Chapter 10: Internet Based Research and Computer Usage

Human error

________ is reduced in entering and processing online data.

Solomon

________ (2001) reported that response rates to an Internet- based survey are lower than for their equivalent mail surveys.

Reips

________ (2002b) suggests that asking for personal information may assist in keeping participants in an experiment and that this is part of the ‘ high hurdle technique, where dropouts self- select out of the study, rather than dropping out during the study.

Web sites

________ and email correspondence enable networks and information to be shared.

Impression of control

________: inform participants that their identity is traceable.

physical distance

The ________ between points on an attitude scale may spread out because of configuration differences between machines.

Tymms

________ (1996) indicates the limitations of linear (input and output) or multilevel modeling to understand or explain why schools are effective or why there is such a range of variation between and within schools.

random elements

While ________ can be introduced into computer simulations, this means that the simulation must be run several times in order to establish robustness with different values and the sensitivity of the simulation to changes.

Seriousness

________: inform the participants that the research is serious and rigorous.

technological safeguards

Include ________ to prevent alteration and have procedures to identify altered instruments.

feedback

Through ________, recursion, perturbance, autocatalysis, connectedness, and self- organization, higher and greater levels of complexity are differentiated, and new forms arise from lower levels of complexity and existing forms.

particular software

Preconditions: indicate the requirements for a(n) ________.

unpredictable outcomes

Deterministic laws (the repeated calculation of a formula) lead to ________.

Geographical Information Systems

The computer- based ________ are becoming increasingly used in educational research, for example in discussing patterns of student recruitment and school choice.

email

The ________ includes the web site which can be reached by clicking in the address contained in the ________)

Response order effects

________ operate in surveys, such that respondents in a self- administered survey tend to choose earlier items in a list rather than later items in a list (the primacy effect), thereby erroneously acting on branching instructions that appear with later items in a list.

major attributes

The computer can model and imitate the behavior of systems and their ________.

Greater generalizability

________ may be obtained as Internet users come from a wide and diverse population.

Patience

________: loading time: use image files to reduce the loading time of Web pages.

Rewards

________: indicate that any rewards /incentives are contingent on full completion ofthe survey 2.

Geographical Information Systems

________ is a computer- based system for capturing, storing, validating, analyzing, and displaying spatial data, both large scale, and small scale, integrating several types of data from different sources (Worrall 1990; Parsons et al.

Research Methods in Education Chapter 10

Internet Based Research and Computer Usage

Often a combination of the two is used

emails direct potential participants to a website at which the survey questionnaire is located in HTML form

(1999) suggest that the problem of differential expertise in computer usage can be addressed in three ways

i. having the instructions for how to complete the item next to the item itself (not all placed together at the start of the questionnaire) ii

m. The researchers also investigated a range of other variables that impacted the success of using branching programs, and reported the following

i

The number of words in the question has an impact on the respondent

the greater the number of words the less the likelihood of correct branching processing by the reader, as the respondent is too absorbed with the question rather than with the instructions ii

The number of answer categories can exert an effect on the respondent

more than seven categories and the respondent may make errors and also overlook branching instructions

Require the respondents to submit their replies screen by screen

this enables the researcher not only to use some data from incomplete responses, but also to identify in detail patterns of non-response, i.e

Problem

technical -hardware and software

Problem

technical -hardware and software

Problem

respondents

(2003

23. also found that having respondents use a yes/no format (a ‘forced choice) for responding resulted in increased numbers of affirmative answers, even though this requires more cognitive processing than non-forced choice questions u. Internet-based surveys are subject to the same ethical rules as paper-based surveys v. Sampling in Internet-based surveys i. Hewson et al

(2003

27. suggest that ‘Internet-mediated research is immediately subject to serious problems concerning sampling representativeness and validity of data 1. tap into middle-class and well-educated populations, mainly from the United States, or undergraduate and college students

3. a recruited sample

respondents complete a preliminary classification questionnaire and then, based on the data provided to them, are recruited or not vi

Seriousness

inform the participants that the research is serious and rigorous

Impression of control

inform participants that their identity is traceable

Duration

inform participants how long the survey will take

Preconditions

indicate the requirements for a particular software

Rewards

indicate that any rewards/incentives are contingent on full completion ofthe survey 2

They demonstrate greater ecological validity as typically they are conducted in settings that are familiar to the participants and at times suitable to the participant (‘the experiment comes to the participant, not vice versa), though, of course, the obverse of this is that the researcher has no control over the experimental setting (Reips 2002b

In terms of ‘dos he gives five main points

i

e. In terms of ‘donts Reips gives five main points

i

g. Reips (200b) suggests several issues in conducting Internet-based experiments

i

content of the material

its up-to-dateness, relevance, and coverage iv

Computer simulations a. Simulations have two main components

a system in which the researcher is interested and that lends itself to being modeled or simulated, and a model of that system (Wilcox 1997)

f. A model may operationalize a theory and convert it into a computer program (see Gilbert and Troitzsch 2005

3), making explicit assumptions

g. Gilbert and Troitzsch (2005

6. suggest that the prime purposes of computer simulations are discovery, proof, and experiment

Gilbert and Troitzsch (2005

117-23) report a study of post-war gender desegregation in German high schools and high school teachers

The model, using the MIMOSE program, used 4,500 teachers in 150 schools of three types, and shows the closeness of the computer model to the real-life situation observed

a validation of the simulation 2

The module uses only three assumptions

first, all the teachers who leave their jobs are replaced with an equal probability/opportunity to be chosen, by men and women (p. 117); second, men remain in their jobs for twice as long as women; third, new women take up posts in an individual school with a given probability which varies according to the proportion of its women teachers

v. An additional concern about simulation

1

in schools

explanation here is retrospective rather than prospective (Morrison 2002a); this charge is refutable in the possibility of researchers to manipulate the parameters of the variables and to see what happens when they do this

In understanding chaotic complexity (in the scientific sense), how can researchers work back from this to identify the first principles or elements or initial conditions that are important

the complex outcomes might be due to the interaction of completely different sets of initial conditions

This is akin to Chomskys (1959) withering critique of Skinners behaviorism

it is impossible to infer a particular stimulus from an observation of behavior, we cannot infer a cause from observation or putative effect

That is also its greatest attraction

it celebrates agency

As with other numerical approaches, simulations might combine the refinement of the process with the crudity of the concept (Ruddock 1981