Behavior science research: methods and applications

Behavior Science Research

A researcher studies the average distance that 130 people living in U.S. urban areas walk each week.

What is the size of sample?

The sample size is 130 people.

Identify the population?

The population is people living in U.S. urban areas that walk each week.

Seventy three people are stopped as they leave a popular grocery store, and the number of fruit and vegetable items they purchase is assessed.

What is the size of the sample?

The size of the sample is 73 people.

Identify the population.

The population is people who are stopped leaving a popular grocery store who purchased fruit and vegetable items.

Is the average calculated in Exercise 1, a descriptive statistic or an inferential statistic if it is used to describe the 130 people studied?

The average calculated in exercise 1 is a descriptive statistic. Descriptive statistics is "the term given to the analysis of data that helps describe, show, or summarize data in a meaningful way such that, for example, patterns might emerge from the data." (AERD Statistics, 2012, p.1)

4. Is the number of items counted to Exercise2 a descriptive statistic or an inferential statistic if it is used to estimate the diets of all shoppers?

The average for the 130 people studied is an inferential statistic because inferential statistics are "techniques that allow us to use these samples to make generalizations about the populations from which the samples were drawn." (AERD Statistics, 2012, p.1)

5. Referencing Exercise 1, how might you operationalize the average distance walked in one week as a (n):

Week x (n) divided by 130 = average distance walked in one week

a. ordinal measure? b. scale measure?

An ordinal measure would measure the scale or the distance walked by various individuals in the group in one week. For example, the 130 individuals would be asked if they walked:

Less than one mile each week

Between one and three miles each week

More than three miles each week

A nominal scale measure would ask the 130 individuals if they:

Walked less than one mile each week (or)

Walked more than one mile each week

A scale measure would ask the 130 individuals (with 1 representing no walking and 5 representing a great deal of walking) how far they walked each week.

6. Referencing Exercise 2, how might you operationalize the amount of fruit and vegetable items purchased on a trip to the store as a (n):

a. nominal measure? b. ordinal measure? c. scale measure?

A nominal measure would ask the 130 individuals if they bought:

No vegetables each week (or)

More than one vegetable each week.

An ordinal measure would ask the 130 individuals if they bought:

One to three vegetables each week

Three to five vegetables each week

More than five vegetables each week

A scale measure would ask the 130 individuals whether on a scale of one to five if they purchased (with 1 representing no vegetables and 5 representing many vegetables) how many vegetables they purchased each week.

7. In the fall of 2008, the U.S. stock market plummeted several times, which meant grave consequences for the world economy. A researcher might assess the economic effects this situation had by seeing how much money people saved in 2008. Those amounts could be compared to how much money people saved in more economically stable years. How might you calculate (or operationalize) economic implications at a national level?

The researcher would examine the amount of money people saved in 2008 and compare it to the amount saved in other years that were more economically stable and provide as a result a national average for the amount saved each year to be compared.

8. A researcher might be interested in evaluating how the physical and emotional distanceu a person had from Manhattan at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks relates to the accuracy for the event. Identify the independent variables and the dependent variable.

Physical distance and emotional distance are dependent variables and actual distance lived from Manhattan at the time of the 9/11 terrorist attacks is the independent variable.

9. Referencing Exercise 8, imagine that a physical distance is assessed as within 100 miles, or 100 miles or farther; also, imagine that emotional distance is assessed as knowing no one who was affected, knowing people who were affected but lived, and knowing someone who died in the events. How many levels do the independent variables have? The independent variable in this study has levels.