Info Management Exam 2 Review 2

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Causal relationships meet three characteristics: (Resech Design)

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o Covariation: the alleged cause varies with the supposed effect.
o Time order: the cause precedes the effect in time.
o Elimination of alternative explanations: the research design should eliminate as many alternative explanations for the observed effect as possible to isolate causation to one factor.

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Two important factors in judging the quality of a research design with respect to causal relationships are internal and external validity.

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o Internal validity refers to a causal relationship that was not created by a spurious relationship.
o External validity refers to the extent to which the results of an experiment can be generalized across populations, time, and settings.

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experimental designs
examples:

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1. classical randomized experiment
-post-test
-pre-test
-repeated measurement design
-multi-group design
-field experiments

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experimental designs

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o Establishes at least one experimental group that will have exposure to the treatment and one control group that will not.
o Randomly assigns individuals to each group, avoiding self-selection, and guaranteeing that on average the groups will not differ in any respect.
o Controls the administration of the treatment, including the circumstances under which the experimental group is exposed.
o Establishes and measures a dependent variable before and after the treatment with a pre-test and a post-test. Because treatment groups are constituted through randomization, any difference between the pre- and post-tests can be attributed to the experimental effect of exposure to the treatment.
o Controls the environment of the experiment (time, location, and other physical aspects).

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non-experimental design

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characterized by one of the following
o Presence of a single group
o Lack of control over the assignment of subjects to groups
o Lack of control over the application of the independent variable
o Inability to measure the dependent variable before and after exposure to the independent variable occurs

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non-experimental designs
examples:

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o Small-N designs; deep understanding of a small number of cases.
o Focus groups: used to create hypotheses for testing through other research designs.
o Cross-sectional designs; characterized by measurements of the independent and dependent variables at approximately the same time.
o Longitudinal designs; allow for the measurement of variables at different points in time.
o Trend analysis; analysis across periods of generally 20 years or more.
o Panel studies; cross-sectional designs that include a time element.
o Intervention analyses; use measurements of a dependent variable both before and after the introduction of an independent variable that is observed but not controlled by the researcher.

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literature review

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a systematic examination and interpretation of the literature for the purpose of informing further work on a topic

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Potential research topics may come from

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personal (your own experiences), nonscholarly (news media), or scholarly sources (academic books or journals).

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The key to organizing and writing an effective literature review is to

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focus on concepts, ideas, and methods shared across the literature. By identifying and writing about commonalities and differences across several works, your literature review will be both more interesting and of higher quality because it integrates previous research along conceptual and methodologic lines and provides a more effective organization for the researcher to explain the base of knowledge and how the current project fits into that literature.

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document analysis

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the most frequently used data collection method among political scientists. The chapter explains how empirical observations can be made using the written record, which is composed of documents, reports, statistics, manuscripts, and other written, oral, or visual materials.

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Episodic records

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such as personal diaries and correspondence, or even brochures and pamphlets—are not part of an ongoing, systematic record-keeping program but are produced and preserved in a more casual, personal, and accidental manner.
o Gaining access to the episodic record is sometimes particularly difficult, and locating suitable materials can easily be the most time-consuming aspect of the whole data collection exercise.

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running record

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more likely to be produced by organizations than by private citizens. It is carefully stored and easily accessed, and it is available for long periods of time. A good example would government employment records or other statistical records.
o There are three primary advantages to using the running record rather than the episodic record: lower cost, in both time and money; greater accessibility of records; and coverage of a more extensive period of time.
o There are also three disadvantages to using the running record: a researcher is at the mercy of the data collection practices and procedures of the record-keeping organizations themselves; some organizations are not willing to share their raw data with researchers; and it is sometimes difficult for researchers to identify organizations’ record-keeping practices

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Advantages of the written record

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o The written record allows access to subjects that may be difficult or impossible to research through direct, personal contact.
o Raw data are usually nonreactive.
o Sometimes the record has existed long enough to permit analyses of political phenomena over time.
o The written record often allows us to increase the sample size above what would be possible through either interviews or direct observation.
o Costs are low because they are borne by the record keepers, not the researchers.

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Disadvantages of the written record:

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o Record keepers may not preserve all pertinent materials but rather selectively save those that are the least embarrassing, controversial, or problematic.
o Large gaps in time exist in many archives due to loss of records or failure to collect records.
o The written record content may be biased by record keeping that is inaccurate or falsified.
o Some written records are unavailable to researchers—like classified documents.
o The written record may lack a standard format because it is kept by different people.