Week 11 - Kaitlin

 Hi everyone, 

In preparation for the upcoming research proposal, I've been closely analyzing my current methods and reflecting on possible improvements. One improvement was provided by a TA, who suggest that I conduct my research in the form of a longitudinal study, with a study period beginning during the pandemic and ending after the pandemic and social distances measures have ceased. I think this is an incredibly good suggestion, as this type of study would reduce recall bias, as participants would no longer need to remember what kind of social interactions were occurring pre-pandemic. 

As always, any additional thoughts, comments or questions are welcome! 

Kaitlin  

Comments

  1. ErinaDecember 2, 2020 at 12:08 AM

    Hi Kaitlin!
    That is a great idea. I think a longitudinal study will enhance both the internal and external validity of your results. The only thing you might want to consider is what measures you will put in place to discourage study participants from dropping out of the study. I am also curious how you will plan for appendix A of the assignment (because this pandemic shows no signs of ending...). Wishing you all the best in your writing this week!

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    Replies
    1. KaitlinDecember 6, 2020 at 6:44 AM

      Hi Erina, both are extremely good questions, thank you for asking them! I ended up creating a loose timeline for appendix A, where the length of the pandemic phase of data collection was unknown, but I added more specificity into the timeline regarding post pandemic, where I included details for when the pandemic would be considered 'over' in the scope of this study and how long after the pandemic the study would run. As for participant compliance, I agree dropping the study is a concern. Initially I considered offering monetary compensation, but ultimately decided against it because I didn't want that to influence the sample distribution. Instead, I made the participant surveys bi monthly, so participants would only fill them out once every two weeks and they would only take 5 minutes to complete!

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