Research Design in Sociology Final Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Research Design in Sociology introduces students to the foundational concepts and practical strategies for conducting sociological research. The course covers the logic of scientific inquiry, formulation of research questions, hypothesis development, selection of appropriate methodologies, and ethical considerations. Students will explore both qualitative and quantitative research designs, including surveys, interviews, ethnography, and content analysis, and learn how to choose among these methods to address various sociological topics. Emphasis is placed on the critical evaluation of existing research, the construction of research proposals, and the interpretation and presentation of sociological data. By the end of the course, students will possess the skills necessary to design and critique sociological research projects.
Recommended Textbook
Basics of Social Research Fourth Canadian Edition by W. Lawrence Neuman
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Chapter 1: Doing Social Research
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Q1) Define the following:qualitative interview
Answer: A one-on-one interview between a researcher and an interviewee that is usually characterized by being semi-structured and open-ended.
Q2) Define the following:academic social research
Answer: Research designed to advance fundamental knowledge about the social world.
Q3) Define the following:descriptive research
Answer: Research in which a researcher presents a picture of the specific details of a situation,social setting,or relationship.
Q4) All of the following statements apply to surveys,EXCEPT which one?
A)Researchers ask all respondents the same questions.
B)Surveys are primarily associated with quantitative research.
C)Researchers systematically manipulate situations and conditions.
D)Researchers use surveys in descriptive or explanatory research.
E)Researchers can generalize results from surveys to larger groups.
Answer: C
Q5) Define the following:cross-sectional research
Answer: Research in which a researcher examines a single point in time or takes a one-time snapshot approach.
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Chapter 2: Theory and Social Research
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Q1) Professor Zheng Zhao wanted to study the cause for thousands of people leaving Hong Kong to move to Toronto,Ontario.In order to establish temporal order in his causal argument,he must show which of the following?
A)There is a correlation between events in Hong Kong and a decision to move.
B)Events occurred in Hong Kong before people moved to Toronto.
C)The type of people who left Hong Kong are more educated and have more money than those who stayed.
D)A fear for the future of Hong Kong and no other reason caused the move to Toronto.
E)Hong Kong media reports about a high quality of life in Toronto and relatives in Canada were not major factors in the decision for people to move.
Answer: B
Q2) Define the following:grounded theory
Answer: Social theory that is rooted in observations of specific,concrete empirical details.
Q3) Define the following:concept
Answer: An idea expressed as a symbol or in words.
Q4) Define the following:temporal order
Answer: In establishing causation,the cause must come before the effect.
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Chapter 3: Ethics in Social Research
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Q1) Define the following:principle of voluntary consent
Answer: The idea that researchers must never force anyone to participate in research,and do not lie to participants unless it is necessary to accomplish a legitimate research purpose.
Q2) Describe the difference between anonymity and confidentiality.
Answer: Anonymity means that people remain anonymous or nameless.For example,a field researcher provides a social picture of an individual but gives a fictitious name and location and alters some characteristics.The subject’s identity is protected,and the individual remains unknown or anonymous.
Confidentiality can include information with participant names attached,but the researcher holds it in confidence or keeps it secret from public disclosure.The researcher releases data in a way that does not permit linking specific individuals to responses and presents it publicly only in an aggregate form (e.g.,as a percentage or statistical means).
Q3) Define the following:anonymity
Answer: Research participants remain anonymous or nameless.
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Chapter 4: Reviewing the Scholarly Literature and Planning a Study
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Q1) One response to protests against the high cost of journal subscriptions has been the creation of
A)review journals.
B)volunteer-run journals.
C)open access journals.
D)non-affiliated intellectual circles.
E)public journals.
Q2) Which of the following is the primary type of periodical to use for a literature review?
A)Book
B)Scholarly journal
C)Ph.D dissertation
D)Papers presented at professional meetings
E)Government document
Q3) Which of the following types of periodicals is designed for teaching purposes?
A)Scholarly journals
B)Readers
C)Dissertations
D)Theses
E)Abstracts
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Chapter 5: Designing a Study
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Q1) Define the following:intervening variable
Q2) Explain how a linear and nonlinear path to doing research differ,and how a preplanned vs.emergent research question differ.What types of researchers are most likely to use each?
Q3) Below is a list of features of qualitative or quantitative research.Which one is a feature of qualitative research but NOT quantitative research?
A)Measures are created in an ad hoc manner and often specific to an individual setting.
