ANTH/SOC/CRIM 499: Senior Thesis

• The best place to find tests and measurements is in the articles from your literature review.
• Go back through the articles most relevant to your topic. Look at the instruments the researchers used.

Do you know what you want to measure, but do not know what scales are available?

EXAMPLE: I want to measure trust in dating relationships.

1. Start with the literature. Did the literature have a scale that would work in your research? See what scales they may have used.

2. Search the PsycTESTS database to find questionnaires and surveys.

3. Search Mental Measurements Yearbook. It reviews published scales and gives information on how to purchase tests, but DOES NOTinclude the scale itself.

4. Make an appointment with me or another librarian at Wilson Library if you are having difficulty locating an appropriate scale.

Datasets & Statistics - What's the Difference? 

• The difference is that datasets are presented to you in full - all available variables - for you to manipulate and aggregate as needed.  Statistics are typically presented in aggregate form already as a table, chart or graph.

When would you use one over the other?

• When you want quick facts for a presentation or paper (typically used to strengthen a point), you would use prepared statistics.  Just make sure you cite them properly.  If you're planning to test a hypothesis, develop a comprehensive marketing strategy, assess the effect of a particular treatment - essentially anything that would require in-depth analyses - then you need a dataset.

Primary versus Secondary Data

• When you collect data for your own research, this is considered primary data collection. When you use a dataset that has been collected by somone else, you are using what is considered secondary data. 

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