Deck 3: Researching the Social World

Question 1

For a long time,scientists claimed that brain size determined intelligence,but this was later debunked.This example illustrates which of these?

A)Science is rarely biased by social norms.
B)Even widely accepted facts can be dismissed if research can show they are false.
C)Science requires a dominant paradigm.
D)Scientific methods were not always based on empirical tests.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Surveys are an example of a(n)______ that sociologists utilize to conduct a research study.

A)explorative tool
B)quantitative tool
C)analytical tool
D)qualitative tool

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Where is most qualitative research conducted?

A)in a lab
B)in the library
C)in natural settings
D)by mail

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Mary is conducting open-ended interviews to research the relationship between college grades and the amount of time spent studying.This is an example of a ______ research method.

A)quantitative research
B)qualitative research
C)paradigm research
D)quantifiable research

Question 5

Lana has a theory about homelessness.She systematically gathers information through both observation and interviews to develop a theory.Which terms best fits Lana's activity?

A)empiricism
B)hypothesizing
C)speculation
D)curiosity

Question 6

When a researcher wants to report the average cost of college tuition from the 1950s until present time,he or she enlists ______ statistics.

A)prescriptive
B)descriptive
C)inferential
D)historical

Question 7

When conducting a research study,sociologists follow the ______,which refers to a structured way to find answers to questions about the world.

A)scientific method
B)social science method
C)ethnographic method
D)American method

Question 8

Thomas Kuhn suggests that some disciplines are better described in a single-paradigm approach while others are better seen as multiple-paradigm sciences.In which group does sociology belong?

A)single-paradigm approach
B)multiple-paradigm approach
C)Sociology belongs in between these two approaches.
D)Sociology is not a science with paradigms.

Question 9

Joe studies arrest rates in major cities by examining Census Bureau data.Which type of research is Joe enlisting?

A)quantitative
B)ethnomethodological
C)primary
D)qualitative

Question 10

Joe is studying prisoners behavior in a counseling session,but they can't see him because he is behind a shaded window.Which of these methods of research is he using?

A)participant observation
B)surveys
C)content analysis
D)nonparticipant observation

Question 11

Which of these is a qualitative method?

A)historical-comparative method
B)experiments
C)open-ended interviews
D)statistics

Question 12

Which of these sociology students is engaging in participant observation?

A)John watches preschool students who are not aware he is there.
B)Mary visits a first-grade classroom to conduct a study on teacher-student interactions and helps out in the classroom as a para-educator.
C)Bill sits on a park bench and observes behavior without people's knowledge.
D)Sue observes medical students working on a patient without his or her knowledge that she is present.

Question 13

The first step in the scientific method is which of these?

A)review the relevant literature
B)uncover questions in need of answers
C)develop a hypothesis
D)select a research method

Question 14

Ray wants to test a hypothesis on the relationship between educational level and income in Chicago.Ray would enlist which of these types of statistics?

A)descriptive
B)prescriptive
C)inferential
D)predictable

Question 15

Joe reviews the literature and comes to believe that as one's educational level rises,so does one's income.Joe has created which of these?

A)a theory
B)a hypothesis
C)a fact
D)a concept

Question 16

Who defined science as the existence of a general model or paradigm,which is accepted by most practitioners in the field?

A)Thomas Kuhn
B)C.Wright Mills
C)Émile Durkheim
D)Karl Marx

Question 17

Gravity is a widely accepted explanation of the force that causes two particles to pull toward each other.Thomas Kuhn refers to this widely accepted general model as which of these?

A)a hypothesis
B)a paradigm
C)a natural experiment
D)an ideal type

Question 18

Sociologists who gather information from such Internet sites as Facebook and Twitter are utilizing which research method?

A)participant observation
B)nonparticipant observation
C)secondary analysis
D)netnography

Question 19

The last step in the scientific method according to the text is which of these?

A)review the relevant literature
B)uncover questions in need of answers
C)develop a hypothesis
D)analyze the data in relation to the hypothesis

Question 20

Which sociologist studied a Chicago housing project and its gangs in thorough detail?

A)Émile Durkheim
B)Erving Goffman
C)W.E.B.DuBois
D)William F.Whyte

Question 21

Organizations such as Gallup gather ______ surveys in order to gather accurate information about members of a certain group or in a given geographic area.

A)detailed
B)stratified
C)descriptive
D)explanatory

Question 22

Global ethnography is defined by which of these?

A)studying people's lives locally in depth to understand globalization's effects
B)studying people in different parts of the world by using surveys more creatively
C)studying entire sections of the globe using ethnographic methods
D)mixing ethnographic methods with global statistics

Question 23

An experiment to find out what effect gender had on the starting salary a person was offered across different occupations and seniority levels would examine______ as the independent variable and ______ as the dependent variable.

