Deck 6: How Can Researchers Enumerate and Examine Broad Patterns in Social Life Quantitative Research

Question 1

Which of the following is not a feature of the qualitative approach?

A) Quantitative research reflects objectivism.
B) Positivism is an ideal that continues to guide quantitative research.
C) It usually involves an inductive view of the relationship between theory and research.
D) Quantitative researchers strive to understand patterned relationships in the social world.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Attributes or characteristics that may change over time, across different conditions, or from case to case are known as ___________.

A) Quantitative research
B) Variables
C) Concepts
D) Data

Answer 2

B

Question 3

______________ is an approach to inquiry that begins with a statement or theory from which hypotheses may be derived and tested.

A) Inductive research
B) Positivism
C) Deductive research
D) Interpretivism

Answer 3

C

Question 4

____________ is an approach that views social phenomenon as if they have an existence independent of social actors or their perceptions.

A) Objectivism
B) Positivism
C) Qualitative research
D) Quantitative research

Question 5

Which of the following is a data collection method typically used by a quantitative researcher?

A) Survey research
B) In-depth interviews
C) Content Analysis
D) Analysis of existing data

Question 6

Dr. McIntosh is utilizing data from the 1972 General Social Survey. What type of data gathering is he using for his research?

A) Analysis of existing data
B) Survey Research
C) Questionnaire
D) None of these

Question 7

__________ is a collection of standardized questions and response items that respondents complete without the aid of an interviewer.

A) Questionnaire
B) Survey
C) Content analysis
D) Focus Group

Question 8

Which of these data gathering techniques can be used in either qualitative or quantitative analysis?

A) Survey research
B) Content analysis and analysis of existing data
C) Only content analysis
D) Only analysis of existing data

Question 9

Which sociologist was instrumental in helping establish sociology as an area of study?

A) Max Weber
B) Karl Marx
C) August Comte
D) Adolphe Quetelet

Question 10

Which of the following is not one of the four principles of sociological work outlined by Comte?

A) Focus on individuals rather than groups, institutions, and societies
B) Positivist approach based on the careful observation of the elements under study
C) Focus on aggregates rather than individuals
D) Studying social life is more complex than other scientific arenas

Question 11

Comte believe that those who study the complexity of the human world require a shared and precise language. What is that language?

A) German
B) Variables
C) Quantitative methods
D) Mathematics

Question 12

Which of the following is not an aspect that is shared by both quantitative and qualitative research?

A) Emphasis on the relationship between individual experience and broader systems
B) Based on systematic observations of the world
C) Positivism only applies to quantitative research
D) Positivism applies to both types of research

Question 13

Quantitative researchers often want to know more than just how things are, but why things happen. In other words, they want to understand ________.

A) Causal explanations
B) Statistics
C) Positivism
D) Descriptive data

Question 14

In his research, Wodtke found that ______________.

A) Education level impacted views about racism.
B) Views about racism were not impacted by education level
C) Confounding variables influenced the relationship between views on race and education level
D) None of these

Question 15

Which of the following is the best example of an unclear direction of causal influence?

A) Drug use impacting a person's friendship network
B) Prior convictions impacting sentencing length
C) Race impacting tracking in school curriculum
D) None of these

Question 16

Which of the following was Pearman II and Swain's research question?

A) Does greater school choice increase gentrification of neighborhoods inhabited by lower-income communities of color?
B) Does the race of the residents in a lower-income community impact school choice?
C) How do neighborhoods change when gentrification occurs?
D) Do lower-income communities of color support school choice programs?

Question 17

A ____________ variable is when a researcher holds a variable or variables constant in order to clarify the relationship between the independent and dependent variable

A) Confounding
B) Independent
C) Control
D) Causal

Question 18

Which of the following best explains what Pearman and Swain meant by "reverse causality?"

