Duyen Tran MBAV5652 1
Columbia Southern University – MBAV5652
Prof. Dr. Monica Sainz
Tran Thi Hong Duyen – ID 186209- Class HOM#16B
Section Exam I
Question I: A researcher posted three research questions. Research Question 1: Did topics of
the visual coverage of the Iraq War differ between The New York Times and The Guardian
newspapers? Research Question 2: Did the visual coverage of the human toll and destruction
during the Iraq War differ between The New York Times and The Guardian newspapers?
Research Question 3: Did the visual coverage of the human toll and destruction during the
Iraq War differ in terms of nationality between The New York Times and The Guardian
newspapers? Following the criteria of what makes a good hypothesis; construct a hypothesis
for these questions. Make sure that you explain why your hypothesis meets the criteria.
Based on three research questions were posted by researcher, a hypothesis for these
questions as follow: “There is a difference in the visual coverage of the Iraq War in term of
support for the war between The New York Times and the Guardian newspapers.” I
personally think that this hypothesis can meet all of criteria to create a good hypothesis that
defined by Salkin (2009, p. 29).
The hypothesis is not stated as a question. Conversely, it is stated in declarative form
with clear, understandable, and strong statement about the problem. In addition, it clearly
describes the expected relationship between two variables that are the visual coverage of the
Iraq War in term of support for the war between The New York Times and the Guardian
newspapers. Moreover, the researcher will analyze Iraq war-related photographs appearing in
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the US press, represented by The New York Times, and the British press, represented by The
Guardian to find out the difference in visual coverage. Besides, this hypothesis also reflects
the theory or literature upon which they are based (Salkin, 2009, p. 29). It requires to be
based on observation and knowledge by researcher. The most important is it can testable
based on the topics, the human toll, and destruction during the Iraq War. The hypothesis will
be tested and the study will be reported the findings of whether the British people were less
likely than the American people to demonstrate a positive attitude toward the war. Through
the visual coverage of the Iraq war represents selections from possible photographs that have
been published at different stages of the news making process, researcher can discover
whether the two newspapers visually portrayed the Iraq war differently.
Question II: Using the criteria for a good hypothesis, analyze the following hypothesis: "The
hypothesis of this study is that lives will be saved when fitness centers are required to have
AEDs on the premises because when they are not legally required to have them they often do
not purchases them."
From my point of view, the hypothesis "The hypothesis of this study is that lives will
be saved when fitness centers are required to have AEDs on the premises because when they
are not legally required to have them they often do not purchases them." is not really a good
hypothesis because of some the following reasons.
The hypothesis is too long with two clauses in the statement. The existence of
“because” causes the statement become complicated. The researchers need to rewrite the
statement to get a clearer and simpler hypothesis. It is not necessary to explain too much in a
hypothesis because it is easy to make people confusing. It should be brief and to the point
((Salkin, 2009, p. 30). However, this hypothesis does not describe the relationship between
two variables. In this case, two variables are “lives saved” and “AEDs required at fitness
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centers.” To testable, the hypothesis can be changed as follow “There is a relationship
between lives saved and AEDs required at fitness centers.” This hypothesis is short, simple,
and understandable. Additionally, it is straightforward to the point. All of above, it can be
tested by examining the lives saved rate at fitness centers equipped AEDs and fitness centers
unequipped AEDs. Testable is the most important factor in a hypothesis. If not, the research
is ineffective and researchers cannot verify or reject it. When knowing that researchers’
hypothesis can be tested then they will consider and figure out ways on how to assess it. As
result, after testing it, they will know whether it is valid or not valid.
