Political Science Research Methods
Mock Exam
Course Introduction
Political Science Research Methods introduces students to the systematic techniques and tools used to investigate political phenomena. The course covers both qualitative and quantitative research designs, emphasizing hypothesis formulation, variable operationalization, data collection, and ethical considerations in research. Students learn to critically evaluate scholarly literature, conduct surveys and interviews, perform statistical analyses, and utilize software for data interpretation. By the end of the course, students develop the skills necessary to design and execute their own research projects, laying a foundation for advanced study and professional work in the field of political science.
Recommended Textbook
The Practice of Social Research 14th Edition by
Earl R. Babbie
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science
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Q1) The need to develop a tolerance for ambiguity helps resolve the conflict between what two concepts?
A)Determinism and agency
B)Nomothetic and idiographic
C)Qualitative and quantitative
D)inductive and deductive
E)cross-sectional and longitudinal
Answer: A
Q2) Because we have individual perspectives about the world,it is impossible to ever arrive at scientific statements about reality.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) Which of the following would a sociologist be LEAST likely to study?
A)why crime rates are increasing in rural areas
B)the incidence of child abuse in middle-income families
C)why Mr. Smith quit his job
D)the incidence of employment among white-collar workers
E)why unemployment rates are higher for black teens than white teens
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: Paradigms,theory,and Social Research
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Q1) All our experiences are inescapably subjective.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Frankie began his theorizing on delinquency in schools by stating that he takes it to be true that kids like to be respected by other kids.He then goes on to develop some testable relationships between delinquency and gender.His assumption that kids like to be respected is known as a(n):
A)variable.
B)hypothesis.
C)proposition.
D)axiom.
E)statement.
Answer: D
Q3) We will never be able to distinguish completely between an objective reality and our subjective experience.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 4
Chapter 3: The Ethics and Politics of Social Research
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Q1) Josephine is a student at Consolidated Community College and is planning to do a study on how eating disorders affect academic performance.Who must review her research before it can be done?
A)the federal government
B)the state government
C)the American Sociological Association
D)the Institutional Review Board
E)coworkers
Answer: D
Q2) Which of the following could potentially be harmful to subjects?
A)responding about everyday behavior
B)asking them to sign an informed consent form
C)asking them to identify their deviant behavior
D)ensuring their anonymity in the final report
E)debriefing them about their participation afterwards
Answer: C
Q3) Social scientists agree that objectivity is necessary for research.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 4: Research Design
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Q1) Operationalization is:
A)the part of the theory that tells us how variables are related.
B)the procedures which we go through to identify and measure variables.
C)the procedures we go through before we can develop a hypothesis.
D)the part of a theory that tells us what statistical techniques we can use.
E)the part of a theory that explains what research knows about the topic.
Q2) Operationalization is the process of clarifying what is meant by the concepts being used in a study.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In nomothetic explanations,exceptions disprove the causal relationship. A)True
B)False
Q4) A research proposal describes what you intend to accomplish and how.
A)True
B)False
Q5) The literature review is an important and necessary component of a research proposal.
A)True
B)False
6
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Chapter 5: Conceptualization, operationalization, and Measurement
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Q1) Professor Miller argues that there are three aspects to the quality of a relationship: 1)belonging/affirmation,2)interdependence,and 3)intimacy.These "aspects" of quality of a relationship are called A)variables. B)dimensions.
C)constructs.
D)indicators.
E)conceptions.
Q2) How would you measure each of the following variables using two different levels of measurement?
a. age
b. income
c. family size
Q3) An example of an established measure would be:
A)Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Index. B)fear of crime. C)intelligence. D)logic.
E)strength.
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Chapter 6: Indexes, scales, and Typologies
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Q1) Explain the logic of index validation.What methods are used to validate a composite index? Give examples.
Q2) What are the two decisions to be made in deciding how to score an index?
A)how many items and the desirable range of index scores
B)the desirable range of index scores and the assignment of scores for each response
C)the assignment of scores for each response and which statistics to use
D)which statistics to use and how many items
E)number of items and assignment of scores to each item
Q3) If a researcher was interested in measuring people's perceptions towards immigrants,as well as levels of prejudice and bias,which of the following may be the best option to use?
