Paper FAQ #2

Q13: Tables & graphs aren't part of the page limit, right?

A: Correct. The page limit includes everything from the beginning of your introduction to the end of your discussion. (NOTE: remember to avoid using the heading "Introduction" at the beginning of your intro section.)

If you have the space, you can include tables & charts in the main body of the paper, but otherwise, you should put them in a separate section after the references and before the appendix (which is your questionnaire). Label your graphs "Figure 1", "Figure 2", etc., and your tables "Table 1", "Table 2", etc. and make sure to reference them in your text -- e.g., "...(see Table 1.)"

Q14: Do we really need to NOT put our name on the title page?

A: Correct. Most TA's are having their students put their names on the front page, but that means that they have to fold over all the title pages before grading to make everything anonymous, and then the front page gets all scrunched up, the piles of papers are more likely to tip over, etc. So I'm asking my students to please put their names on the back of the last page of their paper (which is probably the back of your last questinnaire page) -- it's okay if you write it in by hand. Yes, it might seem a little weird at first, but it just makes things easier.

Paper FAQ

Q1: When's your extra office hour?

A: Tonight (Wed) 7:10-8:10, at my office.

Q2: I've e-mailed you a draft of my paper. Can you fix it and then send it back to me so that I can get an A+ on this assignment? [Okay, so this question is a little exaggerated.]

A: Nope, the department policy is that that's not allowed. First of all, you can imagine how long it would take to read everyone's drafts if it were allowed! (Because, of course, everyone would want to take advantage of that service if it were allowed.) Secondly, you're expected to develop your own writing and proofreading skills in university (it sure would be nice if we could get other people to do our hard work for us, but then our own skills wouldn't improve!). What I can do for you, though, is to go through your paper outline with you during office hours, so we can make sure you're on the right track as far as content and organization go, and I can also read a paragraph of your actual paper to work on grammar and style issues. In my experience, doing that is a great balance between making sure you're doing what you need to do to get a good grade on one hand, and on the other hand, learning what you need to learn (particularly, knowledge about communication and research methods, plus paper-writing skills).

Q3: In our paper, should we use the present tense or the past tense?

A: When writing a proposal for research that hasn't been conducted yet, people usually use the future tense, but when writing a research report (like this paper), scholars usually use the past tense. I can't think of any time when the present tense would be used, besides maybe in the lit review section, e.g., "Zillmann (2007) maintains that arousal from media can carry over to other situations," but even here, the past tense is usually preferred.

Q4: How should I cite on-line sources?

A: Try this webpage: <http://www.bedfordstmartins.com/online/cite6.html> . On-line sources can be tricky to cite, so just do your best.

Q5: We had random assignment to conditions, but we didn't have a control condition that got no exposure to a stimulus. Is our study a true experiment?

A: You don't need a strict "no exposure" condition to have a true experiment, you just need the "key elements" that Prof. Mullin mentioned in the May 15 lecture. "Control" refers more to keeping all variables other than the manipulated variable constant than to having a strict no-exposure control group.

NOTE: the "third-variable problem" is usually a problem with the survey/correlational method (see your May 8 lecture notes), and not with true experiments, because all pretreatment differences between groups should be equalized with random assignment. However, there can be "third variables" if the internal validity of a study is low, like when there's a treatment confound (e.g., the manipulation is different in ways besides just the variable in question, like if you show participants 2 different TV shows, 1 violent & 1 not -- the shows are going to be different in ways other than the violence).

Q6: Do we need to include the TV shows we used as stimulus material in our references list?

A: No, you don't need to formally cite the shows in APA format in the references section, but you should give enough info about the show that readers can identify it (e.g., channel it airs on, date it aired, episode title if you know it).

Q7: When we quote or paraphrase within our paper do we have to write all the researchers' names in parentheses?

A: Yes, when you cite articles in the text, you need all the authors' last names and the year of publication of the article. The only exception is when there are more than 6 authors, in which case you give the first author's last name followed by "et al." and the year.

NOTE: In APA style, you don't include an article or book title unless that title is somehow part of your argument (e.g., if you're analyzing titles for some reason). All you include is the authors' last names, in the order given in the article, then the year of publication, and, when (and only when) you're using a direct quotation, the page number of the source of the quotation.

Q8: Are we allowed to change the info we gave you (e.g., change the hypotheses, use different research articles, use different data analysis methods, etc.) and/or use different info from what the rest of our group is using?

A: Yes. (I won't have your group information next to me when I grade.) BUT, be careful when you change things that you're not breaking any rules/guidelines of the scientific method (e.g., make sure you don't change your hypotheses after the fact to match your results, don't add hypotheses after you analyzed your data because you found some interesting things when "fishing" through your data, etc.).

Q9: Will there be a penalty for going over 8 pages?

A: Yes, there will be some sort of penalty for going over the page limit (we TA's haven't discussed with Prof. Mullin exactly what that penalty will be yet), because it's not fair if some students have to cut out information to get under the limit (and potentially get a lower grade, if they don't choose wisely), while other students just include everything without cutting extra info. So that means you'll need to look through your paper for stuff that's not necessary and/or that's relatively unimportant, and otherwise condense your writing.