B)Standard procedures are used and replication assumed.
C)Measures are systematically created before gathering any data.
D)Concepts are in the form of distinct variables.
E)The theory is usually causal and deductive.
Q4) In the language of social research,alternative hypotheses are sometimes referred to as __________ hypotheses.
A)Null
B)Non-directional
C)Disconfirmed
D)Empirical
E)Experimental
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Chapter 6: Qualitative and Quantitative Measurement
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Q1) Define the following:concurrent validity
Q2) Define the following:reliability
Q3) Define the following:conceptual hypothesis
Q4) Use the letters marking parts of the diagram of the measurement process to identify the following part: Operational definition of the dependent variable.
A)F
B)G
C)K D)J
E)L
Q5) Define the following:interval-level measurement
Q6) Use the letters marking parts of the diagram of the measurement process to identify the following parts: Conceptual definition of the dependent variable. A)K B)G C)B D)A E)C
Q7) Define the following:empirical hypothesis
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Chapter 7: Qualitative and Quantitative Sampling
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Q1) _____ combines characteristics of the sample,such as the sample's size,with the central limit theorem for the purpose of accurately predicting specific ranges around a population parameter.
A)A confidence interval
B)Deviant case sampling
C)A sampling distribution
D)The sampling ratio
E)Probability proportionate to size (PPS)
Q2) In what situations is it appropriate to use a purposive sampling technique?
Q3) What is the type of sampling that seeks a representative sample using theories from mathematics called?
A)Nonrandom sampling
B)Quota sampling
C)Probability sampling
D)Deviant case sampling
E)Theoretical sampling
Q4) Define the following:sampling element
Q5) Define the following:census
Q6) Define the following:simple random sampling
Q7) Define the following:population
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Chapter 8: Survey Research
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Q1) Specify the major weakness with the following survey question: "The Soviets cheated on every agreement to freeze nuclear weapons development since 1950.Don't you agree that Canada should give up on establishing a limitations agreement?" 1.Yes 2.Not sure 3.No
A)It is a socially undesirable question.
B)This question is too long.
C)It is a biased or leading question.
D)It is a double-barreled question.
E)The question is ambiguous.
Q2) Define the following:full-filter question
Q3) Define the following:mode of delivery
Q4) Define the following:respondent fatigue
Q5) When are interview schedules used?
A)During telephone and face-to-face surveys
B)In mail and email surveys
C)When the survey is subject to time constraints
D)When a survey comprises closed-ended questions only
E)When a survey comprises open-ended questions only
Q6) Define the following:contingency question
Q7) Define the following:matrix question
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Chapter 9: Experimental Research
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Q1) Interaction effects occur when
A)there is an imbalance in the experimental and control group at the beginning of an experiment during the pretest.
B)there is experimenter expectancy and there is a diffusion of the treatment at the same time.
C)external validity and reactivity cannot be controlled by a double-blind experimental design.
D)in a factorial design,the impact of two variables operating in combination is greater than each of them added together.
E)instrumental effects cause history effects to get larger and ruin the post-test.
Q2) Define the following:reactivity
Q3) Define the following:mortality effect
Q4) Define the following:interrupted time series
Q5) Define the following:field experiment
Q6) Compare and contrast interrupted and equivalent time series designs.What is common to both of them? What is unique to each of them? How do interrupted and equivalent time series designs differ from pre-experimental designs?
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Chapter 10: Nonreactive Quantitative Research and Secondary Analysis
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Q1) Compared to latent coding in content analysis,manifest coding usually has
A)greater reliability than latent coding.
B)lower rates of intercoder reliability.
C)greater validity than latent coding.
D)lower reliability than latent coding.
E)subjective meanings associated with the codes.
Q2) Professor Lorna Lovebird codes the number of times the word sex is used in commercials.She is examining
A)lateral structure.
B)ecological content.
C)manifest content.
D)corroboration.
E)latent content.
Q3) Define the following:coding frame
Q4) Define the following:fallacy of misplaced concreteness
Q5) Define the following:coding system
Q6) What kind of sampling procedure would one use in quantitative content analysis research? Specify each of the main steps.
Q7) Define the following:nonreactive
Q8) Define the following:recording sheet
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Chapter 11: Analysis of Quantitative Data
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Q1) Fatima Fashionista wears a size 2 blazer.She went to her favourite clothing store and found that the mean size of the store's stock of blazers is a size 10 with a standard deviation of 4 sizes.What is her z-score in the distribution of the store's blazers?
