Deck 2: Studying Social Life: Sociology Research Methods

Question 1

Jared is conducting a sociological research study on the underground music scene. He has just finished collecting data for the study. What is the next step Jared should take in the scientific method?

A) share findings
B) analyze data
C) provide operational definitions for variables
D) choose a research design or method

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of these uses an inductive method that involves collecting data and then generating a theory by looking for relationships among categories?

A) grounded theory
B) chaos theory
C) conflict theory
D) scientific theory

Answer 2

A

Question 3

You want to conduct some sociological research on whether people on social networking sites are less likely to meet in person as a result of their online community participation. What is the next step in the scientific method?

A) conduct a literature review
B) form a hypothesis
C) choose a research design or method
D) collect data

Answer 3

A

Question 4

A famous social scientist tells you that the most important task in her research was entering the social world of the people she was studying. What can you say about this researcher?

A) She worries about ethical issues in her research.
B) She is a qualitative researcher.
C) She cannot use interviews as a methodology.
D) She exclusively uses quantitative methods.

Question 5

A social research methods class wants to study smoking. First, the professor asks how many people in the class are smokers. Two people indicate that they are. She then asks how many people have smoked a cigarette in the past week and ten people indicate that they have. The class decides, for the purposes of the survey, that a smoker will be defined as anyone who has smoked a cigarette in the past week and currently owns a pack of cigarettes. This is a(n)

A) operational definition.
B) hypothesis.
C) spurious correlation.
D) ethical challenge.

Question 6

You are doing a research project on the effects of contemporary media. What are your variables if your hypothesis is "watching violence on television causes an increase in violent behavior"?

A) violence on television and violent behavior
B) watching television and violence on television
C) watching nonviolent television
D) causes of violent behavior

Question 7

If conducting research, what steps must you take to follow the scientific method? Identify them in the correct order in which you should do them.

A) form a hypothesis, define variables, choose research method, collect data
B) form a hypothesis, choose research design, define variables, analyze data
C) define variables, form a hypothesis, choose research design, review the literature
D) analyze data, form a hypothesis, choose research design, define variables

Question 8

If changing one variable seems to lead to a change in another variable, this shows ________ but does not necessarily prove ________.

A) a paradigm shift; causation
B) correlation; causation
C) causation; correlation
D) applied research; a paradigm shift

Question 9

You are conducting research on violence in the media. In what part of the research process are you engaged in if you are trying to decide whether "violence" includes words as well as actions?

A) choosing a topic
B) analyzing the data
C) defining the variables
D) reviewing the literature

Question 10

In recent years, sociologists who study deviance have learned that they can measure the quantities of narcotics consumed by a community by testing its sewage before treatment. What part of the research process would the sociologists be carrying out when they visit the sewage treatment plant to test its sewage?

A) analyzing data
B) forming a hypothesis
C) collecting data
D) developing an operational definition

Question 11

A study found a strong correlation between parental bonding and adolescent drug use. Children with stronger bonds to their parents were far less likely to try drugs or alcohol. After examining their data more closely, the researchers discovered that parental bonding was really a predictor for teen religiosity. Consequently, high levels of religiosity, rather than parental bonding, actually prevent drug use. This means that religiosity was a(n)

A) spurious variable.
B) issue of reflexivity.
C) paradigm shift.
D) intervening variable.

Question 12

In using the scientific method for sociological research, what step should be taken after formulating a general research question?

A) review the literature relevant to the topic
B) clearly define the variables
C) look for correlations between at least two phenomena
D) form a hypothesis

Question 13

Kemi is conducting a sociological research study on differences in interactions between similar and dissimilar co-workers. After reviewing the literature, she developed a hypothesis and operationalized the variables she will study. What is the next step Kemi should take in the scientific method?