A)gender; starting salary
B)starting salary; gender
C)gender; seniority level
D)starting salary; occupational type

Question 24

A sociologist who spends an intensive amount of time for several years observing an immigrant community to understand their daily activities would be using which research method?

A)netnography
B)interviews
C)ethnography
D)secondary analysis

Question 25

Which of these interviews asks the same questions worded exactly the same way to numerous subjects in order to avoid any unanticipated reactions or responses?

A)predictive
B)pre-structured
C)unstructured
D)unguided

Question 26

Which of these qualities differentiate interviews from questionnaires?

A)Questionnaires are self-administered; interviews are not.
B)Questionnaires can be completed online; interviews cannot.
C)Questionnaires are presented to randomly sampled respondents; interviews are not.
D)Questionnaires result in data that can be coded numerically; interviews do not.

Question 27

Which of these is a problem associated with prestructured interviews?

A)Interviewers often get too much diverse information to analyze effectively.
B)Interviewers have to make up new questions for each interview.
C)Closed-end questions are more difficult to answer than open-ended ones.
D)Respondents can lie in their responses.

Question 28

Which of the following is a benefit to unstructured interviews?

A)The questions are asked in exactly the same order.
B)The responses can easily be analyzed using quantitative methods.
C)Respondents can cover issues that are meaningful to them.
D)The limits on the researchers' reactions to answers yield less biased answers.

Question 29

Which of these is a disadvantage of secondary analysis?

A)Secondary data is usually biased.
B)The data may not fit the researcher's needs.
C)The data may be hard to find.
D)The data will be expensive.

Question 30

Sociologist Devah Pager randomly assigned fake criminal records to pairs of similar men who were applying for jobs to discover how race and a criminal record can affect the likelihood of being called back for an interview.This is a good example of which research method?

A)observation
B)secondary analysis
C)survey
D)sociological experiment

Question 31

Which sample allows everyone in the population an equal chance of being selected?

A)descriptive
B)random
C)stratified
D)convenience

Question 32

Nonrandom samples used in survey research may result in which of these?

A)highly reliable results
B)significantly biases results
C)reliability issues in future studies
D)low response rates

Question 33

The two variables in an experiment are the ______,which is manipulated by the researcher,and the ______,which is a characteristic or measurement that resulted from the manipulation.

A)independent variable; dependent variable
B)exponential variable; independent variable
C)dependent variable; independent variable
D)reliant variable; exploratory variable

Question 34

What method of studying divorce is likely being used if a research primarily gathers data from the Census and the General Social Survey?

A)observation
B)experiment
C)survey
D)secondary data analysis

Question 35

Which of these would a researcher employ to discover the frequency of marijuana use among high school seniors?

A)descriptive survey
B)explanatory survey
C)stratified sampling
D)convenience sampling

Question 36

Which research method involves conducting interviews and administering questionnaires to a representative portion of the population?

A)content analysis
B)secondary analysis
C)observations
D)survey research

Question 37

When a researcher has greater control over the selection of participants and the independent variables,this is referred to as a(n)______ experiment,and when the researcher has less control over the independent variables,this is referred to as a/an ______ experiment.

A)natural; laboratory
B)field; controlled
C)laboratory; natural
D)independent; dependent

Question 38

In experiments,there are independent and dependent variables.Which of these is characteristic of the independent variable?

A)It never changes.
B)It is not manipulated in the experiment.
C)It is not used in statistical analyses.
D)It is the characteristic that the individual being studied assigned to themselves.

Question 39

A(n)______ is a person sought out by the researcher using interview methods because he or she has intimate knowledge of the group being studied and will talk openly about it to the researcher.

A)key informant
B)alpha interviewee
C)convenience sample
D)primary reference

Question 40

Research based on convenience samples is usually which of these?

A)flawed
B)random
C)exploratory
D)descriptive

Question 41

What is an ideal type?

A)a measuring rod to help us understand social reality
B)a careful representation of reality
C)a measure used by historians,but dismissed by sociologists
D)a description of the best possible data collection outcome using any research method

Question 42

The Milgram experiment and the Zimbardo experiment both raised severe ethical issues but also provided scientific evidence of which of these?

A)the power of authority
B)the importance of social networks
C)the differences between good-natured and ill-natured people
D)the difficulty of controlling a mob once it forms

Question 43

Which of these is important when conducting a study because it ensures that the question being asked is measuring what it is intended to measure?

A)validity
B)reliability
C)reality
D)authenticity

Question 44

A scientific paradigm is usually only accepted by a very small number of practitioners in the field.

