CO 282: Research In Public Relations: Reading Questions 9

1. 1.     Using any of the resources indicated below (or some other that you are familiar with) to define the following 6 statistical concepts
   1. correlation: According to the Dictionary of Public Relations and Research, correlation is “a statistical test that examines the relationships between variables (may be either categorical or continuous).” In other words, correlation almost tries to find a relationship or connection between different variables to compare in a positive or negative manner.
   2. reliability and validity:  According to the Dictionary of Public Relations Measurement and Research, reliability refers to “a statistical measure accessing consistency of a measure.”  In other words, reliability looks at variables and tries to compute similar variables using the same methods of research.  Validity is “the extent to which a research project actually measures what it is intended, or purports to measure.”  Validity refers to the idea that a research project and its hypothesis are correctly measured with the right variable.
   3. dependent vs independent variables: Dependent variables are categories that are dependent on another variable, either dependent or independent, that a PR analyst can make a relationship or connection.  Independent variables can stand alone and do not have to be put with another variable, but are compared individually to other variables in a table.
   4. bivariate: According to the Dictionary of Public Relations Measurement and Research, bivariate or brivariate analysis refers to “a statistical examination of the relationship between two variables.”  Bivariate takes a look at two variables at a time, rather than comparing a larger number of variables to each other.
   5. cross tabulation: According to the DPRMR, cross tabulation refers to the idea that compares two different visuals in one visual aid, such as a table.
   6. Pearson’s r: According to the Dictionary of Public Relations Measurement and Research, Pearson’s r is “ a correlation statistic used with interval and ratio data.”  The coefficient is used to show and compare different variables in a table.

 

1. 2.     Do you think any of these items will be relevant for examining the results of your surveys? Why or why not?

Answer: All of the terms have relevance to the results of the surveys, but only two terms stand out that will be the most relevant to the results of our surveys.  Bivariate will be a term because we will be comparing different categories of variables to find some kind of correlation, or relationship between the different pieces of information.  These two items are the most relevant to our survey results, especially with the comparison of most of the data found in individual questions of the results.