Applied Social Research
Exam Materials
Course Introduction
Applied Social Research explores the practical implementation of social research methods to address real-world problems and questions within society. This course covers quantitative and qualitative research designs, data collection techniques, and analytical strategies, emphasizing their application in policy analysis, program evaluation, and community-based research projects. Students will learn how to formulate research questions, design studies, interpret findings, and present actionable solutions to stakeholders. Ethical considerations and the critical evaluation of sources and methodologies are integral components, equipping students with the tools to conduct rigorous and impactful social research in various professional contexts.
Recommended Textbook
Making Sense of the Social World Methods of Investigation 4th Edition by Daniel F. Chambliss
Available Study Resources on Quizplus
12 Chapters
707 Verified Questions
707 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/study-set/3830 Page 2
Chapter 1: Science, Society, and Social Research
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
59 Verified Questions
59 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76410
Sample Questions
Q1) Cross-population validity determines whether the findings based on a sample can be generalized to a different population than the one from which it was drawn.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Sally decides that she wants to observe interactions among individuals involved in a protest. She wants to understand their actions as well as the issues that concern them. She is performing what type of research?
A) Explanatory
B) Exploratory
C) Descriptive
D) Interactive
E) Evaluation
Answer: B
Q3) Overgeneralizations occur when people conclude that what is true for some cases is true for all cases.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 3
Chapter 2: The Process and Problems of Social Research
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
59 Verified Questions
59 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76406
Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss the research of Sherman and Berk (1984) on the affect of arrest on domestic abuse. What was their research hypothesis? What were their independent and dependent variables? Describe how their hypothesis was designed to test deterrence theory and labeling theory. For which theory did their hypothesis provide support?
Answer: The Sherman and Berk (1984) study of domestic violence was designed to test a hypothesis based on deterrence theory; Independent variable-arrest or release; Dependent variable-variation in the risk of repeat offenses; They tested their hypothesis by setting up an experiment in which the police responded to complaints of spouse abuse in one of three ways, one of which was to arrest the offender; They found that of those arrested for assaulting their spouse, only 13% repeated the offense, compared to a 26% recidivism rate for those who were separated from their spouse by the police but were not arrested; This pattern in the data was consistent with the hypothesis that the researchers deduced from deterrence theory; The theory thus received support from the experiment
Q2) Longitudinal research collects data at more than one point in time.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 4
Chapter 3: Ethics in Research
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
60 Verified Questions
60 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76405
Sample Questions
Q1) In the process of debriefing, the researcher:
A) Explains to the subject what happened in the study and why
B) Tries to make sure the participants are competent to give consent
C) Discloses her or his identity partially
D) Obtains research approval from the IRB
E) Publishes the results of the study
Answer: A
Q2) In at least three paragraphs, discuss why there is no simple answer to the question "What is, or isn't, ethical research practice?"
Answer: Belmont report; beneficence; justice; respect for persons; protecting research subjects; deception; debriefing; protecting researchers; confidentiality and privacy; informed consent; honesty and openness
Q3) How can social media and digital technologies be both private and public information? How does this affect ethics in research?
Answer: Behavior done online is public for anyone to see unless the user makes it public; Some have a certain anonymity due to usernames; however, some individuals may not know what they put online could be used for public research.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.
Page 5
Chapter 4: Conceptualization and Measurement
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
57 Verified Questions
57 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76404
Sample Questions
Q1) Operationalization is the process of defining what exactly a researcher means by a key concept.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Inter-item reliability should occur when using multiple indicators of a single concept.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following is true about indexes but false about scales?
A) Multiple items are combined to determine scores
B) Items are given equal weight when summing or averaging
C) Items can be written in a matrix format
D) They are designs to measure concepts
E) Previous developed items promote comparability between studies
Q4) Propose measures of job satisfaction at the nominal, ordinal, and interval or ratio levels. Discuss the relative merits of each. Suggest procedures for establishing validity and reliability of all three of your job satisfaction measures. Explain your rationale for each procedure.
Q5) What is triangulation? Why is triangulated measurement superior to single forms of measurement?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 6
Chapter 5: Sampling and Generalizability
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
59 Verified Questions
59 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76403
Sample Questions
Q1) If anything other than chance determines which elements are selected for the sample, the sample is said to have:
A) Skew
B) Bias
C) Tilt
D) Disproportionate strata
E) Invalidity
Q2) A survey that takes measurements from all elements of a population is also known as a:
A) Representative sample
B) Disproportionate representative sample
C) Proportionate representative sample
D) Stratified random sample
E) Census
Q3) When cases are chosen not to represent the population but because of an interesting outcome, we refer to this as sampling the independent variable.
A)True
B)False
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 7
Chapter 6: Causation and Experimental Design
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
59 Verified Questions
59 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76402
Sample Questions
Q1) A university conducts a series of surveys in which subjects are drawn from first year and graduating students and finds that graduating students demonstrate much higher rates of approval for the university (in terms of whether they think the classes were relevant, the instructors were competent, etc.). The university then claims that more experience with the university leads to higher approval. What source of internal invalidity has the university not considered?