A) identify a problem or ask a question
B) analyze data
C) choose a research design or method
D) collect data

Question 14

________ research would involve observing a group in order to determine its norms, values, rules, and meanings.

A) Comparative historical
B) Quantitative
C) Qualitative
D) Applied

Question 15

In the 1980s, many politicians argued that listening to heavy metal music led teenagers to die by suicide. This is a(n) ________, although you might find this belief silly.

A) variable
B) paradigm shift
C) hypothesis
D) operational definition

Question 16

The scientific method involves

A) the use of statistics to analyze numerical data.
B) the appearance of causation.
C) the procedure for acquiring and collecting scientific data.
D) research that translates the social world into numbers.

Question 17

Survey research tends to produce quantitative data. One key advantage of this kind of data is that it

A) is easy to transmit to the public.
B) includes observations and informal interviews.
C) allows the researcher to review the literature.
D) provides easy access to the norms, values, and meanings held by members of a group.

Question 18

A graduate student is almost done with his dissertation when he is informed that twenty years ago someone did a similar project and already demonstrated what he had hoped to be the first to discover. What basic step of the scientific method should have saved him from this problem?

A) developing an operational definition
B) selecting a research method
C) analyzing data
D) reviewing the literature

Question 19

A sociologist thinks he has discovered a very interesting and unique finding. His data show a correlation between children's shoe sizes and their reading test scores. He thinks that children with bigger feet must be smarter. What is the most logical explanation based on this information?

A) The correlation between shoe size and reading test score is incorrect.
B) The relationship between shoe size and reading test score is causal.
C) The relationship between shoe size and reading test score is spurious.
D) The bias of the researcher is influencing the correlation.

Question 20

A sociologist wants to study popular attitudes and perceptions about astrology among college students in California. She believes that people who have astrological signs associated with fire will have a greater knowledge of astrology, because fire signs tend to have more interesting and attractive symbolism. What are the variables in this study?

A) astrological signs and knowledge of astrology
B) college students and symbolism
C) popular attitudes and perceptions
D) California and college students

Question 21

If a sample of sociological research is representative, then

A) the researcher has avoided any overt bias.
B) the research has been conducted systematically, using the scientific method.
C) a smaller group of people studied can tell us something about a larger group.
D) the researcher has avoided using any double-barreled questions.

Question 22

What is a closed-ended question?

A) one that allows for a wide variety of responses
B) one that encourages respondents to answer creatively
C) one that limits the possible responses
D) one that can only be answered orally

Question 23

Which of the following is a disadvantage of using ethnography as a method of social research?

A) Participants are self-selected.
B) Participants are not completely honest when asked to describe their attitudes and behaviors.
C) It is difficult for another researcher to repeat or replicate any particular ethnography.
D) Ethnographies tend to have ethical problems that are of central concern to most sociologists.

Question 24

________ is the research method that might involve shifting between participating in a social situation and being an observer.

A) Interviews
B) Surveys
C) Comparative-historical research
D) Ethnography

Question 25

Which of the following research techniques focuses on gaining an insider's perspective of the everyday lives of participants under investigation, which often dispels stereotypes about the group being investigated?

A) participant observation
B) surveys
C) analysis of existing data
D) experiments

Question 26

If a researcher has obtained informed consent from all of their participants, it means that

A) the participants have all agreed to participate in the study for monetary compensation.
B) the participants understand the nature of the research and are participating freely.
C) the confidentiality of all participants has been guaranteed.
D) the participants have conducted a literature review.

Question 27

In their ethnography Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood before Marriage, Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas studied the realities of single motherhood for poor, urban women. They immersed themselves in the community before beginning their research. Edin moved her family to the city, and both ethnographers volunteered in community programs. Immersing themselves in the community is an example of

A) gaining access.
B) field notes.
C) thick description.
D) sampling.

Question 28

Julie Bettie's ethnography Women without Class: Girls, Race, and Identity examined the role of race and class in the lives of girls in California's Central Valley. She did most of her work at a high school, hanging out with students and writing down her observations. What do ethnographers call her written observations?