A) Affluent families moving into lower-income BICOP communities motivated school choice policies to be implemented
B) The implementation of school choice programs motivated affluent families to move into lower-income BICOP communities.
C) School choice programs increased the possibility of gentrification by 22%.
D) Neighborhoods with higher proportions of residents of color and a neighborhood school policy were less more likely to experience gentrification.

Question 19

The relationship between two or more variables is referred to as _________.

A) Causation
B) Independent variable
C) Confounding relationship
D) Correlation

Question 20

When a researcher finds a positive correlation, that means that

A) A decrease in the independent variable is associated with an increase in the dependent variable.
B) An increase in the independent variable is associated with an increase in the dependent variable
C) An increase in the independent variable is associated with a decrease in the dependent variable
D) An increase in the dependent variable is associated with a decrease in the independent variable

Question 21

Dr. Allen finds that when the number of alcoholic beverages consumed per week increases, student's GPA decreases. What type of correlation is this?

A) Positive
B) Reverse
C) Negative
D) Curvilinear

Question 22

Sutton and Rafaeli hypothesized that as the display of positive emotions from staff to shoppers increased, that higher sales would follow. What type of relationship were they predicting?

A) Causal
B) Positive
C) Negative
D) Reverse

Question 23

Which of the following best describes what Sutton and Rafaeli found in their quantitative analysis?

A) As more positive emotions were displayed by the staff to the shoppers, sales went up.
B) The display of positive emotions by the staff had no impact on the sales.
C) As sales increase, more positive emotions were displayed by the staff.
D) When retail workers smiled less, sales were better.

Question 24

What best describes the findings from the qualitative analysis of Sutton and Rafaeli's study?

A) Sales were caused by the emotional displays of the staff.
B) Workers' emotional displays were caused by the amount of sales.
C) When sales were high, staff were more likely to display positive emotions.
D) When sales were slow, workers were more likely to feel pressure and displayed less positive emotions.

Question 25

Which was not a data collection method used by Sutton and Rafaeli?

A) Questionnaire
B) Semi-structured interviews
C) Unstructured observations
D) Structured observations

Question 26

Sutton and Rafaeli's research illustrates

A) The necessity of using mixed method approaches to infer causality.
B) The ease of inferring causality in cross-sectional research.
C) That it is not possible to detect the causal direction using observational methodology.
D) The challenge of inferring the causal direction in cross-sectional research

Question 27

Brown et. al measured tweets from the #SayHerName campaign by

A) Including all tweets that referred to Sandra Bland between January 19-October 14, 2016
B) Including all tweets that referred to the SayHerName campaign regardless of hashtag between January 19-October 14, 2016
C) Including all tweets on Twitter in 2016 with the #SayHerName hashtag
D) Including all tweets between January 19-October 14, 2016 with #SayHerName hashtag

Question 28

Which of the following was not one of the indicators of neighborhood cohesion in Hong, Zhang, and Walton's study of mental health determinates among Asian American and Latino people?

A) Whether respondents got along with their neighborhoods
B) Whether respondents considered neighbors their friends
C) Whether neighbors support each other
D) Whether neighbors would help in an emergency

Question 29

Which of the following is not one of the findings of Hong and team's research?

A) People living in highly dense neighborhoods had poorer mental health.
B) Neighborhood social cohesion improved mental health.
C) Asian Americans had more positive outcomes compared to Latinos.
D) Latinos had more positive outcomes compared to Asian Americans.

Question 30

Making inferences about the larger population based on information from a sample is known as

A) Generalization
B) Objectivity
C) Probability
D) Measurement

Question 31

Which of the following is not a characteristic that sample should have in order to generalize findings to the larger population?

A) Large sample of at least 100
B) Equal numbers of men and women
C) Random selection process
D) Representative sample

Question 32

Font and team found that ____________________________________.

A) Aged-out youth and those who were adopted were as likely or more likely to attend college than those reunified with their guardians.
B) Aged-out youth had lower likelihood of attending college compared to those who were reunified with their families.
C) Adopted youth had lower earnings than those who were reunified with their families.
D) None of these

Question 33

Which of the following does not describe the generalizability of Font et. al's findings?