A) Selection bias
B) Mortality
C) Noncomparable groups
D) Regression
E) Contamination
Q2) Quasi-experimental designs are like true experiments, except:
A) They never have a control group.
B) They use multiple control groups.
C) They do not randomly assign subjects to groups.
D) They take measurements at more than one point in time.
E) They do not use pretests.
Q3) Experiments have relatively low external validity.
A)True
B)False
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 8
Chapter 7: Survey Research
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
59 Verified Questions
59 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76401
Sample Questions
Q1) A cognitive interview is conducted to understand how respondents interpret survey questions.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Writing Good Questions
Group A
1. double-barreled question
2. filter question
3. fence sitter
4. floater
Group B
a. Two questions in one
b. Person who chooses a neutral response
c. Person who chooses a survey answer but doesn't really know
d. Question that creates a skip pattern
e. Question that contains a double negative
Q3) Researchers often have difficulty contacting sample units.
A)True
B)False
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 9
Chapter 8: Elementary Quantitative Data Analysis
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
59 Verified Questions
59 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76400
Sample Questions
Q1) In the following distribution of the variable semesters completed, which is the mode: 4, 3, 1, 0, 3, 3, 4, 0, 3, 2?
A) 0
B) 1
C) 2
D) 3
E) 4
Q2) In a crosstabs, the cells display:
A) Counts
B) Percentages
C) Categories of the dependent variable
D) Both a and b
E) All of the above
Q3) Standard deviation is defined as the square root of the variance.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Describe situations in which a variable's variability is best measured by the range, interquartile range, and standard deviation, providing at least two concrete examples of each.
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 10
Chapter 9: Qualitative Methods: Observing, Participating, Listening
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
58 Verified Questions
58 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76399
Sample Questions
Q1) Qualitative analysis can only follow an inductive approach: moving from data to a more general theory.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Qualitative methods refer to the following distinctive research designs:
A) Field experiments, intensive interviewing, and survey research
B) Participant observation, intensive interviewing, and focus groups
C) Participant observation, intensive interviewing, and survey research
D) Participant observation, focus groups, and field experiments
E) Focus groups, field experiments, and survey research
Q3) Netnographies have no similarities to traditional ethnographies.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A focus group usually involves how many subjects:
A) 1 or 2
B) 3 to 6
C) 7 to 10
D) 11 to 20
E) More than 20
Q5) What are the roles available to a field researcher?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 11
Chapter 10: Qualitative Data Analysis
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
59 Verified Questions
59 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76409
Sample Questions
Q1) Qualitative and quantitative methods should always be kept separate.
A)True
B)False
Q2) To interpret text literally, what must a researcher focus on?
A) How his or her orientation shapes research
B) How meaning is constructed in text
C) The subtext, or implied meaning
D) Actual content and form
E) Frequency of certain key words
Q3) The data for a qualitative study may be jottings, field notes, and text transcribed from audiotapes.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is the most important feature of qualitative data analysis?
A) Text
B) Language
C) Photography
D) Numbers
E) Population
Q5) What is a case study? Why is it used?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 12
Chapter 11: Unobtrusive Measures
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
60 Verified Questions
60 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76408
Sample Questions
Q1) The type of evaluation research that determines if a new social program is needed or an old social program is still needed is called an impact assessment.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In Project New Hope, 677 low-income adults were offered jobs, childcare, and healthcare, while others were offered none of these things. In the end, only 27% of those who were offered jobs stuck with it long enough to lift themselves out of poverty. Levels of depression did not decrease, nor did self-esteem increase. However, the classroom performance of male the participants' male children increased. This example demonstrates the importance of:
A) Theory-driven evaluation
B) Process evaluation
C) Measuring multiple outcomes
D) Efficiency analysis
E) Stakeholders' perceptions
Q3) In what circumstances should qualitative methods be used in evaluation research? In what circumstances should quantitative methods be used? Use examples to demonstrate your answer.
Q4) Why is evaluation research more political than other forms of social research?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above. Page 13
Chapter 12: Evaluation Research
Available Study Resources on Quizplus for this Chatper
59 Verified Questions
59 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76407
Sample Questions
Q1) In what section of a research report should you address weaknesses in your own research design?
A) Introductory statement
B) Methodology section
C) Findings section
D) Discussion section
E) Conclusion section
Q2) Experimental designs are strongest for testing causal hypotheses.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The author's reputation and previous articles should have no bearing on how you assess the findings of a journal article.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In a research proposal, data displays should be presented in the conclusions section.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is the purpose of a literature review in a proposal and a research report?
Page 14
Q6) How does your audience affect the way that you will write up a research report?
To view all questions and flashcards with answers, click on the resource link above.