Reference no: EM134042682
Assignment:
1. In research design when we speak of trying to establish a "causal relationship" between an independent variable or variables and a dependent variable, what does it mean to attempt to eliminate "spurious correlations?" What IS a "spurious correlation?" Give me an example.
2. In a randomized experimental design, explain the following terms and give me a general example of how you would set up such a design in a political science experiment involving the effectiveness of a given set of political advertisements: experimental and control groups, pre-test and post-test.
3 What do we mean by the term "internal validity" in a research design? In other words, what can go wrong in a randomized experiment of the type you described for me in the above question?
4 The most common form of qualitative research project in political science is known as a case study. Identify the following terms and explain their meaning. Give me a BRIEF example of each term and how it would be used in a qualitative political research project: Idiographic case study; Most Likely Case design; Least Likely Case design; method of difference vs. method of agreement.
5. What is a cross sectional design? What is a longitudinal analysis? What Is a trend analysis? Why are most political science projects cross sectional designs?
6. In drawing up a survey or a questionnaire, what are some of the major concerns with which a researcher must address? How can a poorly designed survey skew the results of a poll? Give me a couple of examples of poorly worded survey questions and why they would be misleading.