Marvell And Coyness Essay, Research Paper

q Research: the systematic effort to secure answers to questions.

q Communication Research: Studies message related behavior as a specialty and is composed of verbal and non-verbal cues.

q Quantitative Research: Explanation and Prediction, inquiries in which observations are expressed predominately in numerical terms.

q Qualitative Research: Description and interpretation, and are based predominately in non-numerical terms.

q Formats for Research Questions:

I. Must be stated unambiguously

II. Must have a least two variables

III. Must be testable

IV. Must not advance personal value judgments

V. Clear grammatical statements.

q Formats for Research Hypothesis:

I. States Relationships between the variables

II. Be consistent with what is know in the literature

III. Must be testable.

IV. Must be clear.

V. Grammatical and unambiguous declarative sentences.

a. Directional: What the relationship between the variable is.

b. Non-Directional: There is a relationship between the variables.

q Variables:

a. Independent: Predict outcomes posited in the hypothesis.

b. Dependent: Values or activities that are presumed to be conditioned upon the independent variable of the hypothesis.

c. Continuous: Expressed numerically to indicate matters of degree.

d. Categorical: Identifies the attributes or levels of a variable.

q Operational definitions: Isolation of a concept by specifying the steps researches follow to make observations.

q Conceptual definitions: Definitions that rely on other concepts to describe a term.

q Descriptive Research: Research done through the gathering of available information.

q Experimental Research: Research done when one or more of the variables is manipulated by the researcher.

q Experimental Designs: Permits drawing causal claims about variables that can be manipulated.

q Purpose of Lit. Reviews: To have some backup about what experts and others say about topic.

q Peer Reviewed Sources: Sources that are reviewed by other students and scholars

q Popular Sources: Magazines, Newspapers, and non-Reviews sources.

q Reliability: The internal consistency of a measure.

q Validity:

a. Test validity is the constancy of a measure with a criterion; the degree to which a measure actually measures what is claimed.

b. Experimental validity refers to the absence of errors that prevent researchers from drawing unequivocal conclusions.

q Types of Survey Questions:

a. Likert Scales: Scales composed of statements that reflect clear position on an issue, for which subjects indicate their agreement on a 5-point scale.

b. Semantic Differential: Scales bounded by pairs of bipolar adjectives.

c. Open Ended: Questions to which people respond in their own words.

d. Closed Ended: Questions to which people respond in fixed categories of answers.

q Uses of Focus Groups: To a guided or unguided discussion addressing a particular topic of interest with a carefully selected small group. By asking key questions the moderator finds the sentiments of the group and the reasons behind them.

q Levels of measurement:

a. Nominal: Use of numbers as simple identification of variables.

b. Ordinal: Use of rank order to determine differences.

c. Interval/Ratio: Assignment of numbers to items as a matter of degree.

q Sampling Methods:

a. Random: Selection of data such that each event in the population has an equal chance of being selected.

b. Non-Random:

q Samples:

q Population: