communication research exam chapter 6-14

Description

COMM 302 – Online:

Final Exam

Review Sheet

This exam review sheet represents topics that will be on the exam in some form:

True/False and Multiple-Choice questions.

Suggestions:

For each sub-heading, know the terminology associated AND how to use it in an example. Your book usually provides this, unless exclusively discussed in lecture. This list represents a guide of what the majority (90-95%) of the test will be on. I reserve the right to ask additional questions from the reading if necessary to ensure students are actually reading. Book = covered in our textbook, in that chapter; PLE = somewhere in the PLE “content” section

Chapter 6: Summarizing Research Results (Descriptive Statistics)

• Know the following terms: Univariate analysis, z Score, metrics, normal curve, skew, kurtosis (platykurtic, leptokurtic) (throughout the chapter)

• What is the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics? (Book, PLE) • What are measures of central tendency? What are measures of dispersion? (Book, PLE)

• Be able to calculate a chi-square score. (Book, mainly PLE)

Chapter 7: Inferential Statistics

• Know the following terms: Bell Curve, degrees of freedom, type 1 error, type 2 error (throughout the chapter)

• Know what each of the three tests we discussed in class (t-test, and correlation) is used for. (Book, PLE)

Chapter 8: Sampling

• What is a sample? What is a population? A census? (Book, PLE) • What is the difference between probability sampling and non-probability sampling? (Book, PLE)

• Be able to list and describe different types of non-probability sampling. (Book, PLE)

• Be able to list and describe different types of probability sampling. (Book, PLE)

• What are the different ways to sample? (Book, PLE)

Chapter 9: Surveys

• What is a survey? What is a questionnaire? What is a scale? (Book, PLE)

• Have a sense of the advantages and disadvantages of survey research. (Book, PLE)

• What types of information do surveys generally try to acquire? (PLE)

• Be able to list and describe the four different types of longitudinal surveys. (Book, PLE)

• What are the different types of questions used in survey research? (Book, PLE)

• What do “funnels,” “inverted funnels,” and “filters” have to do with surveys? (Book)

Chapter 9: Experiments

• Why bother with experiments to begin with? (Book)

• Be able to draw and describe the basic experimental design. (Book, PLE)

• What does “control” mean in relation to experiments? (Book)

• What types of experiments have the lowest levels of control? Which have the highest? (Book, PLE)

• Why does random assignment matter in experimental design? (Book, PLE)

• What is the “Solomon Four Group Design?” (Book, PLE)

Chapter 10: Watching & Listening – Qualitative Research

• What are important decisions for any researcher conducting interview research? (Book)

• What types of questions should be considered when conducting interview research? (Book)

• What is needed for successful focus groups? (Book, PLE)

• What are key features of ethnographic/observational research? (Book, PLE)

• How does a researcher’s level of involvement play a roll in his or her ability to conduct observational research? What is consequential presence? (Book, PLE)

• Be able to list different ways that you can conduct observational research. (Book, PLE)

• What are the three ways of categorizing qualitative data? (Book)

Chapter 12: Content Analysis

• Content analysis can be described as “quantitative, systematic, objective, and manifest.” What does this all mean? (Book, PLE)

• What goes into conducting a simple content analysis? (Book, PLE)

• What is inter-coder reliability and why is it important to conducting a content analysis? (Book, PLE)

• What is “Interaction Analysis?” (Book)

Chapter 14: Reporting Research

• What is an abstract? Why might you want to write one? (PLE, common sense)

• Why writing for scholarly publics, what three aspects should you consider? Be able to describe each one and its importance. (Book, PLE)

• In addition to academic publishers, what are some “other publics” that researchers might want to write for? What changes? (Book)