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Research Paper Findings
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Post by
597426
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Post by
Modibybob
Um....ow...
Post by
592764
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Post by
131800
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Post by
Modibybob
Hobo, I like your avatar...
Post by
Psychospy
So all of these earth shattering conclusions about WoW gamer stereotypes came from asking 30 people 6 questions? Why don't you go and take a survey of peoples feelings about people who take surveys. You might be surprised at the results.
Post by
TheReal
Small sample = unreliable results. Any such paper presented as evidence of anything to the scientific community will be laughed out of town.
Post by
401374
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Post by
Modibybob
Guys, it's a school research paper...not some huge breakthrough editorial that's going to be front page news. Relax...
Post by
Gnub
Small sample = unreliable results. Any such paper presented as evidence of anything to the scientific community will be laughed out of town.
As blunt as it sounds, it's correct.
A larger sample most often means more varied results. It's a nice thing to try to ensure that a survey gets to reach people of as many different parts of the world, levels of income, age, gender, religions and such. It might sound like overdoing it, but it's sure to give more varied results, especially if those things doesn't directly have anything to do with what the survey is about.
Post by
74218
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Post by
abcdefg
It is curious that the number of participants in the survey were so few. For basic statistics, a sample size of 30 is considered large enough to describe an approximately normal distribution of results; however, for a survey that encompasses as much as this one, a greater sample size would be beneficial.
I wasn't very surprised by the overall results. It was an interesting idea for a research paper.
Post by
DoomEU
Not just sample size, but there are several other issues here:
All of your participants share several demographics, due to all being at university, which implies several things: They're probably slightly more intellectual than the general population. They are going to be within a very small age range. Ok this is really out of your control, but it severely limits the usefulness of any findings, unless of course your study is intended to be specific to that demographic, in which case it should be mentioned in the abstract.
"The survey presented for this study was administered in a single evening at the front desk of the Johnson-MacFarlane dorm building" is also a potential problem. I'm sure you'd get different answers if there was a jock party that night than if there was a chess club meeting there at the time.
As with any study, you should publish the actual results, not just aggregate data.
It's a good start though.
As an extension, you need a control group. Ask one set of people the same questions about something else. e.g. replace "World of Warcraft" with "Football" and ask that to half of the participants... (and use sensible blinding and randomisation methods, and explain them in the report). This way you can filter out any questions which may have been worded badly, or were leading. You're also comparing it to something. Simply saying "Peoples's perceptions about others change when they learn more about them" is hardly revolutionary.
One thing you definately missed, and should have included, is a question about whether their perceptions were changed negatively or positivley.
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