Research Method class
Questions are going to deal with hypotheses, causality, and policy concerns and in somewhat of a broad nature. When noted, you will need to use the appropriate data to answer the questions. You will be evaluated based on how you develop an appropriate methodological design to respond to the question and how you analyze and interpret the data. Thus you should be responding to the questions as if you are hired to respond to the corresponding board pertaining to the questions. In other words, you need to explain what you are doing, why, and your interpretation of the results. You should respond in a way that assumes limited knowledge on my part. Therefore, you need to be concise in your responses and detailed in your explanations.
Please answer all parts of the question for full point consideration and answer the questions in complete sentences. Be sure to include any SPSS print outs and/or word document necessary to answer the questions. If you feel something can be interpreted in more than one way, be sure to adequately articulate your interpretation and subsequent answer.
1. You have been asked to conduct a study of mobility patterns among welfare recipients. Explain how you approach such a study from an inductive theoretical perspective.
Note: You might find it helpful to make an outline to answer this question.
2. You and a colleague get into a heated debate over the cause of student dissatisfaction on campus. Your colleague argues that there is a direct relationship between student unrest and periods of uncertainty among faculty due to changes in upper administration. Outline how you would design a study to test your colleague’s theory keeping in mind the criteria underlying causal logic.
Note: Consider using Criteria of cause and/or causal analysis.
3. You are a consultant to your country’s social service board. You hear that new legislation may significantly reduce social security and Medicaid Benefits. If three of the four communities and four of the five rural townships in your county have negatively skewed age profiles, what might be the implications of the new legislation on your country?
Note: a complete answer will use discussion of distributions to defend your position. Also, note a vast majority have a negatively skewed profile.
4. Compare and contrast the t-test and the One-way ANOVA Procedure. Are there any similarities & differences between the two types of tests? What are the advantages to each, that is why would you want to use one versus another?
