sta630 solved final term papers
Virtual University of Pakistan
Question No: 52
In research process, once you collect the data, how would you perform the scoring index activity? Explain it with the help of example.
Physical Traces:
• Erosion: Wear and tear suggests a greater use. For example, a researcher examines children’s
toys at a children’s play centre that were purchased at the same time. Worn out toys suggest
greater interest of children in them.
• Accretion: Accumulation of physical evidence suggests behavior. A researcher examines the
soft drink cans or bottles in the garbage collection. That might indicate the brands and types
of soft drinks that are very popular.
Archives:
• Running Records: Regularly produced public records may reveal lot of information. For
example, a researcher may examine marriage records for brides’ and grooms’ recorded ages.
The differences might indicate that males marrying younger females are greater than the other
way around.
• Other Records: Irregular or private records can reveal a lot. For example, a researcher may
look into the number of reams of paper purchased by a college principal’s office for the last 10
years and compare it with students’ enrollment
Observations:
• External Appearance: How people appear may indicate social factors. For example, a
researcher watches students to see whether they are more likely to wear their college’s colors
and symbols after the college team won or lost.
• Count Behaviors: Counting how many people do something can be informative. For example
a researcher may count the number of men and women who come to a full stop and those who
come to a rolling stop at a traffic stop sign. This suggests gender difference in driving
behavior
Question No: 53 ( Marks: 5 )
You want to explore females' cosmetic preferences. How would you prepare focus group study for this topic?
• Treatment of Independent variable?
The experiment has some degree of control over X. Values can be manipulated.
The experiment has some degree of control over X. Values can be manipulated.
• Treatment is what researcher modifies.
• Term comes from medicine: a physician administers a treatment to patients.
• Physician intervenes in a physical or psychological condition to change it. Hence it is X variable or the combination of many Xs.
Components of bivarients 3marks
The bivariate contingency table is widely used. The table is based on cross-tabulation (crossclassification); that is the cases are organized in the table on the basis of two variables at the same time. A contingency table is formed by cross-tabulating the two or more variables. It is contingent because the cases in each category of a variable get distributed into each category of a second variable. The table distributes cases into categories of multiple variables at the same time and shows how the cases, by the category of one variable, are “contingent upon” the categories of the other variables.
Any three types of non reactive 3marks
Physical Traces:
• Erosion: Wear and tear suggests a greater use. For example, a researcher examines children’s toys at a children’s play centre that were purchased at the same time. Worn out toys suggest greater interest of children in them.
• Accretion: Accumulation of physical evidence suggests behavior. A researcher examines the soft drink cans or bottles in the garbage collection. That might indicate the brands and types of soft drinks that are very popular.
Archives:
• Running Records: Regularly produced public records may reveal lot of information. For
example, a researcher may examine marriage records for brides’ and grooms’ recorded ages.
The differences might indicate that males marrying younger females are greater than the other way around.
• Other Records: Irregular or private records can reveal a lot. For example, a researcher may look into the number of reams of paper purchased by a college principal’s office for the last 10 years and compare it with students’ enrollment.
Observations:
• External Appearance: How people appear may indicate social factors. For example, a researcher watches students to see whether they are more likely to wear their college’s colors and symbols after the college team won or lost.
• Count Behaviors: Counting how many people do something can be informative. For example a researcher may count the number of men and women who come to a full stop and those who come to a rolling stop at a traffic stop sign. This suggests gender difference in driving behavior.
• Time Duration: How long people take to do things may indicate their intention. For example
a researcher may measure how long men and women pause in front of a particular painting.
Time taken may indicate their interest in the painting.
Parts of executive summary 5marks
Executive Summary: It is vital part of the report. Studies have indicated that most managers always read a report’s summary, whereas only a minority read the rest of the report. Thus the only chance a writer may have to make an impact be in summary.
