Stanton, Matthew (2010) Australian Category Norms: Variation Between Metropolitan and Rural Dwellers. Honours thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
Category norms are patterns of responses to a given category which are valuable when producing research materials. However, in order to utilise category norms effectively in studies, researchers need category norms that are current and relevant to the population under examination. The main aim of this study was to examine whether people living in metropolitan and rural areas of Australia produce different category norms. This allowed for the differentiation between categories that are suitable for use with both metropolitan and rural populations and those which are not. Participants were sourced from Australian communities, through friends and family of researchers and university students. Dependent on their postcode, participants were assigned to either a Metropolitan group (n = 72) or Rural group (n = 88) using the Rural, Remote and Metropolitan Area index. The Metropolitan group consisted of 34 females and 38 males and had a mean age of 42.96 years (SD = 16.32). The Rural group consisted of 49 females and 39 males and had a mean age of 38.82 years (SD = 15.51). Participants were interviewed individually where they verbally completed a questionnaire which gathered the first instance of a given category that came to mind when prompted. A series of Chi-Square Tests of Independence was used to compare the responses provided for each category by the Metropolitan group with those provided by the Rural group. It was found that the Metropolitan and Rural samples produced significantly (p < .05) different responses to 14, or approximately 9.4%, of the 149 categories examined. The significance level of the 149 examined categories ranged from p = .004 to p = .981 while the effect sizes ranged from Cramér's V = .01 to Cramér's V = .46. The effect sizes of the significant categories ranged from small-medium, Cramér's V = .22, to large, Cramér's V = .46 (Aron, Aron, & Coups, 2006). Interestingly, some of the variations between metropolitan and rural responses were somewhat predictable, while others were not. These findings show it is important to use caution when selecting category norms for use in studies that will be implemented across a variety of locations, because differences between locations have the potential to cause unexpected and unpredictable results if they are unforeseen. Therefore, future researchers who wish to use category norms might look to studies such as this one to assist in the selection of appropriate categories to suit their specific studies.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Honours) |
|---|---|
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Sciences - Department of Psychology (Up to 30 Jun 2013) |
| Supervisors: | Hendry, Liam |
| Qualification: | Bachelor of Science (Honours) (Psychology) |
| Date Deposited: | 16 Mar 2026 02:15 |
| Last Modified: | 16 Mar 2026 02:15 |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52781 |
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