Deck 4: Reviewing the Scholarly Literature and Planning a Study

Question 1

Which outlet of research reports is the easiest, and which is the most difficult to locate research with? Why?

Answer 1

The easiest outlet for research reports to locate is likely online databases and academic journals. These platforms are specifically designed to organize and categorize research reports, making it relatively easy to search for and access relevant information. Additionally, many universities and libraries provide access to these databases for their students and faculty, further simplifying the process of locating research reports.

On the other hand, the most difficult outlet to locate research reports may be through personal connections or private organizations. These sources may not be widely accessible to the public and may require specific permissions or memberships to access their research reports. Additionally, these outlets may not have a centralized database or search function, making it more challenging to locate specific research reports.

Overall, the ease of locating research reports can vary depending on the outlet, with online databases and academic journals being the most accessible and personal connections or private organizations being the most difficult to access.

Question 2

What distinguishes a strong from a weak literature review?

Answer 2

A strong literature review is distinguished from a weak one by several key characteristics:

1. **Scope and Depth**: A strong literature review thoroughly covers the relevant literature on the topic. It includes a wide range of sources, such as peer-reviewed journal articles, books, conference papers, and other scholarly works. It also delves deeply into each source, discussing the methodologies, findings, and implications in detail.

2. **Critical Analysis**: Rather than simply summarizing the existing literature, a strong review critically evaluates the research. It identifies gaps in the current knowledge, discusses inconsistencies in findings, and assesses the strengths and weaknesses of different studies.

3. **Organization and Structure**: A strong literature review is well-organized, with a clear structure that guides the reader through the discussion. It typically starts with a broad overview and progressively narrows down to focus on more specific issues. It may be organized thematically, methodologically, or chronologically, depending on what makes the most sense for the topic.

4. **Synthesis**: Instead of discussing each source in isolation, a strong literature review synthesizes the information to provide new insights or perspectives. It looks for patterns, trends, and relationships among the studies and uses these to build a coherent narrative or argument.

5. **Relevance**: A strong literature review is directly relevant to the research question or objective. It provides the necessary background and justification for the new study by showing how it builds on, complements, or challenges the existing body of work.

6. **Current and Comprehensive**: It includes the most recent studies and theories to ensure that the review is up-to-date. At the same time, it is comprehensive enough to include seminal works that are foundational to the field.

7. **Objectivity**: A strong literature review maintains an objective tone and avoids bias. It presents a balanced view of the literature, acknowledging the diversity of opinions and findings within the field.

8. **Clarity and Coherence**: The writing in a strong literature review is clear, concise, and free of jargon. It is accessible to both experts and non-experts in the field, and it logically flows from one section to the next.

9. **Referencing**: A strong literature review provides proper citations for all sources mentioned, allowing readers to trace the origins of the information and verify the claims made.

10. **Contribution to Knowledge**: Ultimately, a strong literature review sets the stage for the research that follows by identifying how the new study will contribute to the existing body of knowledge. It highlights the significance of the research question and establishes a framework for interpreting the results.

In contrast, a weak literature review may be superficial, poorly organized, biased, or outdated. It may fail to critically analyze sources, lack synthesis, or be irrelevant to the research question. Weak reviews often do not provide a clear contribution to knowledge and may leave the reader with an incomplete or inaccurate understanding of the topic.

Question 3

What is the independent variable in the following statement?
"A third hypothesis for family effects states that the continuing absence of a father leads to low educational attainment among offspring in single-parent families. This view is derived from socialization theory, which stresses the importance of the male role model to the cognitive and emotional development of children."
American Journal of Sociology (1985, p. 889)

A) educational attainment
B) single-parent family
C) socialization theory
D) absence of father in the family
E) emotional development of children

Answer 3

absence of father in the family

Question 4

Professor Redears examined the following types of marital status: married, never married, widowed, separated, or divorced. The types of marital status are called the professor's

A) variables.
B) variable categories or attributes.
C) units of analysis.
D) theoretical elements.
E) sampling units.

Question 5

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Mary Rodale studied discrimination against women plumbers. Her hypothesis was that the greatest discrimination would be by businesses owned by men and individuals who believe strongly in traditional sex roles. She contacted 75 small business owners and 100 individual homeowners who planned to hire a plumber. She offered each subject six possible plumbers to chose from. The plumbers had varying levels of experience, training, and charged different rates. One of the six was a woman and the other five were men. She discovered that 80 percent of the male business owners chose a man plumber although a woman plumber had more experience and training and charged less for the same service. For female business owners 30 percent chose a man plumber over a better-qualified and cheaper woman. Every single homeowner who believed strongly in traditional sex role chose a male. All those who believed in nontraditional sex roles ignored gender and chose on the basis of skill and price alone.

-What is the null hypothesis for the study?

