Question 1.
a. Why is "level of measurement" important,
b. What is level of measurement, and
c. Why is the level important?
Question 2. What is necessary for the temperature measurement to be called Interval? Is there a way to use the temperature measurement so it is a Ratio level?
Question 3. What are the requirements to prove causality?
Question 4. We talk about sampling and questionnaires. Let us look at background and do some reflection and investigation into what will help us in practice. How is the data collected? There is a whole series of questions we use to sort through the data. Generally there are four typical means of collecting data: surveys, focus groups, observational studies, and data mining. The data collected may be primary or secondary data sources. When planning to collect data the questions fall into three general types: administrative, target and classification. Even when collecting secondary data we end up asking these three types of questions because we organize our results along these lines. Administrative questions are for general information. Target questions involve the specific information pertinent to the research question. Classification questions are exactly that. Unfortunately, all methods of data collection are subject to error, bias, abuse, and misuse. This is another reason for vigilance in determining design validity, measurement validity and reliability, and ethics.
When considering the ethical implications of research there are six major groups that must be considered. The groups are: the participant, the researcher, management, the business, and society. Each group has expectations and rights and each group owes others certain rights. There is considerable information available and discussion on the rights of each group. In summary, each expects (should demand): privacy, honesty, objectivity choice, safety, informed, and respect. In practice, unethical behavior negatively affects every area of business. Most organization and business groups have established and publish codes of conduct (ethical standards).
Any comments on how effective is self-policing of organizations for ethical impropriety?