Topic: Are dog owners more physically active then non dog owners?
Background Information
Many Canadian families own pets, and dogs are among the most popular choice of pet. A number of studies (e.g., Vormbrock & Grossberg, 1988) suggest that pet ownership is beneficial to the owner’s physical and mental health. One possible benefit is that taking a dog for a daily outdoor walk allows the dog-owner to get some physical exercise.
The purpose of Assignment 3B, Option 1 is to test the hypothesis that dog owners are more physically active than non-dog-owners.
Instructions
Write 15 to 20 items that measure your respondent’s physical activities and dog-ownership for a questionnaire to be sent out by postal mail. Be sure to consider such issues as the type of questions (open-ended or closed-ended), clarity of questions, order of questions, and so on as discussed in the survey research unit. You are expected to use previous research as reference for your measurement of the variables.
Submit your assignment using the assignment dropbox. You are expected to:
state the population and the sampling technique used. Explain why that population is of interest to you and how you select the sample from your population.
list your question items (and response alternatives) in the same order as they will appear in the questionnaire.
provide the rationale for your choice of question type and order of questions, and so on.
provide your expected results.
Assuming that: (1) you have collected data from a representative sample of the population to which you want to generalize the result, and (2) the results show that dog owners are indeed more physically active than non-dog-owners, can you conclude that dog ownership is responsible for higher physical activity level? Explain why you can or cannot arrive at this conclusion.
Assignment 3B: Questionnaire Items Design for a Brief Survey
Objective
Assignment 3B is designed to help you learn to write questionnaire items for a brief survey.
Instructions
Select a topic and receive more detailed instructions on how to complete this assignment.
Write 15 to 20 items that measure the variables of interest for a questionnaire to be sent out by postal mail. Define your population. Remember to consider such issues as the type of questions (open-ended or closed-ended), clarity of questions, order of questions, and so on as discussed in Unit 6 on survey research. You are expected to use previous research as reference for your measurement of the variables.
Submit your assignment using the assignment dropbox. You are expected to:
state the population and the sampling technique used. Explain why that population is of interest to you and how you select the sample from your population.
list your question items (and response alternatives) in the same order as they will appear in the questionnaire.
provide the rationale for your choice of question type, order of questions, and so on.
provide your expected results.
Marking Key for Assignment 3B
Description
Weight
Population and sampling
10%
Questionnaire items
50%
Explanation for design
30%
Expected results
10%
Total
100%