Monday, September 17, 2007
Chapter 1 Questions:
1. One might define democracy as system of government where citizens elect officials and their laws are voted for.
A. The US is the country with a high level of democracy because it is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
Saudia Arabia would be a country with a low level of democracy because they are known for having their powerful "king" which relates more to a dictatorship..
B. The most essential difference is that one is a government that relies on checks and balances, and the other one relies on just the power of the king.
C. The concept of democracy is defined as the extent to which a form of government exhibits the characteristics made by the citizens as a supreme and equal power.
2. The ecological fallacy is a classic problem that arises when an aggregate-level phenomenon is used to make inferences at the individual level. An example that illustrates this is asking the classroom how many of them support abortion laws, before adding the rape initiative to it. Many of them most likely wont support it, until an issue like being sexually assaulted arises and a pregnancy occurs. Then people's perception of abortion changes.
3. Random error introduces haphazard, chaotic distortion into the measurement process, producing inconsistent operational readings of a concept. Systematic error produces operational readings that constantly mismeasure the characteristic the researcher is after.
1. One might define democracy as system of government where citizens elect officials and their laws are voted for.
A. The US is the country with a high level of democracy because it is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections
Saudia Arabia would be a country with a low level of democracy because they are known for having their powerful "king" which relates more to a dictatorship..
B. The most essential difference is that one is a government that relies on checks and balances, and the other one relies on just the power of the king.
C. The concept of democracy is defined as the extent to which a form of government exhibits the characteristics made by the citizens as a supreme and equal power.
2. The ecological fallacy is a classic problem that arises when an aggregate-level phenomenon is used to make inferences at the individual level. An example that illustrates this is asking the classroom how many of them support abortion laws, before adding the rape initiative to it. Many of them most likely wont support it, until an issue like being sexually assaulted arises and a pregnancy occurs. Then people's perception of abortion changes.
3. Random error introduces haphazard, chaotic distortion into the measurement process, producing inconsistent operational readings of a concept. Systematic error produces operational readings that constantly mismeasure the characteristic the researcher is after.
// posted by Casey @ 2:10 PM 
