaps with assumptions. Selective observation-focus on establish patterns, ignoring alternative explanations. Consider implications for nature of reality, theoretical perspective, nature of data, generalization (nomothetic vs. idiographic), research bias. Induction- reasoning from observations to a theory that might explain your observations (start from observations and goes to generalizations) Deduction- moves from a theory to defining the observations you will make to test the theory (start with theory and goes to generalizations)