A) interviews
B) representativeness
C) nonverbal communication
D) field notes

Question 29

Why can sociologists who conduct interviews only gather data from a limited number of people?

A) It is impossible to find enough people through a random sample.
B) Researchers are only allowed to talk to people who are eighteen and older.
C) It is extremely difficult to guarantee confidentiality to individuals in large groups.
D) Interviews are very time-consuming.

Question 30

Ethnography's main goal is

A) to develop quantitative data sets that allow researchers to discover correlations.
B) to conduct interviews with people who have very different ways of life.
C) to understand the meanings people attach to their activities.
D) to develop ethics and standards for sociological research.

Question 31

In her ethnography Wheeling & Dealing, Patricia Adler investigates the social and professional worlds of mid-level cocaine and marijuana smugglers. Her research started unexpectedly when she discovered that her next-door neighbor and friend was a drug smuggler. This was a huge advantage for her because it meant that she already had ________ with one of her informants.

A) informed consent
B) rapport
C) sampling
D) causation

Question 32

In his research, ethnographer Richard Mitchell kept his identity a secret while studying militant survivalist groups. Sometimes, he even presented himself as a believer in the survivalists' paranoid, racist ideologies in order to establish

A) reflexivity.
B) thick description.
C) rapport.
D) replicability.

Question 33

A researcher must identify a target population before engaging in sampling. What is the target population?

A) the group of people whose behavior they wish to change
B) the group of people from whom they will gather data
C) the group of people least often studied in the past
D) the larger group of people about whom they wish to generalize

Question 34

The sociologist Mitch Duneier wrote his ethnography Sidewalk about street vendors in New York City's Greenwich Village. While writing the book, Duneier was particularly concerned that the people he was studying would alter their behavior when he was present, especially since his background was different from their own. This caused him to think critically about his activities and role as a researcher. What do sociologists call this?

A) response rate
B) reflexivity
C) validity
D) thick description

Question 35

Carla is worried about the representativeness of her study. She is conducting interviews, but each one seems to last at least five hours. What strategy might she use to increase her sample size given that she only has one month to collect her data?

A) end interviews at two hours whether or not all questions have been answered
B) conduct a focus group
C) ask only open-ended questions
D) request that respondents write out answers during interviews instead of answering verbally

Question 36

Why must ethnographers using participant observation always be aware of reflexivity?

A) Participants may not consider their own motivations and act out of reflex.
B) Ethnographers' conclusions may not be applicable to any larger group.
C) The presence of ethnographers may alter the behavior of the people they are observing.
D) Ethnographers intervene in the lives of the people they are studying.

Question 37

Research that focuses on one's own thoughts, feelings, and experiences is known as

A) life history.
B) autoethnography.
C) internal investigation.
D) content analysis.

Question 38

Which of the following is an advantage of using ethnography to study social life?

A) Ethnography is a quick and easy form of social science research.
B) Ethnography requires the researcher to spend little time gaining familiarity with research participants.
C) Ethnography allows the researcher to gather abundant data on a small population.
D) Ethnography requires no training since it is something we all do as human beings.

Question 39

Alex is assigned a research project in which she is to attend a celebratory family meal and analyze her experiences as she participates in the meal. She is asked to make a detailed account of the meal that includes her thoughts and feelings about the event. What type of research is Frances assigned?

A) comparative-historical
B) survey
C) autoethnography
D) experiment

Question 40

Ethnographers are overt about their roles if

A) they maintain narrow and limited definitions of appropriate research methodologies.
B) they spend a great deal of time reflecting on their roles in the research process.
C) they observe and record data without letting anyone know they are doing research.
D) they openly admit that they are doing sociological research.

Question 41

Why would mentioning a sensitive issue, such as divorce or infidelity, in a survey question influence how respondents answer later questions?

A) Questions about sensitive issues are double-barreled.
B) The respondents may think about the sensitive issue when answering later questions.
C) Sensitive questions make the questionnaire confusing and difficult to fill out.
D) Sensitive questions spoil the representativeness of the researcher's sample.