Question III: Read the article "To stream or not to stream in a quantitative business course"
by Buhagiar & Potter. You will find this research study at:
http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/09417.pdf Answer the following section questions found
on pages 58-59 of your textbook:
1. Review of Previous Research
2. Problem and Purpose
In this article, the literature cited in the study related to previous literature is very
closely by Buhagiar and Potter. The review is recent and complete. Buhagiar and Potter
reviewed from many studies. To define video streaming, authors reviewed from Boster,
Meyer, Roberto, Inge and Strom (2006) and The Joint Information Systems Committee
webpage (2009). To mention about positive effect of video streaming, they based on the
research of Fill and Ottewill (2006). To state about the problem of school budgets related to
treaming video cost, Buhagiar and Potter reviewed from Brown (2004) and Clark and Stewart
(2007). They also reviewed from Dupagne, Stacks, and Giroux (2007) to prove the
importance of streaming video in a quantitative class as well as Johnson et al (2009) to show
the preference of face-to-face method in a statistics class, etc.
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Besides, the paper is also reviewed from studies long ago such as (1) Gagne and
Shepherd (2001) and Argon and Shaik (2002) to demonstrate the similar performance of
students between distance and face to face course and the student’s success is not affected by
learning style; (2) Neuhauser (2002) to state no statistical difference in two learning
approaches, etc. However, this topic has been studied rarely at near recent; therefore
reviewing from studies long ago is acceptable.
I understand the statement of the problem clearly. This paper needs to explore
whether there is a difference in student learning in a statistics course taught through video
streaming with the option of going to a face-to-face lecture. The point of the study is related
closely to the literature review and is clearly stated. There are many researchers conducted a
study on this topic. The importance of the study was based on the rationale that if the video-
streamed group of students gives the same effects compared to face-to-face group of students,
then universities and schools should change their traditional teaching technique to reduce
expense.
In general, Buhagiar & Potter conducted the research “To stream or not to stream in a
quantitative business course” very well in aspect of literature review research, problem, and
purpose as well.
Question IV: Read the article "To stream or not to stream in a quantitative business course"
by Buhagiar & Potter. You will find this research study at:
http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/09417.pdf Answer the following section questions found
on pages 58-59 of your textbook:
3. Hypothesis
4. Method
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The research hypothesis clearly and explicitly stated in the article is “There is no
difference in student learning in a quantitative business course taught between through video
streaming and face-to-face lecture.” According to Salkin (2009), this hypothesis meets all
criteria to create a good hypothesis due to it has two variables “the outcome of learning
through face-to-face lecture” and “the outcome of learning through video streamed lecture”
for testing. Furthermore, this hypothesis is very clear, understandable, and to the point.
However, Buhagiar and Potter can test the hypothesis by examining the difference in Grade
Point Average (GPA) between two groups. The hypothesis follows based on the theory and
demonstration of relevant literature. If the video-streamed group gives the same learning
consequences to the face-to-face group, then it would be the most effective choice for
universities and schools to cut down the expense.
The article was demonstrated very clearly the method of the research and how the
study was conducted. The researchers concentrated on students of ECO 3401 course. The
authors divided the respondents into groups that Section 0004 was delivered through
traditional face-to-face lecture and Section 0L01 was delivered through video streaming. As
the result, two groups show different overall grades. Therefore, Buhagiar & Potter evaluate
the consequences to conclude whether delivery approach had a strongly effect on learning of
students. They also defined clearly both the independent and dependent variables. In this
study, “overall grade” is defined as the dependent variable and “delivery method” is stated as
independent variable. In other word, delivery method includes traditional face-to-face lecture
and video streaming lecture.
Question V: Six hundred and sixty-two divorced individuals from Germany, Italy, and
Switzerland participated in this study, including 282 German subjects (228 women and 54
men), 141 Italian subjects (85 women and 56 men), and 239 Swiss subjects (81 women and
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158 men). All participants selected for analysis had at least one child, so all participants
experienced this particular stress. Participants in Germany and Italy were recruited via
newspaper advertisements (in Milan and Berlin), while participants in Switzerland were
recruited nationwide via newspapers and an internet site. (Use of the Internet to recruit Swiss
participants probably accounts for the higher proportion of men in this subgroup.) There
were no differences between subjects responding via mailed questionnaires versus the
Internet. What type of sampling was this study? What is your analysis of this approach? What
are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?
