Chapter 4: Surveys

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Surveys consist primarily of ______.

A. open-ended questions

B. loosely structured questions

C. semi-structured questions

D. closed-ended questions

Learning Objective: 4.1: Describe the purpose and characteristics of survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Surveys

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. You are conducting applied research for a nonprofit. You got a grant to do the research, so you have a decent budget, and you have several months to collect the data. Your population is military veterans who served for the 50 years between 1960 and 2015. You want to ask them questions related to their experiences with PTSD. You are especially interested in reaching low-income and homeless veterans, since your literature review suggests they may be more likely to experience untreated PTSD symptoms. Which mode of delivery would be the best choice, given the situation?

A. Internet

B. face-to-face

C. phone

D. mail

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify and differentiate between the five modes of survey delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys | Box 4.1. Comparison of Survey Modes of Delivery

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. You are conducting basic research for a thesis. You are studying attitudes about academic dishonesty among college students. Because this is for a thesis, any costs will have to be paid out-of-pocket by you. Which mode of delivery would be the best choice, given the situation?

A. Internet

B. face-to-face

C. phone

D. mail

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify and differentiate between the five modes of survey delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys | Box 4.1. Comparison of Survey Modes of Delivery

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. You are conducting basic research with the family members of prison inmates about their most recent visit to the prison. You have a small budget for collecting the data. You are particularly interested in how visiting the prison impacts the family members emotionally and financially. Which mode of delivery would be the best choice, given the situation?

A. phone

B. take-home

C. Internet

D. face-to-face

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify and differentiate between the five modes of survey delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys | Box 4.1. Comparison of Survey Modes of Delivery

Difficulty Level: Hard

5. You are conducting applied research for a chain of discount retail stores about their customers’ satisfaction with their shopping experience. You have a big budget and a staff to work on the research, but it is important that you get a representative sample of your shoppers. Which mode of delivery would be the best, given the situation?

A. mail

B. take-home

C. Internet

D. face-to-face

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify and differentiate between the five modes of survey delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys | Box 4.1. Comparison of Survey Modes of Delivery

Difficulty Level: Hard

6. You are conducting a follow-up survey of people who participated in conflict mediation during a divorce. You are interested in knowing how their attitudes about mediation have been affected by their participation in the process. You have a small budget but are not in a hurry. Many of the participants chose mediation because they could not afford a divorce attorney, so your population includes many low-income individuals. Which mode of delivery would be best, given the situation?

A. phone

B. Internet

C. mail

D. face-to-face

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify and differentiate between the five modes of survey delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Evaluation

Answer Location: Surveys | Box 4.1. Comparison of Survey Modes of Delivery

Difficulty Level: Hard

7. According to a positivist definition, objectivity means ______.

A. to try not to influence the results of your study in any way

B. to accurately represent the participants’ perspective

C. to work deductively

D. to get to know your participants informally and develop rapport

Learning Objective: 4.3: Describe the logic of positivist methodology and how it affects survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Methodology

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. How do positivist researchers test their theories?

A. by making sure that the data are subjective and include the respondents’ feelings

B. by using inductive research

C. by trying to get sample sizes as large as possible in order to get the input from as many people as they can

D. by breaking down the theories into hypotheses and then collecting data that confirm or disconfirm the hypotheses

Learning Objective: 4.3: Describe the logic of positivist methodology and how it affects survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. The main goal of positivist methodology is to ______.

A. understand the participant’s experiences as deeply as possible

B. observe patterns of behavior without making interpretations of them

C. build trust and rapport to get information that is as complete and truthful as possible

D. test hypotheses and theories

Learning Objective: 4.4: Explain the goals of positivist methodology in regard to survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Methodology

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. Positivists aim to ______.

A. generalize their results to a larger population

B. understand a small group as deeply as possible

C. admit their biases so as to let the reader decide how much they may have affected the research

D. develop good rapport with participants to elicit rich, thick description

Learning Objective: 4.4: Explain the goals of positivist methodology in regard to survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Methodology

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Describe what a hypothesis is and why it’s important in survey research.

Learning Objective: 4.8: Describe the purpose of hypotheses.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Theory

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Explain the differences between inductive and deductive research.

Learning Objective: 4.5: Describe the uses of theory in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. You are testing the hypothesis: “Children who receive counseling between the ages of 5 and 10 for past trauma are less likely to see a therapist regarding substance abuse later in life than children who receive such counseling for between the ages of 11 and 15.” Are you engaging in inductive or deductive research? Why?

