Use the coding sheet below to code a personal ad. You probably know how to find personal ads. If not, you can find some at
http://www.classifiedads.com/personals-326.html
or there are 12 sample ads here.
Gender _________ Marital status _________
1. How would you go about determining whether your system was reliable? (Remember, reliability refers to consistency, not to validity.)
2. Is this coding system reliable? What disagreements did you have with your partner?
3. How could you improve inter-observer reliability (the degree to which you and the partner would independently--without talking to each other while rating-- make judgments that agreed)?
4. If your coding system is reliable, does that mean your coding system is unbiased? Why or why not?
How would you control for observer bias?
5. If your coding system is reliable and free from observer bias, does that mean that you are collecting valid data? Why or why not? (Hint: If you used number of misspelled words as a measure of intelligence, would your data be reliable? free from observer bias? valid?)
6. Look at a sample of ads. In that sample,
a. Do men or women use more words in their ads?
b. Do men or women use more objective terms in their ads?
c. Do people use objective terms more when describing themselves or when discussing traits they want in a partner?
7. In your opinion, for an ad to be effective, what percentage of the words should be used to describe oneself—and what percentage should be used to describe the partner? For example, do you think the most effective ad would be one in which the person used 50% (half) the words on describing themselves and half (50%) the words to describe the potential partner? If so, why do you think so? If not, what percentage of words should be spent on the self and what percentage should be spent on the partner? Why do you believe this percentage would be most effective?
8. How could you objectively determine the effectiveness of an ad?
9. The coding sheet does not allow you to code every aspect of the ads. Add a coding category and instructions on how to code it. Justify including this category.
10. Generate a hypothesis that could be tested by analyzing personal ads.