Deck 1: Why Do Research

Question 1

Universalism

A) Scientists must be neutral, impartial, receptive, and open minded to unexpected observations or new ideas. They should not be rigidly wedded to a particular idea or point of view.
B) Scientists should not accept new ideas or evidence in a carefree, uncritical manner, but challenge and question new evidence.
C) Scientific knowledge must be shared with others, and it belongs to everyone. Creating scientific knowledge is a public act and the findings are public property, available for all to use.
D) Regardless of who conducts a study or where the researcher conducts it, the study is judged only on the basis of scientific merit.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Disinterestedness

A) Scientists should not accept new ideas or evidence in a carefree, uncritical manner, but challenge and question new evidence.
B) Scientists must be neutral, impartial, receptive, and open-minded to unexpected observations or new ideas. They should not be rigidly wedded to a particular idea or point of view.
C) Regardless of who conducts a study or where the researcher conducts it, the study is judged only on the basis of scientific merit.
D) Scientific knowledge must be shared with others, and it belongs to everyone. Creating scientific knowledge is a public act and the findings are public property, available for all to use.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Prestige and honor within the scientific community depend largely on

A) one's reputation as a researcher as demonstrated by having many publications in highly respected scholarly journals.
B) how popular the person is among students as an excellent teacher.
C) the number of powerful political and business people a person has as friends.
D) the number of appearances of a person on TV or in major newspapers.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Communalism

A) Scientific knowledge must be shared with others, and it belongs to everyone. Creating scientific knowledge is a public act and the findings are public property, available for all to use.
B) Scientists must be neutral, impartial, receptive, and open-minded to unexpected observations or new ideas. They should not be rigidly wedded to a particular idea or point of view.
C) Scientists should not accept new ideas or evidence in a carefree, uncritical manner, but challenge and question new evidence.
D) Irrespective of who conducts a study or where the researcher conducts it, the study is judged only on the basis of scientific merit.

Question 5

When one designs a study in qualitative and quantitative research, the next step in the research process is to .

A) adopt perspective
B) collect data
C) analyze data
D) inform others

Question 6

Professor Rodgers examined survey information about people who were 65 years of age and older. He found the average level of happiness reported increased from 1982 to 2002. He concluded that people under 65 years of age also experienced increasing levels of happiness from 1982 to 2002. The error he committed is called

A) the error of illogical reasoning.
B) the error of overgeneralization.
C) the error of selective observation.
D) no errors.

Question 7

On your way to meet with your Methods instructor, you pass an office where you overhear two sociologists aggressively discussing a research project. One of the sociologists is criticizing the project's design and trying to find flaws in it. You are witnessing which norm of the scientific community?

A) universalism
B) selective observation
C) communalism
D) organized skepticism

Question 8

Albert Einstein was offered the presidency of Israel in 1952, but turned the position down because of his failing health. The assumption that a Nobel winning physicist would understand the dynamics of nation building falls under which error of personal experience?

A) overgeneralization
B) premature closure
C) selective observation
D) halo effect

Question 9

Thomas T. Jones, a hospital administrator, has heard a lot about gay men getting HIV and AIDS. He has watched male patients at his hospital admitted for AIDS. He thinks all of the men look like homosexuals as well as almost all their male visitors. In actuality, 60 percent of the HIV positive male patients were heterosexual and 80 percent of their visitors were neighbors, co-workers, or immediate family members. He most clearly made which type of error?

A) disinterestedness
B) premature closure
C) overgeneralization
D) selective observation

Question 10

The halo effect occurs when

A) a very moral, upstanding person, who is like an angel, conducts research.
B) a researcher goes around in circles and makes no progress.
C) there is a research study without social theory involved.
D) people overgeneralize from one positive or prestigious feature of a person to other areas.

Question 11

Professional researchers may devote years of work and money to have their results published in a scholarly journal. Yet, they rarely receive commission or royalties from the publication. Which norm of the scientific community pressures them to do this and share the results with others?

