Duyen Tran MBAV5652 1

Columbia Southern University – MBAV5652

Prof. Dr. Monica Sainz

Tran Thi Hong Duyen – ID 186209- Class HOM#16B

Section Exam I

Question I: A researcher posted three research questions. Research Question 1: Did topics of

the visual coverage of the Iraq War differ between The New York Times and The Guardian

newspapers? Research Question 2: Did the visual coverage of the human toll and destruction

during the Iraq War differ between The New York Times and The Guardian newspapers?

Research Question 3: Did the visual coverage of the human toll and destruction during the

Iraq War differ in terms of nationality between The New York Times and The Guardian

newspapers? Following the criteria of what makes a good hypothesis; construct a hypothesis

for these questions. Make sure that you explain why your hypothesis meets the criteria.

Based on three research questions were posted by researcher, a hypothesis for these

questions as follow: “There is a difference in the visual coverage of the Iraq War in term of

support for the war between The New York Times and the Guardian newspapers.” I

personally think that this hypothesis can meet all of criteria to create a good hypothesis that

defined by Salkin (2009, p. 29).

The hypothesis is not stated as a question. Conversely, it is stated in declarative form

with clear, understandable, and strong statement about the problem. In addition, it clearly

describes the expected relationship between two variables that are the visual coverage of the

Iraq War in term of support for the war between The New York Times and the Guardian

newspapers. Moreover, the researcher will analyze Iraq war-related photographs appearing in

the US press, represented by The New York Times, and the British press, represented by The

Guardian to find out the difference in visual coverage. Besides, this hypothesis also reflects

the theory or literature upon which they are based (Salkin, 2009, p. 29). It requires to be
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based on observation and knowledge by researcher. The most important is it can testable

based on the topics, the human toll, and destruction during the Iraq War. The hypothesis will

be tested and the study will be reported the findings of whether the British people were less

likely than the American people to demonstrate a positive attitude toward the war. Through

the visual coverage of the Iraq war represents selections from possible photographs that have

been published at different stages of the news making process, researcher can discover

whether the two newspapers visually portrayed the Iraq war differently.

Question II: Using the criteria for a good hypothesis, analyze the following hypothesis: "The

hypothesis of this study is that lives will be saved when fitness centers are required to have

AEDs on the premises because when they are not legally required to have them they often do

not purchases them."

From my point of view, the hypothesis "The hypothesis of this study is that lives will

be saved when fitness centers are required to have AEDs on the premises because when they

are not legally required to have them they often do not purchases them." is not really a good

hypothesis because of some the following reasons.

The hypothesis is too long with two clauses in the statement. The existence of

“because” causes the statement become complicated. The researchers need to rewrite the

statement to get a clearer and simpler hypothesis. It is not necessary to explain too much in a

hypothesis because it is easy to make people confusing. It should be brief and to the point

((Salkin, 2009, p. 30). However, this hypothesis does not describe the relationship between

two variables. In this case, two variables are “lives saved” and “AEDs required at fitness

centers.” To testable, the hypothesis can be changed as follow “There is a relationship

between lives saved and AEDs required at fitness centers.” This hypothesis is short, simple,

and understandable. Additionally, it is straightforward to the point. All of above, it can be

tested by examining the lives saved rate at fitness centers equipped AEDs and fitness centers

unequipped AEDs. Testable is the most important factor in a hypothesis. If not, the research
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is ineffective and researchers cannot verify or reject it. When knowing that researchers’

hypothesis can be tested then they will consider and figure out ways on how to assess it. As

result, after testing it, they will know whether it is valid or not valid.

Question III: Read the article "To stream or not to stream in a quantitative business course"

by Buhagiar & Potter. You will find this research study at:

http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/09417.pdf Answer the following section questions found

on pages 58-59 of your textbook:

1. Review of Previous Research

2. Problem and Purpose

In this article, the literature cited in the study related to previous literature is very

closely by Buhagiar and Potter. The review is recent and complete. Buhagiar and Potter

reviewed from many studies. To define video streaming, authors reviewed from Boster,

Meyer, Roberto, Inge and Strom (2006) and The Joint Information Systems Committee

webpage (2009). To mention about positive effect of video streaming, they based on the

research of Fill and Ottewill (2006). To state about the problem of school budgets related to

treaming video cost, Buhagiar and Potter reviewed from Brown (2004) and Clark and Stewart

(2007). They also reviewed from Dupagne, Stacks, and Giroux (2007) to prove the

importance of streaming video in a quantitative class as well as Johnson et al (2009) to show

the preference of face-to-face method in a statistics class, etc.