Learning Objective: Summarize and identify the difference between deductive and inductive research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. What is the relationship between number of children and type of child discipline used by parents? This question is ______.

A. descriptive

B. explanatory

C. expository

D. demographic

Learning Objective: 4.38: Classify research questions as explanatory or descriptive.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Which of the following is an appropriate question for survey research?

A. What is the relationship between social class and job satisfaction?

B. How do college students decide whether to experiment with drugs?

C. How does power manifest within women’s sexual relationships?

D. What could schools do to prevent bullying?

Learning Objective: 4.39: Evaluate the quality and appropriateness of research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Evaluation

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.3. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Research Questions for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

16. Seniors who identify themselves as “undecided” about their career goals are more likely to add a second major than are seniors who report being “very clear” about their career goals. Which of the following is NOT a variable in this hypothesis?

A. class standing

B. degree of clarity about career goals

C. likelihood of adding a second major

D. They are all variables in the hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.11: Define and identify independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

17. Which of the following makes the best hypothesis?

A. Freshmen are more likely than seniors to report feeling homesick, unfulfilled, lonely, and dissatisfied with their college experience than are seniors.

B. Juniors who meet with their counselor every semester are more likely to have high GPAs than seniors who meet with their counselor once a year.

C. College students prefer big universities more than small universities.

D. Seniors who identify themselves as “undecided” about their career goals are more likely to add a second major than are seniors who report being “very clear” about their career goals.

Learning Objective: 4.10: Recognize good hypotheses as compared to poor ones.

Cognitive Domain: Evaluation

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

18. A local program coordinator at the county juvenile hall has implemented a new rehabilitation program to better serve the youth population. She has hired you to research the effectiveness of their new program. Your research question is: How do graduates of the new rehabilitation program at county juvenile hall evaluate the program’s effectiveness in preparing them for life after release? What is an appropriate research objective for this question?

A. to calculate the financial burden re-offenders have on the county

B. to identify areas of the program that have not met the desired outcomes

C. to interview staff about how well they think the program is working

D. to determine how the standard of living in the youths’ home environment has changed over time

Learning Objective: 4.13: Recognize appropriate research objectives for applied research questions.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.6. Example of Objectives for an Applied Study of Sociology Alumni

Difficulty Level: Hard

19. What are the similarities and differences between hypotheses and research objectives?

Learning Objective: 4.12: Describe the uses of research objectives and how they differ from hypotheses.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Theory | Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses | Box 4.6. Example of Objectives for an Applied Study of Sociology Alumni

Answer Difficulty: Hard

20. Writing survey items constitutes which component of research?

A. conceptualizing

B. operationalizing

C. hypothesizing

D. sampling

Learning Objective: 4.14: Explain how and when to conceptualize and operationalize in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Literature Review | Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. Explain the three steps to operationalizing a variable.

Learning Objective: 4.14: Explain how and when to conceptualize and operationalize in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. How many caffeinated beverages did you drink in the last 24 hr?

0–2

3–4

5–6

7 or more

Which level of measurement is used in this survey item?

A. nominal

B. ordinal

C. ratio

D. interval

Learning Objective: 4.15: Classify survey items at nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio level of measurements.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Levels of Measurement | Box 4.8. Example of Groupings Affected by Level of measurement Used | Box 4.9. Question and Response Wording for Different Levels of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Hard

23. How many caffeinated beverages did you drink in the last 24 hr? Which level of measurement is used in this survey item?

A. nominal

B. ordinal

C. ratio

D. interval

Learning Objective: 4.15: Classify survey items at nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio level of measurements.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Levels of Measurement | Box 4.8. Example of Groupings Affected by Level of measurement Used | Box 4.9. Question and Response Wording for Different Levels of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Hard

24. What was the last caffeinated beverage you consumed?

Coffee

Tea

Soda/soft drink

Energy drink

Other

Which level of measurement is used in this survey item?

A. nominal

B. ordinal

C. ratio

D. interval

Learning Objective: 4.15: Classify survey items at nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio level of measurements.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Levels of Measurement | Box 4.8. Example of Groupings Affected by Level of measurement Used | Box 4.9. Question and Response Wording for Different Levels of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Hard

25. What is your favorite team sport to play?

Basketball

Hockey

Rugby

Football

Lacrosse

What is wrong with this survey item?

