Lindsay WolfCOMM 402 Exam 2 (Midterm) Study Guide- Concepts= building blocks of theories. They are abstractions that describe portions of reality. It is a general name for specific instances of a phenomenon being described. ex. "mass-media use" is an abstract concept that encompasses many different individual activitieso -Concept and construct may be used interchangeably- Construct= e.g. "television exposure", "newspaper exposure" - Variables= A measurable version of a concept or a construct that can take on two or more values (it is ABLE to VARY) -Value- some attribute (category) or quantity of a variable-Nonvariables- cannot be broken down into smaller parts (NOT ABLE to VARY)"For a relationship between two concepts to exist, each must be a variable"-There needs to be variability in the data in order to find relationships between two concepts. Ex. If you are stating something about women, you need to include men so that there is something to compare it to- In causal hypotheses, there are independent and dependent variables.-Independent Variable= the variable that is varied or manipulated by the researcher, the presumed cause. -Dependent Variable= the variable that is the response that is being measured, the presumed effect.Example: IV knowledge of position, attitude towards policies, ability to handle conflictsDV commitment to position (continuing position for 2 or more years)-Causal relationship – 1. A relationship must exist (Covariation)2. Changes in the IV must come before changes in the DV (time order)3. Alternative explanations must be ruled out (lack of spurious relationships)-Levels of MeasurementsNumerical- Categorical (discrete) (ON BOTTOM OF GRAPH)o Cannot order the variables. Discrete data is counted. Ex. The number of students in a class (you cannot have half a student), shoe size (can only be whole or half sizes, cannot be 5.345 for example)- Continuous o Continuous data is measured. Continuous data can take any values (within a range). Ex. A persons height (can be a ton of different values not just whole numbers, time in a race (you can even measure it to be fractions of a second), a dogs weight How much information:- Nominal o Refers to quality more than quantity. It is a label. ex. Male/ Female. Doesn’t tell you more than that. Ex. Meal preference- Breakfast, lunch,or dinner- Ordinal o Refers to order in measurement. Indicates direction in addition to nominal information. Ex. Low/medium/high or faster/ slower. get information about a category and you also get the order. Ex. Rank- 1st place, 2nd place, … , last place. - Intervalo Provide information about order and possess EQUAL INTERVALS. Ifwe know that the distance between 1 and 2 is the same as the distance between 7 and 8 on our 10-point rating scale, this is an interval scale.It is a rating. Ex. Temperature: a degree represents the same underlying amount of heat, regardless of where it is on the scale. The difference between 40 degrees F and 50 degrees F is the same as the difference between 20 degrees F and 30 degrees F. Ex. Rating this class on a scale from 1-5. Ex. Time of day on a 12-hr clock.- Ratioo Possesses the qualities of nominal, ordinal, and interval scales, but alsoincludes a zero (A point where none of the quality being measured exists). Ex. You can have some water in a cup or you can have no water in a cup. With Ratio, you can have a meaningful zero. Ex. Years of work experience, number of children, GPA. *N.O.I.R hierarchy of how much information knowing the level gets you- Dimensionso A concept is multidimensional if it has more than one aspect to it that are each free to vary somewhere independentlyo Dimensions are the different facets of a complex construct (sometimes also called factors)o Differences in dimensions may point out underlying discrete categories If you ask what a persons preferred media is vs. saying media is multidimensional and I am going to come up with the different dimensionsof it… this second approach gets you more information What are you actually trying to figure out? The preferred medium of media how likely are they to get new information from that medium of media. You don’t actually care which specific medium, but you care aboutthe info that you gather from finding out which medium. Instead of asking someone how they get their news, what you are really trying to get at is maybe transmission frequency with regards to how OFTEN news is updated and fresh for example.  Another example: Personality. The big 5 vs Meyers Brigg.- Theoretical Definition (conceptual definition): coveys the meaning we attach to the concept and may suggest indicators of ito Cognitive dissonance state of holding inconsistent beliefs- Operational Definition: Complete and explicit information about how to measure a concept (how we define it for the purposes off the current study, or how we operationalize the concept)o OK, we are interested in cognitive dissonance, how do we measure it?o Operationalize= how are you turning your idea (conceptual definition) into a measurable/ observable thing?- Indicators- ways of measuring a concepto Scales/ indexeso Variables- Survey Operationalizationso The actual text of a survey question and the type of response it solicits.o Open ended response  Text- what is your favorite TV show genre? ______ Numerical- how many days per week…?o Multiple Choice  Which of the following is your favorite TV show genre? (List of options)o Scaled response  Likert Scale- Rate on a scale from 1-7… Semantic differential- Good---------|----------Bad- Experiment Operationalizationso Trying to test between the manipulated changeso Manipulated Variables (IV’s): the two or more different conditions that the participants are exposed to in order to test an effect (e.g. assigning children to watch either a violent or non-violent show the independent variables)o Measured variables (DS’s and control variables): Questionare questions (as in surveys) Measurements from computers or tools, such as stopwatches/ scales/ rulers Psychological measurements such as heart rate, EEG, MRI, etc. Observational data (coded)- Content Analysis Operationalizations o Content Variables- not usually measuring participants, but usually measuring media texts. Specific code scheme developed to identify/classify contento Noncontent variables- measured as in other types of research Stuff that you are measuring that isn’t