Research%20Skills%20One

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Research Skills One
Oh, no! Please, no! Not statistics!!
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Aims of the two first year Research Skills
courses Basic grounding in research skills
- designing questionnaires and experiments data
analysis using statistics, Excel and
SPSS writing up studies using standard
presentation conventions
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Outline of this course (Research Skills
One) Issues in designing questionnaires and
experiments. Descriptive statistics - effective
summarising of data. Statistical tests
(correlation, Chi-Square, nonparametric tests for
comparing groups or conditions). Using SPSS
("Statistical Package for the Social Sciences")
for data analysis and Excel for producing graphs
and tables.
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Organisation for this course One lecture and
one practical session every week. (Lectures
Fridays at 10 am in Chichester Lecture Theatre
until week 12 December 5th). Practical
sessions - details on Sussex Direct (you are
split into lots of smaller groups).
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Course requirements
Assessment is by a mixture of coursework and
exam

Coursework SONA research participation (4
hours/16 credits this term) 10 Lab-report 1
10 Lab-report 2 20 Exam - Unseen exam (in
winter assessment period) 60 Overall pass mark
(exam and coursework combined) 40
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Course documentation, handouts, lecture
slides Go to Study Direct - this course is
Research Skills One (C8511) OR Type Graham
Hole into Google Lecture slides available on
Study Direct the day before the lecture. Lecture
podcasts available on Study Direct the day after
the lecture.
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Click on this link
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Everything you need to know for this course
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Questionnaire design
Perhaps now you'll fill in my questionnaire?
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How does the way you collect data affect the
data collected? How does question wording affect
people's answers?
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Stages in questionnaire design
1. Formulate the research question(s) clearly.
2. Identify the population and sample.
3. Design the questionnaire think about question
wording questionnaire formatting mode of
administration data analysis.
4. Pre-test the questionnaire.
5. Administer the questionnaire, after it has
been revised in the light of (4).
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Samples and populations
Sample a subset from a population (e.g.
first-year psychology students).
Population a complete set of things (e.g. all of
humanity).
For valid inferences to be made about a
population's characteristics, a sample must be
representative of its parent population (e.g.
similar in age, SES, IQ, etc.)
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Methods of obtaining questionnaire data
Postal questionnaire Personal interview Phone interview Internet questionnaire
Cost Low High Moderate Low
Data quality Response rate Respondent motivation Interviewer bias Low Low None High High Moderate Moderate High Low Low Low None
Sample quality Low, unless high response rate High Moderate to high, especially with random digit dialling Moderate, but improving as Internet access widens
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Postal Questionnaire Personal interview Phone interview Internet questionnaire
Possible interview length Short Very long Long Short
Ability to clarify and probe None High High None
Anonymity High Low Low Low
Dependence on respondents literacy High None None High
Control of context and question order None High High Depends
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Goals of Questionnaire design 1. To obtain
facts about a person. 2. To obtain information
about their attitudes and beliefs. 3. To find
out what a person has done (behaviours).
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• Questionnaire wording
• Should be exact.
• 2. Should be simple.
• 3. Avoid biased or emotive words.
• Schuman and Presser (1981) subtle changes of
  wording may influence responses.
• e.g. Should the Government allow public
  speeches by a Communist? produced 25 fewer
  pro-free-speech responses when allow was replaced
  with forbid.

