1. A faculty adviser at a small college worked diligently over the summer to pre
ID: 3463276 • Letter: 1
Question
1. A faculty adviser at a small college worked diligently over the summer to prepare an attractive brochure to give to her advisees when she first met them on campus. The brochure described the various ways the adviser could be helpful to the students, and the adviser hoped that using the brochure would increase the number of students who came in to see her early in the semester. To try to maximize the effectiveness of the brochure the adviser also worked hard at being especially upbeat and friendly during the first advising meeting with students. Seventy percent of the students who received the brochure came in to see her more than once, as compared to only 35% of the students who came in to see her the previous year (when no brochure was used). The adviser concluded that the brochure had the desired effect.
A. What problem with the way the adviser carried out her study would lead you to be hesitant to conclude that the brochure was effective?
B. On the basis of the problem you have identified would you be able to conclude that the brochure was not effective? Why or why not?
2. Students in a research methods class did a study to examine when students would be more likely to look for oncoming traffic when crossing a street. The researchers predicted that students would be less likely to look for oncoming traffic when crossing at an intersection with a designated crosswalk (i.e., with lines marking the crossing) than when crossing at an intersection without a designated crosswalk (i.e., no lines). A team of six student researchers made the observations for this study. The observers made their observations on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for one week, and on Tuesday and Thursday during a second week. On each day, they observed the intersections for one hour mid-morning and for one hour mid-afternoon. Both intersections were observed during each observation session. The observers were in a location such that they could see the intersections, but could not be seen by the pedestrians who were being observed. The observers included only student pedestrians who were walking alone, and they counted the student as having “looked for traffic” if he or she looked in one or both directions before entering the intersection. The observers made initial observations together to establish agreement regarding what constituted “looking for traffic.” These observations were not included in the final data. Over 200 students were observed crossing the intersection at the designated crosswalk and over 100 students were observed crossing at the intersection without the designated crosswalk. Their results supported the research team’s prediction: fewer students looked for traffic when crossing at the designated crosswalk than when crossing the intersection without the designated crosswalk.
A. What type of observational method was used in this study?
B. The students selected levels of an independent variable in their study. What is the operational definition of this variable?
C. What measurement scale is used for their dependent variable? Based on this, what descriptive statistic should be used in this study to compare the values of the dependent variable in the two conditions? Explain your answer.
D. What type of sampling did the observers use to decide when to make their observations.
E. Identify one aspect of their procedure that likely increased the reliability of their observations. Explain your answer.
F. Identify one aspect of their procedure that likely decreased the problem of reactivity. Explain your answer.
G. Identify one aspect of their procedure that would likely limit the external validity of their findings. Explain your answer.
Explanation / Answer
1.
A. The faculty advisor wanted to see the effect of brochure and how it may help in attracting students, but here, she worked hard at being upbeat and friendly during the first advising meeting with students. So, this may have caused the students to see her more than once.
B. It cannot be concluded that the brochure worked or did not work, but the problem is of the confounding variable of her being upbeat and friendly, which may have had an influence.So, the brochure cannot be attributed to the success..
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