If your paper is under the limit, that's probably because you're forgetting to include something, and/or not going into enough detail. Make sure to check the assignment prompt for stuff you're missing, and check published articles for examples of the depth you should be going into.

Q10: Should we include a title page with our paper?

A: I don't think the assignment prompt mentioned a title page, but yes, including one is a good idea, because title pages are required according to APA guidelines. And remember, the title page shouldn't include your name. THE ONLY PLACE YOU SHOULD INCLUDE YOUR NAME IS ON THE BACK OF YOUR LAST PAGE. (That'll probably be on the back of your last questionnaire page.)

Q11: Do we need to attach our questionnaires to our paper?

A: Yes. See the assignment prompt.

Q12: Do we need to attach our 2 published articles to our paper?

A: No. See the assignment prompt.

Q: Do we need to attach our data to our paper?

A: No. See the assignment prompt.

Good luck, everyone!

FAQ: unidimensional vs. multidimensional variables

Q: Is my dependent variable unidimensional or multidimensional?

A: First of all, if a variable is measured with a single question on a questionnaire, it's always unidimensional. Multiple questions on a questionnaire can be either unidimensional or multidimensional -- just because there are multiple questions doesn't mean that the variable must be multidimensional.

The reason you'd put multiple questions on a questionnaire is for triangulation of measurement, because any single question might lead to weird answers, but if you ask about the same thing in different ways, you should get a reasonable response to the questions overall. (It's sort of like why you don't want just one person in your sample -- one person might not adequately represent people's answers.)

In general, a variable is unidimensional when it's narrow, simple, and straightforward, and multidimensional when it's more broad, complex, and abstract. Questions used to measure a unidimensional variable give similar answers to each other, and group together in one group. Questions for a multidimensional variable give similar answers overall, but group together in several subgroups.

E.g., income is a unidimensional variable. You can ask it in a few ways -- e.g., "What was the income you reported last year on your income taxes? ________" and "How much money did your household earn last month: $0-500, $500-1,000, or $1000+?" -- so the measure can be triangulated, but it's still a simple, straightforward variable.

But socioeconomic status is a multidimensional variable, because it includes not only income, but also occupation and education. Overall, people's educational level, occupation, and income are closely related, so answers to SES questions should be similar overall, but answers about education should group together closer with each other than to answers about income & occupation, answers about income should be more similar to each other than to answers about education & occupation, etc. So income is a variable, but it's also one of three (or so) dimensions of a "bigger" variable, socioeconomic status.

The way researchers usually find out whether a variable is uni- or multi-dimensional is by running a statistical test called a "factor analysis," which looks at correlations to show how variables group together. Because you're not expected to run factor analyses, you can basically eyeball your data to see what groups together with what, or you can just guess based on what you know about your variables.

Conference

Reminder: I will be at a conference until next week, and probably won't have access to e-mail. I will have regular office hours next week (Tuesday 9:15-11:15), and then an extra office hour Wed. 7:10-8:10. Have a great weekend!

Homework

Homework due on Friday is your computations & paper outline. Bullet points are fine for your outline, but the more you've completed by section time, the better. You should be able to write your entire paper at this point.

Midterm score FAQ

Q: What letter grade did I get on the midterm?

A: There's really no way to know what letter grades the midterm scores translate to, because course grades are based on total points at the end of the quarter -- the median grade usually gets a B-, the top score gets an A+, everyone in between gets grades in between, and scores below the median get a max letter grade of C+. But you can get a rough idea of where your score falls, because grade ranges are roughly equal; you can subtract the median from the max score, and divide by the number of letter grades between them, so 100% (max midterm score) - 82% (median) / 5 = ~3.5. So the B- range is roughly between 82% and 85.5%, the B range is roughly between 85.5 and 89%, the C+ range is roughly between 79.5 and 82%, etc.

Section is at its regular time

In case this wasn't clear, section will take place at its usual time this week -- it'll start and end at the normal time. The 1-hour slots I gave you last Friday are the times when data will be collected, but the first hour of section will still be devoted to covering class material, exercises, etc. (as usual).

FYI, Exercise #4 is due this week, and next week, you'll need to bring your data computations and paper outlines to section.

This week's homework

No exercises due tomorrow, but you will need to finish your project prospectus and measures by the end of section.

Next week, Exercise #4 is due, and you'll need to bring whatever's necessary to collect data.

-Rena

Midterm FAQ, part 2

Q: What's the difference between inter-coder reliability and intra-coder reliability?

A: There's inter-coder reliability if all observers who are coding something (e.g., assigning a grade to your group project) code the same way (e.g., all 4 TA's assign you an "A" ). There's intra-coder reliability if I read your paper 4 times and assign an "A" every time. There's inter-item reliability if I break up your paper into sections (e.g., literature review, hypotheses, results) and grade every section separately (so I break the paper into separate "items"), and assign every section an "A".

inter-coder: all coders code the same as each other
intra-coder: one coder codes the same every time
inter-item: each "item" (in, e.g., a self-esteem questionnaire) gives the same result as every other item (in the questionnaire)

Q: For midterm practice qu. #10, why is (b) the correct answer?