An executive summary can serve two purposes. It may be a report in miniature – covering all the aspects in the body of the report, but in abbreviated form. Or it may be a concise summary of the major findings and conclusions, including recommendations. On the whole the summary briefly tells why the research project was conducted, what aspects of the problem were considered, what the outcome was, and what should be done.
The summary should be written only after the rest of the report is completed. It represents the essence of the report. Two to three pages are generally sufficient for a properly condensed summary. (For very big reports which run into number of volumes, like the one finds in the feasibility reports of big projects, the summary may be very big.) The summary should be written to be self-sufficient. In fact, it is not uncommon for a summary to be detached from the report and circulated by itself.
The summary contains four elements:
1. The objectives of the report are stated, including the most important background and specific purposes of the project.
2. The major results are presented. The key results regarding each purpose should be included.
3. The conclusions that are based on the results. There should be logical interpretation of the results which could lead to the stated conclusions.
4. The recommendations or suggestions for action, which are based on the conclusions. The recommendations must logically emerge from the results.
In many cases managers prefer not to have recommendations included in the report or summary. The consultant may have to go by the demand of the client.
Parts of research report 3marks
The Makeup of the Report – the Report Parts
• Prefatory parts
1. Title fly page
2. Title page
3. Letter of transmittal
4. Letter of authorization
5. Table of contents
6. Executive summary
• Main body
1. Introduction
2. Methodology
3. Results
4. Conclusions and recommendations
5. References
• Appended parts
1. Data collection forms (questionnaires, checklist, interview guide, other forms)
2. Detailed calculations
3. General tables
4. Other support material
5. Bibliography, if needed
How we can use secondary analysis
Secondary analysis is a special case of existing statistics; it is reanalysis of previously collected survey or other data that was originally gathered by others. As opposed to primary research (e.g., experiments, surveys, and content analysis), the focus is on analyzing rather than collecting data.
Secondary analysis is increasingly used by researchers. It is relatively inexpensive; it permits
Comparisons across groups, nations, or time; it facilitates replication; and permits asking about issues not thought by the original researchers. There are several questions the researcher interested in secondary research should ask: Are the secondary data appropriate for the research question? What theory and hypothesis can a researcher use with the data? Is the researcher already familiar with the substantive area? Does the researcher understand how the data were originally gathered and coded? Large-scale data collection is expensive and difficult. The cost and time required for major national surveys that uses rigorous techniques are prohibitive for most researchers. Fortunately, the organization, preservation, and dissemination of major survey data sets have improved. Today, there are archives of past surveys open to researchers (e.g., data on Population Census of Pakistan, Demographic Survey of Pakistan).
What is bracketing with regard to Historical comparative research?
H-C researchers attempt to read primary sources with the eyes and assumptions of a contemporary who lived in the past. This means “bracketing,” or holding back knowledge of subsequent events and modern values. “If you do not read the primary sources with an open mind and an intention to get inside the minds of the writings and look at things the way they saw them, you are wasting time.” For example, when reading a source produced by a slaveholder, moralizing against slavery or faulting the author for not seeing its evil is not worthwhile. The H-C researcher holds back moral judgments and becomes a moral relativist while reading primary sources. He or she must think and believe like subjects under study, discover how they performed in their own eyes.
How would you differentiate accretion and count behaviors in Non Reactive Research?
Accretion: Accumulation of physical evidence suggests behavior. A researcher examines the
soft drink cans or bottles in the garbage collection. That might indicate the brands and types
of soft drinks that are very popular.
Count Behaviors: Counting how many people do something can be informative. For example
a researcher may count the number of men and women who come to a full stop and those who
come to a rolling stop at a traffic stop sign. This suggests gender difference in driving behavior.
Pretest and posttest experimental and control group design?
Pretest and Posttest Experimental and Control Group Design: Two groups, one control group and the other experimental group, are formed randomly. Both the groups are exposed to pretest and posttest.
The experimental group is showing to treatment while the control group is not. Measuring the difference between the differences in the post- and pretests of the two groups would give the net effects of the treatment.