A) disinterestedness
B) organized skepticism
C) communalism
D) universalism

Question 12

In qualitative research, an important first step in the research process is to "acknowledge the social self." Why is this step important for qualitative research, but not quantitative research?

Question 13

There are several alternative sources of knowledge authority, tradition, personal experience) to social research. Explain how social research attempts to overcome the shortcomings of these alternative sources of knowledge.

Question 14

The television show "COPS" has been broadcasted on FOX since March 1989 and its limited portrayal of crime can leave many viewers with an inaccurate view of the social world. This alternative medium of social knowledge is called .

A) tradition
B) authority
C) common sense
D) media myths

Question 15

Organized skepticism

A) Irrespective of who conducts a study or where the researcher conducts it, the study is judged only on the basis of scientific merit.
B) Scientific knowledge must be shared with others, and it belongs to everyone. Creating scientific knowledge is a public act and the findings are public property, available for all to use.
C) Scientists must be neutral, impartial, receptive, and open-minded to unexpected observations or new ideas. They should not be rigidly wedded to a particular idea or point of view.
D) Scientists should not accept new ideas or evidence in a carefree, uncritical manner, but challenge and question new evidence.

Question 16

Professor Davis said that his research report is undergoing a "blind review." What does this mean?

A) Researchers who review and evaluate the report know that Professor Davis wrote it, but Professor Davis does not know who the reviewers are.
B) The researchers who review and evaluate the report do not know Professor Davis, but Professor Davis has been told who the reviewers are.
C) Researchers who review and evaluate the study do not know that Professor Davis wrote the report, and he does not know who will be the reviewers.
D) The report is being evaluated by researchers who know nothing of the field of research in the report, so they can be objective.

Question 17

Sara conducted a study on religion. She developed a questionnaire and planned an accurate sample of 500 people. She ran off copies of her questionnaire. She contacted people in her sample. Sara next interviewed the sample and carefully recorded all the information. She used various statistics to analyze the data and interpreted her statistics to bring out their meaning. Lastly, she wrote about her findings and method for a paper that she presented at professional meetings and sent to a scholarly journal for possible publication. Which step in the process of research did Sara skip?

A) inform others
B) focus research question
C) design study
D) collect data

Question 18

It has been said that science cannot provide people with "absolute Truth." Even as all disciplines of science become more rigorous, why is science unable to provide people with "absolute Truth?"

Question 19

research measures objective facts; research, by contrast, constructs social reality.

A) Theory based; data based
B) Qualitative; quantitative
C) Data based; theory based
D) Quantitative; qualitative

Question 20

The president of Big Hotdog, Inc. considered changing the wage structure to increase worker productivity. She called in the firm's top management team to make a decision. The vice president for sales said, "I read an article in last week's Fortune magazine on it, and it proves that the proposed new wage structure always is best." Which error does the vice president of sales make?

A) premature closure
B) appeal to tradition as a basis of knowledge
C) appeal to authority as a basis of knowledge
D) overgeneralization

Question 21

Briefly describe each of the steps involved in conducting a research project. Discuss why the steps are "fixed" and the resulting implications for a person doing research.

Question 22

One source of knowledge is personal experience. Is personal experience flawed with illusions? If so, how? If not, how does personal experience stand up to the rigors of social research?

Question 23

What is the scientific community's role in the production of knowledge? How do the norms of this social institution play a part in this role?

Question 24

Discuss science as a social institution/invention. What social conditions existed that fostered scientific thinking?

Question 25

Compare quantitative and qualitative approaches to social research. Discuss two similarities and two differences in these approaches.

Question 26

Describe the scientific community, its role in the production of knowledge and its norms.

Question 27

Discuss three alternative sources of knowledge to social research. Explain why social research is better even if it is not always right and cannot answer every question.

Question 28

How do pseudoscience and junk science differ?

Question 29

Explain the process of publishing new knowledge in a scholarly journal.