In this study, stratified sampling and quota sampling are used to reduce sampling
error. The study required all participants selected for analysis had at least one child for
experienced this particular stress. It indicates that a subfield of the population in the study
shares one common characteristic to ensure that layers in the population are fairly represented
in the sample. In addition, the researcher specifies the appropriate stratums and their actual
demonstration in the population. The sampling frame is divided into geographical areas and
genders in a stratified sample when the researcher required all participants came from
Germany, Italy, and Switzerland and distinguished them into gender (women and men).
Then, to choose a sufficient number of subjects from each layer, the researcher recruited
respondents in Germany and Italy by newspaper advertisements (in Milan and Berlin), while
participants in Switzerland were recruited all over the country via newspapers and internet
for the higher percentage of men in this subgroup. The subjects responding via mailed
questionnaires versus the Internet were the same.
The researches get some following advantages and disadvantages when using
stratified sampling and quota sampling. First, this method is advantageous to get a sample
every stratum separately when sub-populations differ notably. Stratification will always attain
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bigger accuracy if the layers have been selected so that participants of the same stratum are as
related as possible in term of the feature of interest. The larger the differences between the
layers, the bigger achieve in correctness. Furthermore, it is frequently administratively
suitable to stratify a sample. Interviewers can be purposely qualified to confront a specific
age group or ethnic group, or employees in a particular industry. The results from each layer
may be of essential concern and can be studied individually. Besides, it secures more
effective reporting from the population than simple random sampling. Second, this method
has disadvantages such as complexity in identifying suitable layers and more complicated to
categorize and analyze consequences.
Question VI: Read the supplemental reading at
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/measlevl.php . Define the four levels of
measurement. What are the levels of measurement so important?
There are four levels of measurement to conduct a statistical analysis through measure
the dependent variable. Different types are measured in a different way. Although
procedures for measurement vary in various ways, four levels of measurement can be
classified by a few primary categories.
Nominal scales: This measurement is used to name or categorize responses with no
ordering among the responses is implied. Variables measured on a nominal scale are jersey
numbers in basketball, gender, handedness, favorite color, and religion. For example, when
classifying people according to their religion, there is no sense in which Buddhist is placed
"ahead of" Catholic. Responses are simply categorized. It represents the lowest level of
measurement.
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Ordinal scales: It is used in case a researcher requires to measure consumers'
satisfaction with either one product by specifying their feelings as "strongly dissatisfied,"
"somewhat dissatisfied," "somewhat satisfied," or "very satisfied." The consumers’ feelings
are ordered, ranging from least to most please. This is the most different between ordinal and
nominal scales. This level of measurement applies to compare the degree to which two
subjects possess the dependent variable whereas nominal scales do not allow. However,
people fail to get important information that will be displayed in the other scales he
investigates. There is not clearly different between two levels and two other levels in an
ordinal scale like the difference in responses "very dissatisfied" and "somewhat dissatisfied"
not equivalent to the difference in responses "somewhat dissatisfied" and "somewhat
satisfied."
Interval scales: This is a kind of numerical scale and the interval with the same
interpretation throughout does have meaning. For example, in the Fahrenheit scale of
temperature, the difference between 30 degrees and 40 degrees represents the same
temperature variation as the difference between 50 degrees and 60 degrees because each 10-
degree interval has the equivalent physical sense. On the other hand, interval scales do not
have a true zero point when one of the scaled names "zero." Zero degrees Fahrenheit do not
embody the whole absence of heat. In reality, it is applied to its temperature for unintentional
reasons related to the history of temperature measurement.
Ratio scales: This is the most informative scale because it is an interval scale with the
zero position reveals the absence of the quantity being considered. The ratio scale of
measurement provides a name or category for each object the same as a nominal scale. In
addition, the items are ordered like an ordinal scale. Like an interval scale, the same variation
at two points on the scale has the equal meaning. In addition, the similar ratio at two points
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on the scale describes the same implication. For example, ratio scale is 100 dollar. Currency
is measured on a ratio scale because, in addition to having the properties of an interval scale,
it has a true zero point. If someone has zero money, this indicates the absence of money.
