Deck 2: Sociological Investigation

Question 1

When two variables are statistically related,a cause-and-effect relationship always exists.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The mean is always a better statistical measure than the mode or the median.

Answer 2

False

Question 3

Scientific sociologists make use of what Max Weber called "verstehen" in order to make sense of their surroundings.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

A variable that is changed by another variable is called the "independent variable."

Question 5

Science is a logical system that is based on intuition and insight.

Question 6

Interpretive sociology focuses less on action itself and more on the meaning people attach to their actions.

Question 7

The sociologist recognizes that there are various kinds of "truth."

Question 8

Sociologists always achieve complete personal objectivity in their work.

Question 9

Natural scientists often have an easier time than social scientists when identifying cause-and-effect relationships.

Question 10

A positivist approach assumes that an objective reality exists "out there."

Question 11

A variable that causes change in another variable is called the "dependent variable."

Question 12

Reliability refers to the quality of consistency in measurement.

Question 13

Max Weber urged sociologists to strive toward the goal of being value-free.

Question 14

The logic and methodology of science guarantee that sociological research will result in objective,absolute truth.

Question 15

Replication is one way to assess the accuracy of existing research.

Question 16

Empirical evidence is what people in a society agree is true.

Question 17

Empirical evidence refers to what we can verify with our senses.

Question 18

Validity refers to actually measuring what you want to measure.

Question 19

A false correlation between two variables caused by a third variable is described as a "spurious" correlation.

Question 20

Two simple requirements that underlie the process of sociological investigation are

Question 21

Participant observation research is usually explanatory,which means that it identifies cause and effect relationships.

Question 22

A survey is a research method in which subjects respond to a series of statements or questions.

Question 23

Critical sociology studies society and tries to bring about social change.

Question 24

Interpretive sociology considers subjective feelings to be a source of bias.

Question 25

A closed-ended questionnaire format generally makes it easier to analyze research data compared to an open-ended questionnaire format.

Question 26

The very act of observing people may affect their behavior.

Question 27

Lois Benjamin's research on the life experiences of high-achieving African Americans suggests that

A)race has little to do with the life experiences of successful people.
B)racism remains a burden even among privileged African Americans.
C)race is now more of a barrier to African Americans than ever before in U.S.history.
D)racism mainly affects lower-class African Americans.

Question 28

Conducting interviews with 100 college students in a course would take no more time than having them all complete a questionnaire when they come to class.

Question 29

A random sample is likely to represent the population from which it is drawn.

Question 30

To identify cause-and-effect relationships,it is usually necessary to exercise experimental control of variables.

Question 31

Sociological research can never be harmful to subjects.

Question 32

"Statistical evidence" may or may not be the same as truth.

Question 33

Gender blindness is the problem of failing to consider the importance of gender in sociological research.

Question 34

Karl Marx founded the critical orientation in sociology.

Question 35

Participant observation is a research method by which researchers stand back from a setting,watch from a distance,and then carefully record the behavior of others.

Question 36

Carrying out research on Hispanic people,Asian people,or people of any distinctive ethnicity or category demands that researchers be sensitive to how subjects will interpret a researcher's words and actions.

Question 37

Baltzell found that a surprisingly large number of high-achieving people in our country's history came from the Boston area.

Question 38

The use of existing data and documents makes most historical research possible.

Question 39

Inductive logical thought turns theory into testable hypotheses.

Question 40

Just walking up to people on the street is a convenient and correct way to generate a random sample.

Question 41

The sociological perspective reveals that

A)"common sense" is usually pretty close to the truth.
B)much of what passes for "common sense" in the United States turns out to be at least partly wrong.
C)most people in the United States readily see how society shapes our lives.
D)"common sense" is not very popular in the United States.

Question 42

What process involves deciding exactly what is to be measured when assigning value to a variable?

A)operationalizing
B)reliability
C)conceptualizing
D)validity

Question 43

Science can be defined as a

A)logical system that bases knowledge on direct,systematic observation.
B)belief based on faith in ultimate truth.
C)belief based on a society's traditions.
D)logical system that bases truth on political goals.

Question 44

It is difficult to establish all the cause-and-effect relationships in a social situation because

A)most patterns of behavior have a single cause.
B)most patterns of behavior are random and have no cause at all.
C)most patterns of behavior are caused by many factors.
D)sociologists are not able to reach conclusions about cause and effect.

Question 45

An apparent,although false,association between two variables that is caused by a third variable is called

A)a spurious correlation.
B)an unproven correlation.
C)an unreliable correlation.
D)an invalid correlation.

Question 46

Examine the following series of numbers: 1,2,3,4,10.What is the median value?

A)1
B)2
C)3
D)4

Question 47

Two variables are said to display correlation if

A)they are caused by the same factor.
B)one occurs before the other.
C)both measure the same thing.
D)they vary together.

Question 48

A theory states that increasing a person's formal higher education results in increased earnings over the individual's lifetime.In this theory,"higher education" is the

A)independent variable.
B)dependent variable.
C)correlation.
D)effect.

Question 49

With regard to the process of measurement,

A)for measurement to be reliable,it must be valid.
B)for measurement to be valid,it must be reliable.
C)all measurement is both reliable and valid.
D)measurement cannot be both reliable and valid.

Question 50

Sociologists use the term "empirical evidence" to refer to

A)information that is based on a society's traditions.
B)information that squares with common sense.
C)information we can verify with our senses.
D)information that most people agree is true.