A) The findings of this study are generalizable to foster youth across the United States.
B) Because the sample is limited to a specific group in one state, it should not be generalized beyond the sample.
C) Font and team's findings can be practically useful to people working in the child welfare system despite not being generalizable.
D) Some of the concepts examined in the study could be applicable outside of the Wisconsin.

Question 34

What is the typical second step of the quantitative research process?

A) Assessing existing theory
B) Forming a hypothesis
C) Selecting a research design
D) Devise measures of concepts

Question 35

Legewie and Fagan's study was influenced by a theory which suggested that neighborhoods with more dilapidated buildings, graffiti, and loitering experienced more crime, known as

A) Social disorder theory
B) Conflict theory
C) Broken windows theory
D) None of these

Question 36

Which of the following best describes Legewie and Fagan's research design?

A) Survey research
B) Content analysis
C) Systematic observation
D) Analysis of existing data

Question 37

How did Legewie and Fagan measure educational performance?

A) Students' overall Grade Point Average
B) None of these
C) Test scores from the New York State Mathematics test
D) Test scores from the New York State English Language Arts and Mathematics Test.

Question 38

People, institutions, or events can all be ___________ in the research process.

A) Variables
B) Elements
C) Units
D) Measures

Question 39

Which of the following best describes the scale that Legewie and Fagan used to measure students' level of Operation Impact during a school year?

A) Scale ranged from 0 (exposed for the whole school year) to 1 (not exposed to Operation Impact).
B) Scale ranged from 0 (not exposed to Operation Impact) to 10 (exposed for the whole school year.)
C) c. Scale ranged from 0 (not exposed to Operation Impact) to 1 (exposed for the whole school year.)
D) d. Scale ranged from 0 (exposed for the whole school year) to 10 (not exposed to Operation Impact).

Question 40

What is the final step in quantitative research?

A) Reaching findings/conclusions
B) Analyze data
C) None of these.
D) Write up findings/conclusions

Question 41

Which of the following is not a conclusion from Legewie and Fagan's study?

A) Children's race, gender, and age were important factors in understanding how living in an Operation Impact zone impacted academic performance.
B) Aggressive policing can contribute to social inequality.
C) Race was not an important factor in how aggressive policing impacted educational performance and future success.
D) Living in an Operation Impact zone impacted students' academic performance.

Question 42

Rahman and Witenstein's research was shaped by which theory?

A) Conflict theory
B) Broken windows theory
C) Rational choice theory
D) Cultural values conflict theory

Question 43

Why were Rahman and Witenstein unable to do complete more in-depth statistical analysis?

A) Because there were no difference based on gender and economic background on academic performance, no further analysis was necessary.
B) The researchers' findings were consistent with what other research had found.
C) The researchers were able to do an in-depth statistical analysis in their exploratory study.
D) Because the sample size was small, further analysis was not possible.

Question 44

An approach to research that consists of observation, measurement, and the formulation, testing, and revising of hypotheses is known as

A) Scientific method
B) Quantitative analysis
C) Statistical analysis
D) Objectivity

Question 45

Which of the following best explains Zuberi's point of view about race and statistics?

A) Most social scientists who use statistics about race are racist themselves.
B) The historical development of statistics impacts current statistical measures.
C) Despite the historical connections to eugenics, racial statistics today are not problematic.
D) None of these

Question 46

Which of the following is not a challenge that quantitative researchers face when developing useful measures?

A) All of these are challenges
B) People may interpret key terms in different ways
C) People may not have knowledge needed to answer the questions accurately
D) Questions may not measure people's behavior well.

Question 47

LaPiere's study demonstrated that ______________________.

