Deck 3: Asking Questions in Political Science

Question 1

Variables with ratio measurement:

A) do not have a true zero in their measurement scale
B) have a true zero in their measurement scale
C) have categories with meaningful order
D) do not have categories with meaningful order

Answer 1

B

Question 2

A correlation is:

A) an empirical relationship
B) a set of variables
C) an analytical research question
D) an attribute or characteristic that can vary across observations

Answer 2

A

Question 3

It is important that you do not include the characteristics you used to define the research population as one of your:

A) correlations
B) causations
C) independent variables
D) dependent variables

Answer 3

C

Question 4

A research population is a group of observations that:

A) have a particular set of attributes or characteristics in common
B) do not have any particular set of attributes or characteristics in common
C) must be randomly selected
D) must not be randomly selected

Question 5

The unit of analysis for World Values Survey data is:

A) the United States
B) countries that were surveyed
C) the year that the countries were surveyed
D) individuals

Question 6

Which of the following is an example of ordinal measurement?

A) Male and female choices indicating biological sex
B) A scale from 1 to 4 measuring life satisfaction
C) A list of six different religious affiliations
D) A whole number indication of a person's age in years

Question 7

Why should researchers not choose independent variables arbitrarily?

A) Because there are certain variables that should not be used in research
B) Because variables have different types of measurement
C) Because we are trying to explain variation in independent variables in our research
D) Because there should be a reason for which an independent variable is included

Question 8

The process of identifying indicators in order to measure and assess concepts empirically is known as:

A) quantification
B) operationalization
C) measurement
D distinction

Question 9

What is the WVS?

A) The World Values Study
B) The World Values Survey
C) The Wide Values Study
D) The World Variables Survey

Question 10

What is one drawback to variables with ordinal measurement?

A) The precise distance between values is unknown
B) There are usually only four categories associated with them
C) They are not useful for asking respondents where they fall on a numerical scale
D) Only dependent variables should have ordinal measurement

Question 11

When thinking about a possible correlation among variables, it is a good idea to:

A) consider only one set of values for the independent variable
B) make sure only variables with ordinal measurement are used
C) consider how different values of an independent variable might be associated with different values of the dependent variable
D) ensure that the research question has a dependent variable

Question 12

Whether we can say that a particular value in one variable caused a particular value in a second variable is called:

A) correlation
B) falsification
C) foundation
D) causality

Question 13

An antecedent variable is a variable:

A) that occurs prior to the variables included in the analysis
B) that occurs throughout the research
C) that occurs after the research is concluded
D) that is influenced by control variables

Question 14

A variable that interacts with an independent variable in some way to produce an effect on the dependent variable is called a/an:

A) control variable
B) bias variable
C) intervening variable
D) imposing variable

Question 15

In the question, "What is the effect of religion on political freedom?" religion is a/an:

A) intervening variable
B) dependent variable
C) independent variable
D) antecedent variable

Question 16

Variables must vary because:

A) they are used only as independent variables
B) without variation it is not possible to determine if correlations among variables exist
C) they are generalizable
D) they are part of the research question

Question 17

The following answer choices: don't know, other, I would not vote, US: Republican, US: Democrat, to a survey question based on party choice are examples of:

A) nominal measurement
B) ordinal measurement
C) interval measurement
D) ratio measurement

Question 18

A nominal variable with only two categories is considered a/an:

A) interval variable
B) ratio variable
C) binary variable
D) ordinal variable

Question 19

For your project, any variable with nominal measurement that has more than two categories will require the researcher to:

A) transform the variable into one with ordinal measurement
B) choose or create only two categories from the original categories
C) choose a different variable
D) write a different kind of theory

Question 20

The dependent variable is:

A) the variable that is deliberately changed
B) what occurs before the independent variable
C) used to explain variation
D) what the research hopes to explain