A)zero
B)1
C)2
D)-1.5
E)-2
Q2) Define the following:Type I error
Q3) Which of the following is an example of a multivariate statistic?
A)Multiple regression
B)Standard deviation
C)Z-score
D)Chi-square
E)Age
Q4) Define the following:skewed distribution
Q5) Describe four ways a researcher can display information about univariate statistics.
Q6) Define the following:statistical significance
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Chapter 12: Qualitative Interviewing
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Q1) Define the following:indirect questions
Q2) Define the following:silence
Q3) Define the following:direct questions
Q4) A major development (project)for qualitative data resources in recent years has been
A)eliminating international restrictions which made it difficult for some to access qualitative data resources.
B)eliminating restrictions which made it difficult for researchers without academic affiliations to access qualitative data resources.
C)enforcing standards of trustworthiness in agencies that generate qualitative data.
D)discerning links between qualitative and quantitative data.
E)efforts to archive qualitative data.
Q5) Define the following:groupthink
Q6) Define the following:specifying questions
Q7) Describe five features of the qualitative interview that make it different from a normal everyday conversation.
Q8) Define the following:introducing questions
Q9) Define the following:qualitative interview
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Chapter 13: Field Research
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Q1) Dren Derob's field notes containing his observations of behaviour in a university computer lab contained the following observation: "Sandy appears very self-conscious of herself today ...she seems a little out of place ...I think she's nervous about something." What type of field note does this kind of observation refer to?
A)Direct observation note
B)Researcher inference note
C)Jotted note
D)Analytic note
E)Personal note
Q2) Define the following:external audit:
Q3) Which of the following statements best describes the art and logic of field research?
A)It is easily replicated.
B)It is the most expensive data collection technique.
C)It produces generalizable laws about human behaviour.
D)It is usually conducted by a researcher alone or in a small team.
E)It involves looking at a setting from a single point of view or perspective.
Q4) Define the following:field site
Q5) Define the following:attitude of strangeness
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Chapter 14: Nonreactive Qualitative Research
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Q1) Define the following:oral history
Q2) Define the following:critical discourse analysis
Q3) Which approach to qualitative content analysis identified by Hsiu-Fang and Shannon (2005)most closely resembles quantitative content analysis?
A)Conventional
B)Statistical
C)Inductive
D)Summative
E)Directed
Q4) Describe five specific similarities between historical research and field studies.Be certain to emphasize how both approaches are firmly grounded in the interpretive approach in social science research.
Q5) Define the following:recollections
Q6) Define the following:contextual equivalence
Q7) Define the following:archives
Q8) Define the following:discourse analysis
Q9) Define the following:narrative history
Q11) Define the following:secondary sources Page 17
Q10) Define the following:conventional content analysis
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Chapter 15: Analysis of Qualitative Data
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Q1) Define the following:flowchart
Q2) NVivo and ATLAS are examples of
A)qualitative coding strategies.
B)quantitative coding strategies.
C)qualitative coding software.
D)quantitative coding software.
E)common multiple sorting procedures.
Q3) Finding the sheer amount of data she had generated in her qualitative investigation into the agency of young persons diagnosed with cancer overwhelming,Gertrude Gordon decides to visually illustrate emerging themes and their relationships with each other.Which sort of illustration will Gertrude most likely produce?
A)Concept map
B)Flowchart
C)Analytical memo
D)Organizational chart
E)Causal diagram
Q4) Compare the key differences that set qualitative data analysis apart from quantitative data analysis.What four features differentiate these two approaches? Identify and briefly describe each one.
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Chapter 16: Combining Methods in Social Science Research
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Q1) What is one of the major disadvantages of using existing statistics compared to other quantitative forms of data collection?
A)The sample is often limited to university undergraduates.
B)Interviewer effect can be an issue.
C)A fairly limited range of research questions can be addressed with this technique.
D)It can take the researcher a considerable amount of time to become acquainted with the data.
E)The conditions under which the research and data gathering take place are often artificial.
Q2) Define the following:interviewer effect
Q3) Which of the following is not one of the weaknesses of mixed methods research?
A)It is very labour intensive.
B)It can be very expensive.
C)Conflicting results can be difficult to resolve.
D)Generalizability of findings decreases.
E)Some “purists”argue mixing methods violates the philosophical underpinnings of these approaches.
Q4) Define the following:mixed methods
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