Research Methodology: Population and Samples

All the items or individuals about which you want to draw conclusions

It is less time consuming and less costly than selecting every item in the population

Children in day care on a particular city

All of the above

A bank studying years of financial transactions to help identify patterns of fraud

A sample is a small subgroup of a population

Financial data

To gather opinions and preferences from a population

The level of control over the experiment

Consumer testing of different versions of a product

To determine if some form of advertising at the intersection is justified

To elicit unstructured responses to open-ended questions

The data collector is the one using the data for analysis

To apply results obtained from a sample to the larger population

Every member of the population does not have an equal chance of being chosen

Participants are volunteers and know how to use computers and have access to them

By comparing the results from studies conducted on the Internet with the results of parallel studies conducted using traditional methods and evaluating the results to check if they conform to theoretical predictions

Because they are not randomly selected from the population

Making the appeal as interesting as possible

To study behavior that can only be observed when a person is caught off guard

Direct deception

Because personal characteristics influence how people respond to incentives

Offering a small reward for participation

Situational factors, personal characteristics, and incentives

Deception may violate requirements of informed consent

Obtaining prior consent to be deceived

Fully informing people produces behavior different from when they are caught unaware

Participants are less likely to volunteer for future research

Violation of informed consent

A social contract approach between researcher and participant

To determine the effect of a specific treatment or intervention on a particular outcome or response.

Survey data is collected from individuals or groups through direct questioning, while financial data is collected from existing records or databases.

In observational studies, there is no direct control over which items receive the treatment, whereas in designed experiments, there is direct control over which items receive the treatment.

To determine which product or promotion to use more broadly.

Designed experiments can establish cause-and-effect relationships, while survey data is often limited to correlational relationships.

To elicit unstructured responses to open-ended questions or to observe natural phenomena.

Because minor differences in a strain of rats may yield different results, and findings cannot be generalized due to differences in strains used.

When you want to apply results directly to a population, for example, predicting behavior from a survey or poll.

A primary source of data is collected by the person analyzing the data, whereas a secondary source of data is collected by someone else.

The goal of generalization is to apply the results obtained from a sample to the larger population. This is achieved through random sampling, where every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen.

Volunteer bias: the sample made up of volunteers is a biased sample, and participant-related characteristics relate to volunteering.

Internet research uses a nonrandom sample, as participants are volunteers who have access to computers and know how to use them. This limitation can be addressed by comparing the results with traditional methods or evaluating the results against theoretical predictions.

Because it is one of the factors that affect the generality of results, along with how independent variables are manipulated.

A random sample is a sample in which every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen, whereas a nonrandom sample is a sample in which every member of the population does not have an equal chance of being chosen. This is important in research because it affects the generalizability of the results.

Participation should be voluntary.

The researcher can either wait for participants to happen along or recruit participants and randomly assign them to conditions.

Researchers need to be cautious when using nonrandom sampling methods because they may not be representative of the larger population, which can affect the validity of the results.

Nonrandom samples can lead to biased results and affect the generalizability of the findings. This can be mitigated by using techniques such as comparing the results with traditional methods or evaluating the results against theoretical predictions.

To create interesting situations that are not likely to occur naturally.

It increases the likelihood of participants volunteering.

To increase the likelihood of participants volunteering and to reduce potential harm to participants.

Direct deception involves providing misinformation to participants, while indirect deception involves withholding information about the study's purposes or goals.

It increases trust and credibility in the research and the researcher.

Stress or aversive situations.

A key concern is that deceived participants may react differently from non-deceived participants, and may feel duped or develop a negative attitude towards research. This can be addressed by obtaining prior consent to be deceived, or by using a social contract approach.

Deceived participants may feel duped and experience a loss of self-esteem, and may be less likely to volunteer for future research. This can be mitigated by obtaining prior consent to be deceived, or by using a social contract approach.

A social contract approach involves reaching an agreement between the researcher and participant on how research should be conducted, and may involve obtaining prior consent to be deceived. This approach acknowledges that deception may be necessary in some cases, as long as human dignity is maintained.

Deception may violate the requirements of informed consent, which requires participants to be fully aware of the risks and benefits of the research. Obtaining prior consent to be deceived can help address this issue.

A cost-benefit analysis can help researchers weigh the potential benefits of using deception against the potential costs, and make a more informed decision about whether to use deception in a particular study.

The proposed solution is to obtain prior consent to be deceived, or to use a social contract approach. This involves obtaining agreement from participants that they are willing to be deceived, and that they understand the risks and benefits of the research.