Comment on two classmate's blogs

After reading many of my classmates blogs two blogs in particular caught my attention. Sacha’s blog and Kayla’s blog both on unobtrusive research but they both took very different, yet interesting approaches to the topic.

In Sacha’s blog she concentrated on nonprofit organizations and unobtrusive research. A way to conduct this kind of research without directly inferring with the public is to actually look at who is donating and how much they are donating to a certain nonprofit organization. It is vital that these kinds of organizations keep a close eye on their donators and be sure that they are in fact actual donators. In order to find out the answers to these questions nonprofits use unobtrusive research, which is a form of secondary research. For example, they can analyze records from the past and figure out which people and corporations donated over a period of years. This would enable researchers to determine who their most reliable donors are without asking, and just by searching. Valuable information such as this can also be used to estimate who will continue to donate and who will eventually stop donating. This would also help save the nonprofit money because it saves 20% of the money it would cost the nonprofit organization to find new members.

In Kayla’s blog she focused on how fashion stylists determine what the newsy or latest fashions are going to be. Tons of women each day try to figure out what is going to be considered “cool” to wear for the upcoming seasons. Fashion experts use forms of unobtrusive research to find the answers to these kinds of questions constantly. They make observations and use their judgment as to what is going to be “hot” or not. They attend events like Fashion Week to see what designers are strutting their stuff on the runway and whose not. By observing what different brands like Ralph Lauren and Versace are sporting down he runway are good indicators of what is going to be considered “fashionable” in the upcoming months. They observe what colors are worn the most and least, and what materials are most prevalent in the latest fashions to determine the fashion world’s latest trends.

Experimental Research

Experimental Research is a common method used to test theories in order to prove or disprove them. Experiments carry out certain steps defined in what is called the “scientific method” to further investigate a problem. In an experiment, there are two groups being tested, an experimental group and a control group. The experimental group is the group that is being manipulated in the experiment, whereas the control group is the group that is not being manipulated. This group is the foundational point for which to compare the experimental group against. These experiments can be either design blind experiments meaning the participants in the study are unaware of what group they are in (experimental or control). Or they can be double design blind where the person conducting the experiment is also unaware of what group he or her participants belong (experimental or control). In a double design blind study there is no bias.

In every experiment there is an independent variable and a dependent variable. The independent variable is the variable that is manipulated in the experiment in order to show the effect on the dependent variable. The dependent variable is the variable being observed in the experiment; in order words it is what is affected by the independent variable.

In any given experiment the person conducting it makes either a correlation between variables or finds there to be causation between variables. Correlation is the strength and degree to which two things are related. Causation is when there are two things happening as the same time, which makes one think they are happening because of each other but in actuality there could be another, outside reason, cause or factor that’s determining certain things to happen. In other words, one thing doesn’t necessarily mean another thing.

In experiments its essential to isolate the independent variable in order to have an initial measurement and to provide a baseline measure to compare the control group and experimental group to one’s results. It is also important to isolate the independent variable in order to ensure that the two groups are “equal”. Also, both the experimental and control groups must be chosen at random in order to prevent change in the results. Each experiment should be either a double design blind or just a regular design blind.

When conducting an experiment there are several sources of invalidity you should be aware of. These sources consist of selection, history, maturation, testing effects, instrumentation, statistical regression, and mortality. For selection you must choose your participants at random to prevent selection bias. For history, a lot can change over the course of an experiment therefore; experiments should be completed in a timely fashion. For maturation, over a long period of time the perceptions and attitudes of participants and the participants themselves can change between the pre test and the post test which in turn causes a change in the results. 

As far as testing effects goes, it’s the level of sensitivity a participant has to a topic because of being asked the same questions multiple times. The participants will then start to answer the questions differently because they are paying closer attention to them after seeing them previously. Instrumentation is the opposite of testing effects because if the participants suddenly start changing their answers to the questions it becomes difficult to compare them to the initial set of questions. In other words if the questions in the pre test and the post test are not exactly the same it is considered to be invalid. For statistical regression, if participants’ answer is extreme (on a scale to 1-10, they choose either 1 or 10) the answer can only go up or stay the same if they chose 1, or only go down or stay the same if they chose 10.  In order words you cannot see the affects of the independent variable in the experiment. For mortality, participants may drop out of a given study if it goes for a long span of time. For example, in the pre test you start our with 10 participants but by the time the post test comes around only 7 people show up.

Survey Research

Surveying is easily one of the most popular methods used both in the professional world and in the academic world. Surveying has many beneficial elements and is relatively simple to entice people to take them since they are quick and easy. It’s a very useful way to obtain people’s perceptions and attitudes towards certain products and companies.

One way to conduct survey research is to make a questionnaire; this involves asking your respondents a series of questions that start with general questions and then ease into more specific ones towards the end. There must be an introduction explaining what the survey is about and a set of detailed instructions that explain how to complete the survey. More personal questions are asked at the end of surveys so that the respondents feel more comfortable answering them last. The questionnaire should be separated by sections and be visually appealing; this giving your respondents a sense of accomplishment as they progress through the survey. The questionnaire should also be short because if you ask too many questions respondents might get bored or frustrated by the length of time it is taking them to complete it. Another important component of a good questionnaire is to provide a scale that remains constant throughout the entire survey in order to avoid any confusion.

The data collection method is how you ask your respondents questions. Each question should have one main idea; you should avoid attempting to ask two questions in one question. It should be neutral with no bias and avoiding words like love and hate. The questions should also be exclusive, meaning there should be an answer for everyone with the exception of the response “check all that apply” or “other” if someone’s answer is not provided in the answers provided. Lastly the questions should remain exhaustive, meaning they must include the whole range of response options. For example, ranges given as answers should be clear-cut and obvious. Lastly, make sure your questions are appropriate for your perspective audience.

Things to avoid: double-barrel questions, bias questions, opinion wording, leading questions, providing limited options, non-exhaustive, using too many conditions, extreme wording, broad generalizations, acronyms, negative questions, use appropriation for your respondents.