Social Science Research Module 3 Discussion 1-

Social Science Research

Module 3 Discussion 1- Operationalizing Constructs

What does "safe" mean to you?

Safe means that the airplane travels without any problems and with comfort.

What types of variables could you construct to capture your concept of "safe?"

Using Ordinal Level measures (Babbie, 2010)

- Very Safe

- Safe

- Unsafe

Very Unsafe

How will your conceptualization of "safe" compare to others?

This concept is based n comfort ability of the airplane.

Have you ever participated in a survey?

I participated in a social research activity that was done in our community. It was an educational research on the effect of drug abuse on education and learning.

How were you selected to participate? Was it a random selection?

I was chosen as one of the people who have never used drugs to improve classroom performance. It was not a random selection.

What bias may have come into play in your selection?

The subjects in this research were selected according to their academic performance in one academic year.

Module 3 Discussion 2 -- Political Polls and Sampling

The Pew Research Center's

a) What are some of the issues the Center is focusing on?

The center has organized and presented various surveys in the U.S. The surveys done are governmental and political issues. Other matters concern the welfare of the people including Taxation, health, and economic subject matters.

b) The sampling methods for two surveys:

1. "Half Say View of Obama Not Affected by Gay Marriage Decision"

The sampling method in this survey was based on political preference of an individual. The survey was done both the republicans and the democrats of varying ages. It also included people on various genders (Blaikie, 2009).

2. "Partisans Agree: Presidential Election Will Be Exhausting"

In this survey, the researchers-based sampling on political party difference. The survey was done on democrats, independents, and republicans (Blaikie, 2009).