Deck 2: The Social Scientific Approach to Theory

Question 1

What does positivism argue?

A) Legitimate information come only from scientific explanations of reality
B) Truth can never be revealed but scientists should always try
C) Science is the only way through which truth can be revealed

Answer 1

A,C

Question 2

Which of these principles are NOT key to social scientific thinking:

A) Direct method of agreement
B) Method of consistence
C) Joint method
D) Concomitant variation

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following statements refer to positivism?

A) Reality is socially constructed
B) Truth can be revealed through science
C) Truth is always subjective
D) Valid information can be obtained through mathematical explanations

Answer 3

B,D

Question 4

What steps are involved when following a scientific method?

A) Testing hypotheses
B) Proposing a theory
C) Generalizing based on the findings
D) All of the above

Question 5

How do social scientists define "reality"?

A) Reality is constructed through social interactions
B) Reality is that which can be observed
C) Reality is situated and varies between individuals
D) Reality is made up of physical and social objects

Question 6

What are some of the characteristics of social scientific theories?

A) They have axioms and/or postulates
B) They have theorems
C) They are used to provide thick descriptions
D) They are used to create social change

Question 7

Social-scientific research aims at:

A) Describing individuals' behaviors and viewpoints
B) Making claims and empirical generalizations
C) Deconstructing meanings that are taken for granted
D) Predicting individuals' behaviors

Question 8

Social-scientific reasoning combines inductive and deductive logic.

A) True
B) False: it only uses inductive logic
C) False: it only uses deductive logic

Question 9

Which if the following are NOT tenets of social scientific research?

A) Empiricism
B) Subjectivity
C) Voluntarism
D) Objectivity

Question 10

Different branches of positivism exist. Which are they?

A) Post-positivism
B) Classical positivism
C) Modern positivism
D) Logical positivism

Question 11

Which methods are most used in social scientific research?

A) Quantitative methods
B) Mixed-methods
C) Qualitative methods

Question 12

What are hypotheses used for?

A) They help researchers make predictions based on theories
B) They help researchers know what the findings will be
C) They help researchers choose the methods

Question 13

Which of the following scholar(s) belonged to the social scientific paradigm?

A) Auguste Comte
B) David Hurme
C) George Wilhelm Hegel
D) Emile Durkheim

Question 14

How does a social scientific study differ from an interpretive one?

A) It aims at generalizing results to broader contexts/populations
B) It is more likely to use qualitative methods
C) It is more likely to use a theory that guides the inquiry
D) It is more likely to use quantitative methods

Question 15

Which aspects are central to "logical positivism"?

A) Knowledge comes from researchers' own interpretations
B) Knowledge comes from verification
C) Knowledge includes rational thought

Question 16

What did Karl Popper argue?

A) Knowledge can always be proven right through scientific measures
B) Knowledge can never be proven
C) Knowledge can only be refuted
D) All of the above

Question 17

What is most used to make predictions in social scientific research?

A) Research questions
B) Claims
C) Hypotheses

Question 18

Which traditions of philosophy acknowledge some level of research subjectivity in research?

A) Positivism
B) Post-positivism
C) Modern positivism

Question 19

What does "determinism" mean?

A) Human actions are caused by factors that cannot be identified
B) Internal attributes do not affect human actions, only external factors do
C) External factors do not affect human actions, only internal attributes do
D) Human actions are caused by identifiable factors

Question 20

What is the purpose of generalizations?

A) To improve theories
B) To develop an area of study
C) To highlight power relations in different contexts
D) All of the above

Question 21

What are the five principles to inductive reasoning outlined by John Stuart Mill?

Question 22

How is positivism different from post-positivism?

Question 23

For a social scientist, what is theory?

Question 24

What is the place of value in research for social scientists?