This study guide is a guide, not a contract.  All the material in the text, workbook, and lectures is fair game, regardless of whether it is explicitly mentioned here.  But this guide does honestly tell you what I consider most important.

The exam will be closed-book. It will consist entirely of definitions and essay questions. You will have a good deal of choice in the questions, although choice will be inversely proportional to the importance of the topic.

If you have the time, it is often useful to include information surrounding the core answer. Please note, however, that this does not mean a "data dump". Irrelevant information simply tells me that you've memorized lots of stuff, not that you understand the subject of the question.

To study efficiently:

• Check the syllabus (the current syllabus) to see what we've covered.  (Hint:  Chapters 6-9!)
• Look at the W&B workbook and see whether you can answer all the questions on the material we've covered.  Imagine that the test consisted of questions like those:  could you pass it?  If you can, then rest assured that you can also pass any similar test I might throw at you.
• Review my online discussions of sampling and of surveys.
• You are responsible for all assigned readings, regardless of whether they are covered in class. But (a) the readings / topics covered in class are the ones I consider the most important and thus most suitable for testing, and (b) you cannot be expected to have the same depth of understanding of those readings / topics we don't cover in class.

Here are some good questions to study.  Note that this list will be extended as we move along through the readings.

• Definitions:  [Note that it will not be sufficient for you simply to have memorized Babbie's definition. You must understand how the concept is used and applied.]
  Chapter 6
  • index
  • scale
  • typology
  • item analysis
  • external validation
  • Guttman scale
  • semantic differential
  • Chapter 7
  • sampling error
  • sampling variability
  • sampling method bias
  • scientific (a.k.a. probability) sampling
  • quota sampling
  • EPSEM
  • census
  • study population
  • sampling unit
  • sampling frame
  • parameter
  • statistic
  • simple random sampling
  • cluster sampling (and multistage cluster sampling)
  • stratification;  stratified sampling
  • Chapter 8
  • experiment
  • pretesting;  posttesting
  • treatment;  placebo
  • experimental (a.k.a. treatment) group;  control group
  • blind experiment;  double-blind experiment
  • randomization;  matching
  • internal validity/invalidity;  external validity/invalidity;  plus the various forms of them mentioned in class:  "history", "testing", "instrumentation", "selection biases", "experimental mortality", "diffusion of treatments", and "pretest-treatment interaction" (a.k.a. "sensitization").
• Chapter 9
  • open-ended question;  closed-ended question
  • question bias
  • contingency question
  • response rate
  • probe
  • CATI
  • central response bias
  • first response bias
• Questions:

• [See the second entry under "To study efficiently", above.]
• Take some political science hypothesis and design an experiment with all the components.
• Given an experiment designed by Prof. Jones, be able to evaluate whether it is subject to internal invalidity problem X, and if so, how.  Ditto for the external invalidity problem of sensitization.
• Given a series of items/questions that is supposed to form an index (or scale), be able to evaluate those items as to whether they are all appropriate for the index/scale.  Even if you can't tell just by looking at them, describe what data you would need to evaluate them.
• Given a sampling method, evaluate it for possible bias and sampling variability.  Describe how you might remedy whatever problems you find.
• See questions 9-1 and 9-2 in Babbie.