A. The question is threatening.

B. The answers aren’t mutually exclusive.

C. The question is double-barreled.

D. The answers aren’t exhaustive.

Learning Objective: 4.16: Identify common errors in writing survey items.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Levels of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. There are several things wrong with the following survey item. Of the choices given, what is one of them?

The President is officially elected by the Electoral College, whose members are unknown to most voters, and who could ignore the wishes of the voters. Should we abolish the Electoral College?

Yes

No

Don’t know

A. The question needs a specific time frame.

B. The question is biased.

C. The question is threatening.

D. The question is too short.

Learning Objective: 4.16: Identify common errors in writing survey items.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. What is wrong with this survey item?

How much do you support or oppose technology training and new job creation to stimulate our economy?

Strongly support

Somewhat support

Somewhat oppose

Strongly oppose

A. The question is threatening.

B. The question is double-barreled.

C. The answers are not mutually exclusive.

D. The question uses absolutes.

Learning Objective: 4.16: Identify common errors in writing survey items.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Medium

28. Which of the following is the best survey question?

A. How much time did you spend doing homework per night in elementary school?

B. On average, how much time do you spend studying on weekdays?

C. In the last 24 hr, how much total time did you spend doing work for your classes outside of class time (including reading for classes, studying, and/or working on class assignments)?

D. Last year, how many times did you do your homework in math class and study for tests?

Learning Objective: 4.39: Evaluate the quality and appropriateness of research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Evaluation

Answer Location: Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

29. What are the most appropriate response categories for the following survey item?

How difficult do you find the content material in this class?

A. strongly agree to strongly disagree

B. very difficult to not at all difficult

C. very difficult to very easy

D. easy to hard

Learning Objective: 4.17: Differentiate between good and poor survey items for eliciting high-quality data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. You are studying graduating seniors at your university about their career plans after graduation. What is your population?

A. all graduating seniors at your university

B. all students at your university

C. all graduating seniors at your university who have decided upon career plans

D. all of the students regardless of class enrolled at the university

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. You are studying graduating seniors at your university about their career plans after graduation. What is your sampling frame?

A. all graduating seniors at your university

B. the list of graduating seniors produced by the registrar’s office

C. your group of friends who are graduating

D. all of the students walking through graduation ceremonies

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

32. Your university e-mail system allows you to send e-mails to all students enrolled in a specific course at one time, so you use a random numbers generator to choose 436 courses at your university to sample and send e-mails out to all students enrolled in the selected courses. What kind of sampling are you using?

A. simple random sampling

B. stratified sampling

C. cluster sampling

D. nonprobability sampling

Learning Objective: 4.21: Identify research conditions or context which affects choice of sampling method.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.11. Probability Sampling Techniques as Applied to Survey Research | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

33. You are conducting an exit survey of graduating seniors in your major. You send a survey link for an Internet survey to every graduating senior in the major. What kind of sample are you using?

A. quota

B. census

C. convenience

D. probability sampling

Learning Objective: 4.21: Identify research conditions or context which affects choice of sampling method.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Nonprobability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

34. Why is it important to use probability sampling whenever possible in survey research?

A. to increase validity of your findings

B. to increase reliability

C. to be able to generalize your findings

D. to increase the odds that you will get a high response rate

Learning Objective: 4.19: Describe the purpose of probability and its importance in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Medium

35. Which of the following conditions would lead you to choose to use cluster sampling?

A. You are able to obtain a pretty good sampling frame but you don’t have additional information about the people listed on it.

B. There is a very small group whose opinions are important to oversample and you are using a phone survey.

C. You can’t get a sampling frame but there are naturally occurring groups of the people you want to participate.

D. You are using a mail survey and you have additional information about the individuals listed on the sampling frame.

Learning Objective: 4.21: Identify research conditions or context which affects choice of sampling method.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

36. Explain when stratified sampling would be a better choice than random sampling.

Learning Objective: 4.18: Explain probability sampling and its four types.

Answer Location: Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Difficulty Level: Medium

37. If you are conducting basic survey research on worker satisfaction in the state of Iowa, using random digit dialing for phone surveys, which of the following would you be most likely to use as your sample size? Note that Iowa’s state population is approximately 3.15 million.