Experimental Group: Pretest (O1) X Posttest (O2)
Control Group: Pretest (O3) - Posttest (O4)
Randomization used for setting up the group.
[(O2 – O1) – (O4 – O3)] = Treatment effect (could be anywhere between 0 to -1 or +1).
Solomon’s Four Group Design: To gain more confidence in internal validity in experimental designs, it is advisable to set up two experimental groups and two control groups. One experimental group and one control group can be given the both pretest and the posttest. The other two groups will be given only the posttest. Here the effects of treatment can be calculated in several different ways as shown in
figure 1:
Figure 1: Solomon’s four group design
Group Pretest Treatment Posttest
1. Experimental O1 X O2
2. Control O3 - O4
3. Experimental - X O5
4. Control - - O6
(O2 – O1) = E
(O4 - O3) = E
(O5 – O6) = E
(O5 - O3) = E
[(O2 –O1) – (O4 – O3)] = E
E = Effect
1. Involvement with deviants is the Ethical dilemmah of filed Research
how would explain (Marks 3)
Involvement with deviants: Researchers who conduct research on deviants who engage in illegal behavior face additional dilemmas. They know of and are sometimes involved in illegal activity. They might be getting ‘guilty knowledge.’ Such knowledge is of interest not only to law enforcement officials but also to other deviants. The researcher faces a dilemma of building trust and rapport with the deviants, yet not becoming so involved as to violate his or her basic personal moral standards. Usually, the researcher makes an explicit arrangement with the deviant members.
2. How Researchers locate evidence in historical comparative research (Marks) 3)
Locating Evidence
• Gather evidence through bibliographic work. Which libraries will have. Shall have to travel to those libraries.
• Researcher reads lots of literature. May have to learns foreign language (s).
• Creates his own bibliography with complete documents along with notes.
• Adjusts his initial model – concepts, questions, and even the direction.
3. Does historical comparative Research follow scientific approach or not Discuss (Marks 5)
Historical-Comparative research follows scientific approach:
• Can be a survey of events in history – could be through the study of documents.
Organizations generally document themselves, so if one is studying the development of some organization he/she should examine its official documents: charters, policy statements, speeches by the leaders, and so on. Often, official government documents provide the data needed for analysis. To better appreciate the history of race relations in the United States
One could also do the communication analysis of different documents related to a particular issue (like the communication among the leaders of Pakistan
of origin) Researcher could also get lot of information by interviewing people who may recall historical events (like interviewing participants in the Pakistan
• Historical-Comparative researchers mostly do a longitudinal analysis i.e. look into the developmental processes of the issues under reference.
• Historical –Comparative researchers make cross-cultural comparisons of the social forms or economic form as well as the developmental processes of those forms, aiming at making generalizations.
Examples:
Social forms: Several researchers have examined the historical development of ideas about different forms of society. The have looked at the progression of social forms from simple to complex, from rural, from rural-agrarian to urban-industrial. The US
The historical evidence collected by researchers from different sources about different societies supports the whole discussion.
Forms of economic systems: Karl Marx examined the forms of economic systems progressing historically from primitive to feudal to capitalistic. All history, he wrote in this context, was a history of class struggle – the “haves” struggling to maintain their advantages and the “have-nots” struggling for a better lot in life. Looking beyond capitalism, Marx saw the development of a ‘classless” society. In his opinion the economic forces have determined the societal system.
Not all historical studies in the social sciences have had this evolutionary flavor. Some social scientific readings of the historical record, in fact point to grand cycles rather than to linear progression (Ibn-e- Khaldun, P. Sorokin).
