Wechsler's Research Data And Design example essay topic

Establishing and maintaining a solid research design is paramount in any statistical research process. Furthermore, as Davis, Utts, and Simon (2002, p. 105) cite, "one of the salient components of a proposal is the specification of the research design to solve the particular problem at hand... inadequate design will yield information that is incapable of answering the research question under study". Similarly, inadequate design can also lead to misleading final analyses and conclusions being drawn from the research. The article Study: Campus diversity may cut binge drinking by Henry Wechsler draws various conclusions about the nature of alcohol consumption on college campuses.

The somewhat questionable research design and data collection methods of Wechsler's college campus binge-drinking studies will be further explored. Research Design As previously implied, not establishing a sound research design base can leave holes in the integrity of the research process itself. In general, Wechsler's studies and research designs have been commonly criticized for containing basic concept errors on the actual definition of binge-drinking and for drawing specific conclusions based on sketchy or lop-sided research data. Wechsler has drawn the following conclusions from his various research studies (Reuters, 2003): . Greater diversity on college campuses significantly lowers rates of binge drinking among high-risk students... If you have younger white males together to the exclusion of other groups, you " re going to have fewer role models for lighter or non-drinking behavior...

That may explain why fraternities have had such a high level of drinking problems... Binge drinking remains a major problem at U.S. colleges despite years of prevention efforts... 44 percent of students at four-year colleges can be described as binge drinkers... Previous studies have shown that binge-drinking rates vary greatly among certain student subgroups. For example, African- and Asian-American, female, and older students have lower rates of binge drinking than do white, male and younger students...

The binge rate among white students was about 54 percent at a school with little racial diversity; it dropped 10 percentage points at schools with more differences in racial makeup. At schools with older students, the rate of underage binge drinking was about 37 percent compared to nearly 50 percent at other universities. Again, these conclusions may have been drawn based on incomplete or biased research data and design. Analyzing Wechsler's research data and design practices, the following is noted. Wechsler, Lee, Kuo, Seibring, et al.

(2002) surveyed 52,312 students from 114 predominantly white colleges in 1993, 1997, 1999, and 2001. However, some basic research design questions remained unaddressed: . How many total students were registered in these schools? Out of these schools, how many students participated?

Furthermore, Wechsler and his associates appear to have extracted data from foundations and organizations such as The National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (NI ), Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. This surveyed data comes from predominately biased organizations. However, Wechsler's work is spotted with some unbiased data sources. In some studies, Wechsler does extract data from sources such as The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). These types of agencies are government entities that acquire financial support from unbiased contributors. Data Collection Methods No research project should be undertaken without a thorough search of secondary data sources.

One benefit of conducting secondary research is the cost savings as compared to primary research-minimizing the cost of conducting a primary research and reducing the overtime frame of the project. Obviously, Wechsler had compiled secondary research before drawing any conclusion to his theories. Wechsler cites that " [binge] drinking remains a major problem at U.S. colleges despite years of prevention efforts" (Bennett, Miller, Woodall, 1999). For Wechsler to make an assumption such as this, he must have performed extensive research to defend these opinions. For example, Wechsler states that " [previous] studies have shown that binge-drinking rates vary greatly among certain student subgroups. For example, African- and Asian-American, female and older students have lower rates of binge drinking than do white, male and younger students" (Bennett, Miller, Woodall, 1999).

Secondary research was conducted to arrive at this assumption. Where secondary resources were inadequate, Wechsler conducted primary research to help arrive at his conclusions. Wechsler's primary research revealed that men engaged in binge drinking more often than women. Other risk factors included being white or single, having a parent who drank, or using marijuana and tobacco. According to Bennett, et al, they stated that Wechsler, et al conducted research that shows students living on campuses with high proportions of binge and heavy drinkers experience more incidents of assault and unwanted sexual advances and more often have their studies disturbed or have to take care of a drunken student (Bennett, Miller, Woodall, 1999).

Variables Wechsler found that in previous studies binge-drinking varied greatly by gender, race, and age. To take a different view of the issue, he decided to look at demographics across the university populations to determine what may be some of the drivers of binge drinking. His study was based on data from previous studies and included data from college students at predominantly white colleges. Wexler collected data based on a definition of binge drinking being 5 or more drinks on an occasion, 4 for women (Reuters, 2003). This is counter to many more accepted definition of binge drinking which basically suggested that a binge drinker is a person who stays intoxicated for 2 or more days and neglects his or her responsibilities (Reuters, 2003?

). Indeed, under Wexler definition, since an "occasion" can last for 6 or 7 hours, the binge drinker may not be legally intoxicated-blood alcohol levels may never reach 0.10. This is due to spreading out the number of drinks over a relatively long period of time. Wechsler's review of previous surveys includes information on whether colleges used social norms campaigns, but his findings were only based on whether administrators answered "yes" or "no" in regards to whether they had such a program. There was no distinction on what comprised these social norm campaigns or how ingrained they were in the institutions' programs.