A. 150,000

B. 1,500

C. 150

D. 1.5 million

Learning Objective: 4.47: Choose an appropriate sample size for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Sample Size

Difficulty Level: Hard

38. List three reasons it is important to oversample your population.

Learning Objective: 4.23: Define response rate and explain its importance.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Response Rate

Difficulty Level: Easy

39. The following informed consent statement is most appropriate for which kind of research?

The City of Wilmington is conducting a survey of citizens’ opinions about the city parks. The information will be used by the city council in making funding decisions for current and new parks projects. The survey will take about 10 min to complete. Your responses are entirely anonymous. If you have any questions about this survey, you may contact the mayor’s office at mayor@wilmington.gov

A. Internet

B. mail

C. face-to-face

D. phone

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Mail Surveys | Box 4.13. Sample Informed Consent Statement for Mail or Take-Home Survey | Box 4.17. Informed Consent by Mode of Delivery

Difficulty Level: Hard

40. Where do demographic questions belong in a survey?

A. at the beginning

B. interspersed throughout

C. at the end

D. it doesn’t matter

Learning Objective: 4.28: Explain acceptable ordering of survey items on a survey.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Finalizing the Survey Instrument

Difficulty Level: Easy

41. It is a bad idea when ordering survey items to ______.

A. put the more sensitive questions at the end

B. put a long list of demographic questions at the beginning

C. put five or six Likert-type Scale questions one after another in a grid pattern

D. group questions together by topic

Learning Objective: 4.28: Explain acceptable ordering of survey items on a survey.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Finalizing the Survey Instrument

Difficulty Level: Easy

42. You ask people from the population you are studying to pretest your survey by having them take the survey and asking them questions about how they interpreted the questions and why they chose the answers they did. This form of pretesting is called ______.

A. cognitive interviewing

B. behavior coding

C. split-half design

D. quota model

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Easy

43. The difference between other forms of pretesting and pilot testing is that in pilot testing ______.

A. everything is done exactly as it would be in the actual survey, including preliminary data analysis

B. you will include the data from the pilot testing in the actual survey results

C. the sample is drawn from a slightly different population than the one you will actually be using for the survey

D. the participants in the pilot survey will be included again in your finalized survey

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Easy

44. In survey research, coding the data means ______.

A. to identify patterns such as types, magnitudes, and frequencies

B. to give numbers to each response choice in the survey

C. to look for negative cases

D. to define key concepts

Learning Objective: 4.31: Explain coding data as part of statistical data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Data Analysis

Difficulty Level: Easy

45. A table that shows how respondents answered a question about gun control by their frequency of religious service attendance is a ______.

A. frequency

B. crosstab

C. spurious analysis

D. univariate analysis

Learning Objective: 4.33: Recognize the difference between frequencies and crosstabs.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Statistical Analysis | Box 4.19. Example of a Crosstab: Percentage of Respondents Agreeing That Spanking Children Is Necessary, by Highest Degree Obtained, 1972–2016

Difficulty Level: Medium

46. The higher one’s income, the more likely they support enhanced punishment for gang-related crimes. Which is the INDEPENDENT variable in this hypothesis?

A. enhanced punishment for gang-related crimes

B. likelihood of supporting enhanced punishment

C. number of gang-related crimes

D. income

Learning Objective: 4.11: Define and identify independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

47. The higher one’s income, the more likely they support enhanced punishment for gang-related crimes. Which is the DEPENDENT variable in this hypothesis?

A. income

B. likelihood of supporting enhanced punishment

C. number of gang-related crimes

D. enhanced punishment for gang-related crimes

Learning Objective: 4.11: Define and identify independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

48. The higher one’s income, the more likely they support enhanced punishment for gang-related crimes. Which of the following are true?

A. This is a positive relationship.

B. This is a negative relationship.

C. This is a spurious relationship.

D. There is no relationship at all.

Learning Objective: 4.34: Explain negative and positive relationships in bivariate analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Causality

Difficulty Level: Hard

49. There is a negative relationship between age and likelihood of getting a DUI. What does this mean?

A. The younger one is, the more likely they are to get a DUI.

B. The older one is, the more likely they are to get a DUI.

C. Younger people get harsher penalties than older people when they get a DUI.

D. Younger people who receive DUI report it as a negative experience.

Learning Objective: 4.34: Explain negative and positive relationships in bivariate analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Statistical Analysis | Box 4.20. Positive and Negative Relationships

Difficulty Level: Medium

50. Every time you wear your lucky shirt, you get an A on your class presentation. This is an example of ______

A. causation

B. association

C. a positive relationship

D. a negative relationship

Learning Objective: 4.35: Differentiate between association and causality.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Causality

Difficulty Level: Hard

51. Every time you wear your lucky shirt, you get an A on your class presentation. Why can’t we say this is a causal relationship?

