Research Methods in Sociology
Midterm Exam
Course Introduction
Research Methods in Sociology introduces students to the fundamental techniques and principles used to investigate social phenomena. The course covers both qualitative and quantitative research methods, including survey design, interviews, participant observation, content analysis, and statistical analysis. Students learn how to formulate research questions, design studies, collect and analyze data, and interpret findings within ethical and theoretical frameworks. Emphasis is placed on developing critical thinking and practical skills necessary for conducting original sociological research and critically evaluating existing studies.
Recommended Textbook
Statistics A Tool for Social Research 8th Edition by Joseph F. Healey
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Chapter 1: Introduction
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Q1) A survey administered to a sample drawn from a local community finds that a person's political party affiliation is related to whether or not they favor an increase in local sales tax (the headline of a newspaper story based on this poll reads: "Republicans support proposed tax increase").This is an example of the use of
A)univariate descriptive statistics.
B)inferential statistics.
C)multivariate descriptive statistics.
D)reductionist statistics.
Answer: B
Q2) If a variable is discrete,it cannot be A)continuous.
B)interval-ratio.
C)observable.
D)ordinal.
Answer: A
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Chapter 2: Basic Descriptive Statistics: Percentages, Ratios
and Rates, Tables, Charts and Graphs
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Q1) The study mentioned in the text shows that monitoring and surveillance of employees
A)increased gradually until 1995 and then sharply decreased.
B)increased since 1997.
C)has been surprisingly constant since the late 1990s.
D)is virtually nonexistent in the U.S.
Answer: B
Q2) Cumulative frequencies and cumulative percentages allow a researcher to
A)be sure the column totals are correct.
B)tell at a glance how many cases fall above or below a given category.
C)show the accuracy of his or her findings.
D)all of the above
Answer: B
Q3) Proportions and percentages,ratios and rates are all ways of expressing
A)concise distributions of a variable
B)data without leaving out any details
C)relative frequencies
D)raw frequencies
Answer: C
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Chapter 3: Measures of Central Tendency
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Q1) If the scores of an even number of cases are arranged from high to low,the median is A)the middle score.
B)the average of the two middle scores.
C)the average of the highest and lowest scores.
D)the same as the mode.
Answer: B
Q2) In a positively skewed distribution the mean is A)equal in value to the median.
B)greater in value than the median.
C)less in value than the median.
D)either a or b,depending on the value of the mode.
Answer: B
Q3) What is the mean of the following scores? 13\( \quad\)18\( \quad\)23\( \quad\)35\( \quad\)41 A)23
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: Measures of Dispersion
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Q1) A "good" measure of dispersion should
A)use all scores in a distribution.
B)describe the average or typical deviation of the scores.
C)be easy to calculate and interpret.
D)all of the above
Q2) If you calculated the standard deviation for a distribution of 20 scores,removed the 5 highest scores and recalculated,the value of the standard deviation would
A)increase.
B)stay the same.
C)decrease.
D)be reduced by five.
Q3) Measures of dispersion indicate the degree to which a set of scores is
A)heterogeneous.
B)ambiguous.
C)average.
D)typical.
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Chapter 5: The Normal Curve
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Q1) On all normal curves the area between the mean and\(\pm\)2 standard deviations will be
A)about 34% of the total areA.
B)about 95% of the total area.
C)less than 50% of the total area.
D)about 68% of the total area.
Q2) When an empirical normal distribution of scores is standardized,
A)the mean will become 0.
B)the standard deviation will become 1.
C)each score will be converted to a Z score.
D)all of the above
Q3) The Z score table gives the area between a score and the mean.For a Z score of -1.00,that area (in percentages)is
A)34.13%.
B)-34.13%.
C)68.26%.
D)-68.26%.
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Chapter 6: Introduction to Inferential Statistics: Sampling and
the Sampling Distribution
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Q1) Unless a sample is ____,it cannot be used to make accurate generalizations to a population.
A)very large
B)non-probability
C)representative
D)stratified
Q2) Tables of random numbers,such as the one available at the website for this text,provide one way to assure A)compliance with the rule of EPSEM.
B)cheap samples.
C)representative samples.
D)large samples.
Q3) Statistics are to parameters as
A)samples are to populations.
B)populations are to samples.
C)medians are to standard deviations.
