Research Methods in the Social Sciences Test Bank
Course Introduction
Research Methods in the Social Sciences introduces students to the fundamental principles, techniques, and ethical considerations of conducting research within various social science disciplines. The course covers both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, including research design, data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Students learn how to develop research questions, evaluate sources, utilize surveys and interviews, and understand statistical tools. Emphasis is placed on critical thinking, ethical research practices, and the application of appropriate methods to address real-world social issues, preparing students to conduct independent research and critically assess the research of others.
Recommended Textbook
The Art and Science of Social Research 1st Edition by Deborah Carr
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16 Chapters
891 Verified Questions
891 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The Art and Science of Social Research: An Introduction
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58 Verified Questions
58 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is an example of a quantitative method?
A)textual analysis of historical documents
B)structured interviews
C)surveys
D)ethnographic fieldwork
Answer: C
Q2) In her study of 50 middle-class heterosexual black women,sociologist Averil Clarke found that the women's singlehood was due to
A)personal choice.
B)a decision to prioritize career over romance.
C)persistent social inequalities.
D)personal reasons that varied by individual.
Answer: C
Q3) In order to successfully use the scientific method,a researcher must
A)have a degree in a scientific field,or be pursuing one.
B)study living humans.
C)gather and analyze data.
D)construct a hypothesis that shows variables in relation to one another.
Answer: C
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Chapter 2: Research Foundations: Linking Sociological
Theory to Research
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57 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following activities demonstrates empiricism?
A)observing and counting people who use cell phones while walking through a park
B)reflecting on the reasons why people use technology in the ways that they do
C)reading expert opinions about appropriate technology use
D)relying on common sense to make personal choices about cell phone use while walking
Answer: A
Q2) A hypothesis is a ________ statement of a(n)________ between two concepts.
A)quantitative;correlation
B)reasonable;empirical
C)testable;relationship
D)null;association
Answer: C
Q3) The goal in research involving a hypothesis is to
A)prove the hypothesis.
B)disprove the null hypothesis.
C)infer an empirical hypothesis.
D)test hypotheses without expecting to prove or disprove them.
Answer: B
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Chapter 3: Ethical Issues in Social Science Research
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59 Verified Questions
59 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) What did Nazi concentration camp experiments and the Tuskegee syphilis experiment have in common?
A)Researchers inflicted deliberate harm on research subjects.
B)Research subjects signed informed consents,but didn't understand them.
C)Researchers failed to share their findings in a manner that would benefit society.
D)Researchers promised to follow the Belmont Report principles,but then didn't.
Answer: A
Q2) Linda writes a poem about the mayor of her town,including identifiable details.Linda's poem is NOT considered human subjects research because A)poetry is not systematic;it is not designed to develop generalizable knowledge.
B)she is only "studying" one person,not a research sample of multiple persons.
C)her work does not fall within a social science discipline.
D)there is no risk of harm to the mayor.
Answer: A
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Chapter 4: From Concepts to Models: Hypotheses,
Operationalization, and Measurement
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Sample Questions
Q1) When a researcher decides to represent adolescent risk behaviors with variables about illegal drug use and the use of tobacco products,he or she is
A)moving from an abstract to a more concrete phase of the study.
B)deciding to give up some precision by focusing only on two representations of risk behaviors.
C)assuming that illegal drug use and tobacco use is only risky for adolescents.
D)choosing risk behaviors that are universally agreed to be the most important.
Q2) Reports,observations,artifact counts,and manipulation are the four basic
A)processes of creating variables.
B)forms of conceptualization.
C)forms of measurement.
D)forms of analysis units.
Q3) Write one paragraph identifying a research question that clearly includes an example of a conceptual definition,an operational definition,and a measurement.In your answer,be clear to distinguish between these three components and state their relative levels of abstractness.
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Chapter 5: Evaluating Research: Reliability and Validity
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39 Verified Questions
39 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The NAS poverty line may offer a more accurate picture of poverty in the United States than the FPL,but it
A)is not possible to use it in all 50 states.
B)may not take into account geographic differences.
C)may not be as reliable a measure over time.
D)gives a much more negative picture of poverty in the United States.
Q2) Critics of the federal poverty line (FPL)point out that it does not take regional variation in cost of living into account and that what constitutes an adequate diet is highly subjective.Because of these and other issues,the FPL leads to which of the following?
A)It looks like there are more poor people in America than there actually are.
B)Many Americans who are poor do not get counted as poor when they should be.
C)It seems like most Americans are middle-class.
D)Wealthy people might look they are actually middle-class.
Q3) Which of the following is an assumption of OLS regression?
A)The dependent variable will predict changes in the independent variable.