A. It is missing temporal order.

B. There is no association.

C. We haven’t ruled out the plausible alternatives.

D. We didn’t make a crosstab with the information.

Learning Objective: 4.35: Differentiate between association and causality.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Causality

Difficulty Level: Medium

52. Measuring attitudes about abortion by counting the number of times a person has voted in the last 5 years is a(n) ______ measure.

A. invalid

B. unreliable

C. nominal

D. dependable

Learning Objective: 4.37: Summarize the differences between reliability and validity.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Evaluating the Quality of Data and Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

53. Asking respondents their level of agreement to the statement, “My social class is irrelevant to my popularity,” is ______ because social class could be viewed as income by some respondents, educational level by others, and name brands worn by still others.

A. invalid

B. unreliable

C. nominal

D. dependable

Learning Objective: 4.37: Summarize the differences between reliability and validity.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Evaluating the Quality of Data and Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

54. If you conduct phone surveys, but the survey administrators don’t all read the questions in the exact same way to every respondent, what aspect of data quality is being threatened?

A. validity

B. reliability

C. causality

D. sampling

Learning Objective: 4.37: Summarize the differences between reliability and validity.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Evaluating the Quality of Data and Analysis

Difficulty Level: Easy

Short Answer/Essay

1. How would you clean your data, and why is this necessary?

Learning Objective: 4.32: Discuss what it means to clean survey data.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cleaning the Data

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. What three things do you need to demonstrate in order to claim that there is a causal relationship between variables?

Learning Objective: 4.36: List the rules for determining causality.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Causality

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. What is a variable?

Learning Objective: 4.11: Define and identify independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. What is the difference between an independent and a dependent variable?

Learning Objective: 4.11: Define and identify independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. What is the difference between association and causation?

Learning Objective: 4.35: Differentiate between association and causality.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Statistical Analysis | Causality | Box 4.20. Positive and Negative Relationships

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. List six important rules to follow when writing survey items and their responses.

Learning Objective: 4.17: Differentiate between good and poor survey items for eliciting high-quality data.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. Describe two ways to pretest a survey.

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. List two guidelines that are important to follow when deciding upon the order of your survey items.

Learning Objective: 4.28: Explain acceptable ordering of survey items on a survey.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Finalizing the Survey Instrument

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. What is the difference between reliability and validity?

Learning Objective: 4.37: Summarize the differences between reliability and validity.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Evaluating the Quality of Data and Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. What would you do to increase the response rate for a survey delivered by MAIL?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Data Collection | Mail Surveys

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. What would you do to increase the response rate for a PHONE survey?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Data Collection | Phone Surveys

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. There is a negative relationship between income and number of children one has. What does this mean in layman’s terms?

Learning Objective: 4.34: Explain negative and positive relationships in bivariate analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Statistical Analysis | Box 4.19. Example of a Crosstab: Percentage of Respondents Agreeing That Spanking Children Is Necessary, by Highest Degree Obtained, 1972–2016 | Box 4.20. Positive and Negative Relationships

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. You are doing a survey about what voters think their role is in political elections. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. You are doing a study regarding college students’ attitudes about the effects of your state’s budget problems. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing, Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. You are using a survey to investigate the effect that public discourse has on attitudes about health-care reform in your state. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7 Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. You are conducting a study on attitudes about budget cuts to education. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid these Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. You are using a survey to study the relationship between Americans' attitudes about marriage between LGBTQ partners and attitudes about other issues of inequality. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings.

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions, Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. You are doing survey research regarding college students’ attitudes toward a new proposal to end interest payments on student loans. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings.

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7 Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain:

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. You have just been hired by a national research firm that specializes in surveying Americans about political opinions. Politicians and candidates running for office routinely examine the results gathered by this firm to shape their policies. For this project, the firm is interested in understanding what issues and strategies get voters engaged in grassroots activism on behalf of candidates. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings.

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. You are doing a study evaluating the quality of care that cancer patients in different parts of the state receive. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings.

