Please answer all of the following questions regarding the Wechsler et al. (1994) study of binge drinking:
Describe the design of the study, including the researchers’ target population and sampling design, including the sampling frame(s).
The target population of the study was composed of all full-time undergraduate students enrolled in 4-year colleges and universities accredited by one of the six regional accrediting bodies covering the United States. The overall sampling design was a two-stage cluster sample. In the first stage of the sample, the researchers selected a random sample that was proportionate to the size of the school, from the American Council on Education’s list. Next, within each participating school, they picked a systematic
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(Explain.)
A 20,000-student public university would have had a much better chance of being selected for the study than a 2000-student private liberal arts college. The sample of colleges and universities was selected using probability proportionate to size sampling. Thus the larger the student enrollment the greater the probability of the school being selected for the
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The researchers dealt with the high non-response rates that are typical of a mail questionnaire by offering cash rewards in order to encourage students to respond. Specifically, the researchers offered one $1000 award to a student whose name was drawn from among students responding within one week, and one $500 award and ten $100 awards to students selected from all those who responded.
The researchers also used follow up procedures to increase the response rate. Specifically, after the original mailing, the researchers used three separate mailings, that were usually sent out about 10 days apart. These mailings included a reminder postcard, a second questionnaire, and a second reminder postcard.
Imagine that you want to conduct a campus survey on voluntarism. You are interested in such topics as who volunteers, why they choose to volunteer, where they volunteer, how often they volunteer, and what kind of work they do. Assume you would do either a mail questionnaire survey of a Web survey, and that you need to construct a survey