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4. Make all alternatives clear. e.g. Payne
(1951) "Do you think most manufacturing
companies that lay off workers during slack
periods could arrange things to avoid layoffs and
give steady work throughout the year?" 63 -
companies could avoid layoffs. 22 - couldnt
avoid layoffs. 15 - no opinion. Same question
plus phrase "or do you think layoffs are
unavoidable?" 35 - companies could avoid
layoffs. 41 - couldnt avoid layoffs. 24 - no
opinion.
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5. Avoid the format "Some people say x do you
agree or disagree?" 6. Avoid unwarranted
assumptions. e.g. "What is your occupation?"
assumes person has a job. 7. Avoid
double-barrelled questions. e.g. "Should
immigrants be repatriated and their possessions
confiscated?" is two questions. 8. Avoid double
negatives. e.g. "Are you against a ban on
smoking?"
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9. Consider the relative merits of open-ended and
closed-ended questions. Open-ended allow
unconstrained responses. e.g. "How do you travel
to the University?". May produce richly detailed
responses, but hard and tedious to
score. Closed-ended require choice from a
limited range of alternatives. e.g. "Do you
travel to the University by (a) bus, (b) car, or
(c) unicycle (tick one)". Easy to code, but prone
to bias.
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Closed-ended questions must have (a) a balanced
response scale (b) mutually exclusive
categories (c) facilities for handling "don't
know" and "other" responses.
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Rating scales The Likert Scale "Criminals
should be flogged".
Strongly agree Agree Neither agree nor disagree Disagree Strongly disagree
1 2 3 4 5
Can be 5-. 7- or 9-point scale (doesn't make
much difference). Visual Analogue
Scale Strongly agree Strongly disagree
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Problems with questionnaires about attitudes 1.
May not have an attitude - "doorstep
opinions". 2. Attitudes may be complex and
multi-dimensional. 3. Attitudes vary in
intensity. 4. Expressed attitudes may depend on
question wording, sequence and interviewer
effects.
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Problems with questionnaires about behaviour 1.
Memory limitations - e.g. Henry et al's (1994)
study of 18 year old's memories for mood at age
9-11 Chapman and Underwood's (2000) study of
drivers' memory for accidents and
near-misses. Can be counteracted by (a) asking
specific questions (b) asking for birth date
rather than age (c) using a chronological
format (d) re-interviewing. 2. Response biases
due to social desirability or suspicion,
especially for illegal or anti-social
activities. Can be counteracted by ensuring
anonymity.
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What are the problems with these questions?
1. Do you visit fast food emporia regularly?
2. How many burgers do you eat per month?
3. Some people suggest that fast food is leading
to increased tooth decay and an increase in
obesity amongst teenagers in many parts of the
U.K. Do you agree?
4. Which of the following methods do you use to
travel to your fast-food outlet? (a) Bus (b) Car
(c) Bicycle
5. Do your children prefer to eat in KFC or
Macdonalds?
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What are the problems with these questions?
1. Do you visit fast food emporia regularly?
Over-complex wording. Exactly what does
"regularly" mean?
2. How many burgers do you eat per month?
Assumes you eat burgers.
3. Some people suggest that fast food is leading
to increased tooth decay and an increase in
obesity amongst teenagers in many parts of the
U.K. Do you agree?
Over-long. Includes two separate questions.
Implies you should agree with the views expressed.
4. Which of the following methods do you use to
travel to your fast-food outlet? (a) Bus (b) Car
(c) Bicycle
Does the questioner want you to choose only one
option, or can you choose more? No option for
responding "other". Assumes you go to fast-food
outlets.
5. Do your children prefer to eat in KFC or
Macdonalds?
Assumes you have children.
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Conclusions It's hard to design questionnaires
properly! Always be sceptical of survey results
-ask yourself Who were they collected by? Who
were they collected from? How were the questions
worded, exactly? Remember - 8 out of 10 cats
prefer Whiskas" has become "In tests, 8 out of 10
cats who expressed a preference, preferred
Whiskas".
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Useful references (on my website) Burgess, T.F.
(2001). A general introduction to the design of
questionnaires for survey research.
Taylor-Powell, E. (1998). Questionnaire design
asking questions with a purpose.
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Faculty Facts - answers to School Office by
TODAY Win a 25 voucher and bottle of
champagne!! (Lost the sheet? Download it from
Study Direct).

• Which of these people
• worked for Walt Disney before becoming a
  lecturer?
• is an amateur trapeze artist?
• likes kayaking and printmaking?
• goes birdwatching with Bill Oddie?
• is a Liverpool supporter?
• fell off the stage while presenting at a Health
  Safety conference?
• loves paragliding?