A social psychologist decides to measure popularity by adding up survey respondents' answers to the following four questions.
How many friends would you say that you have? ________
How many texts on your cell phone do you receive from friends during an average day? _______
How many emails from friends do you receive during an average day? ______
How many phone calls do you receive from friends during an average day? ______
This type of measure is called:

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This is an index, which is a composite measure made up of multiple individual indicators or measures. It is not an independent variable, as it is not being manipulated to see its effect on another variable. It is also not a spurious variable, as it is not a variable that appears to have a causal relationship with another variable when in fact it does not. Finally, it is not a variable set, as it is one measure made up of several indicators.

A Social Psychologist Decides to Measure Popularity by Adding Up