Economic forms and ideas: In his analysis of economic history, Karl Marx put forward a view of economic determinism. That is, he felt that economic factors determined the nature of all other aspects of society. Without denying that economic factors could and did affect other aspects of society, Max Weber argued that economic determinism did not explain everything. Indeed, Weber said, economic forms could come from non-economic ideas. In his research in the sociology of religion, Weber examined the extent to which religious institutions were the source of social behavior rather than mere reflection of economic conditions. His most noted statement of this side of the issue is found in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. John Calvin, a French theologian, was an important figure in the Protestant reformation of Christianity. Calvin thought that God had already decided the ultimate salvation or damnation of every individual; this idea is called predestination. Calvin also suggested that God communicated his decisions to people by making them either successful or unsuccessful during their earthly existence.
God gave each person an earthly “calling” – an occupation or profession – and manifested his or her success or failure through that medium. Ironically, this point of view led Calvin’s followers to seek proof of their coming salvation by working hard, saving for economic success.
In Weber’s analysis, Calvinism provided an important stimulus for the development of capitalism.
Rather than “wasting” their money on worldly comforts, the Calvinists reinvested it in economic
enterprises, thus providing the capital necessary for the development of capitalism. In arriving at this interpretation of the origin of capitalism, Weber researched the official doctrines of the early Protestant churches, studied the preaching of Calvin and other church leaders, and examined other historical documents.
4. Briefly Explain the important of measurement and coding in non Research with the help of example (Marks 5)
Careful measurement is crucial in content analysis because a researcher takes different and dark
Symbolic communication and turns it into precise, objective, quantitative data. He or she carefully
Designs and documents the procedures for coding to make replication possible. For example, a
Researcher wants to determine how frequently television dramas portray elderly characters in terms of negative stereotypes. He or she develops a measure of the construct “negatively stereotypes of the elderly.” The conceptualization may result in a list of stereotypes or negative generalizations about older people (e.g., senile, forgetful, frail, hard of hearing, slow, ill, inactive, conservative, etc.) that do not accurately reflect the elderly. Another example could be negative stereotypes about women.
5. What are the advantages of cluster sampling (Marks 5)
The purpose of cluster sampling is to sample economically while retaining the characteristics of a
probability sample. Groups or chunks of elements that, ideally, would have heterogeneity among the members within each group are chosen for study in cluster sampling. This is in contrast to choosing some elements from the population as in simple random sampling, or stratifying and then choosing members from the strata, or choosing every nth case in the population in systematic sampling. When several groups with intra-group heterogeneity and inter-group homogeneity are found, then a random sampling of the clusters or groups can ideally be done and information gathered from each of the members in the randomly chosen clusters.
Cluster samples offer more heterogeneity within groups and more homogeneity among and
homogeneity within each group and heterogeneity across groups.
Cluster sampling addresses two problems: researchers lack a good sampling frame for a dispersed population and the cost to reach a sampled element is very high. A cluster is unit that contains final sampling elements but can be treated temporarily as a sampling element itself. Researcher first samples clusters, each of which contains elements, then draws a second a second sample from within the clusters selected in the first stage of sampling. In other words, the researcher randomly samples clusters, and then randomly samples elements from within the selected clusters. He or she can create a good sampling frame of clusters, even if it is impossible to create one for sampling elements. Once the researcher gets a sample of clusters, creating a sampling frame for elements within each cluster becomes more manageable. A second advantage for geographically dispersed populations is that elements within each cluster are physically closer to each other. This may produce a savings in locating or reaching each element.
A researcher draws several samples in stages in cluster sampling. In a three-stage sample, stage 1 is random sampling of big clusters; stage 2 is random sampling of small clusters within each selected big cluster; and the last stage is sampling of elements from within the sampled within the sampled small clusters. First, one randomly samples the city blocks, then households within blocks, then individuals within households. This can also be an example of multistage area sampling. The unit costs of cluster sampling are much lower than those of other probability sampling designs. However, cluster sampling exposes itself to greater biases at each stage of sampling.