A) Women do not discriminate against women plumbers, but men do.
B) Discrimination is bad and should not occur.
C) Male small-business owners and traditionalist homeowners are more likely to discriminate against women who are plumbers.
D) There is no discrimination by small-business owners or homeowners against women plumbers.
E) none of the above

Question 6

Professor Root looked at the number of arrests for drunken driving on the roads in 10 urban and 10 rural counties of Ohio. He found police made more arrests on roads in the rural counties. Professor Root concluded that people who live in rural areas are more likely to drive while intoxicated than are people who live in urban areas. Root's conclusion has the problem of

A) premature closure.
B) over extension.
C) ecological fallacy.
D) reductionism.
E) spurious statement.

Question 7

Dr. White of the Quick Stop Counseling Clinic noticed that female clients with eating disorders who were counseled during the hours of 8 to 11:45 a.m. recovered much faster than those who were counseled from 1 to 5 p.m. She jumped to the false conclusion that the time of day of counseling caused a quicker recovery. Dr. Green was more cautious. He noticed that all the clinic staff used the same treatment, but the clinic's female counselors all worked at the clinic in the morning, and male counselors worked in the afternoon. He found that the faster recovery had nothing with the time of day; rather it was due to female clients responding to the treatment with female counselors. What is Dr. White's initial causal relationship called?

A) null hypothesis
B) spurious statement
C) ecological fallacy
D) reductionism

Question 8

A qualitative researcher interprets what she sees in a setting and brings preliminary coherence to her observations and understanding. This is called

A) first-order interpretation.
B) second-order interpretation.
C) third-order interpretation.
D) none of the above

Question 9

Rob Roth noted that criminals sent to the Marytown Prison were less likely to commit additional crimes once released compared to criminals who were sent to Georgetown Prison. He jumped to the conclusion that the facilities, staff, and programs at the Marytown Prison had a causal effect of reducing future criminal behavior. Sherry Stevens was more cautious. She noticed that different types of criminals were sentenced to the two prisons. She discovered that those sentenced to Marytown were an average of 8 years younger than those sentenced to Georgetown, they had been convicted of less violent crimes, and spent an average of two fewer years in prison. She argued that post-prison criminal behavior had nothing with conditions of the Marytown Prison itself; rather it was due to the youth, offenses, and length of time spent in prison by those sent to Marytown compared to the Georgetown Prison. The problem with Rob Roth's conclusion is

A) null hypothesis.
B) nonlinear research path.
C) ecological fallacy.
D) reductionism.
E) spuriousness.

Question 10

The American Sociological Review bibliographic reference style is used in which of the examples below?

A) James R. Kluegel and Lawrence Bobo (1993) "Opposition to Race-Targeting: Self-Interest, Stratification Ideology or Racial Attitude?" American Sociological Review 58(4), 443-465.
B) Kluegel, J.R. and Bobo, L. Opposition to Race-Targeting: Self-Interest, Stratification Ideology or Racial Attitude? American Sociological Review 58 (August, 1993), Pp. 443-465.
C) Kluegel, James R. and Lawrence Bobo. 1993. "Opposition to Race-Targeting: Self-Interest, Stratification Ideology or Racial Attitude?" American Sociological Review 58:443-65.
D) Kluegel, J.R. and Bobo, L. (1993) Opposition to Race-Targeting: Self-Interest, Stratification Ideology or Racial Attitude? American Sociological Review 58, 443-65.
E) Kluegel, James & Bobo, L., Opposition to Race-Targeting: Self-Interest, Stratification Ideology or Racial Attitude? Am Sociol Rev 58(4), 443-465, 1993.

Question 11

Which of the following is considered a positive feature of using Internet for social research?

A) information can quickly cross vast distances and international borders
B) high "quality control" of all the information on the Internet
C) stability and permanence of sources
D) all important sources are available on the Internet, nothing is missing
E) ease when searching for very specific information -- quickly getting the one piece of specific information needed and nothing extra

Question 12

In general, if you want to find many research studies on a topic, the place that is easiest to locate them is if the studies

A) are published as a book.
B) are published as scholarly journal articles.
C) appear as a Ph.D. dissertation.
D) are papers presented at professional meetings.
E) are published as some kind of government document.

Question 13

Talk about:
-abstract

Question 14

Talk about:
-alternative hypothesis

Question 15

Talk about:
-attributes

Question 16

Talk about:
-citation

Question 17

Talk about:
-dependent variable

Question 18

Talk about:
-ecological fallacy

Question 19

Talk about:
-first-order interpretation

Question 20

Talk about:
-hypothesis

Question 21

Talk about:
-independent variable

Question 22

Talk about:
-intervening variable

Question 23

Talk about:
-level of analysis

Question 24

Talk about:
-literature review

Question 25

Talk about:
-null hypothesis

Question 26

Talk about:
-reductionism

Question 27

Talk about:
-second-order interpretation

Question 28

Talk about:
-spuriousness

Question 29

Talk about:
-third-order interpretation

Question 30

Talk about:
-universe

Question 31

Talk about:
-variable