A)Likert scale.
B)Thurstone scale.
C)Guttman scale.
D)Semantic differential scale.
E)Bogardus social distance scale.
Q4) A scale is a classification based upon two or more variables
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: The Logic of Sampling
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Q1) The political poll that demonstrated the importance of sampling was between Thomas Dewey and Theodore Roosevelt
A)True
B)False
Q2) Describe and illustrate each of the following types of nonprobability sampling: a)convenient sampling; b)purposive (judgmental)sampling; c)quota sampling; and d) snowball sampling.
Q3) When people selected for a sample are not typical or representative of the larger population from which they have been selected,we have A)a parameter.
B)a statistic.
C)a negative confidence interval.
D)bias or unrepresentative sample.
E)a bad sample that needs to be re-sampled
Q4) Compare probability designs with nonprobability designs.Identify the kinds of sampling designs available within each of these major categories.Explain a situation in which it would be more appropriate to use probability sampling and one where nonprobability sampling would be preferred.
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Page 9
Chapter 8: Experiments
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Q1) "Natural" experiments refers to experiments which
A)contain no artificial ingredients.
B)occur naturally in the laboratory.
C)encourage people to act naturally.
D)occur naturally without the experimenter's intervention.
E)have no manipulated dependent variable
Q2) Conducting research on the world wide web helps to insure representative samples
A)True
B)False
Q3) What differentiates experimental from preexperimental designs? Give an illustration of a situation in which an experimental design would be preferred and one in which a preexperimental design would be preferred.
Q4) In an experiment where neither the physicians nor the subjects know who was receiving the experimental drug or placebo is an example of a A)non-confounding experiment.
B)secure experiment.
C)true experiment.
D)double-blind experiment.
E)post hoc experiment.
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Chapter 9: Survey Research
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Q1) Sara was raped by one of her male friends.She is accompanied to the hospital with another friend for an examination,and while there,is interviewed by the police,nurses,and a sexual assault advocate.The advocate gives Sara a questionnaire asking about the circumstances surrounding the rape.Sara is hesitant about filling out the questionnaire as she is still emotionally distraught.The advocate tells her that she MUST fill out the questionnaire in order to move forward with the report of rape.If Sara chooses to answer the questions,her answers would be
A)erroneous because the questions were not clear.
B)erroneous because she was not willing to answer.
C)relevant because she was competent to answer.
D)relevant because the questions were relevant.
E)relevant because the questions were clear.
Q2) Once interviewers are trained,their work no longer requires supervision.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Surveys may be used for descriptive and explanatory purposes but not for exploratory purposes.
A)True
B)False
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Page 11
Chapter 10: Qualitative Field Research
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Q1) Qualitative field researchers must always participate in what they are studying.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The use of specific,single incidences to discover the flaws in current theory,and then to create revisions is an example of:
A)focus groups.
B)extended case method.
C)ethnography.
D)case study.
E)qualitative interviewing.
Q3) Lorenzo did a study of delinquents in high school and wanted to understand delinquents as they make sense of their social worlds.He was particularly interested in the taken for granted expectations that the delinquents followed.Lorenzo was using which paradigm?
A)ethnomethodology
B)participatory action research
C)naturalism
D)grounded theory
E)case studies
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Unobtrusive Research
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Q1) Content analysis is a method of data collection in which some form of communication (e.g.TV programs,letters,newspaper articles etc)is studied systematically.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following would not be a data source consistent with content analysis?
A)evaluating census data.
B)want ads.
C)diary entries.
D)email messages.
E)newspapers.
Q3) Like other kinds of social research,one of the first steps in content analysis is to determine
A)the number of cases that the research will focus on.
B)the kind of medium that the analysis will focus on.
C)the units of analysis that the research will focus on.
D)the ease of accessibility of the subject matter.
E)the type of sampling for the research.