Question 42

Researchers usually transcribe responses after they conduct a series of interviews. The transcription process is fairly time-consuming, but it is valuable, in part, because it allows researchers to

A) look for patterns in their data.
B) check for bias in how they asked questions.
C) think up new questions they did not ask.
D) determine the average age of their interviewees.

Question 43

Respondents are often more comfortable addressing sensitive subjects on surveys than in other research contexts because

A) they know that many other people will answer the same questions.
B) they know that their answers will only be analyzed statistically.
C) they can answer in private and are usually assured anonymity.
D) surveys guarantee that their answers will be confidential, while other methods do not.

Question 44

What does it mean when an interviewer asks a respondent for their life history?

A) a chronological account of the respondent's life
B) biographical information on the respondent's maternal side
C) detailed accounts of the respondent's early childhood memories
D) a genealogical map of the respondent's family ancestry

Question 45

Why do social scientists who use interviews rarely speak with large numbers of people for a project?

A) It is hard to find people willing to be interviewed.
B) There are usually very few people interesting enough to be interviewed.
C) Face-to-face interviewing is a very time-consuming process.
D) The data is so rich that few interviews are typically needed.

Question 46

A pilot study is

A) a smaller study used to investigate the feasibility of a larger one.
B) a study designed to improve the target population of a larger study.
C) a study that concerns itself with media use and popular culture.
D) a study that definitively answers a question that has confused sociologists.

Question 47

A professor has been commissioned by a college to do research on its new academic system. The college has moved from a semester system to block scheduling. One of the questions asked is, "How have teachers and students responded to the new intensive block scheduling system?" This is an example of

A) a leading question.
B) a double-barreled question.
C) a closed-ended question.
D) reflexivity.

Question 48

Researchers are often worried that interviewees have not been completely honest or forthcoming, especially when asked about sensitive subjects. How did Arlie Hochschild attempt to deal with this problem?

A) She asked each question in a different way to try to trap respondents in contradictions.
B) She interviewed spouses separately to see if their stories matched.
C) She observed some respondents as they went about their daily routines to see if their actions matched their answers.
D) She confronted respondents when they gave answers that seemed suspicious.

Question 49

Every four years, when it is time to elect a new president, we pay much attention to surveys, which we usually call "polls." Political pollsters typically ask approximately one thousand people, of the 300 million people in the United States, who they plan to vote for. They use that information to predict how the election will turn out. Who is the sample for a presidential poll?

A) every person who is planning on voting
B) every American
C) people who have strong political opinions
D) the 1,000 people asked whom they will vote for

Question 50

Researchers should avoid using double-barreled questions when designing a survey. What are double-barreled questions?

A) questions that ask about multiple issues
B) questions that use emotional language that may bias the respondent
C) questions that are vague or ambiguous
D) questions that have a hidden agenda

Question 51

What kind of question usually produces a wide variety of responses by allowing respondents to answer in whatever way seems appropriate to them?

A) closed-ended
B) open-ended
C) double-barreled
D) leading

Question 52

Researchers must avoid negative questions when writing a survey. What are negative questions?

A) questions that ask about two different topics
B) questions that let the respondent know how the researcher hopes they will answer
C) questions that belittle or insult a group or individual
D) questions that ask respondents what they do not think rather than what they do think

Question 53

Arlie Hochschild was concerned that her sample of interviewees was too small to guarantee representativeness. How did Hochschild attempt to overcome this problem?

A) by deciding that she did not need to generalize to any larger population
B) by asking only open-ended questions
C) by doing follow-up interviews with each interviewee
D) by comparing information about her interviewees with a national survey

Question 54

What is an advantage of using interviews as a research method?

A) They allow the researcher to maintain strict control of the data-collection process.
B) They reveal attitudes and beliefs inaccessible by any other means.
C) They can affirm preconceptions and stereotypes.
D) They allow researchers to analyze data statistically and draw correlations.

