Deck 10: Nonreactive Quantitative Research and Secondary Analysis

Question 1

Which of the following characteristics best describes a coding system that codes for the direction of text content?

A)Recording the size of a text message or the amount of space or volume that the text occupies
B)Recording the strength or power of the content of a specific text
C)Noting the content of a message in the content along some continuum
D)Specifying a set of instructions to explain how to convert the symbolic content of text into quantitative data
E)Counting whether or not something occurs in the text and,if so,how often that occurrence takes place

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Explain how constructs are operationalized in quantitative content analysis.Provide an example.

Answer 2

Constructs in content analysis are operationalized with a coding system.
A coding system is a set of instructions or rules on how to systematically observe and record content from text (e.g.,television drama,novels,and photographs in magazine advertisements).
A coding system on crime reporting might include the following codes: type of crime,region of crime,length of story,reporting of motive,expressions of fear,and presentations of outrage or sympathy.

Question 3

What kind of sampling procedure would one use in quantitative content analysis research? Specify each of the main steps.

Answer 3

Researchers often use random sampling in content analysis.
First,they define the population and the sampling element (e.g.,the population might be all words,all sentences,all paragraphs,or all articles in certain types of documents over a specified time period).
Second,a researcher would decide on the sampling frame (e.g.,a list of all the articles,or television shows).
Third,the researcher would decide on the sample size and design.
Fourth,the researcher would draw the random sample using a random-number table to select the desired number of,for example,magazine articles or television shows.

Question 4

Items found in the trash or on the floor of the theatre after a movie has concluded are examples of

A)traces.
B)erosion.
C)accretion.
D)hash marks.
E)vital statistics.

Question 5

Identify and describe four specific limitations that a researcher needs to consider when using secondary data.

Question 6

Coding systems identify four characteristics of text content.Identify and briefly describe each of these characteristics.

Question 7

Professor Ernie Easter has a list of measures on the French influence in the Moncton,New Brunswick area.He asked you to identify the one that is NOT an unobtrusive measure.Which one is it?

A)The wear on novels in Moncton public libraries written in French
B)Walking down a street in Moncton and noticing that most of the signs in stores in a neighbourhood are in French
C)A list of votes supporting bills on bilingual education in the New Brunswick legislature with the area represented by each legislator noted on the list
D)A box of 300 letters written by people living in Moncton to relatives living in French-speaking areas outside the province (e.g.,Quebec)between 1980 and 1985
E)A survey using a three-page questionnaire partly written in French that was distributed to residents of a neighbourhood

Question 8

Distinguish between manifest and latent coding.Which one is more reliable? Which one is more valid? Explain.

Question 9

Compared to latent coding in content analysis,manifest coding usually has

A)greater reliability than latent coding.
B)lower rates of intercoder reliability.
C)greater validity than latent coding.
D)lower reliability than latent coding.
E)subjective meanings associated with the codes.

Question 10

Professor Lorna Lovebird codes the number of times the word sex is used in commercials.She is examining

A)lateral structure.
B)ecological content.
C)manifest content.
D)corroboration.
E)latent content.

Question 11

Describe and provide an example of the fallacy of misplaced concreteness.Explain why it is deceptive.

Question 12

What is the purpose of multiple coders in content analysis? What possible problem can this create? How might one deal with the problem?

Question 13

Which of the following is an example of an unobtrusive measure?

A)A telephone interview with voters asking them how they intend to vote
B)A three-week laboratory experiment to see whether students who participate in an exercise program lose more weight than those who follow a special diet
C)A mailed questionnaire to mayors asking whether their town has an evacuation plan in case of a nuclear power plant disaster
D)Research on graffiti in a high-income neighbourhood
E)None of the above

Question 14

Which of the following nonreactive measures is an example of observation?

A)Examining children’s toys at a daycare to determine which ones are most popular as indicated by their wear and tear
B)Examining garbage bins in a neighbourhood to determine nutritional habits
C)Examining marriage records in an archive in order to compare marriage patterns among different communities over time
D)An examination of high school yearbooks to compare the high school activities of those who had psychological problems in later life versus those who did not
E)Counting and comparing the number of men and women who come to a complete stop at a stop sign to determine driving habits by gender

Question 15

Describe the logic of nonreactive or unobtrusive measurement and provide three examples of nonreactive measures (empirical evidence).

