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Explicit Reports. An Introduction to Scientific Research Methods in Geography GEOG 4020. Overview. Introduction Format of Explicit Reports The Administration of Explicit Reports Designing and Generating Explicit Instruments The Census Limitations of Explicit Reports. Introduction.
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Explicit Reports An Introduction to Scientific Research Methods in Geography GEOG 4020
Overview • Introduction • Format of Explicit Reports • The Administration of Explicit Reports • Designing and Generating Explicit Instruments • The Census • Limitations of Explicit Reports
Introduction • Popular and flexible • Measure of beliefs • Behaviors, knowledge, opinions, attitudes, expectations, intentions, experiences, demographic characteristics • Awareness of being researched • Opinions and beliefs that can be consciously accessed
Format of Explicit Reports • Instrument • Items • Closed-ended • Response sets • Social desirability • Open-ended • Standardized vsNonstandardized • Follow-up questions • Branching format • Free-format
Format of Explicit Reports cont’d… • Rating Scales • Types • Generic • Semantic differential • Likert • Paired comparison • Design issues • Number of scale options • Working with young children • Odd numbers • Ordinal or interval?
The Administration of Explicit Reports • Individually or in groups • In person, through the mail, over the telephone, on the internet • Considerations:
Using the Internet to Collect Explicit Reports • Efficiency and low cost • Wide reach • Sampling bias • General population • Regional diversity • Repeat participation • Daley school • Research proves results are similar to traditional studies • Ethical implications • New social and behavioral phenomena • Diffusion of innovation, social interaction in digital worlds, online communities
Designing and Generating Explicit Instruments • Intuition an prior knowledge • Existing literature • Confusing, biased, and ambiguous wording • Double negatives • Unidimensional • Emotionally charged words • Visual appearance • Serious attitude • Length
Designing and Generating Explicit Instruments cont’d… • Order effects • Context Effects • Counterbalancing • GPM…PMT • Pilot study
The Census: An Important Secondary Source of Explicit Report Data for Geographers • Important source of explicit-report data • Spatial and temporal • Apportion taxes and congressional representatives • Every 10 years since 1790 • Questions change over time • Challenge to longitudinal studies • Documenting change
The Census: An Important Secondary Source of Explicit Report Data for Geographers cont’d… • Short form vs Long form • ACS • 2010 and the short form • De facto vs de jure • Under and overcounting • TIGER files • Census tracts, block groups, census blocks • SMSA • Count as the minimal mapping unit • UAs and UCs
Limitations of Explicit Reports • Attempts to thwart or damage research efforts • Limits of memory • Emotionality of events • Recency and aggregation • Language encoding • Subconscious/unconscious mental processing • Deceiving ourselves and the researcher
Discussion • Should rating scales be interpreted as ordinal or interval, or both? • What are measures that can be taken to reduce interviewer/researcher artifacts? • What are some of the advantages and disadvantages of administering an explicit report over the internet? • What are the implications for researchers from undercounting or overcounting of the population in census data?