B)The values in a sample follow a bell curve pattern or normal distribution.
C)The coefficient will be -0.50.
D)Cases in the sample are not randomly selected.
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Page 7
Chapter 6: Sampling Strategies
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Sample Questions
Q1) If you want to ________,a nonrepresentative sample would be better than a representative one.
A)describe the population
B)estimate national attitudes
C)initially test a hypothesis
D)report national trends
Q2) List and describe two reasons why it may be more effective to test hypotheses in nonrepresentative samples than representative samples.
Q3) ________ sampling allows researchers to oversample groups so that researchers have more data on those groups than they would with simple random sampling.
A)Systematic
B)Stratified
C)Convenience
D)Cluster
Q4) What is the best sampling strategy?
A)using past experience and intuition to select cases
B)It depends upon the type of study being conducted.
C)using clustering or stratification as opposed to simple random sampling
D)making sure that you have a representative sample of the population
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Chapter 8: Experimental Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) In establishing causality,which of the following conditions,in practice,is the MOST challenging?
A)There must exist an independent and dependent variable at the same time.
B)The two variables must be correlated.
C)The cause must precede the effect in repeated experiments.
D)The relationship between the independent variable and dependent variable must not be caused by some other factor.
Q2) Kendra is interested in the relationship between spirituality and aggressiveness.Which method should she choose if she is interested in eliminating spuriousness?
A)survey
B)experiment
C)ethnography
D)archival analysis
Q3) Which of the following is an example of a physiological measure?
A)a score on a racial bias test
B)heart rate
C)whether employers called job applicants back
D)a response to the survey question: "Have you attended church,synagogue,or mosque in the last seven days?"
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Chapter 9: Evaluation Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) In a 2002 report,researchers found that in reduced-size classes in California,34% of third-grade students scored above the national median in reading,compared with what percentage of third graders in regular-size classes?
A)22
B)32
C)42
D)52
Q2) A poverty organization in Los Angeles is testing the intervention of cash handouts to women on welfare.Though they may produce robust sociological data,randomized field experiments such as this one carry serious ethical concerns.What is one likely ethical concern of such a project?
A)The intervention may not work.
B)If cash handouts for one group of women will increase,cash handouts for another group will decrease from their previous levels.
C)The study participants may spend their money too quickly.
D)Researchers may be arbitrarily denying some people of a known benefit.
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Chapter 10: Ethnography
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Sample Questions
Q1) You are proposing an ethnographic study about brain surgeons in the operating room.Of the four fieldworker roles,which one will you most likely choose,and why? Choose one other role and explain why it would not be suitable.
Q2) Michael Burawoy began his research by reading Marxist theory about class consciousness.He then conducted fieldwork with factory workers,with the goal of improving or modifying theory.He calls this approach
A)grounded theory.
B)extended case study.
C)community study.
D)neighborhood study.
Q3) A researcher might wish to adopt the role of participant observer,but finds that observer is the better option.Among which social group would this MOST likely be the case?
A)Internet trolls
B)a political group with which the researcher disagrees
C)brain surgeons
D)a German language club
Q4) Do you think ethnography is more of a science,more of an art,or both art and science? Explain your answer.
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Chapter 11: In-Depth Interviewing
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Sample Questions
Q1) Mark is interviewing Abdul about cross-country running.Abdul tells a story about a time when he was running alone in a remote location,and broke his ankle.Which question would represent a probe?
A)What is your opinion,then,of runners running alone?
B)Did you ever incur an injury like that again?
C)How should athletic organizations attempt to prevent injuries?
D)Do you generally enjoy remote locations?
Q2) When the interviewee goes off on a tangent,the interviewer must find a polite and effective way to ________ the interview.
A)redirect
B)probe
C)focus
D)redesign
Q3) FrameWorks Institute conducts in-depth interview research about social and scientific issues.What question is best suited for an in-depth interview approach?
A)How is this rally typical of other rallies?
B)What motivates people to participate in rallies?
C)How have rallies changed over time?
D)Are protest rallies happening more frequently?
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Chapter 12: Materials-Based Methods
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61 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) A researcher needs to create a decision rule to
A)settle differences between multiple researchers analyzing a data set.
B)assign difficult material to a category in a coding scheme.
C)determine when sufficient data have been collected.
D)decide that a coding scheme is complete.
Q2) Michelle collects five new reports and adds them to her data set.She finds that these new reports add nothing new;rather,they reinforce what she has already found.Michelle has reached the point of A)factual knowledge.
B)saturation.
C)proven hypotheses.
D)testing the counterfactuals.
Q3) In a materials-based study of American popular music,Jenny uses episodes of the American Music Awards from the last 10 years.These episodes are best classified as A)reports.