Question 45

Which of these refers to the degree to which a given question produces the same results time after time?

A)reliability
B)validity
C)authenticity
D)reality

Question 46

The scientific method is not suitable for studying human beings as individuals.

Question 47

The research process may begin again if a researcher discovers additional questions when analyzing the existing data.

Question 48

What is meant by beneficence as it is associated with institutional review boards?

A)Reimburse people for participating in your study.
B)Do as little harm to participants and as much as you can do to assist them with your research.
C)Do not cause the participant to engage in deceptive research.
D)Share your results with the participant.

Question 49

When a researcher reports research findings in such a way that any reader can understand how the research was conducted,the researcher is utilizing which of these?

A)value-free objectivity
B)reliability
C)procedural objectivity
D)validity

Question 50

It is very important that institutional review boards require evidence of the ______ of those being studied.

A)informed consent
B)uniform consent
C)ethical codes
D)review rights

Question 51

Which statement explains the differences between history and historical-comparative sociology?

A)Historical-comparative sociology involves much more detail than historical research.
B)Historical-comparative sociology draws more distinctions about society than does historical research.
C)Historical data are more accurate than historical comparative sociological data.
D)Historical researchers collect far more original historical data than do historical comparative sociologists.

Question 52

Sociologists practice empiricism.

Question 53

Which of these is TRUE of the World Values Survey (WVS)?

A)It is an interview study of people in the globalizing world.
B)It cannot be used for secondary data analysis because it is biased.
C)It collects psychological data on how globalization influences peoples' values.
D)It could be used for research questions that are framed differently than the ones that motivated the original research.

Question 54

Which of the following was ethically controversial in the case of the Henrietta Lacks?

A)She was not told she had cervical cancer.
B)She was not treated for her cervical cancer.
C)She did not know of or consent to being a participant in a research study.
D)She was not allowed to withdraw from the study after she became concerned about it.

Question 55

Who strongly believed that values might guide the choice of research topics but it was imperative to be value-free when conducting and analyzing research and when teaching?

A)Herbert Gans
B)Émile Durkheim
C)Auguste Comte
D)Max Weber

Question 56

Casey conducts a research study examining the violence contained within television shows in the past five years.Which method will Casey likely use?

A)participant observation
B)experiment
C)content analysis
D)survey

Question 57

Ethics in research became a central concern at what point in history?

A)since the French Revolution in 1789
B)in 1848,after Marx released The Communist Manifesto
C)following World War II,in response to atrocities committed by the Nazis
D)in the late 1960s,when civil rights movements raised awareness on all rights issues

Question 58

The scientific method is rarely used in sociological research because it has been shown to be biased when used with humans.

Question 59

Scientific knowledge accumulates gradually and requires many studies.

Question 60

Which of these is concerned with issues of right and wrong,the choices that people make,and how they justify them?

A)value-free sociology
B)ethics
C)institutional review boards
D)scientific method

Question 61

Choosing who will be a part of the control and experimental group is a step in the interview process.

Question 62

Informed consent is important because participants have the right to be aware they are being studied and therefore know the risks they may face.

Question 63

Sociologists rarely conduct observational research.

Question 64

Researchers have a concrete rule that if they observe an illegal act while conducting ethnographic field research,they always report it to the police.

Question 65

Random samples are the most common type of sampling method to avoid survey bias.

Question 66

Most sociological experiments take place within a laboratory setting with a controlled environment.

Question 67

Researchers test hypotheses with inferential statistics.

Question 68

Max Weber claimed that all sociological research should be value.free but teaching sociology should include one's values and positions on issues.

Question 69

Most sociologists conduct their own surveys because of reliability issues.

Question 70

A researcher who lives with a religious community for five years and establishes a detailed account of their daily activities is utilizing the ethnographic research method.

Question 71

Stanley Milgram's obedience research is a good example of research designed to reduce the risks of psychological harm to the subjects.

Question 72

Reliability is the degree to which the measurement tool measures what it is supposed to measure.

Question 73

Wendy,a sociologist,studies the use of sexuality in television shows in order to understand changing gender norms.Her research method is known as content analysis.

Question 74

Research questions in sociology generally determine the method of data collection.

Question 75

Surveys are a type of qualitative research.

Question 76

When a researcher gathers information from the census,police reports,or library documents,they are engaging in ethnographic data analysis.

Question 77

The Nuremberg Code was developed to protect biomedical research subjects after the Nazi experiments on concentration camp inmates were revealed.

Question 78

Quantitative research requires statistical methods for collecting and reporting data.

Question 79

Pre-structured interviews often yield data that can be coded numerically.

Question 80

Netnography is an account of what happens online.