Presidential Survey Summary

c. Note the ways in which the means and standard deviations differ, and speculate on the possible meaning of these differences, presuming that they are representative of U.S. governors and large corporations’ CEOs in general.

Before this study, there were other publications that had systematically reviewed research on this question in 1996 (Ernst, &

5. I thought the researchers’ use of multiple scales was very helpful to provide more evidence. In psychology, we are testing for ideas or concepts that are not observable. It’s important to rely on more than one type of research to capture these changes in scores or perception. It also gave the study a higher chance of showing a significant difference.

In our globalized world, a realistic view of the attitudes of those from outside the United States is becoming increasingly necessary. When the organization began as the American Institute of American Opinion in 1935, it focused primarily on what determining what the average American consumer wanted from a company. Soon though, its methods were proven to be highly successful when they accurately predicted President Franklin’s victory in the 1936 election. Now, Gallup supplies objective political, economic, and social polls of citizens of more than 160 countries through its world poll network. Its success on an international level derives from its ability to tailor its methods to the country that the company is currently surveying. This flexibility based on region, combined with a rigid procedure for carrying out the survey, as well as a system of randomization to help ensure an even sample of the population being surveyed, make the Gallup poll one of the most successful of polls worldwide, in terms of accuracy and efficiency.

What was your rationale for selecting this particular study to analyze over the others identified in the search results?

For the Final Paper, you will identify three to five research studies from peer-reviewed sources that were published within the last ten years, which investigate a particular social science problem or topic. The Final Paper will focus on critiquing the varying statistical approaches used in each of these studies.

Shining the OutRiderr Spotlight on a Washington Post article from May 19th By John Woodrow Cox, Scott Clement and Theresa Vargas.

1. Describe the context (why it was done, the general interest and what the researchers wanted to find out) of the research and research question (what is the hypothesis). /10

10. Was the sample for this study adequately described? Provide a rationale for your answer.

How did you select this research study to analyze? That is, what search terms did you use? What database did you use? What was your rationale for selecting this particular study to analyze over the others identified in the search results? What is the full reference for the study in APA format?

An examination of the literature sources publication dates shows that six had been published in 1999 or earlier while the remaining 34 had been published in the following years. The relevance of the studies (considering that six were not current) was difficult to assess, although the fact that the study was of a qualitative nature shifts focus from their quantitative results and into their authoritative perceptions. Still, the use of quantitative findings from these publications could call into question their accuracy and how current they are since time is a factor that influences quantitative results. The fact that the authors did not indicate the weaknesses and strengths of the articles that were used is a negative against the research since readers are left to question the authentic nature of the studies and the authors objectively. This is because that authors could have only included what they deemed to support their opinions without regards to the research process thereby causing both Type I and Type II errors. Despite the shortcomings identified with regards to the literature review, it must be accepted that it included adequate information to allow readers to build a logical conclusion that matched that of the authors. This is particular true when it is considered that quantitative evidence was presented as evidence to support the different

5. After examining the coding procedure, do you think these categories demonstrate construct validity? (Remember to justify your answer to demonstrate how you arrived at your decision) (Around 3 sentences) 6. What evidence is there to suggest the observations have acceptable reliability? (Hint: Ask yourself what information do we look for to tell us about reliability? Is this information included in the article?)?

a) What are the main reasons why the authors decided to conduct this study? How did they justify what they did?

Conducting national exit polls is an enormous undertaking, requiring as long as two years to implement. The goal of the process is to collect information on a subset of voters that can be projected to the entire active electorate with a high degree of confidence. Numerous obstacles, though, stand in the way, threatening to undermine the effort and bias the results. Exit polls, like most surveys, unfold in four distinct but often overlapping stages / Research-ers usually begin by developing procedures for drawing a probabilistic sample of voters whose responses can be inferred to the active electorate with a high degree of confidence. They develop a questionnaire, capable of both describing the types of voters participating in an election as well as offering insights into the reasoning behind their choices. Interviewers are trained and eventually employed to disseminate the questionnaires to and collect them from sampled voters on Election Day. The process concludes with the integration of voters’ responses into a data set for analysis. The specific procedures used for each stage vary by polling organization; therefore, I focus my discussion on those procedures developed by Warren Mitofsky, Murray Edelman, and their col¬leagues at CBS and used by the polling units employed by the network consortium to conduct the national exit polls.

Secondly, the investigation was based on data from small sample. Eight participants are from the same university and all of them are postgraduate students. Therefore, the size and the variety of sample may limit the possibility of generalization.