A) Hotels and restaurants always refused service to Chinese guests.
B) Hotels but not restaurants refused service to Chines guests.
C) Both survey research and observational research demonstrated that hotels and restaurants were likely to refuse service to Chines guests.
D) While a high percentage of hotels and restaurants indicated they would refuse Chinese guests in a survey, almost all of them accepted Chinese guests.

Question 48

Which of the following is a strategy that quantitative researchers use to understand the complexity of social life?

A) Studying multiple concepts by analyzing them together and separately.
B) Considering the impact of confounding variables.
C) All of these
D) Controlling for variables

Question 49

Which of the following is not a reason that race must be measured in various ways, according to Horton and Sykes?

A) Racism exists on micro and macro levels.
B) Race varies across social contexts.
C) Race changes over time.
D) Racial identity is based on individual preference.

Question 50

Which of the following is not a difference between qualitative and quantitative methods?

A) Qualitative research focuses on behavior and quantitative focuses on meaning.
B) Qualitative research focuses on meaning and quantitative focuses on behavior.
C) Quantitative research has a rigid structure and qualitative research has a flexible structure.
D) Qualitative research focuses on developing a contextual understanding whereas quantitative research focuses on developing generalizable knowledge.

Question 51

Quantitative studies understand the meaning of social life by quantifying patterns and frequencies.

Question 52

Quantitative researchers approach research in an open-ended, iterative way.

Question 53

A feature of quantitative research is that it is associated with objectivity.

Question 54

Content analysis is the most common forms of quantitative data collection.

Question 55

Positivism is the practice of developing conclusions based on careful observation of the social world.

Question 56

Comte argued that sociology should focus on understanding individuals in order to understand broader social patterns.

Question 57

Comte's approach to sociology only applies to quantitative methodologies.

Question 58

Wodtke (2018) was not able to establish a causal relationship between education and racial attitudes.

Question 59

Experimental research designs are more effective in determining the direction of causal influence than survey research.

Question 60

Sutton and Rafaeli (1992) found that when retail workers were friendlier, their sales were better.

Question 61

Brown and colleagues measured the #SayHerName campaign on Twitter by including all Tweets about Sandra Bland.

Question 62

Font and her team (2018) claimed that their results about youth in the Wisconsin foster care system could be generalized to populations outside of the state.

Question 63

Gathering a representative sample is required for the researcher to have confidence that the outcomes apply to people outside of their sample.

Question 64

The first step in quantitative research is reviewing existing theory

Question 65

Legewie and Fagan (2019) measured the variable educational performance by using scores from the New York State English Language Arts and Mathematics Test.

Question 66

Because of the small sample size, Rahman and Witenstein were not able to draw conclusions about the impact of bicultural conflict on South Asian American youth.

Question 67

It is not possible to study multidimensional aspects of social life using quantitative methodology.

Question 68

Because quantitative researchers follow the principles of the scientific method when designing and executing their research, objectivity is guaranteed.

Question 69

Zuberi and Bonilla-Silva argue that the social context and the positionality of the researchers influences how researchers study race.

Question 70

According to Weinstein, statistics should be seen as a tool for understanding the social world and it is up to the researcher to ensure that they are using this tool appropriately.

Question 71

Most of the time, researchers can assume that respondents will understand concepts, like race and class, in the same way.

Question 72

Zuberi argues that though statistical social science has a problematic history, today it is largely not impacted by the past.

Question 73

LaPiere's 1934 study of hotels and restaurants showed that what is reported and what can be observed are not always the same.

Question 74

To avoid confusion, it is always better to measure a concept in one clear way rather than using multiple measures.

Question 75

Despite their differences, both quantitative and qualitative research make valued contributions to our understanding of the social world.

Question 76

What are some distinguishing features of quantitative research?

Question 77

What are some of the methods that quantitative researchers use to collect data? How are they similar and different?

Question 78

What role did quantitative research play in the early development of social science?

Question 79

Explain Comte's four main principles in your own words.

Question 80

Outline the main goals of quantitative researchers.