Herek&Capitanio (1989)
Read the following article and answer the questions that follow:
Herek, G. M., &Capitanio, J. P. (1996). “Some of my best friends”: Intergroup contact, concealable stigma, and heterosexuals’ attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 412-424.
1. According to your text, “You find a research idea when you identify a gap in the currentknowledge base…” (p. 14). What was the gap in the knowledge base, according to theauthors (Hint: Again, the primary gap is a research methods issue. From a research methods perspective [sample, design, etc.] what is a limitation of past research?)?
2. The criteria for being included as a participant in the study was as follows: (a) have atelephone, (b) be 18 years of age or older, (c) live in the contiguous 48 states, and (d)speak English. What are the strengths and limitations of this sampling/recruitment strategy? Did they obtain a random sample?
3. What kind of survey is used in this study: descriptive or analytic? How do you know? (p.75 in Text; Also think about the primary factor that distinguishes descriptive from analytic/inferential that we discussed when going over the hierarchy of psychological research methods)
4. The overarching purpose of this research was to assess whether having contact with gaymen and lesbians affected attitudes toward gay men and lesbians. What type of research design did they use, experimental or correlational? Provide a justification for your answer (i.e., why is it experimental or why is it correlational?)
5. Identify one predictor variable examined in the study and explain why it should be referred to as a predictor variable and not an independent variable.
6. Identify an outcome variable of the study and explain why it should be referred to as an outcome variable and not a dependent variable.
7. The researchers chose to do telephone surveys for this research. Describe someadvantages to this approach.
8. What are some disadvantages to doing telephone interviewing?
9. Would this research be classified as single-strata, cross-sectional, or longitudinal? Howdo you know?
Grading Criteria: The criteria to grade this homework consists of: 1) thorough and correct responses to all of the questions, and 2) neatness and professionalism (e.g., proper grammar, clear and concise language, typed, etc.)