Deck 2: A: Sociological Investigation

Question 1

Reliability refers to the quality of consistency in measurement.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

Sociologists always achieve complete personal objectivity in their work

Answer 2

False

Question 3

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

Answer 3

False

Question 4

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

Question 5

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

Question 6

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

Question 7

Validity is the quality of measurement gained by actually measuring what you want to measure.

Question 8

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

Question 9

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

Question 10

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

Question 11

Science is a logical system based on intuition and insight.

Question 12

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

Question 13

Any time two variables are statistically related,a cause-and-effect relationship exists.

Question 14

Correlation is causation.

Question 15

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

Question 16

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

Question 17

Two simple requirements that underlie the process of sociological investigation are (1)looking at the world using the sociological perspective,and (2)becoming curious and asking questions.

Question 18

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

Question 19

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

Question 20

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

Question 21

According to Dorothy Smith,women's lives are not significantly affected by capitalism or patriarchy.

Question 22

Zimbardo's Stanford County Prison research lasted for a little over 6 months.

Question 23

Participant observation is a research method in which researchers stand back,watch,and carefully record the behavior of others.

Question 24

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

Question 25

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

Question 26

Participant observation research is usually explanatory,identifying cause and effect relationships.

Question 27

Causality is always determined mathematically.

Question 28

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

Question 29

The analysis of Karl Marx represents the critical approach in sociology.

Question 30

Conducting interviews takes no more time than completing questionnaires and gives just as good results.

Question 31

Haphazardly selecting people as they walk down the street is a convenient and useful way to generate a random sample.

Question 32

Sociological research can never be harmful to subjects.

Question 33

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

Question 34

The very fact of observing people may affect their behavior.

Question 35

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

Question 36

Inductive logical thought turns theory into testable hypotheses.

Question 37

The use of existing data and documents (secondary analysis)makes most historical research possible.

Question 38

In Zimbardo's Stanford County Prison research,"violence" was the independent variable.

Question 39

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

Question 40

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