Sumaya Rashdan 

RCR Week 11

COLLAPSETop of Form

RCR Week 11

This week’s notes were especially helpful for me. I did learn a whole lot about the types of data, scales, ratings, and confounds which are very new to me, it is the first time I ever learn about these.  Firstly, according to our course notes, the 4 main types of data are Nominal, Ordinal, Interval and Ratio.  2 examples of each are number one: nominal: from the notes it says the U.S. Census questions so that could also be the types of ethnicities. Ordinal: the scales of opinion that could also include grades of assignments based on grading how good or not good the student did on the assignment. Next, we have interval: from the notes, it says temperature, so that could also be an IQ number or score of games. Lastly, we have the ratio; Age and income also height, and weight. I see here in the notes that the most valid results are the ratio variables. It’s all because they are “the gold standard of types of data” and that leads to the most accurate “research result.” I think it’s because when for example measuring height and weight and the age of a person or time on a clock, all those are 100 % accurate numbers based upon evidence of devices used.

An instrument in a study is the procedure of “collecting data from subjects for a research study”.  Its primary purpose is to simply collect data the right way. Surveys are orally administered  non written “containing a set of questions, especially one addressed to a statistically significant number of subjects; questionnaires usually contain a particular scale or measurement that has been constructed by the researcher to determine participants’ perspectives, self-representation, or reports; questionnaires are usually designed to get participants’ perspectives on a topic or self-representations/reports on a topic” The questionnaires are the same exact thing just the difference is that they are “written.” They are most useful for the data that represents the “perspectives on a topic or self-representations/reports on a topic.” “A scale is a device for assigning units of analysis to categories of a variable” … they are designed to help researchers rank, order, or measure things that may typically not be able to 3 be ranked, ordered, or measured.” Its purpose is stated in the notes clearly, “The purpose of indexes is often to find out how much a person knows something, is familiar with something, or can identify something (in other words, the underlying value is knowledge of the material); This type of scale is very helpful as an instrument to measure individuals’ knowledge of things.” For example, I decided to choose the semantic differential scale which is the “more subjective understanding of the participant’s interpretation of things.” “(SD) measures people’s reactions to stimulus words and concepts in terms of ratings on bipolar scales defined with contrasting adjectives at each end” The example of this scale is in the course skill notes: the breastfeeding vs formula feeding and it’s rated good or bad from 0-3 on each side and then there is also the last scale which is a combo of both with the same numbering. Zero means neutral.

Course skill notes: “Validity is an indication of how sound your research is. More specifically, validity applies to both the design and the methods of your research.” Internal validity is: “This is when the researcher attempts to prevent the results of a study from being affected by flaws within the study itself.” External Validity is: “This is the extent to which you can generalize your findings to a larger group or other contexts.” They both are different because internal validity tries to “prevent research flaws.” While external validity is not very accurate when it comes to the example stated in the notes, “, if the subjects are all males from one ethnic group, your findings might not apply to females or other ethnic groups. Or, if you conducted your research in a highly controlled laboratory environment, your findings may not faithfully represent what might happen in the real world.” The flaws in the internal validity are called “confounds.” One example of the internal confound is the mortality confound and this one is interesting because this can hurt the research study because when one of the people participating in the experiment passes away, then they cannot participate in the study anymore, their perspective doesn’t count. This obviously as stated, “may affect the measurement and outcomes.” For external validity, I chose the researcher or experimenter Effect confound which can be biased in a way depending on the person because of the “instance conscious or unconscious age, race, gender.” This can be like a child is younger and his or her emotions comply differently which the studies or experiments at the moment.

My question as I stated before is “Can Religion Determine One’s Understanding of the Origin of Life?”. The types of data that would best fit the research questions I’d consider would be the ordinal variables on whether or not a person would agree or disagree with the question above, and the interval variable just because I include numbers of verses, measurements of the aspects of embryology, and dates of certain articles. Instruments may be used in my essay depending on what I ask. Interviews (Professore Moore), and I would do a written form of a questionnaire asking logical, scientific questions backed upon evidence to understand peoples’ perspectives in the 21st century.  To further understand peoples’ beliefs, I would use the Likert scale, just because that would help me to know the perspective of each person on answering this question after they have very carefully read and pondered upon the essay that I wrote. Two confounds I need to be wary about would probably be from the internal validity:  1) maturation confounds just because again, this question isn’t to be taken lightly, it could be a drastic change in somebody’s life as people get older, they ponder & think more, and 2) would be from the external validity: Researcher or Experimenter Effect Confounds just because saying or understanding the interpretation or answer to the question correctly or not plays a huge role in the way people would understand the meaning.

Reference

Stryker, R. Types of Data You Can Collect HDEV 302: Research Methods in Human Development. Course Skills Notes for Week 11.

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