A: (a) is true because it was a representative sample, so you can generalize to the population you drew the sample from.

(b) is NOT true, because the only way you can make a causal claim is with the experimental method. In other words, to make a causal claim, you'd need to manipulate a variable (e.g., manipulate beverage type by giving one group beer and the other water), randomly assign participants to one group for each "level" of the variable (1 group to the beer condition and 1 group to the water condition), and control as many outside factors as possible (e.g., it would be bad/uncontrolled it experimenters were extra nice to one of the groups but not the other). The study in qu. #10 just asks everyone the same questions (there are no separate conditions), so this is the correlational/survey method and you therefore can't make causal claims.

(c) is true. You've measured 2 variables (drinking habits & support for alcohol on campus), so you can assess the relationship. As long as you measure 2 variables (regardless of whether the design is a content analysis, survey/correlational study, or experiment), you can see how the 2 variables are related. (But if you assessed the relationship with an experimental design, you could assess the _causal_ relationship, and not just the "relationship.")

So (a) and (c) are both true, which means that (b) is the only one that is NOT an advantage of the design.

Q: For midterm practice qu. #12, what's a "longitudinal design"?

A: A longitudinal design just involves collecting measures over time (over the course of days, months, or years). By contrast, a cross-sectional design involves measuring all variables in one shot, on one day, because they're all variables from the present or past.

The 2 variables in (a) (education level, support for drug legalization) can both be measured at the same time -- they're _current_ levels of the variables.

The 2 variables in (b) (era during which one was raised, trust for government) can both be measured at the same time -- they're current (trust for government) or past (when you were raised).

The 2 variables in (d) (level of income, preference for newspapers over TV) can both be measured at the same time -- they're both current.

The 2 variables in (c) (awareness of advertised products, progression of the season) CANNOT both be measured at the same time. Current awareness of advertised products is in the present. But "progression" isn't in the present or past (in which case you'd be able to measure it at the same time as awareness and be done with it), it's in the present and _future_. To find levels of awareness as the season progresses, you'd need to measure awareness several times _as the season progresses_, i.e., over time, i.e., longitudinally. So the answer is (c).

Q: For midterm practice qu. #14, why is (b) the correct answer?

A: Self-esteem and eye contact refer to the same variable -- eye contact is the _measure_ (operationalization) of the variable "self-esteem". If that measure were used to _predict_ something, e.g., GPA in college, then you could criticize the measure's _predictive validity_ if you found that eye contact does not actually predict GPA in college. (Predictive validity isn't about how well a measure "predicts" its own variable, it's about how well the measure predicts another variable.) But that's not what's being criticized here.

The criticism given in this question is just about how well the measure does (or in this case, doesn't) "fit" the variable -- it criticizes the validity of the measure. It doesn't give any concrete info about why the variable is bad. It doesn't say that eye contact is a bad measure
because, e.g.:
1. eye contact doesn't capture the full range of self-esteem (content validity is low)
2. though self-esteem is related to the number of friends a person has, eye contact isn't related to your # of friends (construct validity is low)
3. self-esteem doesn't predict GPA in college (predictive/criterion validity is low)

It just gives one person's opinion that it doesn't seem, on the surface of things, that eye contact is a good measure of self-esteem. So the answer is (b), face validity.

Q: For midterm practice qu. #20, why is the sample not a stratified sample? Didn't stratification occur because people with and without phones were automatically different?

A: In stratification, you divide people into strata, and then select people from each stratum (randomly, for random stratification). The number of people you select from each stratum is determined by the proportion of each stratum in the population. E.g., if you wanted to do a stratified sample of men and women in Comm 88, you'd need to get the course roster, divide everyone into a "male" or "female" category, and determine what % of the class is male. If you found that the class is 50% male, and you wanted a sample size of 10, then you'd select 5 people from the "male" list and 5 people from the "female" list.

Stratification (a) is purposeful (if you just happened to get 50% males and 50% females, then that's chance, not stratification), (b) requires that you have a complete list of everyone in each stratum and know which stratum everyone belongs to, (c) requires previous knowledge about proportions in the population (e.g., you'd need to know what % of people don't have phones), and (d) involves collecting data from _all_ strata (so in the case of this question, it would involve collecting data from people without phones as well as people with phones).

In this Gallup study, there was no purposeful prior division into groups, there was only 1 group that was sampled (people whose phone numbers were randomly selected), and nothing was mentioned about people without phones. (Careful you don't add anything into the question that's not there!) So it's not stratified. Instead, it's a "simple random sample" because people were randomly selected from a population: Californian adults with phones.

(OK, you could technically say that e.g., people with multiple phone #'s have a greater chance of being contacted than people with 1 phone # for the entire family, but that's getting too technical. This is basically a simple random sample.)

Good luck on the exam, everyone!