Political Science Methods - Assignment Example

Question From the analysis of the tables, it did not seem that religion, education, and occupation had a large amount of effect on the overall results. Most of the respondents either marked “fairly satisfied” or “not very satisfied.” Interestingly, these were the two middle ground levels of results based on the four choices that were provided. Thus, it appears that most individuals, regardless of their religion, education, and occupation felt that democracy was a fairly middle of the road experience overall. Table 1 shows the responses based on age, and these results show that the “fairly satisfied” and “not very satisfied” markers were the highest, at 40-50% and 30-36% respectively. Table 2 shows employment and we see, again, that regardless of employment, “fairly satisfied” and “not very satisfied” were the most popular answers, at 40-47% and 30-37% respectively. Table 3 demonstrates religion, and again “fairly satisfied” and “not very satisfied” are in the lead, at 43-47% and 32-34% respectively. This is not too surprising, since most surveys tend to demonstrate that people usually go for the “average” marker on many things if they are familiar with a concept. Something must be exponentially excellent for them to give a higher than average response. Thos in public employment, public industries, private services, and national industries had the majority of respondents stating that they were “fairly satisfied” with “not very satisfied” coming as a close second. Therefore, the industry results did not seem to present a difference. This is true as well when examining age level, since again “fairly satisfied” was in the lead in all categories, with “not very satisfied” coming again as a close second. Denomination also shows the same results. Roman Catholicism, Protestant, and Other are the choices, and again “fairly satisfied” takes the lead with “not very satisfied” again following in second place. Thus, taking a look at these factors, it appears that none of the concepts analyzed—age, religion, or industry, changes the perspective on democracy overall. Question 2 European unification and terminal education age demonstrate interesting findings as far as European unification is concerned. In Italy, it appears that people are most for this concept, as the top two boxes were the two most commonly checked based on the percentage results. The amount of terminal education did not seem to matter at all in Italy based on the results provided. Denmark seemed to have very mixed views overall, as there was more of a spread in the responses. Again, however, it does not seem that terminal education came into play much into the decision, since there is no clear pattern in the percentage of responses. Table 4 shows the age of terminal education. Based on the tables, in Italy, the individuals were either “for very much” or “for to some extent” at 33-47% and 47-56% respectively. For Denmark, “for to some extent” and “against to some extent” were the most popular responses, at 36-38% and 19-29% respectively. By looking at these results, it can be assumed that the responses may have more to do with the country one lives in than it does have to do with the actual terminal education of the member answering the questions. This can be assumed by looking at the results because Italy seemed to have a higher response rate for the concept of unification overall, regardless of education. On the other hand, Denmark did not have a strong response, and the percentages in the charts are much more varied. There was no clear pattern of this being based on terminal education, however. In conclusion, therefore, it seems to be more of a matter of opinion in the two countries, and that can be based highly on the overall experiences people in these different countries may actually experience on a day to day basis. Question 3 Survey research is essential in almost every line of work. Every major field of education has a method of researching. Even though every educational field is different, the patterns they follow to get research are very similar. When doing survey research for a political issue you follow six major steps. Each step is important and should not be skipped. The first step is to identify the universe. To identify the universe one has to decide on what kind of people will be poled. For example, most political surveys only want to pole people who are able to vote. Defining the universe is also very important because it decides on what kind of questions will be asked. There are a few weaknesses, however, behind this concept. Sampling is often used in survey research, and in order to be truly fair, one needs to collect a random sample. However, many individuals often find that random samples may not be as random as they want, or may not even be a true representation of the population. Thus, coming up with a correct type of sample can be very confusing and difficult at times. Survey samples may not always accurately reflect on the overall results, and this is a definite weakness. After identifying the universe, one draws the sample. The sample is a portion of the whole universe, it is very important that it represents the whole universe. The best kind of sample is a random sample. This means that every person in the universe has a chance to be questioned about the survey. A bad sample is an accidental sample. This kind of sample is put together unsystematically and its results are not accurate of the whole universe. As discussed above, random samples, however, are not always as random as individuals would like them to be. Often times, they can fail to represent the universe in general, or the intended study of the population. The researcher needs to be very careful when attempting to get the sample, or else the entire study could wind up with insignificant or bad results overall. The researcher will probably have to admit upfront to those reading the study that sampling is a problem, as it always is a problem, in order to be honest regarding the results of the study. After picking a kind of sample, one collects data about the sample and make a prediction basing it on the whole universe. This would be the formulation of a hypothesis. Again, this can be a difficult item to achieve because the sample may not be an accurate representation