PSYC 3002 – Week 1 Discussion – Samples, Populations, Variables, and Relationships
Peer Victimization and Depressive Symptoms in Mexican American Middle School Students: Including Acculturation as a Variable of Interest by Sheri Bauman and Jessica J. Summers was the journal I selected for discussion. This study examined (overt) direct and (relational) indirect victimization and depressive symptoms in a sample of 229 Mexican American middle school students (96 males and 133 females). The effects of gender, grade, and acculturation, as well as prosocial actions from peers, were investigated. About 53 students from the sample selected were victimized, with females being the more recipients of Prosocial actions. Significantly, (relational) indirect victimization showed to be the major contributor to predicting depressive symptoms.
A sample is a set of individuals or objects collected or selected from a statistical population by a defined procedure (Heiman, 2015).
A sample size of 229 students, 96 males and 133 females in Grades 6 (n = 83), 7 (n = 89), and 8 (n = 57), was used in this study.
In statistics, a population is defined as the totality of items, objects, or events which is of interest for some question or experiment. In this study, the population that this sample best represents would be all students whose parents provided written permission to participate and who were present in school on the day of the study.
A variable is a characteristic that can be measured and can be varied from one to another. A variable can also be referred to as a data item. Examples include sex, age, sales, expenditure, country of birth, height, grades, ethnicity, genotype, etc.
PSYC 3002 – Week 1 Discussion – Samples, Populations, Variables, and Relationships
Two variables, x, and y, are related statistically when the value of the second variable can be approximately estimated when the first is known (Heiman, 2015). The researchers were investigating the following to ascertain if a relationship exists; The effects of gender on both victimization and depressive symptoms. The effects of grade on both victimization and depressive symptoms. The significance of acculturation on victimization as well as depressive symptoms. The effect of receiving prosocial actions from peers.
According to (Heiman, 2015), a correlational research design entails a design in which participants’ scores on two variables are measured, without manipulation of either variable, to determine whether they form a relationship, while an experiment research design consists of a design in which one variable is actively changed or manipulated and scores on another variable are measured to determine whether a relationship occurs.
PSYC 3002 – Week 1 Discussion – Samples, Populations, Variables, and Relationships
We can conclude that a correlational research design was used for this study. The reason is that none of the variables were manipulated by the researchers to determine if a relationship exists; rather, the researchers were passive observers who looked to see if a relationship exists.
References
Bauman, S and Summers, J (2009) Peer Victimization and Depressive Symptoms in Mexican American Middle School Students: Including Acculturation as a Variable of Interest. https://journals-sagepub- com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/doi/pdf/10.1177/0739986309346694
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Question 
For this discussion, choose a topic that interests you. This example uses high school students and drug abuse. The steps below show you how to combine your search terms and limit your results to studies about this topic that also use sampling as part of their research methods.
Break your topic into keywords and enter one idea or concept per box.
In the top search box, enter:
High school students
In the middle search box, enter:
Drug use OR substance abuse, OR drug addiction
Note: Combine related terms and concepts in one search box separated by OR. This returns results that include any of these terms.