Besides, the paper is also reviewed from studies long ago such as (1) Gagne and

Shepherd (2001) and Argon and Shaik (2002) to demonstrate the similar performance of

students between distance and face to face course and the student’s success is not affected by

learning style; (2) Neuhauser (2002) to state no statistical difference in two learning

approaches, etc. However, this topic has been studied rarely at near recent; therefore

reviewing from studies long ago is acceptable.

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I understand the statement of the problem clearly. This paper needs to explore

whether there is a difference in student learning in a statistics course taught through video

streaming with the option of going to a face-to-face lecture. The point of the study is related

closely to the literature review and is clearly stated. There are many researchers conducted a

study on this topic. The importance of the study was based on the rationale that if the video-

streamed group of students gives the same effects compared to face-to-face group of students,

then universities and schools should change their traditional teaching technique to reduce

expense.

In general, Buhagiar & Potter conducted the research “To stream or not to stream in a

quantitative business course” very well in aspect of literature review research, problem, and

purpose as well.

Question IV: Read the article "To stream or not to stream in a quantitative business course"

by Buhagiar & Potter. You will find this research study at:

http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/09417.pdf Answer the following section questions found

on pages 58-59 of your textbook:

3. Hypothesis

4. Method

The research hypothesis clearly and explicitly stated in the article is “There is no

difference in student learning in a quantitative business course taught between through video

streaming and face-to-face lecture.” According to Salkin (2009), this hypothesis meets all

criteria to create a good hypothesis due to it has two variables “the outcome of learning

through face-to-face lecture” and “the outcome of learning through video streamed lecture”

for testing. Furthermore, this hypothesis is very clear, understandable, and to the point.

However, Buhagiar and Potter can test the hypothesis by examining the difference in Grade

Point Average (GPA) between two groups. The hypothesis follows based on the theory and
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demonstration of relevant literature. If the video-streamed group gives the same learning

consequences to the face-to-face group, then it would be the most effective choice for

universities and schools to cut down the expense.

The article was demonstrated very clearly the method of the research and how the

study was conducted. The researchers concentrated on students of ECO 3401 course. The

authors divided the respondents into groups that Section 0004 was delivered through

traditional face-to-face lecture and Section 0L01 was delivered through video streaming. As

the result, two groups show different overall grades. Therefore, Buhagiar & Potter evaluate

the consequences to conclude whether delivery approach had a strongly effect on learning of

students. They also defined clearly both the independent and dependent variables. In this

study, “overall grade” is defined as the dependent variable and “delivery method” is stated as

independent variable. In other word, delivery method includes traditional face-to-face lecture

and video streaming lecture.

Question V: Six hundred and sixty-two divorced individuals from Germany, Italy, and

Switzerland participated in this study, including 282 German subjects (228 women and 54

men), 141 Italian subjects (85 women and 56 men), and 239 Swiss subjects (81 women and

158 men). All participants selected for analysis had at least one child, so all participants

experienced this particular stress. Participants in Germany and Italy were recruited via

newspaper advertisements (in Milan and Berlin), while participants in Switzerland were

recruited nationwide via newspapers and an internet site. (Use of the Internet to recruit

Swiss participants probably accounts for the higher proportion of men in this subgroup.)

There were no differences between subjects responding via mailed questionnaires versus the

Internet. What type of sampling was this study? What is your analysis of this approach?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?

In this study, stratified sampling and quota sampling are used to reduce sampling

error. The study required all participants selected for analysis had at least one child for
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experienced this particular stress. It indicates that a subfield of the population in the study

shares one common characteristic to ensure that layers in the population are fairly represented

in the sample. In addition, the researcher specifies the appropriate stratums and their actual

demonstration in the population. The sampling frame is divided into geographical areas and

genders in a stratified sample when the researcher required all participants came from

Germany, Italy, and Switzerland and distinguished them into gender (women and men).

