Question 1

Ethical issues are distinguished from political issues in research in that:

Accepted Answer

Ethical issues in research are governed by formal codes of conduct, such as those established by academic institutions and professional organizations, which outline acceptable behavior and practices. Political issues, on the other hand, often involve the power dynamics, funding, and implications of research but do not have universally accepted formal codes of conduct in the same way ethical issues do.

Question 2

The norm of voluntary participation threatens the social research goal of generalizability.

Accepted Answer

The norm of voluntary participation means that individuals participate in research voluntarily, which may lead to a non-representative sample and threaten the generalizability of the findings.

Question 3

The process of debriefing,in the context of research,serves to:

Accepted Answer

Debriefing involves interviewing subjects and discussing any deception or misleading information that may have been presented during the study. It serves to ensure that participants are fully informed and not harmed by their participation in the research. A is informed consent, B is monitoring emotional state, C is anonymizing data, and E is unethical behavior.

Question 4

Ethical obligations to one's colleagues in the scientific community:

Accepted Answer

Ethical obligations to one's colleagues in the scientific community require that technical shortcomings and failures of the study be revealed. This ensures transparency and credibility in the scientific community, and helps prevent others from making the same mistakes in their research. Ignoring negative findings or reporting only positive discoveries is unethical and can lead to false or incomplete conclusions. Describing findings as the product of a carefully preplanned analytical strategy is also important, but it should not come at the expense of reporting all findings, both positive and negative.

Question 5

Which of the following does NOT harm subjects?

Accepted Answer

Asking subjects to provide demographic information is generally considered harmless and is a common practice in research to gather background information without causing distress or harm to the participants.

Question 6

Ethics in social research:

Accepted Answer

Ethics in social research is a complex and multifaceted concept that involves general agreements shared by researchers as to what is proper and improper in the conduct of scientific inquiry. These agreements may stem from various sources, such as religious, political, and pragmatic among others. Moreover, it is worth noting that ethics may vary from one social research community to another and from one point in time to another. Therefore, all the given choices are correct.

Question 7

Weber called the lack of intrusion of the researcher's own political position on research:

Accepted Answer

Weber called the lack of intrusion of the researcher's own political position on research "value-free sociology."

Question 8

Once people are told that their participation in a research study is voluntary,there are no ethical problems.

Accepted Answer

Simply telling participants that participation is voluntary does not guarantee ethical behavior. It is important to fully inform participants of the potential risks and benefits of participating in the study and obtain informed consent before beginning the research. Additionally, researchers must protect the confidentiality and privacy of their participants and ensure that the study design and procedures have been thoroughly reviewed and approved by an institutional review board or ethics committee.

Question 9

When names are removed from questionnaires and are replaced with identification numbers so that only the researcher can later link a response to a particular name,the researcher should tell the respondent that the information is:

Accepted Answer

The information is confidential because the researcher can link the response to a particular name, but only the researcher has access to that information. It is not anonymous because the researcher knows who provided the response.

Question 10

The PRIMARY ethical research issue raised by the Milgram study was:

Accepted Answer

The answer of The PRIMARY ethical research issue raised by...

Question 11

Only experimental research and face-to-face interviews are subject to ethical concerns.

Accepted Answer

Both experimental research and face-to-face interviews are subject to ethical concerns, but it is not limited to only these two methods. All research methods, including surveys, field research, and secondary data analysis, may involve ethical considerations such as informed consent, privacy, and potential harm to participants or other stakeholders.

Question 12

Which of the following statements is NOT found in the AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics and Practices?

Accepted Answer

The AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics and Practices does not condone the selection of research tools and methods of analysis that are biased towards a desired conclusion. On the contrary, researchers are expected to use scientifically sound methods to minimize bias and maximize the validity and reliability of their findings. Therefore, statement B is not found in the AAPOR Code of Professional Ethics and Practices.

Question 13

Anonymity and confidentiality are two different names for the same concept.

Accepted Answer

Anonymity refers to keeping the identity of the individual confidential while confidentiality refers to keeping the information provided by the individual confidential. They are related concepts but not the same thing.

Question 14

Which of the following techniques of data collection is MOST likely to make a guarantee of anonymity difficult?

Accepted Answer

Face-to-face interviews involve direct interaction between the researcher and the participant, making it difficult to guarantee anonymity. The participant may feel compelled to provide personal identifying information or may be recognized by the researcher. In contrast, mailed questionnaires and secondary data analysis can be completed anonymously, and unobtrusive measures are designed to avoid direct interaction with the participant altogether.

Question 15

It is often as important to report that two variables are unrelated as to report that they are related.

Accepted Answer

Reporting that two variables are unrelated is important because it can help avoid drawing incorrect conclusions and making false assumptions based on correlations or associations that are not truly present.

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT an essential component of informed consent?

Accepted Answer

The statement that participants cannot quit once they begin participation is not an essential component of informed consent. Participants must be informed that participation is voluntary and they can withdraw from the study at any time without penalty.

Question 17

Social scientists are totally objective in their research

Accepted Answer

Social scientists, like all humans, have their own biases, values, and beliefs. However, they strive to minimize these influences and apply rigorous scientific methods to ensure their research is as objective as possible.

Question 18

IRBs work to insure that the agency doing the research is protected against lawsuits by human subjects.

Accepted Answer

IRBs work to protect the rights and welfare of human subjects involved in research, not necessarily the agency conducting the research. The IRB reviews research protocols to ensure that they comply with ethical principles and federal regulations.

Question 19

Everyone agrees that Tom's research does NOT inflict physical harm on subjects.Tom is pleased by this conclusion because it means that he no longer has to be concerned with the issue of harm to subjects.

Accepted Answer

Even if Tom's research does not inflict physical harm, he must still consider potential psychological, emotional, or social harm to his subjects.

Question 20

Professor Smith decides to track the dating behaviors of college students throughout their college careers.She decides to begin her research using her introductory class.After explaining the study,she assures students that their responses will be kept confidential.The students complete her survey during class.Her research most clearly impinges on:

Accepted Answer

The answer of Professor Smith decides to track the dating...

Quiz 3: The Ethics and Politics of Social Research