Since money has a true zero point, it means that someone with 100 dollar has twice as much
as someone with 50 cents.
It is essential to be aware of that there is a hierarchy implied in the level of
measurement idea. Assumptions tend to be less restrictive and data analyses tend to be less
sensitive at lower levels of measurement. At every level up the hierarchy, the present level
includes all of the character of the one below it and adds something new. Overall, it is
advantageous to have an upper level of measurement like interval or ratio rather than a lower
one like nominal or ordinal.
Question VII: Provide a critique of the following questionnaire. Be sure to address how the
information might be used, is it useful, or could the information be obtained through another
source?
Questionnaire
INSTRUCTIONS: This questionnaire should be answered by a person involved in the
decision process of choosing a nursing home for the person being admitted. It should only
take a few minutes to mark. Please be as truthful as possible. DO NOT put any names or
personal information on this questionnaire. Your answers will remain totally confidential.
CIRCLE YOUR BEST ANSWER
Were you involved in the decision of which nursing home to choose?
YES NO
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Did you use the internet to find information about a nursing home?
YES NO
If you answered yes to using the internet to find information about a nursing home, did you
use the Medicare Nursing Home Compare website?
YES NO I DON'T REMEMBER IF I LOOKED AT THIS WEBSITE
If you answered yes that you did use the Medicare Nursing Home Compare website, did the
website influence your decision in choosing a nursing home?
YES NO I'M NOT SURE
One important part of any questionnaire is the presence of cover letter. In this
questionnaire, there is no cover letter to make an impression to respondents. However, the
researchers begin the questionnaire with good instructions. It includes the information about
time it will take to complete survey and confidentiality. They tell the participants exactly
what to do, how to do it. Furthermore, important information is capitalized for noticeably.
Inside the questionnaire, all the questions are not plainly numbered by researchers.
They should be numbered for neat and tidy to increase reliability. By the way, I number the
question 1, 2, 3, 4 from top to bottom for easy to critique. I personally think that question
1:“Were you involved in the decision of which nursing home to choose” is not a good
question. Some words are redundant. The better question is “Were you involved in the
decision of which nursing home?” Researchers need to start with initial questions to warm up
the respondents and make them feel more comfortable. Then, researchers require letting the
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respondent know by a transition before asking the objective questions. In addition, question 3
and 4 are too long. The researchers can replace “If you answered yes to using the internet to
find information about a nursing home” by “If you answered yes” or “If any.” Similarly, “If
you answered yes” or “If any” substitute for “If you answered yes that you did use the
Medicare Nursing Home Compare website” in question 4. Moreover, the responses in
question 3 and 4 are not well designed. In question 3, the response is “Yes or No or I don’t
remember if I looked at this website” that can be changed as “Yes or No or Don’t remember”.
Similarly, in question 4, the response is “Yes or No or I’m not sure” that can be changed as
“Yes or No or Unsure”. The more important issue for researchers when they use this tool is to
propose a actually high-quality survey comprising appropriate, meaningful and
straightforward to comprehend questions. How researchers structure their questions makes all
the diversity in the quality of the responses. If a feedback form is not well planned, the
information gathered will be of poor value. It will also influence the improvement of the
questionnaires and the outcome.
All the questions in this survey are useful. Question 1 play the most important role for
the researcher to specify the significant of the respondent’s opinion. If the respondent is the
person who was involved in the decision of choosing nursing home, the response of three
remain questions are very valuable. Medicare Nursing Home Compare tool has detailed
information about all Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the nation. It
provides a website for people to evaluate the quality of the nursing Homes they are
considering using the Five-Star Quality Ratings, health inspection results, nursing home staff
data, quality measures, and fire safety inspection results (www.medicare.gov). Based on
questions in the questionnaire, the purpose of the researcher is to want to know whether
people use internet to get information about nursing home. If there are many people using
internet for searching, the Medicare Nursing Home Compare will invest to improve their
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website that provides consumer and provider information regarding the quality of care in
nursing homes. The quality measures that are shown at the Nursing Home Compare website,
which allows consumers, providers, States and researchers to compare information on
nursing homes. Many nursing homes have already made significant improvements in the care
being provided to residents by taking advantage of these materials and the support of Quality
Improvement Organization staff.
