Communication Research Methods Certification Questions and CORRECT Answers

Population - all units (people or things) possessing the attributes and characteristics of interest. Choose the dimensions or characteristics meaningful to the hypothesis or research question. Must be at least one common characteristic among all members of a population. Sampling Frame - Subset of units that have a chance to become part of the sample. Sample - Subset of a population actually included in study. What is the Relationship between Population and Sample? - Researchers study the sample to make generalizations back to the population. Generalizability - The extent to which conclusions developed from data collected from a sample can be extended to its population. Sample is representative to the degree that all units had some chance for being selected. Representativeness can only be assured through random sampling frame. Representative sampling eliminates selection bias