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Chapter 12: Evaluation Research
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Q1) Only quasi-experimental designs should be used in evaluation research.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Jake examined the impact of a new street lighting program on crime in six neighborhoods.He measured crime rates at one-month intervals for six months before the new street lights were erected and for six months after.Which design did he use?
A)multiple time-series
B)time series
C)experimental
D)nonequivalent control group
E)Solomon 4-group design
Q3) What is meant by social indicators research? Give an outline of an original study showing how this type of research would be used.
Q4) In most forms of evaluation research,the dependent variable is known as the program intervention.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What are the different types of evaluation research? Give an example of each of the types.
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Chapter 13: Qualitative Data Analysis
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Q1) Variable-oriented research is similar to the nomothetic model of explanation.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Hendal conducted qualitative research to learn all of the factors that lead police officers to move into that career.Which one of the following did he perform?
A) case-oriented analysis.
B) cross-case analysis.
C) semiotics.
D) content analysis.
E) variable-oriented analysis.
Q3) Which of the following is NOT a fundamental assumption of conversation analysis?
A)conversation is a socially structured activity
B)conversations include established rules of behavior
C)the same utterance should have the same meaning in a different context
D)pauses in conversation are as important as the words in a conversation
E)non-verbal elements of a conversation are an important element..
Q4) The utility of case-oriented analysis is the fact that one case can make theory.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 14: Quantitative Data Analysis
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Q1) Lyle's research on recidivism contains a variable that measures the number of offenses an individual was charged with prior to being paroled.This count of offenses is a(n):
A)continuous variable.
B)discrete variable.
C)dichotomous variable.
D)categorical variable.
E)nominal variable.
Q2) Teachers at Central High School earn a mean salary of $45,000,with a standard deviation of $2,500.Those at Midlands High School earn an average of $30,000,but a standard deviation of $7,000.Which of these two have the largest variation in salary?
A)Central High School
B)Midlands High School
C)Both have the same variation
D)Cannot discern from information given.
E)The standard deviation is not appropriate for this study.
Q3) Half the cases are above the median and half the cases are below the median.
A)True
B)False
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Page 16
Chapter 15: The Logic of Multivariate Analysis
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Q1) An antecedent control variable is one that occurs between the independent and the dependent variable in time.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The purpose of the elaboration model is to provide a way to examine relationships that may be causal
A)True
B)False
Q3) The acceptance of a hypothesis is really a function of the extent to which it has been tested and not disconfirmed.
A)True
B)False
Q4) In the elaboration model,a test variable that reverses the direction of a zero-order relationship is known as the
A)distorter variable.
B)suppressor variable.
C)intervening variable.
D)antecedent variable.
E)specification variable.
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Chapter 16: Statistical Analyses
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Q1) Which of the following is based upon the same logical conventions as the Elaboration Model?
A)ANOVA
B)chi-square
C)partial regression analysis
D)curvilinear regression analysis
E)time-series analysis
Q2) Factor analysis attempts to
A)analyze interrelationships of several variables.
B)reduce relationships among variables to a number of key dimensions.
C)discover basic patterns of relationships among variables.
D)analyze interrelationships of several variables, reduce relationships among variables to a number of key dimensions, and discover basic patterns of relationships among variables.
E)reduce relationships among variables to a number of key dimensions and discover basic patterns of relationships among variables.
Q3) Regression lines can be used for interpolation.
A)True
B)False
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Page 18
Chapter 17: Reading and Writing Social Research
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Q1) Which of the following is usually NOT included when citing Internet resources?
A)the number of words in the resource.
B)the web address.
C)the date it was accessed.
D)the time it was accessed.
E)the author and title, if available.
Q2) The presentation of data analyses should provide a maximum of detail without being cluttered.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Questions about dimensions of variables used and the appropriateness of indicators reflect which section of the evaluation criteria to be used in reading research reports?
A)sampling
B)theoretical orientations
C)measurement
D)data analysis
E)literature review
Q4) What are search engines? Why and how do we use them in our research?
Q5) Why and how do researchers take their audience into account in writing a report?
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