Question 55

Survey researchers often use Likert scales to construct the possible answers when they write closed-ended questions. How do Likert scales allow respondents to answer?

A) They allow respondents to answer along a continuum from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree."
B) They allow respondents to answer with their own opinions.
C) They allow respondents to give simple answers such as true/false or yes/no.
D) They encourage respondents to include detailed responses.

Question 56

It is always important to ask clear and unambiguous questions regardless of the method you use. Why is it especially important to avoid confusion when conducting surveys?

A) Survey research methods commonly use statistics.
B) Survey researchers are usually not present to clarify any misunderstandings.
C) Survey researchers talk to many people.
D) Survey researchers tend to look at large-scale social patterns.

Question 57

How do interviews give "voice" to people who may never have been heard before and offer privileged access to authentic experience, private worlds, and true selves?

A) Interviews may contribute to unfair stereotypes.
B) Interviews are quick, economical, and can provide a vast amount of data.
C) Interviews allow respondents to speak in their own words, which can reveal their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.
D) Respondents are not always forthcoming or truthful, are sometimes difficult to talk to, and may try too hard to be helpful.

Question 58

A research team is curious about the relationship between exercise habits and academic performance among American college students. The researchers randomly select seventeen colleges by pulling names out of a hat. They travel to campuses and stand in prominent public places asking for volunteers until they have ten people from each campus willing to be interviewed. What is the researchers' target population?

A) students at the seventeen colleges they visited
B) the 170 students who were interviewed
C) young people
D) American college students

Question 59

Imagine that you are trying to rewrite a survey. You find a multiple-choice question that asks, "What is your favorite recreational activity?" and gives three response options: watching television, shopping, or sports. You add a fourth response option, "other," and invite respondents to write an activity of their choice. What kind of question have you just created?

A) open-ended
B) quantitative
C) reductionist
D) closed-ended

Question 60

In her research for The Second Shift, Arlie Hochschild interviewed married couples to find out how they dealt with changing family roles as more women entered the workforce. What advantages came from her decision to use interviews as a research method?

A) It allowed her to include a large group of people in the study.
B) It ensured that the respondents were always honest and forthcoming about their family lives and marital roles.
C) It allowed her to gather direct quotations and construct an intimate portrait of married couples.
D) It created both a control group and an experimental group and allowed Hochschild to compare them.

Question 61

Peter Stearns (2004) consulted various existing sources for his book Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America. What did he find?

A) Being held responsible for their children's protection from endless sources of harm, many parents experienced a sense of empowerment that increased steadily over the course of the twentieth century.
B) While children were once viewed as self-sufficient mini-adults, beginning in the late 1800s children were seen as particularly vulnerable.
C) Stearn's work may have predicted the advent of today's "deadbeat dads," fathers who are not involved in their children's lives.
D) Meanings of childhood have remained relatively stable over time.

Question 62

What are researchers doing when they use a social networking site like Facebook to obtain data?

A) being ethically questionable
B) doing qualitative research
C) using interview data
D) using existing sources

Question 63

What research method is an individual using if they look through a community's trash and litter?

A) experiment
B) content analysis
C) comparative historical research
D) unobtrusive measures

Question 64

________ is/are the consistency of a measurement tool or the degree to which the same questions will produce similar answers.

A) Reliability
B) Grounded theory
C) Unobtrusive measures
D) Value-free sociology

Question 65

The analysis of documents such as medical records, photographs, diaries, letters, newspapers, and song lyrics uses which of the following types of data?

A) ethnographic field notes
B) interview transcripts
C) existing sources
D) experimental data

Question 66

A sociologist wants to examine how black men have been portrayed in television shows in the past year. Which type of study is most appropriate to examine this research topic and compare the portrayal of black men across different television shows?

A) comparative historical
B) focus group
C) experiment
D) content analysis

Question 67

What must there be for a survey to be considered valid?

