A political scientist undertakes a series of studies to find out more about the voting population in her local town

Question

For each of the following research situations, identify the research strategy (experiment, survey, content analysis, participant observation, or secondary analysis):
a. Do males vote more than females? To find out, the researcher analyzes data collected by a major polling organization.
b. How many elderly people living in nursing homes vote? To find out, the researcher visits local nursing homes and questions elderly residents to find out how many voted in the last election.
c. How organized is the election process? On Election Day, the researcher goes to a voting site, pretends to be just another voter, and observes how quickly and efficiently voters are moved through the voting process.
d. Are people more likely to vote if they are well informed about the candidates? To find out, the researcher provides detailed information about both candidates to a random group of citizens over the age of 18 and compares their voter turnout on Election Day to that of a random group of citizens over 18 who did not receive the information.

Answer 1

a. Secondary analysis
b. Survey
c. Participant observation
d. Experiment