Communication Research Exam

COMM 302 – Online: Final Exam Review Sheet This exam review sheet represents topics that will be on the exam in some form: True/False and Multiple-Choice questions. Suggestions: For each sub-heading, know the terminology associated AND how to use it in an example. Your book usually provides this, unless exclusively discussed in lecture. This list represents a guide of what the majority (90-95%) of the test will be on. I reserve the right to ask additional questions from the reading if necessary to ensure students are actually reading. Book = covered in our textbook, in that chapter; PLE = somewhere in the PLE “content” section Chapter 6: Summarizing Research Results (Descriptive Statistics) • Know the following terms: Univariate analysis, z Score, metrics, normal curve, skew, kurtosis (platykurtic, leptokurtic) (throughout the chapter) • What is the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics? (Book, PLE) • What are measures of central tendency? What are the measures of dispersion? (Book, PLE) • Be able to calculate a chi-square score. (Book, mainly PLE) Chapter 7: Inferential Statistics • Know the following terms: Bell Curve, degrees of freedom, type 1 error, type 2 error (throughout the chapter) • Know what each of the three tests we discussed in class (t-test, and correlation) is used for. (Book, PLE) Chapter 8: Sampling • What is a sample? What is a population? A census? (Book, PLE) • What is the difference between probability sampling and non-probability sampling? (Book, PLE) • Be able to list and describe different types of non-probability sampling. (Book, PLE) • Be able to list and describe different types of probability sampling. (Book, PLE) • What are the different ways to sample? (Book, PLE) Chapter 9: Surveys • What is a survey? What is a questionnaire? What is the scale? (Book, PLE) • Have a sense of the advantages and disadvantages of survey research. (Book, PLE) • What types of information do surveys generally try to acquire? (PLE) • Be able to list and describe the four different types of longitudinal surveys. (Book, PLE) • What are the different types of questions used in survey research? (Book, PLE) • What do “funnels,” “inverted funnels,” and “filters” have to do with surveys? (Book) Chapter 9: Experiments • Why bother with experiments to begin with? (Book) • Be able to draw and describe the basic experimental design. (Book, PLE) • What does “control” mean in relation to experiments? (Book) • What types of experiments have the lowest levels of control? Which has the highest? (Book, PLE) • Why does random assignment matter in experimental design? (Book, PLE) • What is the “Solomon Four Group Design?” (Book, PLE) Chapter 10: Watching & Listening – Qualitative Research • What are important decisions for any researcher conducting interview research? (Book) • What types of questions should be considered when conducting interview research? (Book) • What is needed for successful focus groups? (Book, PLE) • What are the key features of ethnographic/observational research? (Book, PLE) • How does a researcher’s level of involvement play a roll in his or her ability to conduct observational research? What is a consequential presence? (Book, PLE) • Be able to list different ways that you can conduct observational research. (Book, PLE) • What are the three ways of categorizing qualitative data? (Book) Chapter 12: Content Analysis • Content analysis can be described as “quantitative, systematic, objective, and manifest.” What does this all mean? (Book, PLE) • What goes into conducting a simple content analysis? (Book, PLE) • What is inter-coder reliability and why is it important to conduct a content analysis? (Book, PLE) • What is “Interaction Analysis?” (Book) Chapter 14: Reporting Research • What is an abstract? Why might you want to write one? (PLE, common sense) • Why writing for scholarly publics, what three aspects should you consider? Be able to describe each one and its importance. (Book, PLE) • In addition to academic publishers, what are some “other publics” that researchers might want to write for? What changes? (Book)