Then, to choose a sufficient number of subjects from each layer, the researcher recruited

respondents in Germany and Italy by newspaper advertisements (in Milan and Berlin), while

participants in Switzerland were recruited all over the country via newspapers and internet

for the higher percentage of men in this subgroup. The subjects responding via mailed

questionnaires versus the Internet were the same.

The researches get some following advantages and disadvantages when using

stratified sampling and quota sampling. First, this method is advantageous to get a sample

every stratum separately when sub-populations differ notably. Stratification will always attain

bigger accuracy if the layers have been selected so that participants of the same stratum are as

related as possible in term of the feature of interest. The larger the differences between the

layers, the bigger achieve in correctness. Furthermore, it is frequently administratively

suitable to stratify a sample. Interviewers can be purposely qualified to confront a specific

age group or ethnic group, or employees in a particular industry. The results from each layer

may be of essential concern and can be studied individually. Besides, it secures more

effective reporting from the population than simple random sampling. Second, this method

has disadvantages such as complexity in identifying suitable layers and more complicated to

categorize and analyze consequences.

Question VI: Read the supplemental reading at

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/measlevl.php . Define the four levels of

measurement. What are the levels of measurement so important?

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There are four levels of measurement to conduct a statistical analysis through measure

the dependent variable. Different types are measured in a different way. Although

procedures for measurement vary in various ways, four levels of measurement can be

classified by a few primary categories.

Nominal scales: This measurement is used to name or categorize responses with no

ordering among the responses is implied. Variables measured on a nominal scale are jersey

numbers in basketball, gender, handedness, favorite color, and religion. For example, when

classifying people according to their religion, there is no sense in which Buddhist is placed

"ahead of" Catholic. Responses are simply categorized. It represents the lowest level of

measurement.

Ordinal scales: It is used in case a researcher requires to measure consumers'

satisfaction with either one product by specifying their feelings as "strongly dissatisfied,"

"somewhat dissatisfied," "somewhat satisfied," or "very satisfied." The consumers’ feelings

are ordered, ranging from least to most please. This is the most different between ordinal and

nominal scales. This level of measurement applies to compare the degree to which two

subjects possess the dependent variable whereas nominal scales do not allow. However,

people fail to get important information that will be displayed in the other scales he

investigates. There is not clearly different between two levels and two other levels in an

ordinal scale like the difference in responses "very dissatisfied" and "somewhat dissatisfied"

not equivalent to the difference in responses "somewhat dissatisfied" and "somewhat

satisfied."

Interval scales: This is a kind of numerical scale and the interval with the same

interpretation throughout does have meaning. For example, in the Fahrenheit scale of

temperature, the difference between 30 degrees and 40 degrees represents the same

temperature variation as the difference between 50 degrees and 60 degrees because each 10-

degree interval has the equivalent physical sense. On the other hand, interval scales do not
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have a true zero point when one of the scaled names "zero." Zero degrees Fahrenheit do not

embody the whole absence of heat. In reality, it is applied to its temperature for unintentional

reasons related to the history of temperature measurement.

Ratio scales: This is the most informative scale because it is an interval scale with the

zero position reveals the absence of the quantity being considered. The ratio scale of

measurement provides a name or category for each object the same as a nominal scale. In

addition, the items are ordered like an ordinal scale. Like an interval scale, the same variation

at two points on the scale has the equal meaning. In addition, the similar ratio at two points

on the scale describes the same implication. For example, ratio scale is 100 dollar. Currency

is measured on a ratio scale because, in addition to having the properties of an interval scale,

it has a true zero point. If someone has zero money, this indicates the absence of money.

Since money has a true zero point, it means that someone with 100 dollar has twice as much

as someone with 50 cents.

It is essential to be aware of that there is a hierarchy implied in the level of

measurement idea. Assumptions tend to be less restrictive and data analyses tend to be less

sensitive at lower levels of measurement. At every level up the hierarchy, the present level

includes all of the character of the one below it and adds something new. Overall, it is

advantageous to have an upper level of measurement like interval or ratio rather than a lower

one like nominal or ordinal.

