Deck 2: Talk About Theory

Question 1

The central question addressed by epistemology is:

A) How can we predict the future effectively?
B) How do we know what we know, if we know it at all?
C) What is the meaning of reality?
D) What is truth?

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Which of the following statements is true about interpretive scholars?

A) They focus on conscious choices made by individuals.
B) They stress the forces that shape human behavior.
C) They believe that people should respond similarly under an identical set of circumstances.
D) They believe language creates social realities that represent fixed principles in a static world.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

A behavioral scientist is often labeled as a(n) ________.

A) empiricist
B) phenomenologist
C) poststructuralist
D) rhetorician

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Identify a true statement about behavioral scientists.

A) They attribute a person's action to conscious intent.
B) Their word selection suggests that people are free agents who can decide to respond differently under an identical set of circumstances.
C) Their causal explanations tend to include appeals to mental reasoning or conscious choice.
D) They usually describe human conduct as occurring because of forces outside the individual's awareness.

Question 5

Determinism refers to the assumption that:

A) behavior is caused by heredity and environment.
B) every human act is ultimately voluntary.
C) environmental factors are usually irrelevant to human behavior.
D) heredity accounts for everything a person does.

Question 6

Human choice is problematic for the behavioral scientist because as individual freedom goes up, ________.

A) predictability increases
B) predictability remains the same
C) predictability of behavior goes down
D) outside factors start affecting predictability

Question 7

The basic activity of behavioral scientists is:

A) seeking facts.
B) generating hypotheses.
C) publicizing significant findings.
D) theory testing.

Question 8

Which of the following does an interpretive scholar explore that constitutes human existence?

A) prediction
B) control
C) web of meaning
D) All of the answers are correct.

Question 9

Glenn, a behavioral scientist, is working upon the ________.

A) explanation of universal laws of human behavior
B) exploration of meaning
C) interpretation of an individual text in a specific context
D) maintenance of status quo

Question 10

Which of the following best describes empirical evidence?

A) examples of social injustice
B) claims based on personally held ideology
C) data collected through direct observation
D) exploration of meaning or context

Question 11

Most practitioners use the terms "scientist" and "objective scholar" interchangeably.

Question 12

Scientists assume that Truth is singular. They see a single, timeless reality "out there" that's not dependent on local conditions.

Question 13

Behavioral scientists are likely to describe human conduct using phrases such as "in order to" and "so that," whereas interpretive scholars describe events using the phrase "because of."

Question 14

Objective theorists focus on participation and downplay effectiveness, whereas interpretive theorists foreground effectiveness and relegate participation to the background.

Question 15

________ is defined as the study of the origin, nature, method, and limits of knowledge.

Question 16

For empirical or scientific theorists, there is one reality out there waiting to be discovered through ________.

Question 17

Griffin separates theories into two "camps": objective and interpretive. Where do you feel more at home? Why?

Question 18

Compare the interpretive scholar's philosophy with the scientist's philosophy.