Deck 1: Doing Social Research

Question 1

What is the scientific community and who belongs to it?

Answer 1

-The scientific community is a collection of people who share a system of rules and attitudes that sustain the process of producing scientific knowledge.
-It is a professional community that includes individuals from both the natural and social sciences.
-It includes a range of practitioners,technicians,and researchers.Researchers at universities form the core of the community; however,some researchers work for government or for private industry as well.

Question 2

Describe the following types of errors: premature closure,overgeneralization,and selective observation.

Answer 2

-These are all errors of personal experience.
-Premature closure-error that is made when a person feels she or he has the answers and does not need to listen,seek information,or raise questions any longer.
-Overgeneralization-error that is made when some evidence supports a belief,but a person falsely assumes that it applies to many other situations as well.
-Selective observation-error that is made when a person takes notice of certain people or events based on past experience or attitudes.

Question 3

__________ is a special case of authority,which is derived from the way things have been.

A) Tradition
B) History
C) Common sense
D) Personal experience
E) Selective observation

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Explanatory research is

A) research in which a researcher seeks to test theories and addresses the question of why events or patterns occur in social reality.
B) a technique developed by economists in which the positive and negative consequences of something are estimated, given a dollar value, then balanced against one another.
C) evaluation research after the program or policy being evaluated ends.
D) evaluation research throughout the program or policy being evaluated.
E) research into a new area that has not been studied and in which a researcher develops initial ideas and a more focused research question.

Question 5

Below are five of the seven steps of a research project in scrambled order.Of the five listed below,which one is supposed to be third in the sequence?

A) Interpret findings
B) Collect data
C) Design study
D) Focus project.
E) Analyze the data

Question 6

How does a panel study differ from a time-series study?

Question 7

Give an example of a cohort study,describing what features of it make it a cohort study.

Question 8

Leslie,a government employee,is put in charge of a project to build a park in her hometown.In order to gain approval to begin construction,Leslie must convince her superiors that the proposed park will bring about positive changes in the community and identify and suggest ways to mitigate adverse consequences stemming from the project.Which sort of study would Leslie find useful?

A) A social impact assessment study
B) An evaluation research study
C) A time-series study
D) A cohort study
E) An action-oriented research study

Question 9

The majority of the scientific community's core members are employed in

A) private industry.
B) think-tanks.
C) universities.
D) the public sector.
E) not-for-profit organizations.

Question 10

Briefly describe each of the steps involved in conducting a research project.Discuss how "fixed" the steps are and the implications of this for a person undertaking research.

Question 11

Explain how you would distinguish a qualitative from a quantitative social research study,and give examples of each.

Question 12

What is Social Impact Assessment (SIA)? How does it work?

Question 13

What is the difference between academic and applied social research?

Question 14

What is the purpose of academic social research?

A) It solves social problems and finds which policies are best.
B) It improves social programs so they become more effective.
C) It invents new taxonomies and jargon.
D) It creates fundamental knowledge about how the social world works.
E) It predicts what future society will be like.

Question 15

What is social research? What are some alternative sources of knowledge? What distinguishes social research from these alternatives?

Question 16

Roger works at a retirement home and is very familiar with its residents,all of whom are 65 years of age or older.Roger observes that residents between 65 and 74 years of age are the unhappiest,residents between 75 and 84 years of age are moderately happy,and residents between 85 and 100 years of age are the happiest.Rogers concludes that people,in general,grow happier as they age.The error Roger committed is called

A) the error of overgeneralization.
B) the error of selective observation.
C) the error of illogical reasoning.
D) the error of inaccurate observation.
E) Roger did not make any errors.

Question 17

Describe the differences between exploratory,descriptive,and explanatory research.

Question 18

Don,having heard worrisome news reports about chicken farming,wonders if he should stop feeding chicken to his children.Don solicits the advice of his friend Kent,who is a nutritionist,and Kent advises Don to continue feeding his children chicken.Don follows Kent's recommendation.On what basis did Don make his decision to include chicken in his childrens' diet?

A) Authority
B) Tradition
C) Media myth
D) Personal observation
E) Objective authorization

Question 19

A tendency to assume that a person or source with a strong reputation or in a high-status position is automatically correct,instead of carefully evaluating the quality of information offered,is called

A) selective observation.
B) skepticism.
C) the halo effect.
D) premature closure.
E) the scientific method.

Question 20

Which best summarizes the main goal of descriptive research?

A) Advance knowledge about an underlying process or complete a theory
B) Develop techniques and a sense of direction for future research
C) Give a verbal or numerical (e.g., percentages) picture
D) Extend a theory or principle into new areas or issues
E) Provide evidence to support or refute an explanation

Question 21

applied social research

Question 22

Which of the following techniques is used by both qualitative and quantitative researchers?

A) Content analysis
B) Existing statistics
C) Field research
D) Focus groups
E) Historical comparative research

Question 23

After it was all over,Susan Smith surveyed the 150 residents of her neighbourhood about their reactions to a three-week experimental trash-collection program.In the program,residents separated cans,paper,glass,and plastic for recycling.She also examined the percentage of trash in the neighbourhood that was properly sorted at the end of the three-week period.Her results were used to prepare a report for the municipal trash-collection department.Susan's study is an example of

A) basic research.
B) evaluation research.
C) exploratory research.
D) qualitative research.
E) cohort analysis.