Question 51

If you were trying to measure the "social class" of various people,you would have to keep in mind that

A)it is necessary to specify exactly what you are measuring.
B)you must measure "social class" in every way possible.
C)there is no way to measure "social class."
D)everyone agrees on what "social class" means.

Question 52

______ refers to measuring exactly what one intends to measure.

A)congruence
B)validity
C)repeatability
D)reliability

Question 53

Imagine that you were going to measure the age of a number of respondents taking part in a survey.As you record the data,you are using the concept "age" as

A)a theory.
B)a hypothesis.
C)a variable.
D)an axiom.

Question 54

What term refers to the arithmetic average of a series of numbers?

A)the mean
B)the mode
C)the median
D)the correlation

Question 55

"A mental construct that represents some aspect of the world in a somewhat simplified form" is the definition of a

A)variable.
B)theory.
C)measurement.
D)concept.

Question 56

In a cause-and-effect relationship

A)both variables must be shown to be independent.
B)the independent variable must come before the dependent variable in time.
C)the two variables must never display correlation.
D)there must be evidence that the correlation is spurious.

Question 57

The ability to neutralize the effect of one variable in order to assess the relationship between two other variables is called

A)making the correlation spurious.
B)making the correlation reliable.
C)control.
D)causing the correlation.

Question 58

In the process of measurement,reliability refers to

A)whether you are really measuring what you want to measure.
B)how dependable the researcher is.
C)whether or not everyone agrees with the study's results.
D)whether repeating the measurement yields consistent results.

Question 59

What is the term for the value that occurs most often in a series of numbers?

A)the mean
B)the mode
C)the median
D)the standard deviation

Question 60

What term refers to the value that occurs midway in a series of numbers

A)the mean
B)the mode
C)the median
D)the correlation

Question 61

Sociologists cannot precisely predict any person's behavior because

A)human behavior is highly complex and has many causes.
B)the discipline of sociology is too new.
C)there are too many competing sociological approaches.
D)sociology is not scientific.

Question 62

Scientific sociology

A)focuses on the meaning people attach to behavior.
B)seeks to bring about desirable social change.
C)favors qualitative data.
D)favors quantitative data.

Question 63

Scientific methodology is most closely linked to

A)structural-functional theory.
B)social-conflict theory.
C)symbolic-interaction theory.
D)gender-conflict theory.

Question 64

The ideal of objectivity means that a researcher must

A)not personally care about the topic being studied.
B)try to adopt a stance of personal neutrality toward the outcome of the research.
C)study issues that have no value to society as a whole.
D)carry out research that will encourage desirable social change.

Question 65

Which German word meaning "understanding" was used by Max Weber to describe his approach to sociological research?

A)Gemeinschaft
B)Gesellschaft
C)Verstehen
D)Verboten

Question 66

Critical sociology can best be described as a

A)activist
B)scientific
C)qualitative
D)value-free

Question 67

Imagine that you are repeating research done by someone else in order to assess the accuracy.You are doing which of the following?

A)replication
B)objectification
C)reliability
D)scientific control

Question 68

You are doing research and you never stop to think about the possible importance of gender.Your work could be criticized for the problem called

A)androcentricity.
B)overgeneralization.
C)gender blindness.
D)employing double standards.

Question 69

What term refers to any change in a subject's behavior that is caused by the awareness of being studied?

A)invalid response
B)unreliable response
C)the Stanford effect
D)the Hawthorne effect

Question 70

If you were to conduct sociological research that closely follows the logic of science,which research method would you most likely use?

A)interviews
B)the experiment
C)questionnaires
D)participant observation

Question 71

If you read a study that draws conclusions about all of humanity based on research using only males as subjects,you would correctly point to the problem called

A)androcentricity.
B)overgeneralization.
C)gender blindness.
D)using double standards.

Question 72

Three researchers wish to test the effects of playing soft music during an exam on the test performance of their sociology students.They conduct an experiment in which one test-taking class hears music and another does not.In experimental terms,the class hearing the music is called

A)the placebo.
B)the control group.
C)the experimental group.
D)the dependent variable.

Question 73

In making judgments about how society should be improved,the ________ approach in sociology rejects Max Weber's goal that researchers should be value-free.

A)interpretive
B)critical
C)scientific
D)positivist

Question 74

Interpretive sociology refers to sociology that

A)focuses on action.
B)sees an objective reality "out there."
C)focuses on the meaning people attach to behavior.
D)seeks to bring about change.

Question 75

Regarding ethical research guidelines,the American Sociological Association states that researchers

A)must always perform their research several times in order to ensure its accuracy.
B)need not disclose their sources of funding for the research.
C)must protect the privacy of subjects taking part in a research project.
D)are not responsible for the safety of subjects taking part in a research project.

Question 76

Critical sociology

A)focuses on the meaning people attach to behavior.
B)seeks to bring about desirable social change.
C)endorses the principle of being value-free.
D)is based on Weber's principle of verstehen.

Question 77

If you have been criticized for "androcentricity" in your research,you are being criticized for

A)overgeneralizing your results.
B)ignoring gender entirely.
C)doing the research from a male perspective.
D)using double standards in your research.

Question 78

The sociologist who called on his colleagues to be "value-free" in the conduct of their research was

A)Karl Marx.
B)Emile Durkheim.
C)Herbert Spencer.
D)Max Weber.

Question 79

"A statement of a possible relationship between two or more variables" is the definition of which concept?

A)theory
B)correlation
C)spurious correlation
D)hypothesis

Question 80

Qualitative research has special appeal to investigators who favor

A)the structural-functional approach.
B)the symbolic-interaction approach.
C)the social-conflict approach.
D)the social-exchange approach.