D)percentages are to proportions.
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Chapter 7: Estimation Procedures
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Q1) A random sample of 500 reports an average yearly income of $42,000 with a standard deviation of $1000.An estimate of the parameter at the 95% level is about $175 wide.In this research situation,
A)the parameter is $42,000.
B)the sample is unrepresentative.
C)the alpha level is 0.05.
D)the sample mean is $175.
Q2) Instruction: For each situation below,construct the 95% confidence interval estimate to the population.Assume that the results are based on a nationally representative sample.Express the estimate in a sentence. Refer to the instruction.The average number of children for the 945 respondents for which we have information was 1.98 with a standard deviation of 1.04.
Q3) To decrease the probability that a confidence interval will NOT include the population parameter, A)lower the alpha level. B)raise the alpha level. C)increase the bias of the sample statistiC. D)set efficiency to zero.
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Chapter 8: Hypothesis Testing I: the One-Sample Case
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Q1) All tests of hypothesis are based on the assumption that
A)the null hypothesis is false and should be rejected.
B)the observed difference is important.
C)the null hypothesis is true.
D)Type I errors are more serious than Type II errors.
Q2) The records of the state Division of Motor Vehicles reveals that 23% of all drivers have been ticketed at least once.Twenty-five percent of a random sample of older drivers in the state have gotten at least one ticket.This difference has been tested and the researcher has failed to reject the null hypothesis.What can be concluded?
A)Older drivers are better drivers.
B)Older drivers are worse drivers.
C)There is no significant difference between older drivers and drivers in general in terms of number of tickets.
D)Older drivers are significantly different from drivers in general.
Q3) The research and null hypotheses ____ each other.
A)contradict
B)complement
C)amplify
D)rescind
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Chapter 9: Hypothesis Testing II: the Two-Sample Case
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Q1) Very large random samples of Catholics and Protestants have been questioned about their opinions on cohabitation.Forty-six percent of the Protestant and 47% of the Catholics approve of males and females living together without being married.The difference has been tested and found to be statistically significant.What is the most reasonable conclusion?
A)This is a statistically significant and important difference.
B)This difference may be statistically significant but it seems unimportant.
C)This difference is due to random chance.
D)The researcher should have used sample means rather than proportions in this situation.
Q2) When testing for the significance of the difference between two sample means,the standard deviation of the sampling distribution is estimated using A)population standard deviations.
B)the standard error of the means.
C)degrees of freedom.
D)sample standard deviations corrected for bias.
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Chapter 10: Hypothesis Testing III: the Analysis of Variance
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Q1) According to the tests reported in the text,which of the following is true?
A)divorced individuals had significantly higher rates of sexual activity than any other group
B)widowed individuals were not significantly different from the other groups in their rate of sexual activity
C)married individuals had a significantly higher frequency of sex than any other group
D)single individuals reported significantly lower number of different sexual partners over the past five years
Q2) A researcher has analyzed differences in average College Board scores for random samples of students from four different colleges.The obtained F score is 0.45.What can be concluded about the null hypothesis?
A)Nothing,more information is needed.
B)Reject,the differences did not occur by random chance.
C)Fail to reject,differences are not statistically significant.
D)Fail to reject,differences are statistically significant.
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Chapter 11: Hypothesis Testing Iv: Chi Square
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Q1) Cell frequencies computed under the assumption that the null hypothesis is true are called
A)observed frequencies.
B)experimental frequencies.
C)expected frequencies.
D)random frequencies.
Q2) In a 2x2 table,if one cell frequency is known,
A)all other cell frequencies are determined.
B)two other cell frequencies are determined.
C)one other cell frequency is determined.
D)none of the other cell frequencies is determineD.
Q3) According to the theory presented in the text,which social class should have the strongest support for independent thinking as a goal of socialization?
A)people lower in class
B)people higher in class
C)rural dwellers
D)the upper-upper class (the "super rich")
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Chapter 12: Bivariate Association: Introduction and Basic Concepts
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Q1) The distribution of scores on the dependent variable for a specific category of the independent variable is called
A)associated categories.
B)the distribution correlation.
C)the conditional distribution of Y.
D)the marginal response category.
Q2) One way to detect an association between variables is the chi square statistic.Variables are associated if obtained chi square is
A)greater than zero.
B)less than zero.
C)greater than 10.
