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180 PART II: Descriptive MethodsCHALLENGE QUESTIONS1 Survey research is difficult to do well, and this canbe especially the case when the topic is people’ssexual attitudes and practices. For a book focusingin part on women’s sexuality, an author mailed100,000 questionnaires to women who belongedto a variety of women’s groups in 43 states.These groups ranged from feminist organizationsto church groups to garden clubs. The author’squestionnaire included 127 essay questions. Theauthor received responses from 4,500 women.Findings in this survey included that 70% ofrespondents married 5 years or more reported havingextramarital affairs and that 95% of respondents feltemotionally harassed by the men they love.A The final sample in this study is large (4,500). Isthis sufficient to ensure the representativenessof the sample? If not, what potential surveyresearchproblem could lessen the sample’srepresentativeness?B Is it possible on the basis of your responseto Part A of this question to argue that anyconclusions drawn by the author from her dataare incorrect? What could you do to determinewhether the results are correct?2 Two different national organizations that conductresearch on higher education did independentsurveys asking faculty how well preparedthey thought their students were. The resultsof these two surveys drew attention whenthey were reported in the Chronicle of HigherEducation because the findings from the twosurveys were very different. Researchers fromResearch Foundation A found that nearly 75% ofprofessors said that their students were “seriouslyunderprepared.” Researchers from ResearchFoundation B found that only 18.8% of the facultythey surveyed said that their students were “notat all prepared.” Survey-research findings can beexpected to vary from one survey to another, butthe large discrepancy found in these two surveyscould make one wonder about the reliability andcredibility of survey findings. Before reaching thisconclusion, it is useful to consider several details ofthe two surveys. [Note: This question is based ona report from the NCRIPTAL Update, Spring 1990,Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 2–3.]A Who was asked? The original sample forFoundation A included 10,000 collegeprofessors who taught undergraduate andgraduate students in all types of institutions.Of the original sample, 54.5% responded.Foundation B omitted research universities(25% of Foundation A’s sample). Foundation Bhad a final sample of 2,311 (62% responserate). Approximately 90% of the final samplewere teaching introductory-level students.How might the characteristics of the samplessurveyed by Foundations A and B affect thefindings obtained in the two surveys?B What was asked? Foundation A asked itsrespondents: “The undergraduates with whom Ihave close contact are seriously underpreparedin basic skills such as those required for writtenand oral communication.” The responses forthis statement were: strongly agree, agree withreservations, neutral, disagree with reservations,and disagree. Foundation B asked itsrespondents: “In their background preparation,students who enroll in this course are mosttypically. . . .” The response choices were: notat all prepared, somewhat prepared, very wellprepared, and extremely well prepared. Howmight the nature of these questions affect thefindings obtained in the two surveys?C How were the results reported? The findingsfor the Foundation A survey (75% of studentsseriously underprepared) were reported in theChronicle by combining the response categories“strongly agree” and “agree with reservations.”The findings for the Foundation B survey (18.8%of students not at all prepared) representedonly respondents who chose the “not at allprepared” response category. How do youthink the results might look if the FoundationA estimate included only the respondents whochose the “strongly agree” response?3 A task force has been established at a smallliberal arts college under the direction of the deanof students to examine the quality of students’experiences on their campus. The task forcedecided to do a survey to determine students’knowledge of and their perceptions of the fairnessof the judicial system used to enforce the rules inthe living units on campus. The questionnaire forthe survey included personal questions askingstudents to describe their own experiences whenthey had violated college policies or when they hadknown other students who had violated collegepolicies. A stratified random sample was drawnfrom the registrar’s list of full-time students livingon and off campus. The sample size was 400 ona campus with 2,000 full-time students. Questionnaireswere returned by 160 students for aresponse rate of 40%. One important finding fromthe survey was that over a third of the respondentsrated the judicial system as unfair. The task force