A) a large target population
B) a large number of existing sources
C) a large pilot study
D) a high response rate

Question 68

A sociologist performs an experiment designed to investigate the effect of marriage counseling on divorce. They divide research participants into two similar groups of troubled couples, provides only one group with counseling, and observes whether or not, over time, the two groups eventually divorce at different rates. What is the independent variable in this experiment?

A) divorce
B) troubled couples
C) the overall divorce rate
D) marriage counseling

Question 69

Which of the following is a disadvantage of using existing sources of data for research?

A) Researchers often seek answers to questions the data does not directly address.
B) Researchers have to spend a great deal of time and money to get the data.
C) Researchers do not have access to existing sources.
D) Existing sources are irrelevant to the contemporary world because they are from a different time and place.

Question 70

Why might surveys, rather than a more direct form of communication like interviews, be more appropriate when asking high school students about sensitive subjects like drug use or sexual health?

A) Surveys allow respondents to speak in their own words and can reveal respondents' thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.
B) Surveys allow researchers to ask much more complex questions than they could with any other methodology.
C) Surveys allow students to answer the questions in private and ensure the confidentiality of their responses.
D) Surveys are more expensive and allow for larger staffs and budgets.

Question 71

The research method MOST closely related to the scientific method is

A) ethnography.
B) survey research.
C) experimental research.
D) interviews.

Question 72

The primary goal of comparative and historical research methods is to

A) enhance the validity of experiments.
B) understand relationships between parts of society in various regions and time periods.
C) uncover issues that have been neglected by mainstream social research.
D) select participants who are very similar so that the independent variable can be isolated.

Question 73

The Yale sociologist Kai Erikson wrote a book called Wayward Puritans, in which he drew on court records from colonial Massachusetts. He learned that the rate of out-of-wedlock births was much higher than it is now and that the amount of alcohol consumed per capita was higher as well. What research methodology was Erikson using?

A) ethnography
B) comparative-historical research
C) interviews
D) surveys

Question 74

When conducting experiments, how is the experimental group different from the control group?

A) The experimental group includes people who are very different from those in the control group.
B) The experimental group is administered the dependent variable, while the control group is not.
C) The experimental group is administered the independent variable, while the control group is not.
D) The control group is administered the independent variable, while the experimental group is not.

Question 75

A sociologist wants to study how educational credential requirements for employment have changed in the last fifty years in the United States, Sweden, and Germany by using newspaper classified ads. What research concept best describes this study?

A) comparative historical research
B) action research
C) pilot study
D) life history

Question 76

What research method is a sociologist using if they watch a lot of television and count the number of times women play roles with lower status than those played by men?

A) experimental research
B) content analysis
C) ethnography
D) interview

Question 77

Why are social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter so exciting to sociologists who study social networks?

A) For the first time, social networking sites offer sociologists a data set rich enough to test ideas that have previously only been theorized.
B) For the first time, sociologists do not have to spend the time and money to go talk to people and can do all their work from a computer.
C) For the first time, sociologists can find out what young people's social networks look like.
D) For the first time, sociologists can track the spread of urban legends.

Question 78

A sociologist uses a survey to study the attitudes of adults in the United States concerning premarital sex among teenagers. In this study, the target population consists of all ________, and the group that is asked the survey questions is called the ________.

A) teenagers in the United States; reference group
B) teenagers in the United States who have engaged in premarital sex; experimental group
C) adults in the United States; sample
D) adults in the United States who have teenage children; units of analysis

Question 79

What is a simple random sample?

A) a sample with only one variable
B) a sample that takes into account other demographic variables
C) a sample that weights one variable more than another
D) a sample that provides the same chance of being included to every member of the population

Question 80

You are tasked with conducting a research project that investigates the relationship between smoking and gender in blockbuster films. What methodology would you use to conduct your research?

A) quantitative research
B) content analysis
C) comparative or historical research
D) interviews