Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Field
Socialisation into sport
Theory
Donnelly and
Youngs (1988)
model of group
socialisation
Field
Crowd effects
on performance
Theory
Zajoncs (1965)
theory of
social facilitation
Application
Crowd effect on
hockey matches
TYPES OF MEASUREMENT
VARIABLES
Measuring a construct turns it into a variable.
Variable any construct that can take on different
values.
An INDEPENDENT variable influences a DEPENDENT
variable.
(IND VAR) (DEP VAR)
Social class affects attitudes.
(MOD VAR)
RELIABILITY
Reliability generally refers to the consistency of the
results obtained.
Inter-observer reliability assesses the extent to which
different observers would give similar scores to the same
phenomenon.
Threats to reliability
Subject error.
Researcher error.
Subject bias.
VALIDITY
How do I know that the method I am using is really
measuring what I want it to measure?
Face validity. Does your method appear appropriate to
measure what you want it to measure at first glance?
Content validity. This is similar to face validity, except that
it refers to the initial assessment from an experts point of
view.
Predictive validity. Can your measures predict future
behaviour?
Construct validity. Does your data correlate with other
measures?
SUMMARY
1. Theory plays a crucial role in most research projects.
Having an understanding of the importance of theory, and of
the particular theories to be used in your research is an
important element of the research process.
2. Developing your conceptual framework is also an
important stage of the research process. Undertaking this
process will allow you to clarify the important concepts
within your study, their relationships to each other, and their
measurement.