Annotated bibliography ( Professional research and evaluation ) - Essay Example

Hess, J., Rothgeb, J. and Zukerberg, A. (1997) Survey of program dynamics pretest evaluation report [Internet], Survey of Program Dynamics, US Census Bureau. Available from [Accessed 13 March 2012]. In order to check whether a survey questionnaire would be able to obtain necessary information as well as being easy for adolescents and pre-adolescents to answer them under a specific timeframe, pre-testing them in various sample populations were necessary, as explained by the authors. Pensoneau-Conway, S.L. and Toyosaki, S. (2011) Automethodology: tracing a home for praxis-oriented ethnography.

International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 10 (4), pp. 378-400. This article showed how not detaching oneself from a group being studied could give a whole new perspective to ethnographic studies, such as showing a sense of self, home, and culture and putting oneself in the other’s shoes, instead of just being an onlooker. Rodriguez, K.L., Schwartz, J.L., Lahman, M.K.E. and Geist, M.R. (2011) Culturally responsive focus groups: refraining the research experience to focus on participants.

International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 10 (4), pp. 400-418. The use of focus groups is very relevant, especially in qualitative research in social sciences. This article discusses how using culturally responsive researches can give respondents a chance to show their true selves, thus giving a better picture of the views and ideas of different groups, especially marginalized cultures. Sakshaug, J.W., Yan, T. and Tourangeau, R. (2010) Nonresponse error, measurement error, and mode of data collection: tradeoffs in a multi-mode survey of sensitive and non-sensitive items.

Public Opinion Quarterly [Internet], 74 (5), pp. 907-933. Available from [Accessed 14 March 2012]. The authors were able to discuss the other side of surveys, which is the correction of errors obtained during sampling. The relationships between the administration style of the survey and the type of errors most likely to occur were also presented, as well as possible ways to reduce them. Schonlau, M., Fricker, R.D. and Elliott, M.N. (2002) Conducting research surveys via e-mail and the web, Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation Internet survey is considered one of the cheapest forms of surveying since there is less effort to implement it.

However, certain considerations must be made in order for its success, such as appropriateness, sample size and sensitivity of the issue at hand. This book assesses the problems and the solutions for internet survey to work. Smart, C. (2011) Ways of knowing: crossing species boundaries. Methodological Innovations Online [Internet], 6(3), pp. 27-38. Available from [Accessed 13 March 2012]. In order to control a horse, not only does the handler recognise visual cues but also subconsciously read the horse’s movements, and react accordingly to it.

Over time it becomes automatic for the handler, who reacts to the horse’