Question 24

cohort study

Question 25

All of the following characterize applied research,EXCEPT which one?

A) Doing research is usually part of a job assignment and sponsors/supervisors who are not professional researchers will judge/use the results.
B) Success is based on whether sponsors/supervisors use the results in decision-making.
C) The primary concern is with the internal logic and rigour of the research design, so a research study attempts to reach the absolute norms of scientific rigour and scholarship.
D) The driving goal is to produce practical payoffs or uses of the results.
E) Research problems one can explore are limited by the demands and interests of employers or sponsors.

Question 26

Existing statistics research

A) is the examination of numerical information from government documents or official reports.
B) is most frequently used for descriptive research.
C) is done by asking people questions using a written questionnaire.
D) allows a researcher to discover features in the content of large amounts of material that might otherwise go unnoticed.
E) may be time consuming if the researcher does not carefully consider the meaning of what he or she finds.

Question 27

case study

Question 28

All of the following statements apply to surveys,EXCEPT which one?

A) Researchers ask all respondents the same questions.
B) Surveys are primarily associated with quantitative research.
C) Researchers systematically manipulate situations and conditions.
D) Researchers use surveys in descriptive or explanatory research.
E) Researchers can generalize results from surveys to larger groups.

Question 29

A type of data-collection technique that most closely follows the logic and principles of natural science,in which researchers create situations and examine their effects on participants,is called

A) content analysis.
B) experimental research.
C) survey research.
D) field research.
E) historical comparative research.

Question 30

Katherine Keene,a hospital administrator,heard a lot about gay men getting HIV and AIDS.She watched the male patients at her hospital admitted for AIDS.She thought they all looked like homosexuals as did almost all their male visitors.In reality,at this hospital,60 percent of the HIV-positive male patients were heterosexual and 80 percent of their visitors were neighbours,co-workers,or immediate family members.She most clearly made which type of error?

A) Selective observation
B) Premature closure
C) Overgeneralization
D) Inattention
E) None, she made no error.

Question 31

All of the following characterize academic research,EXCEPT which one?

A) The main concern is with the internal logic and rigour of research design.
B) The objective is to contribute to policy and/or program change.
C) Success comes when results appear in a scholarly journal.
D) Research problems and participants are selected with a great deal of freedom.
E) The highest standards of scholarship are sought.

Question 32

All of the following characterize exploratory research,EXCEPT which one?

A) Exploratory research has few guidelines to follow.
B) Exploratory research illuminates understudied areas.
C) Exploratory research rarely yields definitive answers.
D) Exploratory research tends to be qualitative.
E) Exploratory research documents causes, tests theories, and provides reasons.

Question 33

action research study

Question 34

academic social research

Question 35

There are various ways in which acquiring knowledge might address the topic of climate change.The statement "David Suzuki says that climate change is one of the most serious environmental threats facing the world today" is an example of what source of knowledge?

A) Personal experience
B) Media myth
C) Tradition
D) Authority
E) Common Sense

Question 36

In 2010,Professor Dennis Wrong decided to conduct a study of 1000 persons who were married in 1946 to 1948 and were still married.He believed that the social climate,returning veterans,and other changes around the end of World War II affected the decision to marry and what occurred in their first year of marriage.Most likely,Dennis was conducting which type of study?

A) Case study
B) Panel
C) Cohort
D) Time-series
E) Cross-sectional

Question 37

Which of the following are the two major approaches or orientations to social research methods?

A) Micro and macro
B) Qualitative and quantitative
C) Explanatory and exploratory
D) Applied and academic
E) Cross-sectional and longitudinal

Question 38

Joe Foss studied gender differences in attitudes toward mathematics and science among 45 Grade 1 students.Over the next 12 years,he studied the same 45 children when they were in Grades 5,8,and 12.This is which type of research?

A) Case study research
B) Cross-sectional research
C) Time-series research
D) Panel study research
E) Action-oriented research

Question 39

Sara finds religiosity fascinating-all aspects of all religions-and wants to study them.However,in sitting down to design a study,Sara finds herself overwhelmed by the magnitude of her subject.What step should Sara take before attempting to design her study?

A) Collect preliminary data
B) Reflect on her faith
C) Focus research question
D) Inform others
E) None of the above

Question 40

Which of the following statements is NOT true of tradition as an alternative source of knowledge?

A) It is a special case of authority.
B) It may begin as simple prejudice.
C) It means that you believe something to be true because "it's the way things have always been."
D) It can become distorted as it is passed on, to the point where it is no longer true.
E) It is the same as common sense.

Question 41

halo effect

Question 42

panel study

Question 43

longitudinal research

Question 44

quantitative data

Question 45

data

Question 46

scientific community

Question 47

historical research

Question 48

premature closure

Question 49

explanatory research

Question 50

empirical evidence

Question 51

overgeneralization

Question 52

experimental research

Question 53

cross-sectional research

Question 54

field research

Question 55

existing statistics research

Question 56

descriptive research

Question 57

qualitative data

Question 58

exploratory research

Question 59

selective observation

Question 60

evaluation research study

Question 61

survey research

Question 62

social impact assessment study

Question 63

time-series study

Question 64

social research

Question 65

scientific method