Jackson Howework 1

1. Describe an example from your field of when correlational research, as opposed to experimental research, would have to be used.

• My work involves in part working with adult volunteers involved in community service projects and community educational programs. Coorelational research would be appropriate when determining if a relationship exists between demographic data and role performance (or levels of satisfaction with their service.)

2. Give an original example, one you create or design yourself, of a study for each of the study designs listed below:

1. Experimental design

• In my work with volunteers, experimental research would be appropriate to determine the effects of new volunteer training programs on role performance. Some volunteers would receive the training and the others would not. Individuals would be randomly assigned to attend the training or not.

2. Quasi Experimental design

• My work with volunteers includes working with “naturally occurring” groups of volunteers, such as 4-H clubs and Master Gardener Chapters. I do not have control over the make-up of each group, but I could assign one chapter or club to attend a training while another group did not receive the training to study the effects of the training to a lesser degree of certainty than had it been truly randomized.

For each of the following questions identify and describe the independent and dependent variables. Justify your answers.

3. Do persons in this class know more about statistics than the average college student?

• The independent variable is being enrolled in this class. The dependent variable is knowledge of statistics. Enrollment in the class or not creates two groups. Knowledge is the outcome or result of being enrolled.

4. Are children in single-parent families more likely to be delinquents than those that are in dual-parent families?

• Family structure (single parent vs. dual-parent) is the independent variable. Family structure may predict delinquent behavior. As the question is posed, delinquency is dependent on family structure.

5. Do persons with high anxiety have better reasoning ability than those with low anxiety?

• The independent variable is level of anxiety. It is being used as a predictor of “better reasoning ability,” which is the dependent variable.