Morehead state university iet 698 Research Methods Technology

Session 10

The interviewer is being biased by stating the questions with his/her preconceived opinions about the interviewees job. If the interviewer had taken a more neutral standpoint the interviewee may have given different answers, but because the interviewer seemed to casting a negative judgment on this persons job they may have been subconsciously defending their line of work instead of providing honest answers. Regardless of whether the answers were honest or not, it is not polite to address someone about how they earn a living with such a negative context.

Computer database management can make the writing process much easier and more efficient. If the information is stored in a computer database, you can begin writing the chapter or article from a first draft. The History Database program was created for the purpose of research, writing, and cataloging with historical materials and for recording information to assist in the preservation of historic sites. The program provides simplified data entry, editing, and searching facilities for use by historians, researchers, archivists, museum curators, librarians, preservationists, and others whose entries include textual descriptions. The program also helps a beginning computer user make use of a historical database in the same way that a reference librarian helps a freshman make use of a library. The History Database program is presently used by a variety of historical researchers and organizations.

Yes I agree because Bias in surveys is undesirable, but often unavoidable. The major types of bias that may occur in the sampling process are:

Non-response bias: When individuals or households selected in the survey sample cannot or will not complete the survey there is the potential for bias to result from this non-response. Nonresponse bias occurs when the observed value deviates from the population parameter due to differences between respondents and nonrespondents.

Coverage bias: Coverage bias can occur when population members do not appear in the sample frame. Coverage bias occurs when the observed value deviates from the population parameter due to differences between covered and non-covered units. Telephone surveys suffer from a well known source of coverage bias because they cannot include households without telephones.

Selection Bias: Selection bias occurs when some units have a differing probability of selection that is unaccounted for by the researcher.

In writing the cover letter to accompany a mailed survey, novice researchers often stress the immediacy of their need for the data. Is this the best approach to take in the cover letter? If not, what do you recommend instead?

People do not like to feel pressured into taking a survey. Surveys that get mailed out that have a sense of urgency are often discarded as junk mail. Rather than being pushy with people it is best to show them respect. People will typically respond positively to a survey that has some sort of incentive.

Define "VALIDITY". Describe and distinguish between Internal validity and external validity.

In science and statistics, validity is the extent to which a concept, conclusion or measurement is well-founded and corresponds accurately to the real world. Internal validity has to do with the accuracy of the results. Results could be inaccurate if samples are not selected randomly. External validity has to do with the generalizability of the findings to the population. If the sample selected is only Hispanics under the age of 25, then it would be hard to generalize the results to the entire US population.

In historical research there is Negative criticism which refers to establishing the reliability or authenticity and accuracy of the content of documents and other sources of information. You must determine if the content in the document or source is accurate; this determination is achieved by using the following three heuristics:

· Corroboration -- comparing documents to each other to see if they provide the same information and lead to the same conclusions.

· Sourcing – identifying the author, date of creation, place of creation, or other information that identifies the source.

· Contextualization – identifying when and where the event took place and the context in which it took place.