Read the attached article by Tremblay and his colleagues (2004) and evaluate its sampling and measures. Notice that this is one of the shortest articles I could find – I want to avoid overwhelming you with long readings.
Apply the guidelines from Chapters 6 and 8 (listed below) and rate each one of them on the scale of 1 to 5 (or N/A – not applicable, or I/I – insufficient information). Briefly explain each of your ratings.
Chapter 6 guidelines
____ 1. Was random sampling used?
____ 2. If random sampling was used, was it stratified?
____ 3. If some potential participants refused to participate, was the rate of participation reasonably high?
____ 4. If the response rate was low, did the researcher make multiple attempts to contact potential participants?
____5. Is there reason to believe that the participants and nonparticipants are similar on relevant variables?
____ 6. If a sample is not random, was it at least drawn from the target group for the generalization?
____ 7. If a sample is not random, was it drawn from diverse sources?
____ 8. If a sample is not random, does the researcher explicitly discuss this limitation and how it may have affected the generalizability of the study findings?
____ 9. Has the author described relevant characteristics (demographics) of the sample?
____ 10. Is the overall size of the sample adequate?
____ 11. Is the number of participants in each subgroup sufficiently large?
____ 12. Has informed consent been obtained?
____ 13. Has the study been approved by an ethics review board (Institutional Review Board (IRB) if in the United States or a similar agency if in another country)?
____ 14. Overall, is the sample appropriate for generalizing?
Chapter 8 guidelines
____ 1. Have the actual items and questions (or at least a sample of them) been provided?
____ 2. Are any specialized response formats, settings, and/or restrictions described in detail?
____ 3. When appropriate, were multiple methods used to collect data/information on key variables?
____ 4. For published measures, have sources been cited where additional information can be obtained?
____ 5. When delving into sensitive matters, is there reason to believe that accurate data were obtained?
____ 6. Have steps been taken to keep the measures from influencing any overt behaviors that were observed?
____ 7. If the collection and coding of observations involves subjectivity, is there evidence of inter-rater (or inter-observer) reliability?
____ 8. If a measure is designed to measure a single unitary trait, does it have adequate internal consistency?
____ 9. For stable traits, is there evidence of temporal stability?
____ 10. When appropriate, is there evidence of content validity?
____ 11. When appropriate, is there evidence of empirical validity?
____ 12. Do the researchers discuss obvious limitations of their measures?
____ 13. Overall, are the measures adequate?