B)news media.
C)records.
D)media.
Q4) What are three main reasons that researchers use materials-based methods?
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Chapter 13: Social Network Analysis
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Sample Questions
Q1) Michon plans a social network study of a hospital.She specifies the boundaries by
A)choosing a hospital.
B)deciding to focus on surgeons at the hospital.
C)collecting data and diagramming the social network of surgeons.
D)selecting particular research methods.
Q2) List and describe two significant drawbacks of collecting social network data via electronic networks.
Q3) How do ties relate to nodes?
A)Ties and nodes are the same thing.
B)Nodes are human social actors;ties are institutional social actors.
C)Ties are links that connect the nodes in a social network.
D)Nodes are positive social links;ties are negative social links.
Q4) Social scientists conducting social network analysis
A)always use quantitative methods,because data sets are so large.
B)pick and choose from a family of methods,including both quantitative and qualitative.
C)almost always conduct research online,because larger networks are accessible online.
D)may study large groups,small groups,or just one person.
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Page 14
Chapter 14: Univariate and Bivariate Analysis of Quantitative Data
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54 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Define the terms standard deviation and percentiles.Then,evaluate which measure you think best describes variation to the average American.Justify your choice.
Q2) You are presenting results of a study on income inequality to the local community,the members of which have little to no statistical training.Which measure of variation would be the best for you to use to describe the variation in income to the community?
A)mean
B)percentile
C)range
D)standard deviation
Q3) The Houston Area Survey is conducted annually by the Kinder Institute at Rice University.A representative sample is surveyed each year,and the Houston Area Survey is a rich source of data on how Houstonians have changed over time.What type of study is the Houston Area Survey?
A)one-time cross-sectional survey
B)repeated cross-sectional survey
C)one-time panel survey
D)repeated panel survey
Q4) Should researchers report means of ordinal variables? Why or why not?
Page 15
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Chapter 15: Multivariate and Advanced Quantitative Methods
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Sample Questions
Q1) A researcher examines the possible effect of single-sex high-school education on men's college grades.He provides tables of his final results,which include several p-values that are less than 0.05,but he does not describe his many preliminary analyses,nor does he ever specify which high-school type he expects to predict higher grades among male college students.The scientific community is likely to have concerns over his interpretation of the p-values primarily because the researcher A)does not hypothesize which high-school type should predict higher college grades. B)does not also study the potential effect of single-sex schools for women.
C)was not transparent with the number and type of analyses he conducted.
D)does not study any measures of college outcomes other than grades.
Q2) If certain values or responses on one variable tend to co-occur with certain values on another variable,we would interpret this as the existence of a(n)
A)association.
B)elaboration.
C)path diagram.
D)confounding.
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Page 16
Chapter 16: Analysis of Qualitative Data
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why do qualitative researchers write memos? Offer two examples of steps in the research process where memos might be helpful.
Q2) Bruce wants to develop a study that has as much transparency in the analysis as possible.He follows Dr.Debra Umberson's advice,so he
A)publishes all his data online.
B)has more than one person code the data.
C)uses more time and patience in the analysis phase.
D)models his data verbally instead of visually.
Q3) What would happen if a social scientist took an emic approach to a study about how life in refugee camps affects children's education? The scientist would
A)use logic,rigor,and transparency to produce a quality study.
B)maintain distance from respondents in order to increase objectivity.
C)move into the refugee camp in order to experience life as the refugees do.
D)establish a cause-and-effect relationship between two variables.
Q4) You are conducting a study of elderly women in nursing homes and how their quality of life is affected by participation in group activities.Give an example of an attribute code,an index code,and an analytic code that you could use to analyze data.For each,explain why it fits its category.
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Page 17
Chapter 17: Communicating Social Science Research
Findings
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Sample Questions
Q1) Anneli plans a study of surgeons' willingness to report their own eye health problems (problems that threaten their ability to continue working).She starts with a pilot study,which
A)surveys optometrists about their views of surgeons.
B)tests her methodology on a different topic and population.
C)surveys a small number of surgeons,serving as a test run of the methodology.
D)is very broad,including multiple disciplines and methodologies,so she can narrow down to the best ones.
Q2) Lucinda completes her study of people's attitudes toward affirmative action,but while analyzing the data,she realizes she should have reworded certain questions in her survey.What should Lucinda do with this insight?
A)do not write about it;let the reader determine the quality of the data
B)include this limitation in the discussion section;it is a sign of having a critical mind
C)write a separate essay that describes how the research could have been done differently
D)abandon the project and start over with a study that won't have significant limitations
Q3) What is the difference between a policy brief and an amicus brief?
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