The studies reviewed included many demographics and relevant student data. This data included gender, race, housing arrangements, class (freshman, sophomore, junior, senior, or post-graduate), and GPA scores. Wechsler attempted to draw a parallel between these demographics and student drinking habits. However, due to Wechsler's arguably errant base definition of binge drinking, these parallels do not accurately depict the binge-drinking status on college campuses.

Similarly, Wechsler's demographic references are therefore misleading. Wechsler looked at data regarding the academic, health, and safety consequences of binge drinking. He looked at specific responses such as asking students if drinking caused them to miss class or caused them to perform poorly on a test or project. He reviewed whether students attributed alcohol use to becoming sick or injured or causing property damage or being arrested. Many other questions were incorporated into the research design in an attempt to relate alcohol usage to how the students felt about alcohol affecting their behavior. These survey questions were questionable as they do not collaborate these variables with real academic, health, or other statistics to validate.

Trying to relate how people feel how alcohol affects them to how they really act and behave is a statistical stretch. More empirical data would be needed to validate these claims. Descriptive Data (Don) Wechsler utilizes descriptive data that appears to be subjectively determined. For instance, Wechsler states that the definition of "binge drinker" is a male that has consumed five drinks in a row at least once in a two-week period, and a woman that consumes four drinks over the same period (Reuters, 2003). The definition "binge drinker" has a negative connotation, but there are gaping holes in the definition.

What amount constitutes "a drink?" What defines "in a row?" The reader is left to make those determinations. So, when the data point of "44 percent of students at four-year colleges can be described as binge drinkers" (Reuters, 2003), is presented, it could include a student who had five 12-ounce beers over a 7-hour period, two beers at a tailgate party, and two beers at a football game, then a celebratory beer at the local bar after the game. Or, it could be a student who chugged five shots of vodka in a row on a dare. The data becomes more obscure when Wechsler states, "For example, African- and Asian-American, female, and older students have lower rates of binge drinking than do white, male and younger students" (Reuters, 2003).

This data seems very non-descriptive, as it gives no indication of how much lower the rates are. It would be more descriptive if Wechsler presented comparative data such as comparisons to subjects in the same demographic categories who are not college students. Finally, the study was based on "data from 52,312 college students at 114 predominantly white colleges" (Reuters, 2003). There is no description of what a "predominantly white college" really is. Is it a college of 1000 students in upstate Maine or a 10,000-student university that has a Caucasian student base that is larger than any other single ethnic group, but not an overall majority.

Wechsler's article, Study: Campus diversity may cut binge drinking, cites no illustrations, graphs, or charts. His research findings would have been better illustrated and made a much better impact if the specific data were tabled on a bar graph. For example, when Wechsler cites the groups that have lower rates of binge drinking, it would be much more illustrative to display this in a simple bar graph. Furthermore, it also would have been more descriptive to use a pie chart to correlate the ethnic and demographic diversity that went along with specific binge drinking rates. Summary From Wechsler's numerous studies and their associated research designs, it becomes apparent that maintaining the structural integrity of any research design methodology can be challenging. However, the many questionable conclusions that Wechsler derives from his research also highlight the absolute necessity to overcome this challenge-the challenge of maintaining statistical integrity.

As Davis et al. (2002, p. 107) point out, there are many potential errors in the research design process: . Planning Errors-Resulting from ill-structuring or mis specification of the problem... Collection Errors-Resulting from invalid or inadequate measurement processes... Analytical Errors-Resulting from substantially different results being derived from the same data, depending on what analytical techniques each researcher utilized... Reporting Errors-Resulting from correlating erroneous meaning to the relationships and numbers identified at the data analysis stage of research.

Although, these challenges can be difficult to overcome, effective managers and researchers have no choice but to overcome these research design obstacles. Otherwise, as Davis et al. (2002, p. 110) also cite", [from] the manager's perspective, biased or distorted information is of truly limited value if the goal is to obtain useful information for decision making".

Bibliography

Bennett, M.E., Miller, J.H., Woodall, W.G. Drinking, Binge Drinking, and Other Drug Use Among Southwestern Undergraduates: Three-Year Trends. American Journal of Alcohol and Drug Abuse: May, 1999: web Davis, D.
Utts, J., & Simon, M. (2002).
Statistics and Research Methods for Managerial Decisions. Mason, OH: South-Western College Publishing. Wechsler, H., Lee, J., Kuo, M., Seibring, M., et al. (2002).
Trends in college binge drinking during a period of increased prevention efforts. Journal of American College Health, 50 (5), 203. Retrieved November 16, 2003, from web Reuters.
2003, October 31).
Study: Campus diversity may cut binge drinking. CNN. com / HEALTH. Retrieved November 16, 2003, from web.