Question 16

Professor Aaron Acorn counts the number of total people and the percentage who are Asian in a sample of 400 TV commercials shown during a one-month period on two Vancouver area stations.He wants to see whether the percentage of Asians in commercials equals,is greater than,or is less than the percentage of Asians in the area population.He is using

A)latent structure measurement.
B)generic content coding.
C)manifest content coding.
D)corroborative coding.
E)latent content coding.

Question 17

What is the most common type of sampling used in content analysis?

A)Snowball
B)Quota
C)Random
D)Judgmental
E)None,sampling does not occur

Question 18

What is quantitative content analysis and what is its specific limitation? What three types of research problems is content analysis usually used for?

Question 19

Why are ethical concerns usually not a problem for nonreactive research? Nevertheless,what sorts of ethical issues should a nonreactive researcher be aware of?

Question 20

Quantitative content analysis involves ________,________,and operational definitions for abstract concepts.

A)nonrandom sampling,reactive measures
B)snowball sampling,intrusive measures
C)random sampling,precise measurement
D)unstructured observation,unobtrusive measures
E)nonrandom sampling,coding

Question 21

Examining wear and tear of exercise equipment in a fitness centre to determine which sorts of exercises members are most inclined to engage in is an example of which type of nonreactive measure?

A)Accretion
B)Running records
C)External appearance
D)Erosion
E)Time duration

Question 22

Which of the following best describes the central difference between nonreactive research and other kinds of social scientific research?

A)Participants are not harmed in any way
B)Participants are unaware of the purpose of the research they are participating in
C)The research focuses on objects (e.g.,books,furniture,waste products,etc.),rather than people
D)Participants are not aware they are being studied during data collection
E)The research process does not involve a treatment,or any manipulation of independent variables

Question 23

Pete Patterson is interested in how mayoral candidates from different parties were presented in local newspapers during the 10-week campaign period of the last municipal election in his town.Each paper published five issues per week throughout the 10-week period.Each of the 150 issues contained an average of 42 articles,giving Pete a total of 6 300 articles.Due to budget and time constraints,Pete decides to sample 630 of the articles.What is Pete's sampling frame?

A)The 150 issues of the three local newspapers
B)Each individual article
C)All 6 300 articles
D)The list of 630 articles
E)10 percent of 6 300 articles

Question 24

Coding for implicit meanings like emotions,themes,and moods is a feature of

A)coding frames.
B)manifest coding.
C)structured observation.
D)latent coding.
E)frequency coding.

Question 25

Which of the following is not one of the characteristics of text content that social researchers measure?

A)Direction
B)Frequency
C)Accuracy
D)Space
E)Intensity

Question 26

What is the difference between a coding system and a coding frame?

A)A coding system explains how to make systematic observations,while a coding frame lists all of the possible values a code can take
B)A coding system is a class of software used to code text data,while a coding frame is a list of possible codes
C)A coding system explains how to select cases for content analysis,while a coding frame lists all of the possible cases in the population
D)A coding frame explains how to select cases for content analysis,while a coding frame lists all of the cases that have been sampled
E)A coding system outlines the procedures for manifest coding,while a coding frame outlines the procedures for latent coding

Question 27

What can be observed in nonreactive research projects?

A)External appearances
B)Intentions
C)Time duration
D)A and B
E)A and C

Question 28

Existing statistics are best for topics

A)where the researcher controls a situation and manipulates an independent variable.
B)that involve the underlying meaning of messages in cultural communications.
C)where the researcher asks questions and learns about reported attitudes or behaviour.
D)that involve information routinely collected by large bureaucratic organizations.
E)directly related to a research question.

Question 29

Graduate student Karen Koolray submitted her MA thesis to her supervisor.When Karen's supervisor returned her thesis,it contained a margin note that indicated Karen had committed the fallacy of misplaced concreteness.Which of the following points in Karen's paper was this criticism most likely referring to?

A)The conclusion that undergraduate research textbooks reinforce sexist assumptions about intellectuals
B)The observation that female researchers’work is referenced in undergraduate research textbooks 18.364928 percent less than male researchers’work
C)The claim that undergraduate research textbooks can be studied with only existing statistics
D)The claims that approximately 308 undergraduate research textbooks are published each year and that this will not change for at least 10 years
E)The assumption that data from the international Learning Materials Survey accurately represents the content of undergraduate research methods textbooks

Question 30

When must a researcher who uses several coders measure for and disclose intercoder reliability?

A)Always
B)When the researcher’s sample is heterogeneous and different coders are analyzing different sources of data
C)When the researcher’s sample is homogenious and different coders are analyzing the same or similar sources of data
D)When interviewer effects are present
E)The decision is up to the discretion of the researcher

Question 31

Professor John Juniper was interested in using Statistics Canada data to examine trends in Canadian unemployment rates over the last 40 years;however,he found that the official definition of "unemployment" used to collect unemployment statistics differed from year to year.Which of the following issues complicates matters for him?