Question VII: Provide a critique of the following questionnaire. Be sure to address how the

information might be used, is it useful, or could the information be obtained through another

source?

Questionnaire

INSTRUCTIONS: This questionnaire should be answered by a person involved in the

decision process of choosing a nursing home for the person being admitted. It should only
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take a few minutes to mark. Please be as truthful as possible. DO NOT put any names or

personal information on this questionnaire. Your answers will remain totally confidential.

CIRCLE YOUR BEST ANSWER

Were you involved in the decision of which nursing home to choose?

YES NO
Did you use the internet to find information about a nursing home?

YES NO
If you answered yes to using the internet to find information about a nursing home, did you

use the Medicare Nursing Home Compare website?

YES NO I DON'T REMEMBER IF I LOOKED AT THIS WEBSITE

If you answered yes that you did use the Medicare Nursing Home Compare website, did the

website influence your decision in choosing a nursing home?

YES NO I'M NOT SURE

One important part of any questionnaire is the presence of cover letter. In this

questionnaire, there is no cover letter to make an impression to respondents. However, the

researchers begin the questionnaire with good instructions. It includes the information about

time it will take to complete survey and confidentiality. They tell the participants exactly

what to do, how to do it. Furthermore, important information is capitalized for noticeably.

Inside the questionnaire, all the questions are not plainly numbered by researchers.

They should be numbered for neat and tidy to increase reliability. By the way, I number the

question 1, 2, 3, 4 from top to bottom for easy to critique. I personally think that question

1:“Were you involved in the decision of which nursing home to choose” is not a good

question. Some words are redundant. The better question is “Were you involved in the

decision of which nursing home?” Researchers need to start with initial questions to warm up

the respondents and make them feel more comfortable. Then, researchers require letting the
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respondent know by a transition before asking the objective questions. In addition, question 3

and 4 are too long. The researchers can replace “If you answered yes to using the internet to

find information about a nursing home” by “If you answered yes” or “If any.” Similarly, “If

you answered yes” or “If any” substitute for “If you answered yes that you did use the

Medicare Nursing Home Compare website” in question 4. Moreover, the responses in

question 3 and 4 are not well designed. In question 3, the response is “Yes or No or I don’t

remember if I looked at this website” that can be changed as “Yes or No or Don’t remember”.

Similarly, in question 4, the response is “Yes or No or I’m not sure” that can be changed as

“Yes or No or Unsure”. The more important issue for researchers when they use this tool is to

propose a actually high-quality survey comprising appropriate, meaningful and

straightforward to comprehend questions. How researchers structure their questions makes all

the diversity in the quality of the responses. If a feedback form is not well planned, the

information gathered will be of poor value. It will also influence the improvement of the

questionnaires and the outcome.

All the questions in this survey are useful. Question 1 play the most important role for

the researcher to specify the significant of the respondent’s opinion. If the respondent is the

person who was involved in the decision of choosing nursing home, the response of three

remain questions are very valuable. Medicare Nursing Home Compare tool has detailed

information about all Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the nation. It

provides a website for people to evaluate the quality of the nursing Homes they are

considering using the Five-Star Quality Ratings, health inspection results, nursing home staff

data, quality measures, and fire safety inspection results (www.medicare.gov). Based on

questions in the questionnaire, the purpose of the researcher is to want to know whether

people use internet to get information about nursing home. If there are many people using

internet for searching, the Medicare Nursing Home Compare will invest to improve their

website that provides consumer and provider information regarding the quality of care in
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nursing homes. The quality measures that are shown at the Nursing Home Compare website,

which allows consumers, providers, States and researchers to compare information on

nursing homes. Many nursing homes have already made significant improvements in the care

being provided to residents by taking advantage of these materials and the support of Quality

Improvement Organization staff.

Question VIII: In a multiple-choice question, differentiate between the stem, alternatives, and

distracters. Provide an example for each.

In a multiple-choice question, there are three components such as the stem,

alternatives, and distracters.

The stem has the aim of setting the question or posing the problem (Salkind, 2009, p.

