Deck 3: The Aims of Community Research

Question 1

Research involving shared decision making by researchers and community members has been termed:

A)collaborative research.
B)participatory action research.
C)participatory community research.
D)all of the above

Answer 1

all of the above

Question 2

When applied to community research,terms such as "collaborative" and "participatory" have:

A)simple,agreed-upon meanings.
B)many meanings that can be very different.
C)been unsuccessful in guiding innovative research.
D)been applied in highly similar ways in different cultures.

Answer 2

many meanings that can be very different.

Question 3

The philosophy of science that most emphasizes how power relationships and belief systems influence both community life and research methods and findings.

A)positivist
B)postpositivist
C)constructivist
D)critical

Answer 3

critical

Question 4

A viewpoint of Chapter 3 is that ____ can enhance its validity and value.

A)having researchers solely control research
B)sharing control of research with citizens
C)giving sole control of research to citizens
D)restricting research to the laboratory

Question 5

You are a researcher studying how reduce teenage pregnancy rates.You plan to define the problem in operational terms,objectively measure and test causes and effects,and develop programs (based on your results)to reduce this problem.What is a disadvantage of this approach to this problem?

A)there will be sharp values differences in how to define,study and reduce the problem
B)empirical research on such a controversial issue is impossible
C)no one will be interested in your findings
D)a positivist approach is needed

Question 6

Taking a stand in community research assumes that social problems:

A)can be defined in an objective,value-free way.
B)are controversial and have at least two sides.
C)are impossible to study empirically.
D)all of the above

Question 7

A group of community members who help researchers decide how to conduct a research project,perhaps controlling some of those decisions,is termed:

A)a research protocol
B)an institutional review board
C)a community research panel
D)psychopolitical validity

Question 8

Sullivan and associates evaluated the effectiveness of an advocacy program for women with abusive partners.This study is an example of:

A)positivist,value-free research
B)use of experimental methods in a community study
C)"taking a stand" based on a feminist viewpoint
D)both 'b' and 'c'

Question 9

The philosophy of science that most emphasizes deeper understanding of a particular sample of persons;knowledge constructed through a relationship between researcher and participants in research,and understanding the perspective of those participants.

A)positivist
B)postpositivist
C)constructivist
D)critical

Question 10

The philosophy of science that emphasizes value-free objectivity,measurement,and testing of hypotheses regarding cause and effect to understand generalizable laws or principles.

A)contextualist
B)positivist
C)constructivist
D)critical

Question 11

Research that "takes a stand" on a controversial social issue:

A)cannot be scientific or scholarly.
B)involves explicitly stating premises and values.
C)often attends to views not widely heard or considered.
D)both 'b' and 'c'

Question 12

Psychopolitical validity concerns whether a research project has:

A)taken macrosystem social injustices into account.
B)strengthened the power of the community to make its own decisions.
C)increased community understanding of social injustice.
D)all of the above

Question 13

"Attending to unheard voices" on a social issue refers to:

A)searching for perspectives not publicized or heard.
B)searching for the views of the less powerful.
C)challenging the conventional viewpoint on an issue.
D)all of the above

Question 14

In Chapter 3,the four questions for community researchers concern which issues below?

A)the culture of the community being studied
B)citizen participation in research planning
C)controlling for extraneous variables
D)both 'a' and 'b'

Question 15

Studying the everyday life experiences of persons with serious mental illness,rather than comparing effects of professional treatments for their disorders,is an example of:

A)positivist community research.
B)changing levels of analysis.
C)attending to unheard voices.
D)all of the above

Question 16

A workshop for community members to discuss research findings and to apply them,an interview on the research findings for a local radio station,or developing skits for local audiences to illustrate the findings,are examples of:

A)ways to "culturally anchor" research
B)useful products of collaborative-participatory research
C)skills often taught in psychology training programs
D)collaborative,but not participatory,research methods

Question 17

In Chapter 3,the four questions for community researchers concern which issues below?

A)making your values and assumptions clear
B)citizen participation in research planning
C)cultural and social contexts of the community studied
D)all of the above

Question 18

A drawback of a community research panel is:

A)it requires community members to learn new roles.
B)it requires researchers to learn new roles.
C)it is time-consuming.
D)all of the above

Question 19

Some decisions that may be shared with citizens in participatory community research include:

A)whether to use a control group
B)design of questionnaires or other measures
C)how findings will be reported
D)all of the above

Question 20

A community research panel can enable:

A)better understanding of a community's culture.
B)community participation in planning of research.
C)research products that benefit the community.
D)all of the above

Question 21

In community research,how can sharing control with community members enhance knowledge gained? Contrast this view of control with control as exercised in the laboratory experiment.

