Define aggregate-level unit of analysis. | Analysis of collections of individual entities, such as states, neighborhoods, or congressional districts. |
What is the alternative-form method? | A method of calculating reliability by repeating different but equivalent measures at two or more points in time. |
What is a concept? | An idea or mental construct that represents phenomena in the real world |
What is a conceptual definition? | A concept's measurable properties and the unit of analysis to which the concept applies |
What is a conceptual dimension? | defined by a set of concrete traits of a similar type |
What is a conceptual question? | A question expressed using ideas, is frequently unclear and thus is difficult to answer empirically |
What is a concrete question? | A question expressed using tangible properties, can be answered empirically |
What is construct validity? | the empirical relationships between a measurement and other concepts to which it should be related |
What is content validity? | Validity demonstrated by ensuring that the full domain of a concept is measured. |
What is a continuous variable? | A variable is continuous if it can take an infinite continuum of possible real number values. |
What is a Correlation Matrix? | A table showing the relationships among discrete measures. |
What is Cronbach's alpha? | A statistical measure that compares the consistency between pairs of individual items and provides an overall reading of a measure's reliability; a value of one denotes perfect reliability. |
What is a cross-sectional study? | A research design in which measurements of incurring differences in the independent variable are used to create quasi-experimental and quasi-control groups; extraneous factors are controlled for by statistical means. |
What is a Dichotomous Variable? | A variable having only two categories that for certain analytical purposes can be treated as a quantitative variable. |
What is a discrete variable? | A variable is discrete if its possible values form a set of separate numbers, such as 0, 1, 2, 3, ... |
What is an ecological fallacy? | The fallacy of deducing a false relationship between the attributes or behavior of individuals based on observing that relationship for groups to which the individuals belong. |
What is face validity? | Validity asserted by arguing that a measure corresponds closely to the concept it is designed to measure. |
What is factor analysis? | A statistical technique useful in the construction of multi-item scales to measure abstract concepts. |
What is a Guttman scale? | A multi-item measure in which respondents are presented with increasingly difficult measures of approval for an attitude. |
What is the Hawthorne Effect? | inadvertent measurement of a subject's response to the knowledge that he or she is being studied |
What is an individual-level unit of analysis? | when a concept describes a phenomenon at is lowest possible level |
What is an interitem association? | A test of the extent to which the scores of several items (such as questions on a survey), each thought to measure the same concept, are the same. Results are displayed in a correlation matrix. |
Define level of measurement. | The extent or degree to which the values of variables can be compared and mathematically manipulated. |
What is measurement? | The process by which phenomena are observed systematically and represented by scores or numerals. |
What is a multidimensional concept? | has two or more distinct groups of empirical characteristics |
What is an operational definition? | The rules by which a concept is measured and scores assigned. |
What is a panel study? | A cross-sectional study in which measurements of variables are taken on the same units of analysis at multiple points in time. |
What is random measurement error? | introduces haphazard, chaotic distortion into the measurement process |
What is a ratio measurement? | A measure for which the scores possess the full mathematical properties of the numbers assigned. |
Define reliability. | The extent to which a measure yields the same results on repeated trials. |
What is semantic differential? | A technique for measuring attitudes toward an object in which respondents are presented with a series of opposite adjective pairs. |
What is the split-half method? | A method of calculating reliability by comparing the results of two equivalent measures made at the same time. |
What is a summation index? | A multi-item measure in which individual scores on a set of items are combined to form a summary measure. |
What is systematic measurement error? | introduces consistent, chronic distortion into an empirical measurement |
What is the test-retest method? | A method of calculating reliability by repeating the same measure at two or more points in time. |
Define unit of analysis. | The type of actor (individual, group, institution, nation) specified in a researcher's hypothesis. |
What is validity? | The correspondence between a measure and the concept it is supposed to measure. |
What is a codebook? | A document that provides information regarding a dataset, such as variable names and descriptions. |
What is cross-level analysis? | When data is collected at one level of analysis to better understand what is happening at another level of analysis. |
What is a cross-sectional dataset? | A dataset that compiles information collected at one time to study properties that vary across the units of analysis. |
What is a feeling thermometer? | Visual aid used to help people quantify their feelings about people, ideas, institutions, etc. |
What is a time-series dataset? | Dataset that compiles information collected at different time intervals to study properties that vary over time, typically recording an aggregate-level variable’s values at regular time intervals. |