132). The stem may possibly be in the structure of a direct question or an incomplete

statement but a direct question is frequently better. To design the stem, it is important to take

particular care to concentrate on a specific problem. If not, it will be easy to lead to

vagueness and confusing multiple interpretations. In this following example, the item stem

“The investment that has the least risk of default is:” really focuses on problem. A direct

question is also used to make the test taker clear understand about the lesson.

The investment that has the least risk of default is:

U.S. Treasuries.
General Motors corporate bonds.
Bonds issued by the Chinese sovereign wealth fund.
Municipal bonds issued by the City of New York.
In a multiple-choice question, the alternatives are the choices provided after the stem.

To become a great multiple-choice item, the item writer has made sure that the choices are

comprehensible and grammatically unbiased. The alternatives must contain the thoroughly

correct answer in the list of options. It should allow no dissimilarity of belief among

sufficiently informed experts. This kind of complete exactness, conversely, is hard to attain

except in formal coherent systems. For example:

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__________ is the financial statement that provides a snapshot of the corporation's financial

position at a specific time.

An income statement
A statement of cash flow
A balance sheet
A statement of financial condition
Out of the correct answer, the three other choices are considered as distracters. The

intention of a distracter in a multiple-choice assessment item is to divide between those who

have involve of a particular body of cognition and those who shortage it. To get along with

this, a distracter must be a persuasive option. In other words, it should be fit to the question or

the stem. One way of obtaining plausible distracters is to use true statements, which do not

correctly response the stem question. If the stem explanation correspond to an proper level of

complexity for this glossary test, then the remaining terms used as distracters are obviously

too difficult. It is unreasonable to expect the test-taker to know for sure that one of them

might not be a better definition than the intended correct answer. Conversely, a distracter,

which is absurd or highly implausible, will contribute little or nothing to the effectiveness of

a test item. In the following example, the distracter “To cut costs and increase efficiency” is

very plausible.

Which of the following best describes the reason companies seek out foreign markets

in order to take advantage of business cycle differences among countries?

To minimize swings in sales and profit

To maximize product introduction
To take advantage of economies of sale
To cut costs and increase efficiency
In general, there is a big difference between the stem, alternatives, and distracters. To

eliminate technique error, the stem of a multiple-choice question item should be designed as

clearly as possible.
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References

El-Gayar, O. & Dennis, T. (2005). Effectiveness of Hybrid Learning Environment. Retrieved

on Oct 10, 2010 from World Wide Web:

http://www.iacis.org/iis/2005_iis/pdfs/elgayar_dennis.pdf

Piccoli, G., Ahmad, R., & Ives, B. (2001). Web-Based Virtual Learning Environments: A

Research Framework and a Preliminary Assessment of Effectiveness in Basic IT

Skills Training. MIS Quarterly, 25 (4). Retrieved on Oct 10, 2010 from World Wide

Web: http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=8&hid=111&sid=283477f1-990a-

4de7-8e7e-910283c26df7%40sessionmgr113&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ

%3d%3d#db=bth&AN=6406416

Retrieved on Oct 15, 2010 from World Wide Web:

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http://www.medicare.gov/NHCompare/Include/DataSection/Questions/SearchCriteria

NEW.asp?version=default&browser=Firefox|3.6|

WinXP&language=English&defaultstatus=0&pagelist=Home&CookiesEnabledStatus

=True

Retrieved on Oct 15, 2010 from World Wide Web:

http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/09417.pdf

Retrieved on Oct 15, 2010 from World Wide Web:

http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/kb/measlevl.php

Salkind, N. J. Exploring Research (Seventh Edition). New Jersey: PRENTICE HALL

Pearson International Edition.

Assignment Information
Name Description
Submit ALL eight Essays in one Microsoft word document; you will need to include your full
name and student number in the upper left hand corner of the document and the Title "
Section Exam I". This information will be necessary during the grading process to insure
Section you receive credit for your work. Your responses should be complete, and must be between
200 to 300 words are required for a “complete” answer to an essay question. Your Essay
I Exam answers should be labeled as follows :
Question I Question II Question III Question IV Question IV: Question V: Question VI:
Question VII: Question VIII: Please submit using the View/Complete link provided below:

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