Question VIII: In a multiple-choice question, differentiate between the stem, alternatives, and
distracters. Provide an example for each.
In a multiple-choice question, there are three components such as the stem,
alternatives, and distracters.
The stem has the aim of setting the question or posing the problem (Salkind, 2009, p.
132). The stem may possibly be in the structure of a direct question or an incomplete
statement but a direct question is frequently better. To design the stem, it is important to take
particular care to concentrate on a specific problem. If not, it will be easy to lead to
vagueness and confusing multiple interpretations. In this following example, the item stem
“The investment that has the least risk of default is:” really focuses on problem. A direct
question is also used to make the test taker clear understand about the lesson.
The investment that has the least risk of default is:
U.S. Treasuries.
General Motors corporate bonds.
Bonds issued by the Chinese sovereign wealth fund.
Municipal bonds issued by the City of New York.
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In a multiple-choice question, the alternatives are the choices provided after the stem.
To become a great multiple-choice item, the item writer has made sure that the choices are
comprehensible and grammatically unbiased. The alternatives must contain the thoroughly
correct answer in the list of options. It should allow no dissimilarity of belief among
sufficiently informed experts. This kind of complete exactness, conversely, is hard to attain
except in formal coherent systems. For example:
__________ is the financial statement that provides a snapshot of the corporation's financial
position at a specific time.
An income statement
A statement of cash flow
A balance sheet
A statement of financial condition
Out of the correct answer, the three other choices are considered as distracters. The
intention of a distracter in a multiple-choice assessment item is to divide between those who
have involve of a particular body of cognition and those who shortage it. To get along with
this, a distracter must be a persuasive option. In other words, it should be fit to the question or
the stem. One way of obtaining plausible distracters is to use true statements, which do not
correctly response the stem question. If the stem explanation correspond to an proper level of
complexity for this glossary test, then the remaining terms used as distracters are obviously
too difficult. It is unreasonable to expect the test-taker to know for sure that one of them
might not be a better definition than the intended correct answer. Conversely, a distracter,
which is absurd or highly implausible, will contribute little or nothing to the effectiveness of
a test item. In the following example, the distracter “To cut costs and increase efficiency” is
very plausible.
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Which of the following best describes the reason companies seek out foreign markets
in order to take advantage of business cycle differences among countries?
To minimize swings in sales and profit
To maximize product introduction
To take advantage of economies of sale
To cut costs and increase efficiency
In general, there is a big difference between the stem, alternatives, and distracters. To
eliminate technique error, the stem of a multiple-choice question item should be designed as
clearly as possible.
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References
El-Gayar, O. & Dennis, T. (2005). Effectiveness of Hybrid Learning Environment. Retrieved
on Oct 10, 2010 from World Wide Web:
http://www.iacis.org/iis/2005_iis/pdfs/elgayar_dennis.pdf
Piccoli, G., Ahmad, R., & Ives, B. (2001). Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A
Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT
Skills Training. MIS Quarterly, 25 (4). Retrieved on Oct 10, 2010 from World Wide
Web: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=8&hid=111&sid=283477f1-990a-
4de7-8e7e-910283c26df7%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ
%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=6406416
Retrieved on Oct 15, 2010 from World Wide Web:
http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/Include/DataSection/Questions/
SearchCriteriaNEW.asp?version=default&browser=Firefox|3.6|
WinXP&language=English&defaultstatus=0&pagelist=Home&CookiesEnabledStatus
=True
Retrieved on Oct 15, 2010 from World Wide Web:
http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/09417.pdf
Retrieved on Oct 15, 2010 from World Wide Web:
http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/measlevl.php
Salkind, N. J. Exploring Research (Seventh Edition). New Jersey: PRENTICE HALL
Pearson International Edition.
Assignment InformationName DescriptionSection I Exam
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