Deck 2: Political Science and Scientific Methods in Studying Politics

Question 1

A variable that is being affected is known as

A) an independent variable.
B) dependent variable.
C) a causation variable.
D) Both A and B are true.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

_______ generally provides greater breadth than a case study and produces findings that can be tested for statistical significance.

A) An experiment on an individual
B) A quasi-experiment on an individual
C) Survey research
D) None of the above is true.

Answer 2

C

Question 3

The answers given by Marco Rubio to interviewers would be a more interesting topic of study to a political scientist using a traditionalist approach rather than a behavioralist approach.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Political scientist A sets out to study a country by conducting research on its laws and institutions and hopes to obtain normative insights on how to improve these laws and institutions whereas political scientist B wants to study the same country but focuses on collecting empirical data on the voting behavior of its citizens and has no interest in including normative questions in her research project.Therefore, political scientist A is a traditionalist and political scientist B is a behavioralist.

Question 5

Postbehavioralism argues that behavioralism is, in and of itself, a value statement.

Question 6

Francis Bacon

A) opposed science and the scientific method as hostile to religion.
B) wrote of various idols from which science could free humanity.
C) Both A and B are true.
D) None of the above is true.

Question 7

If researchers conducting an experiment accidentally communicate their expectations about the experiment to the subjects in the experiment, this is known as

A) the Rosenthal effect.
B) the double-blind effect.
C) the Hawthorne effect.
D) the variable effect.

Question 8

A random sample is one in which

A) each person in the population to be studied has an equal chance of being selected in the sample being studied.
B) every person in the population to be studied is also included in the sample selected for study.
C) patterns but not groups are present.
D) sample members are asked closed questions.

Question 9

When one compares the testimony of scientists at the Scopes trial of the 1920s and the creationism trials of the 1980s, one finds

A) the definition of science was unchanged.
B) scientists enjoyed greater degrees of credibility/authority in the 1920s than in the 1980s.
C) Both A and B are true.
D) None of the above is true.

Question 10

Thomas Kuhn's work has suggested that

A) science has often tried to come up with exceptions to explain away inconvenient facts.
B) science has not used paradigms.
C) survey research is the best way of collecting data.
D) operational definitions are not useful when doing scientific research.

Question 11

In the Tuskegee study,

A) subjects were exposed to radiation.
B) the effects of syphilis were observed.
C) the study was terminated by the researchers when penicillin was found to be an effective treatment for syphilis.
D) Both B and C are true.

Question 12

In terms of survey research, which of the following is true?

A) The order of questions in a survey can affect how people answer the questions in a survey.
B) Low levels of information can affect survey responses.
C) Both A and B are true.
D) None of the above is true.

Question 13

Does the existence of correlation necessarily imply also the existence of causation?

Question 14

Studies of the U.S.civil rights process, which focused on an analysis of a single phenomenon such as the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, exemplified the use of

A) quantitative analysis.
B) a case study.
C) survey research.
D) Both B and C are true.

Question 15

A control group

A) is also known as a test group.
B) in an experiment is not exposed to a variable.
C) is also known as a Hawthorne Effect group.
D) Both A and B are true.

Question 16

Which branch of philosophy studies that which constitutes truth?

A) Indicators
B) Epistemology
C) Operationalism
D) None of the above is true.

Question 17

The Zimbardo study

A) collected DNA samples from infants born in U.S.hospitals without parental knowledge or consent.
B) was one in which some members of the study acted so aggressively toward others that the study was terminated prior to its planned time for completion.
C) is often cited by anti-war advocates to argue that human nature appears to be thoroughly peaceful and lacking in impulses toward violence.
D) was funded by the U.S.government and involved exposing cancer patients to high doses of radiation.

Question 18

Dr.Marion Sims

A) conducted medical experiments on slave women in the United States south prior to the Civil War.
B) is regarded as one of the founders of gynecological medicine.
C) Both A and B are true.
D) None of the above is true.

Question 19

Patrick Caddell has suggested that negative campaign advertising is correlated with

A) lowering voter turnout in elections.
B) producing a high number of "don't know" responses when conducting survey research.
C) resolving the Rosenthal effect.
D) increasing level of trust in government.

Question 20

In survey research, patterns are always identical to groups.

Question 21

Upon graduating from a university, you are hired as a consultant to produce a factual, overview of Country X's political situation for a client.How do you proceed to accomplish this task? Write an essay in which you explain whether you would choose to do your research by means of a case study, survey research, indirect quantitative analysis, an experiment, or a quasi-experiment.Which research would make the most sense? Why? What problems would you have to resolve?

Question 22

Which of the following scholars do you think you will be more likely to remember five years after taking this course-Stanford Psychology Professor Philip Zimbardo or English philosopher Francis Bacon? What is most memorable about Zimbardo? About Bacon?