Introduction
Exam Four covers materials presented in the PowerPoint presentations and class lectures. It contains two sections. In the first section, students will be asked to answer ten multiple-choice questions worth 2 points each. In the second section students will be asked to answer two short-answer questions worth 10 points each.
There will be room on the back of the exam to write responses to the short-answer essay questions. You may bring ruled paper if you prefer. Blue Books are not necessary.
Dr. Sapp's Office Hours are MWF, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., or by appointment. Students are invited to come to the office at any time and I will be happy to discuss the class materials with you.
Readings:
The Elaboration Model: PowerPoint
Research Design: PowerPoint
Quantitative Data Analysis: PowerPoint
PASW Primer: Adobe Acrobat
Class Notes.
Key Terms
The Elaboration Model
elaboration model, replication, spurious relationship, suppressor relationship, moderating variable, mediating variable, aggregation bias, ecological fallacy, zero-order (bivariate) relationship.
Research Design
exploratory research, descriptive research, nomothetic research, explanatory research, necessary and sufficient causes, unit of analysis, cross-sectional study, longitudinal study, panel study, trend study, cohort study.
Review of Statistics
descriptive statistics, inferential statistics, regression analysis, partial regression analysis, proportionate reduction in error, R-square, statistical significance, parameter estimates (unstandardized and standardized), t-ratio, chi-square test of independence, degrees of freedom, ANOVA, factor analysis.
Quantitative Data Analysis
data cleaning, mean, median, mode, contingency table, continuous variable, discrete variable, dispersion, standard deviation, standard error.
Topics for the Short-Answer Essay Questions for Exam #4
- Be prepared to identify direct, mediating, and moderating relationships in a diagram of a causal model.
- Be prepared to identify possible spurious and suppressor relationships in a diagram of a causal model.
- Be prepared to describe the advantages and disadvantages of these types of research designs: cross-sectional study, longitudinal study, panel study, trend study, cohort study.
- Be prepared to explain how factor analysis can be used to either explore or confirm the construction of scaled (i.e., latent, abstract) variables.
- Be prepared to explain how one interprets the R-square statistic and standardized parameter estimates from an ordinary least squares (OLS) multiple regression analysis.
- Be prepared to explain the reasons for writing syntax rather than relying upon drop-down menus when using PASW to analyze quantitative data.
Help Session
Wednesday, November 18th, 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., First Floor of East Hall.
