Assignment 10
· Discussion Question #1
How can surveys be used to address descriptive and/or causal research questions? What are some of the advantages to using surveys to collect data? What are some of the disadvantages?
· Discussion Question #2
What can researchers do to ensure their survey is valid? Why is this important? What are the different types of validity that should be considered? What other concerns may affect validity of the survey?
Assignment 11
The purpose of this activity is to emphasize that co
elational studies investigate relationships between variables, but do not imply causation. Check out the examples of spurious co
elations at:
http:
tylervigen.com/spurious-co
elations (Links to an external site.). After examining these examples, respond to the following questions:
1. What can co
elational studies accomplish?
2. What type of research questions can be addressed using co
elational studies?
3. Do co
elational studies include dependent variables? Do they include independent variables?
4. How is a co
elational study different from a quasi-experiment?
5. Why can’t we say that co
elation equals causation?
Assignment 14
· Discussion Question #1
What distinguishes a quasi-experiment from a true experiment? When might a quasi-experiment be more appropriate? What are some examples of quasi-independent variables?
· Discussion Question #2
Is it possible to determine causation from a quasi-experiment? How and why does the interpretation of results change?