Research Methods Analysis
11. Suppose you were hired to research the effect of music
on the dollar amount spent by women in a department store.
o In such a case, who would be your “target
population?”
o If you wanted to maximize the external validity of your
study, how would you construct a “sample” from this population? In
other words, which specific sampling design would be proposed for the study?
o Why?
IMPORTANT! There are many ways to construct a correct answer
to this problem. You need only provide one correct answer.
12. What is “Convenience Sampling” and when might
it be used? IMPORTANT! Provide an illustration to show how convenience sampling
would work. Be certain that your illustration cannot be mistaken for some other
kind of sampling, such as “Snowball Sampling.”
13. Suppose you were asked to create a questionnaire measure
of “entrepreneurial self-efficacy” (ESE). This is meant to refer to a
small business owner’s feeling that s/he is able to execute the necessary steps
to make the business grow. You develop a 10-item questionnaire measuring
overall entrepreneurial self-efficacy and want to assess the reliability of
your instrument.
o What does it mean for a measurement to be
“reliable?”
o Describe one of the mechanical processes you could follow
to formally test the “reliability” of your 10-item measurement scale.
In your answer, be sure to correctly employ one of the following types of
reliability: inter-rater or inter-observer reliability, test-retest
reliability, parallel forms reliability, internal consistency reliability.
14. Identify the level of measurement (nominal, ordinal,
interval, or ratio) associated with each of the variables listed below*:
Important! Justify your answer in every case, so that I can see your logic.
o Number of words correctly spelled, from a list of 10 words
considered to be of equal difficulty, as a score of 3rd grade spelling ability
(scores can range from 0 to 10).
o Names of 12 cities in the United States, chosen at random.
o Grade point average from 1.0 to 4.0. In this scenario,
assume no student has a 0.0 GPA.
*Salkind, N. J. (2003). Exploring Research (5th ed.). Upper
Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
15. Which of the following is FALSE, regarding the cognitive
“work” a respondent must perform if s/he is to provide you with valid
information on a survey or questionnaire?
A. It is possible that the respondent does not understand
(cannot correctly interpret) the question as written.
B. The vast majority of respondents will lack sufficient
knowledge to make the necessary judgments required by the questions on your
survey. Instead, they just randomly fill in a number, so they can get it over
with on the questionnaire.
C. Sometimes, a respondent may understand what you want to
know, but can’t recall the necessary information (the respondent may
“guess,” because she doesn’t want to admit she can’t remember).
D. It may be that the respondent has an answer to the
question, but his answer doesn’t “fit” into any of the possible
response options you’ve provided on your questionnaire.
16. If your hypothesis has a dependent variable
“age,” i.e. how many years one has lived, which one of the four
measurement scales is the most valid scale to measure age? Say why.
17. Which of the following is TRUE?
A. External validity describes the generalizability of your
research findings from your sample to the larger population.
B. Internal validity describes the ability to attribute the
results of your research to your independent variable, rather than to some factor
in your research design or your sample, which you failed to control.
C. Internal validity describes the generalizability of your
research findings from your sample to the larger population.
D. External validity describes the ability to attribute the
results of your research to your independent variable, rather than to some
factor in your research design or your sample, which you failed to control.
E. Both c and d are true
F. Both a and b are true
G. None of the above is true
18. Briefly, accurately, and with specificity, explain the
difference between “maturation” and “instrumentation” as
internal validity threats. IMPORTANT! Be sure to provide an illustration that
demonstrates your distinction between maturation and instrumentation.
19. Let’s say that you were hired to research the effect of
“compressed work week” (40 hours in 4 days, rather than 5 days) on
employee turnover in the IT industry. The company hiring you believes that IT
employees offered the compressed work week will stay longer with the company
than those working the traditional 5-day week.
If you were to write a Business Research Proposal for this
company, which “Research Design” (e.g., true experimental,
quasi-experimental, pre-test/post-test, case study) would you select? Briefly
explain why you would use this specific research design.
20. Which of the following independent variables do you
think would be inappropriate for a true experimental design, and thus would
require a quasi-experimental research design? Important! Explain why you’ve
chosen particular variables as requiring quasi-experimental design.
A. Gender
B. Elementary school “early reading” stimulus
materials
C. Math teaching strategy
D. Online teaching
E. Ice cream flavors
