Write one open-ended question for your predictor variable.

Survey Worksheet

1. State a hypothesis that you would like to test/answer using survey research. It can be derived from your Topic Worksheet if appropriate for a study with survey research. State your hypothesis in a way that makes it possible to study with survey research methods (Pro-tip: you may need to reconceptualize your Predictor and Outcome variable once you’re done with this worksheet so be sure to revisit this question to see whether your original conceptualizations survived the below process).
   1. Take this hypothesis and underline your Predictor and Outcome Variables?

Example: The more exposed moderate and high-risk gamblers are exposed to gambling ads; the less risky gambling is.

• Conceptualize your Predictor and Outcome Variables. That is, give me precise conceptual definitions of these variables.

Predictors: gambling advertisements

Outcomes: addictive gambling, perceptions regarding risks of gambling

• Operationalize your Predictor and Outcome Variables by doing the following (Points off if questions are written poorly, see slides)
  • Predictor Variable
    • Pick two types of closed-ended questions for your predictor variable and write a question for each
      • Have you been exposed to a gambling ad in the last six months?  (Nominal)
      • On a scale of 0 to 10, how would rate the impact of gambling ad on your predisposition to return to gambling? (Ratio)
    • Write one open-ended question for your predictor variable.
      • How can you describe the overall impacts of being exposed to gambling ads?
  • Outcome Variable
    • Pick two types of closed-ended questions for your outcome variable and write a question for each
      • Do you think that that gambling is risky? (Nominal)
      • Would you rate yourself as a moderate-risk or high-risk gambler? (Ordinal)
    • Write one open-ended question for your outcome variable.
      • In what ways have your perception about the risks of gambling been influenced by the exposure to commercial gambling promotions?
• Your employer will want quality data for the least amount of money. What type of sample do you plan on collecting and why?

I plan to collect convenience samples. Convenience samples are those that are readily available. Samples are drawn from the available or accessible participants. This method is both costly and less time-consuming because it is non-probabilistic and involves no pattern whatsoever.

• What type of survey do you plan on using to collect this sample (e.g., Mail, Telephone, Personal Interviews, Mall, or Internet Survey)? Explain why your study needs this specific type of survey. That is, answer why will this survey type tests your hypothesis better than other types.

I plan on using the Internet Survey through SurveyMonkey because it is cheaper and less time-consuming. Through this approach, I will be able to assess the level of internet access across the research participants while also collecting data on the major themes of the hypothesis. These two factors are critical in testing my hypothesis while ensuring that the employer gets quality data for the least amount of money.

• There are 15 threats to internal validity listed in the slides (some of which are only for experiments, so don’t choose those!). List at least two potential threats to internal validity that are specific to your study (i.e., as a result of your above   answers) and explain why.

• Experimental mortality–the loss of subjects. There are higher possibilities that in the Web-based, participants may drop -off, and those left may learn how best to achieve higher performance levels.
• Selection-maturation interaction—convenience sampling can easily lead to confounding outcomes and erroneous interpretation of the causal effect of the intervention.
• List at least one potential threat to external validity that that are specific to your study (i.e., as a result of your above answers) and explain why.
• Reactive effects of experimental arrangements because of the non-experimental setting of the proposed study.  This will make it difficult to generalize the outcomes to the whole population.