Deck 7: Accessing Difficult to Access Information

Question 1

What does understanding the limitations of your method enable you to do?

A) Make better choices in your research
B) Ensure you get more useful data
C) Reduce the likelihood that you will find statistically insignificant results
D) Overcome resource constraints

Answer 1

A

Question 2

What should you do first when you find that the data you want is not going to be accessible using the approach you originally tried?

A) Choose a new research paradigm
B) Choose a new research method
C) Choose a new research question
D) Choose to record and report the problems you have encountered getting this data

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Where do obstacles to accessing data occur?

A) Any data type can be difficult to access in some circumstances
B) Mostly with primary data
C) Mostly with secondary data
D) Equally with both primary and secondary data

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of these is NOT one of the broad categories of obstacle relating to the potential source of data?

A) Source difficult to locate or identify
B) Source no longer exists
C) Source unable to provide data
D) Source unwilling to provide data

Question 5

Why might it be that a source is very difficult to locate or identify? Which of these potential reasons is NOT plausible?

A) They are hiding from the researcher
B) They do not know the researcher wants to find them
C) They have died or left the country
D) They do not appear on any database available to the researcher

Question 6

You might use correlated characteristics to try to find individuals who are characterised by hidden or latent qualities (e.g. undiagnosed illnesses). What problems would you face if you did?

A) Sampling on the basis of correlated characteristics may result in a large number of false positives.
B) Sampling on the basis of correlated characteristics may result in a large number of false negatives.
C) Sampling on the basis of correlated characteristics may result in a small number of fake positives.
D) Sampling on the basis of correlated characteristics may result in a small number of fake negatives.

Question 7

What does a cohort sequential longitudinal design NOT allow you to distinguish between?

A) The effects of cohort and age
B) The effects of cohort and era (historical period)
C) The effects of era (historical period) and age
D) The effects of repeated measurement

Question 8

What sort of factors might undermine the representativeness of a secondary database?

A) Poor primary sampling of data
B) Poor primary sampling of data sources
C) Poor primary recording data
D) Poor primary elicitation of data

Question 9

Why might a source not be able to provide information? They might not know they have it. They might be unable to communicate it. What other reason would not be included in the list?

A) They may not want to
B) They may not have it
C) They may be confused
D) They may be legally constrained

Question 10

How do you overcome the inhibitions of a source to respond? What approach is unlikely to be effective for the study?

A) Changing the context for data collection
B) Changing the way you contact the source
C) Changing the way you ask for data
D) Changing the data you ask for

Question 11

What should you NOT do when faced with a participant who is in a heightened state of arousal?

A) Avoid mentioning it
B) Give clear reassurances
C) Give useful information
D) Assess, acknowledge and assuage

Question 12

If a source is willing but unable to provide data, researchers sometimes ask for information about the source from another person. This second-hand information may be biased in some way the researcher cannot anticipate. What should the researcher do to improve the usefulness of this data?

A) Ask the primary source to confirm or reject the information from the other person
B) Ask several other people for the information about the source to determine if there is consensus, identify disparities and seek explanations
C) Ask the primary source who they would trust to give accurate information about them
D) Ask the primary source for relevant archival data

Question 13

Which of the behaviours listed is likely to reflect a source's unwillingness to provide data?

A) Answering questions slowly
B) Changing their answers
C) Omitting to answer questions
D) Giving brief positive answers

Question 14

Sometimes incentives are used to encourage sources to provide data. There has been ethical criticism of the use of incentives. It has been argued that they represent a form of undue influence or coercion. When may this be unlikely to occur?

A) If the source is somehow dependent on the researcher
B) If the risk inherent in participation in the research is low
C) If the incentive is large
D) If the research is intrinsically degrading

Question 15

Can you be sure someone is not 'faking' (i.e. deliberately giving you false data)?

A) Never, no method is foolproof
B) Rarely - for instance, you can use response latency times
C) Sometimes - for instance, you can use 'dissimulation scales'
D) Often - for instance, you can independently corroborate the veracity of the response

Question 16

Sometimes research requires data whose availability is naturally rare or unpredictable. What tactic is most likely to give you such data?

A) Be patient and plan for the moment when they are available
B) Intervene to stimulate their availability artificially
C) Use data which is similar from other researchers
D) Collect very large amounts of data (over-sampling) and sift for the data relevant for your study

Question 17

Resource limitations shape the kinds of data that can be accessed. Which of these is NOT a type of resource limitation that can influence data access?

A) Finance
B) Time
C) Theory
D) Information

Question 18

Ethical considerations can sometimes prohibit or inhibit access to data. What usually will a researcher do when this occurs?

A) Shelve the study
B) Modify the research design
C) Revise the research question
D) Re-examine the ethical advice

Question 19

What should you do to assess the impact of missing data on your overall conclusions from your research?

A) Use statistical techniques to minimise the impact of missing data
B) Check whether the missing data are in some non-random pattern
C) Check whether the pattern of missing data is associated with some subset of the sample
D) All of these

Question 20

What is 'ecological momentary assessment'?

A) Capturing data at a single moment in time
B) Capturing data on behaviour in a natural environment
C) Capturing data on behaviour in real time in a natural environment
D) Capturing data repeatedly in real time in the source's natural environment