Question 22

[See suggested Exercise 1 in this manual.] Describe a controversial issue in your community or society.Discuss these questions about it:
(A)What are the opposing sides on this issue?
(B)What persons,communities or voices are unheard or discounted?
(C)How might community psychology research help in understanding those voices?
(D)How might you begin developing a relationship with those persons or communities?
(E)What groups or organizations should be involved in a community research panel for this research? Why?
(F)What other roles might community stakeholders play as partners in conducting research?

Question 23

A community research project that takes macrosystem social injustices into account,increased community understanding of social injustice,and strengthened the power of the community to make its own decisions,has strong ____ .

A)internal validity
B)between-group methodology
C)psychopolitical validity
D)methodological equivalence

Question 24

Describe how one of the following studies in Chapter 3 used techniques of participatory and culturally-anchored research:
(A)Fine and colleagues study of college education for women in prison
(B)McMahon and Watts's study of ethnic identity among African-American youth;
(C)the Harper et al.study of Project VIDA;
(D)the Mohatt et al.study of Alaska Native sobriety;or
(E)the Akwesasne study (Santiago et al. ).
Give specific examples to support your points.

Question 25

Imagine you have received a grant to study a community or population that is very different from the dominant culture in your society (choose a specific community or population).Imagine that members of this community assert that they have been misunderstood and demeaned by prior researchers from your university.Based on the concepts in the chapter,describe how you would plan to establish a relationship with the community,conduct the research,and include the community in making specific research decisions.

Question 26

Imagine that you wanted to develop a study that examined the impacts of a neighborhood on the lives of senior adults in the neighborhood.How could you draw on measures developed out of postpositivist,constructivist,and critical frameworks? Provide examples that illustrate your understanding of each framework.Conclude with a statement about the research questions and strategies you would prefer to use in your study,and with which of the three frameworks your preferences are most closely aligned.

Question 27

Thinking of members of a cultural group as very psychologically similar,and categorizing them in general terms,is the assumption of ____ .

A)methodological equivalence
B)within-group methodology
C)population homogeneity
D)population equivalence

Question 28

Between-group designs focus on:

A)similarities within a cultural group.
B)differences between subgroups within a cultural group.
C)comparisons of two or more cultural groups.
D)both 'a' and 'b'

Question 29

A research team wishes to study depression in Japan.They translate a questionnaire developed in the U.S.from English into Japanese,and believe that step is enough to study the concept of depression in a non-western culture.This illustrates the assumption of ____.

A)methodological equivalence
B)within-group methodology
C)population equivalence
D)population homogeneity

Question 30

Within-group designs focus on:

A)one culture,studied on its own terms.
B)comparison of two cultures.
C)comparison of three or more cultures.
D)both "b" and "c"

Question 31

In Felton and Berry's study of social support in a senior citizen,participants often mentioned the importance of support from groups (e.g. ,"my grandchildren","people at my senior center"),not just individuals.This finding is an example of the importance of:

A)ecological levels of analysis.
B)attending to unexpected,unheard voices.
C)cultural anchoring.
D)both 'a' and 'b'.

Question 32

Describe the principal methods and steps of participatory or collaborative research,giving specific examples to support your points.

Question 33

In Wright and Kloos' study of supported housing environments for persons with serious mental illness,findings showed that neighborhood characteristics were just as important to the residents as the quality of individual apartments.This illustrates the importance of

A)considering levels of analysis
B)attending to historical factors
C)assuming methodological equivalence
D)using between-group methodologies

Question 34

Describe the four methodological issues regarding cultural and social contexts of community research,giving specific examples to support your points.

Question 35

Define four community psychology values from Chapter 1,and give examples of these are applied in the methods of participatory or culturally anchored research in Chapter 3.

Question 36

Which of the following is a study that compares Korean American and Mexican American school children?

A)within-group design
B)between-group design
C)"taking sides" approach
D)participatory approach

Question 37

Shall a study of neighborhood citizen participation focus on individual variables that predict individual participation,or on the functioning of a neighborhood association as an organization,or on the effects of the organization on the whole neighborhood? This question concerns:

A)ecological levels of analysis.
B)cultural anchoring.
C)participatory-collaborative approaches.
D)attending to unheard voices.

Question 38

One metaphor used in Chapter 3 for the researcher-community relationship is "guest-host." How have researchers acted as poor guests in communities that have hosted them? What can community researchers do to address this problem?

Question 39

Which of the following is a drawback of a between-group design?

A)it provides information only on one culture
B)it is difficult to portray strengths of both groups
C)it has the same drawbacks as participatory research
D)all of the above