49) Do u explain inferences from non-reactive data by using secondary survey data 3 Marks
Inferences from Non-Reactive Data:
A researcher’s ability to infer causality or to test a theory on the basis of non-reactive data is limited. It is difficult to use unobtrusive measures to establish temporal order and eliminate alternative explanations. In content analysis, a researcher cannot generalize from the content to its effects on those who read the text, but can only use the correlation logic of survey research to show an association among variables. Unlike the case of survey research, a researcher does not ask respondents direct questions to measure variables, but relies on the information available in thee text.
50) Research process, once u collect the data how u would perform the scoring index activity 3 marks
• Remember the measurement of job satisfaction. (dimensions and elements).
• Number of statements on each element.
• Likert scale (5) response categories: Strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, s. disagree.
• There are positive and negative statements.
• For positive statements, score S. agree = 5, agree = 4, neutral = 3, disagree = 2, s. disagree = 1.
• For negative statements reverse the scoring.
51) Would u explain spontaneity and confession by using secondary data? Give example each 5 marks
6. Spontaneity: The spontaneous actions or feelings can be recorded when they occurred rather than at a time specified by the researcher. If the respondent was keeping a diary, he or she may have been recording spontaneous feelings about a subject whenever he or she was inspired to do so. The contents of such personal recording could be analyzed later on.
7. Confessions: A person may be more likely to confess in a document, particularly one to be read only after his or her death, than in an interview or mailed questionnaire study. Thus a study of documents such as diaries, posthumously published autobiographies, and suicide notes may be the only way to obtain such information
52) Do u know about number and duration in FDG discussion 5 marks
Number and duration of sessions: The number of focus group sessions to be conducted depends upon project needs, resources, and whether new information is still coming from the sessions (that is, whether contrasting views from various groups in the community are still emerging).
One should plan to conduct at least two different focus group discussions for each subgroup (for example two for males and two for females).
For duration, a focus group session typically lasts up to an hour and a half. Generally the first session with a particular type of group is longer than the following ones because all of the information is new. Thereafter, if it becomes clear that all the groups have the same opinion on particular topics, the facilitator may be able to move the discussion along more quickly to other topics that still elicit new points of view.
53) Reference format 5 marks.
Author: Abraham Maslow
Name of Journal: International journal of psychology
Title: Need hierarchy theory
Page number: 20-23
Year of publish: 1946
Abraham Maslow (1946) Need hierarchy theory Unpublished manuscript International journal of psychology
Unpublished manuscript
What are different measures of central tendency are used define each. Page 105
Researchers often want to summarize the information about one variable into a single number. They use three measures of central tendency, or measures of the center of the frequency distribution: mean, median and mode, which are often called averages (a less precise and less clear way to say the same thing). The mode is simply the most common or frequently occurring number. The median is the middle point. The mean also called the arithmetic average, is the most widely used measure of central tendency. A particular central tendency is used depending upon the nature of the data.
What are the functions of recorders? Page 155
Functions of the Recorder
The recorder should keep a record of the content of the discussion as well as emotional reactions and important aspects of group interaction. Assessment of the emotional tone of the meeting and the group process will enable the researcher to judge the validity of the information collected during the FGD.
Record the following:
• Date, time, and place:
• Names and characteristics of participants:
• General description of the group dynamics (level of participation, presence of a dominant
participant, level of interest):
• Opinions of participants, recorded as much as possible in their own words, especially for key statements: and
• Vocabulary used, particularly in focus group discussions that are intended to assist in
developing questionnaire or other material as stipulated under the topic.
It is highly recommended that a tape/video recorder (with permission) be used to assist capturing information. Even if a tape/video recorder is used, notes should be taken as well, incase the machine malfunctions and so that information will be available immediately after the session.
A supplementary role for the recorder could be to assist the facilitator (if necessary) by drawing his/her attention to:
• Missed comments from participants, and
• Missed topics (the recorder should have a copy of the discussion guide, key probe questions during the FGD).
If necessary, the recorder could also help resolve conflict situations that facilitator may have difficulty handling.
What is the different ethical issue related to validity
List down the varieties of non-reactive observation?
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