A)Reliability
B)Validity
C)Ecological fallacy
D)Ideal types
E)The coding frame is invalid

Question 32

Which of the following terms describes a measure of social well-being,such as "quality of social life," for the purpose of better informing government and other policymaking officials?

A)Inference
B)Census
C)Social indicator
D)The Data Liberation Initiative (IDL)
E)Social trend

Question 33

The most notable general source of statistical information for Canada is the

A)Gallup poll.
B)Demographic Yearbook.
C)World Book Encyclopedia.
D)Superintendent of Documents.
E)Canada Year Book.

Question 34

Which of the following best describes the relationship between direction and intensity?

A)Direction is where something fits on a continuum,while intensity pertains to how often messages pertain to different points on the continuum.
B)Direction is where something fits on a continuum,while intensity is the strength or power of a message in a direction.
C)Direction is a measure of interval variables,while intensity is a measure of categorical variables.
D)Direction pertains to the overall character of a sample frame,while intensity pertains to the level of agreement or divergence of each element from the overall direction.
E)Measures of direction involve value judgments,while measures of intensity do not.

Question 35

During the 1960s,which movement was led by dissatisfied social scientists wanting to measure the quality of social life so such information could influence public policy?

A)General social survey movement
B)Well-being statistics movement
C)Quality of life movement
D)Census movement
E)Social indicators movement

Question 36

Jane Jenzen is interested in how members of three different ethnic groups are portrayed in Time,Newsweek,and Maclean's magazines.She is only interested in considering feature articles containing news and stories about ethnic groups.After examining the three magazines,she finds that the average issue of each magazine contains 45 articles and that the magazines are published 52 weeks per year,yielding 23 400 articles.She decides to limit the number of articles to 156 articles per magazine-468 articles in total,or 2 percent.What is Jenzen's unit of analysis?

A)All articles in Time,Newsweek,and Maclean’s for the years 2000 to 2010
B)Each individual article
C)All 23 400 articles
D)468 articles
E)2 percent of 23 400 articles

Question 37

Which of the following features best describes why secondary data analysis is increasingly used by researchers?

A)It permits the researcher to closely observe people in routine,everyday interactions.
B)It allows the researcher to ask participants questions that are specifically related to the research topic.
C)The researcher knows the data very well because he or she has designed the survey questions and then collected the data.
D)It is relatively inexpensive.
E)Secondary data allows the researcher to manipulate the information so that it can more accurately be applied to his or her study.

Question 38

Where do researchers keep notes or tallies of what has been coded in content analyses?

A)Coding frame
B)Coding manifest
C)Coding system
D)Recording sheet
E)Coding space

Question 39

Undergraduate student Stanley Sleuth conducted a content analysis study of the Toronto Star newspaper between 1915 and 2005.He first identified 20 000 relevant articles involving government regulation of business and systematically sampled these articles with a sampling interval of 50.He then coded each sampled article based on the subjective meaning it expressed as pro- or anti-government regulation using a 1 to 10 scale (1 = very anti-regulation,10 = very pro-regulation).In this study,Stanley used

A)latent coding.
B)manifest coding.
C)generic coding.
D)intervention strategy coding.
E)contingency coding.

Question 40

An example of a problem with existing statistics can occur when a researcher defines a concept such as unemployment in one way but the available statistical information gathered by a government agency uses a different definition.What type of problem can this create?

A)A problem of validity
B)A problem of misplaced concreteness
C)A problem of missing data
D)A problem of reliability
E)A problem of inference

Question 41

Define the following:coding frame

Question 42

Define the following:reactive

Question 43

Define the following:nonreactive

Question 44

Define the following:space

Question 45

Define the following:content

Question 46

Define the following:latent coding

Question 47

Define the following:fallacy of misplaced concreteness

Question 48

Define the following:accretion measures

Question 49

Define the following:structured observation

Question 50

Define the following:manifest coding

Question 51

Define the following:social indicator

Question 52

Define the following:frequency

Question 53

Define the following:intensity

Question 54

Define the following:erosion measures

Question 55

Define the following:coding

Question 56

Define the following:text

Question 57

Define the following:content analysis

Question 58

Define the following:recording sheet

Question 59

Define the following:coding system

Question 60

Define the following:direction

Question 61

Define the following:unobtrusive measure