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. You are doing research on adverse childhood experiences (ACES) among divorced people. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings.

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. You are surveying single fathers about parenting and its challenges. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings.

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain:

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. You are conducting a survey to better understand how teachers feel about school-age children not getting vaccinated. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings.

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. You are investigating medical doctors’ opinions regarding the state of the current health-care system in your state. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings.

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. You are conducting survey research on opinions of family members who have a loved one with serious mental health issues about stigma. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings.

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. You are investigating public opinion regarding the United States’ military position in the Middle East. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings.

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. You are conducting survey research regarding parents’ views of discounted or free meals provided for children in your state. Write your research question.

• Be explanatory
• Include one independent and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Use the individual as the unit of analysis
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or just a few words
• Not include explanations
• Not include the words “could,” “can,” or “should”
• Focus on attitudes, demographic characteristics, social trends, simple behaviors, respondents’ knowledge, or cause and effect
• Not try to elicit detailed descriptions, people’s understandings of their experiences, complex emotions or meanings.

Learning Objective: 4.53: Write well-worded explanatory research questions for survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.2. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey Research | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Writing Survey Items

Difficulty Level: Hard

Write one hypothesis to test your research question.

• Have exactly one independent variable and one dependent variable
• Include the population
• Compare categories of the independent variable
• Not include explanations
• Be clear and precise
• Predict how answers on one question will affect respondents’ answers on another question

Learning Objective: 4.40: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 4.4. Example of Research Question and Corresponding Hypotheses | Box 4.5. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, conceptualize one variable that you would need to use in order to test your hypothesis.

Learning Objective: 4.42: Write conceptual definitions of variables.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the hypothesis that you have just written, design a survey item for one variable that you would need to measure. What level of measurement did you use and why?

• Answer categories must be mutually exclusive
• Answer categories must be exhaustive
• The wording should not be biased or loaded
• The wording should not be threatening
• It shouldn’t be double-barreled
• Avoiding double negatives
• It should be easily answerable/easy to recall for the participant
• Ask for specifics rather than generalities
• Uses a narrow and appropriate time frame (where applicable)
• Questions are relevant to most respondents
• Provide opposites when using scales rather than absolutes
• Avoiding asking respondents to agree with a question

Levels of measurement include nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio. Your level of measurement should be correctly identified. Some variables can only be measured at the nominal level. If you are choosing between ordinal and interval/ratio levels, you must balance the desire for the most precise information with respondents’ patience for fill-in-the-blank answers in choosing which level to use.

Learning Objective: 4.56: Create survey items at a variety of levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing | Box 4.7. Example of Conceptualizing and Operationalizing for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

In the study you are doing using the research question you just wrote, what is your population?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

What is your sampling frame?

Learning Objective: 4.45: Identify the population and sampling frame for a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling

Difficulty Level: Hard

Which mode of delivery would you use and why?

Learning Objective: 4.54: Defend their choice of mode of delivery for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Surveys: Introduction | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on the mode of delivery you chose, which sampling method will you use to sample from this population?

Learning Objective: 4.46: Choose an appropriate sampling method for a research scenario.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

Describe the steps you will take to draw this sample based on the mode of delivery you chose.

Learning Objective: 4.48: Describe the steps they would take to implement each sampling strategy.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Sampling | Box 4.12. Decision Path for Sampling for Survey Research

Difficulty Level: Medium

Thinking about the mode of delivery you chose, list two problems you would be likely to have with getting a good response rate for this study, and what you would do to try to overcome these and thus maximize your response rate?

Learning Objective: 4.30: Explain the steps involved in maximizing response rates for each mode of delivery.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Response Rate | Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Hard

Taking into account the mode of delivery you chose, how would you get informed consent?

Learning Objective: 4.25: Identify the differences in informed consent for each mode of delivery in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Hard

List four things that you will do to protect your participants, OTHER than getting their informed consent.

Learning Objective: 4.24: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

Would your research be confidential or anonymous? Explain the difference, and why you choose to make it the one you indicated.

Learning Objective: 4.26: Explain the differences between anonymity and confidentiality in survey research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics: Mail Surveys | Ethics: Online Surveys | Ethics: Phone Surveys | Ethics: Take-Home Surveys | Special Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

How will you pretest your survey?

Learning Objective: 4.29: Describe the types of pretesting for surveys.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Pretesting the Survey

Difficulty Level: Medium