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Journal Article 1: Teachman, J. (2016). Body weight, marital status, and changes in marital status. Journal of Family Issues, 37, 74–96. doi:10.1177/0192513X13508404

Learning Objective: 4-1: When a descriptive study is appropriate.

Summary: Using 20 years of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, the author examines trends in body weight for those who were married, single, or divorced during the study period.

Questions to Consider:

1. What trends do you notice in Figures 1, 2, and 3?
2. What conclusions does the author draw?
3. What questions does this study raise for you?

Journal Article 2: Holmes, J. D., & Biens, B. C. (2009). Psychology is a science: At least some students think so. Teaching of Psychology, 36, 5–11. doi:10.1080/00986280802529350

Learning Objectives: 4-1: When a descriptive study is appropriate. | 4-2: How to evaluate the validity of descriptive research.

Summary: The study incorporates both descriptive and correlational designs, and examines students’ views of psychology as a science.

Questions to Consider:

1. What are the descriptive questions examined in this study?
2. What were the results for the descriptive questions you identified?
3. Does this study focus more on internal or external validity?

Journal Article 3: Lucas, S. R. (2016). Where the rubber meets the road: Probability and nonprobability moments in experiment, interview, archival, administrative, and ethnographic data collection. Socius: Sociological Research for a Dynamic World, 2, 1–24. doi:10.1177/2378023116634709

Learning Objectives: 4-3: Common methods used in research, including surveys, observations, and archives. | 4-4: How to define a population and obtain a sample using probability and nonprobability sampling techniques.

Summary: The author examines the rationale and use of probability and nonprobability sampling across a variety of research designs.

Questions to Consider:

1. How do the different data collection methods identified in Table 1 compare and contrast in terms of the “eight dimensions of data collection” identified by the author?
2. How might probability sampling be implemented for the different data collection methods?
3. What are justifications for nonprobability sampling?