of the population, and the researcher may need to consider this. Also, the researcher may be biased to achieve his or her desire hypothesis as a result, and this can also be a problem for the survey overall. This may interfere with the success of the research in general, and it is very important for researchers using surveys to avoid bias at all costs. The next step is choosing a survey method and writing the questions for it. There are four main survey methods. The first method is mailed questioners. This is the cheapest method and requires less labor. The problem with mailed questioners is the response rate is very low. The most common method is telephone surveying, it is a cheaper method and has a high response rate. Door-to-door surveys can be used to acquire more in depth data. Like the telephone survey, door-to-door surveys can provide yes and no questions or try to get more intense. The last research method is personal interviews. Personal interviews allow for open-ended responses. They can also make question that are asked depending on how the previous question is answered. Recently, the new method of Email or Internet surveys has also come into play, allowing researchers to gain information more quickly than previously. These types of surveys are easy to complete and often have quick response rates. When writing the survey questions, the researcher will again have to be careful about bias. Bias may come out in the survey questions, and may sway certain individuals to respond to the questions in the certain way. This could ruin the true results of the study overall, and the researcher must be sensitive to this material. Therefore, when writing the survey questions, it should be the duty of the researcher to get second and third opinions, at least, about the questions, to make sure no bias is present in the questions. The questions need to also be clear and direct, because if they are difficult to understand, this could also create problems for the survey respondents. This is a true weakness of completing surveys, and all researchers that use surveys must recognize this and take the proper steps to avoid the problem. After choosing the method of survey and writing, the survey questions one has to administer the questions. To make sure one does not get results in haste a surveyor should call back until they get a response. Email also works well, too in this perspective, but the researcher needs to make sure not to put too much pressure on those being surveyed, or they may choose not to participate. Furthermore, increase contact with those being surveyed could also skew the study, because the individuals being polled may pick something up from the researcher, and this concept may influence the way they respond to the research questions one way or the other. Contact should be minimal and only used if necessary so that those taking the survey have plenty of time to give honest results that are not influenced by the researcher in any way. The fifth step is to code and enter the data. Each questions response is given a number and put into the database using a computer. The type of computer used depends on the type of survey being done. When entering data simple errors occur, this requires considerable attention to checking and proofreading. Therefore, this is often another problem with surveys. There are many helpful statistical programs available today, but they still require the researcher to combine the correct numbers from the start. If the researcher does not do this, it can harm the whole study and cause many problems. Furthermore, the researcher needs to make sure that he or she is double checking the results presented by the computer. While computers and statistical programs are wonderful for getting results, they are not always as correct or as accurate as researchers need them to be in order to obtain the correct material. The researcher will need to be careful and re-review any statistical methods used. Another idea to try and ensure that statistical data is accurate would be to use a variety of statistical programs, running the same numbers through, and then double checking them against each other, as well as doing one’s own personal, manual check. This can help to ensure that the statistical results are accurate and that there are not any other further problems with the survey results. The last step to research survey is to look at the data collected a interpret it. When the data is finally interpreted, it should support the predication made earlier. After finalizing the data, one then writes a written report about the findings. The researcher needs to be careful once again when writing this report to ensure that he or she is not being biased to prove his or her hypothesis. If the hypothesis is wrong, the researcher needs to honestly admit that. All bias needs to be avoided when writing up any interpretation of the results. This will ensure that the discussion of the results and findings is as accurate and honest as possible. The researcher must also be willing to admit to any limitations within his or her study or survey, as honesty will help to ensure the integrity of the study. Therefore, one can see by analyzing surveys and the survey process used, that there are several reasons why surveys have problems and issues behind them. While they are commonly used in research and are often some of the best ways of obtaining results from individuals, there are numerous reasons why data obtained from them can be incorrect or inaccurate. Major problems include the issue behind random sampling, which may not be an accurate representation of the population, as well as problems behind researcher bias and influence on the survey subjects. There have been many issues with past surveys revolving around the issues with researcher bias. Questions can sometimes be written with bias, and this can influence those taking the survey. On top of this, there are also problems sometimes between researcher and survey taker contact. The survey taker may be intimidated by the researcher or prompted to respond in a way against how he or she would have honestly answered. While all of these issues need to be recognized about surveys, if an honest researcher is willing to admit their limitations, surveys can still be wonderful ways of obtaining information. Read More