Test your understanding: Measurement and Sampling

As promised, here are the quiz questions you worked on in groups. For those absent on Monday, the questions are drawn from Ch 6 & 7 material, and are similar to the kind of test questions that I typically ask (a stronger hint, I cannot think of). I hope they are helpful when studying. Come see me if you still have questions—good luck!

1. Two sociological constructs are income and higher education. Working from a quantitative perspective (as we’ve been doing in class), I want you to first conceptualize the constructs and then operationalize them (4 pts). Specify which construct will be your independent variable and which will be the dependent (1 pt). Now present a conceptual hypothesis linking your constructs (1 pt). Finally, develop a testable empirical hypothesis for the variables (2 pts). See pp. 108-10

2. I want to compare levels of homophobia between people who live in downtown Toronto and those who live in GTA suburbs. I’ve talked with my peers about this research project. They agree with me that homophobia is an irrational fear of gay and lesbian people. The existing literature is even more detailed in specifying that homophobia is an intense disliking of gays and lesbians as opposed to “fear” per se; the literature also discusses acts of overt discrimination toward gays and lesbians. I’ve decided to include all three as indicators in my measure of homophobia. This will be my dependent variable. One existing study successfully used “church attendance” during childhood as a predictor of homophobia; it found a correlation between high church attendance in youth and increased likelihood of eventually disliking gays and lesbians. I’ve decided to use this same measure as one of my independent variables. I’ve also created a related measure, “religiosity,” or how religious people are; I believe it is similar because people who are more religious are likely attend church more often. I predict both will correlate with the dependent variable. I decide to pilot test my measures in a survey of two local political groups. Interestingly, the pilot results showed that political conservatives showed higher levels of homophobia than the political liberals. Which of the four types of measurement validity have been met and which have not (4 pts each)? Explain why (4 pts each). See pp. 114-5

3. I am interested in the voting behavior of adults aged 18-22 in Canada. Because I have limited resources, I’m going to confine my study to York undergrads. However, this still amounts to 10,000 people! I can’t survey that many, so I’ve decided to draw a sample (n = 100). What are the population and target population? What are the sampling ratio and sampling elements? What is the sampling frame and how might I conceivably obtain it? (6 pts) See pp. 141-3

4. Similar to the scenario as above. I am interested in the voting behavior of young adults aged 18-22 in Canada. I have two research questions: 1) what percentage of young adults voted in the last federal election and for whom did they vote, and 2) how did deciding to vote or not to vote emotionally affect them? The first research question is quantitative in nature while the second is qualitative. Due to limited resources, I will confine my study to York undergrads. I want to conduct one probability and one nonprobability sample. For each research question above, explain why it would be better to use a probability or nonprobability sample (2 pts). Now choose an appropriate type of probability sample and describe how it would be applied to one of the two research questions (3 pts). Do the same with a nonprobability sample for the other research question (3 pts). You have many options but NO convenience samples! See pp. 137-55