D)greater than 100.
Q3) "As the temperature rises,the crime rate increases."
A)This is a positive relationship.
B)If the temperature falls below zero degrees,there is no crime.
C)If the temperature would remain stable,the crime rate would stay the same.
D)Criminals should be incarcerated in Alaska.
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Chapter 13: Association Between Variables Measured at the
Nominal Level
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Q1) When using bivariate tables to investigate association,researchers should always ____ in addition to analyzing measures of association.
A)calculate chi square
B)calculate column percentages
C)conduct an ANOVA test
D)calculate means,standard deviations,and medians
Q2) When selecting measures of association to assess the relationship between variables measured at different levels,social scientists generally choose the measure
A)that is appropriate for the lower of the levels.
B)that is appropriate for the higher of the levels.
C)the measure that makes their results look best.
D)the measure with the highest numerical value.
Q3) Which is the correct expression for finding E<sub>1</sub>?
A)N - k
B)N - E<sub>2</sub>
C)phi - V
D)N - (largest row total)
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Chapter 14: Association Between Variables Measured at the
Ordinal Level
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Q1) Gamma measures the proportional reduction in error when predicting
A)the order of pairs of cases on one variable.
B)the order of pairs of cases on both variables.
C)the order of a pair of cases on one variable with knowledge of the order of the pair on the other variable.
D)none of the above
Q2) A researcher tested the relationship between occupational prestige and level of approval of a proposal to ban handguns in the state and found a gamma of -0.17.This means that
A)as prestige goes up,support for the ban goes down.
B)the electorate will approve the ban.
C)support for the ban is highest among the rich.
D)support tends to increase as prestige increases.
Q3) Gamma is based on two prediction rules.In the first,we ____ and in the second we
A)ignore X,take X into account
B)ignore Y,take X into account
C)ignore X,take Y into account
D)ignore both X and Y,take only Y into account
Page 16
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Chapter 15: Association Between Variables Measured at the
Interval-Ratio Level
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Q1) After scores of all cases have been located on a scattergram,a straight line drawn so that it comes as close as possible to touching every score is called the
A)regression line.
B)line of approximation.
C)cluster line.
D)scattergram summary.
Q2) By convention,the independent variable is arrayed along the ____ in a scattergram.
A)vertical axis (the ordinate)
B)regression line
C)horizontal axis (the abscissa)
D)calibration line
Q3) One important function of the least-squares regression equation is that
A)we can use it to tell if a relationship is linear.
B)it summarizes all possible scores on the two variables.
C)it makes the scattergram symmetrical.
D)it allows us to predict Y scores for any value of X.
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Chapter 16: Elaborating Bivariate Tables
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Q1) In an interactive relationship,the conditional distributions of Y in the partial tables would be ____ and the conditional distributions of Y in the bivariate table would be
A)different from each other,different from the partial tables
B)the same,the same as the partial tables.
C)different from each other,the same as the partial tables
D)the same,the same as the partial tables
Q2) Lambda computed on a bivariate table was .34.Lambdas computed on partial tables were .02 and .05.What step should the researcher take next?
A)disregard Z and select a new control variable
B)incorporate Z into the analysis
C)disregard Y and select a new dependent variable
D)Z should become the new dependent variable
Q3) The elaboration technique controls for a third variable by
A)fixing its values so they are no longer free to vary.
B)eliminating the variable from the analysis.
C)replacing its values with those of the independent.
D)adding a column to the bivariate table to include the control variable.
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Chapter 17: Partial Correlation and Multiple Regression and Correlation
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Q1) Standardized partial slopes can be computed by
A)converting all scores to Z scores.
B)converting all scores to percentages.
C)converting the partial slopes to Z scores.
D)taking a percentage of the partial slopes.
Q2) A researcher is trying to determine if income (X<sub>1</sub>)or number of friends (X<sub>2</sub>)is more important in determining personal happiness (Y).Which of the following would be the most profitable course of action?
A)examine the standardized partial slopes of X<sub>1</sub> and X<sub>2</sub> on Y
B)examine the unstandardized partial slopes of X<sub>1 </sub>and X<sub>2</sub> on Y
C)compute the partial correlation coefficient for X<sub>1</sub> and X<sub>2</sub> controlling for Y
D)examine the partial slope of Y on each independent separately
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