Untitled Quiz

Class Check-In

• Online class meeting
• Students participate remotely

Sampling Technique

• Need for computing acceptable sample size and choosing appropriate sampling technique.
• Sampling is used to infer from a population to a sample to facilitate data collection.

Probability Sampling

• When to use probability sampling techniques.
• This is a technique to select a sample to ensure that each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.

Data Gathering Instrument

• Importance of appropriate and good research instrument is underscored.
• Quality of conclusions drawn depends heavily on the quality of collected data.
• A digital thermometer for body temperature is given as a suitable example.

Instrumentation

• Instrument is a common term for measurement device
• This encompasses survey, test, or questionnaires.
• Instrumentation involves the development, testing, and use of such devices.

Characteristics of a Good Research Instrument

• Concise: Instruments should be brief while capturing needed data.
• Valid and Reliable: Instruments need to measure what they're designed for consistently.
• Sequential: Questions or items should be arranged logically.
• Easily Tabulated: Data should be easily organized for analysis.

Concise Instrument

• Good instruments are brief in length while still eliciting necessary data.

Valid and Reliable Instrument

• Valid instruments measure what they're intended to measure.
• Reliable instruments produce consistent results across various conditions and situations.

Validity

• Measuring the accuracy of an instrument; measuring what it's supposed to measure

Reliability

• Measuring the consistency of results across conditions and situations, including differences among evaluators and testing environments.

Sequential Instrument

• Questions and items should be arranged in a sequential order.

Easily Tabulated Instrument

• Instrument design should focus on ease of organizing and analyzing collected data.

Data Gathering Techniques (Quantitative Research)

• Documentary Analysis: Analyzing secondary data from documents in various settings (e.g., churches, schools, hospitals, offices).
• Observation: A direct, unobtrusive approach; can be overt (obvious to subjects) or covert (hidden from subjects)
• Physiological Measures: Collecting physical data from subjects (e.g., blood pressure, heart rate).
• Psychological Tests: Assessing personality traits, using measures like personality inventories (e.g., MMPI) or projective tests.
• Questionnaires: A set of questions on a specific topic, with space for responses.

Questionnaires

• Questionnaires produce more honest responses and guarantee confidentiality.
• Biases in question phrasing are minimized.

Common Types of Scales

• Likert Scale: Uses declarative statements rated for agreement or disagreement.
• Semantic Differential Scale: Respondents rate concepts using bipolar adjectives (e.g., good/bad, fast/slow).

Guidelines for Question Wording

• Affirmative phrasing: Questions should be phrased positively rather than negatively.
• Avoid ambiguity: Steer clear of imprecise terms like "usually," "many," "always."
• Avoid double negatives: Avoid questions with two negative elements.
• Avoid double-barreled questions: A single question shouldn't ask multiple questions.

Considerations Before Launching Questions

• Pilot test: Trying out the questionnaire with a smaller group of participants before wider distribution.