Social Science Research Methods
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Course Introduction
Social Science Research Methods introduces students to the foundational principles and techniques used to investigate social phenomena systematically. The course covers both qualitative and quantitative research designs, including surveys, interviews, case studies, experiments, and participant observation. Students learn to formulate research questions, collect and analyze data, interpret findings, and critically assess the strengths and limitations of various methodologies. Emphasis is placed on ethical considerations, sampling strategies, measurement, and the application of statistical tools. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to design their own research projects and critically evaluate social science research in academic and real-world contexts.
Recommended Textbook
Research Methods for the Behavioral Sciences 4th Edition by Frederick J Gravetter
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Chapter 1: Introduction, Acquiring Knowledge, and the
Scientific Method
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Q1) Finding information in a textbook would be an example of using the rational method of inquiry.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Based on limited experience with daises in my flower garden,I have concluded that these flowers require almost no care at all.This conclusion is an example of
A)inductive reasoning.
B)deductive reasoning.
C)practical reasoning.
D)predictive reasoning.
Answer: A
Q3) A person who buys a lottery ticket because he just feels lucky is using A) the method of empiricism.
B) the method of faith.
C) the method of tenacity.
D) the method of intuition.
Answer: D
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Chapter 2: Research Ideas
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Q1) Which of the following items is not provided in a detailed record for item in PsycInfo?
A)title
B)abstract
C)details of research methodology
D)all of the other items are provided
Answer: C
Q2) A common mistake in choosing a research topic is to pick a topic that is too easy.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) An empirical journal article is an example of a ________ source.
A)primary
B)secondary
C)premier
D)germinal
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: Defining and Measuring Variables
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Q1) Establishing the reliability of a measurement procedure by using the procedure to measure the same individuals twice and comparing the two sets of scores is known as A)split-half reliability.
B)internal reliability.
C)test-retest reliability.
D)inter-rater reliability.
Answer: C
Q2) The behavior observed in a research study may be very different from behavior in normal circumstances because the participants modify their behavior when they know that they are being studied.This problem is known as A)reactivity.
B)novelty.
C)experimenter bias.
D)volunteerism.
Answer: A
Q3) A measurement procedure can be reliable without being valid. A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 4: Ethics in Research
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Q1) Researchers often use a coding system to identify data during the course of a research study.The reason for using codes is
A)to ensure that participants have complete informed consent.
B)to help protect confidentiality.
C)to help with data analysis.
D)it is a required part of all research with human participants.
Q2) Using someone else's ideas in your research report without a citation is plagiarism even if you have paraphrased the ideas in your own words.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Prior to the end of WWII,guidelines for research ethics were established
A)by the Nuremberg Code.
B)by the APA Ethics Code.
C)by the National Research Act and the Belmont Report.
D)There were no guidelines.Individual researchers were presumed to establish their own ethical guidelines.
Q4) Briefly explain why a researcher might find it necessary to use deception in a research study.
Q5) Describe the factors that influence a debriefing's effectiveness.
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Chapter 5: Selecting Research Participants
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Sample Questions
Q1) Dr.Near conducts an experiment on memory using participants above the age of 65.Because she cannot include all people above the age of 65,she selects a A)sample. B)world.
C)population. D)subgroup.
Q2) Which of the following is not required for a simple random sample from a population of 20 individuals?
A)Each individual in the population has a 1/20 probability of being selected.
B)The selection of one individual is independent of the selection of any other individual.
C)After 20 selections,each individual must have been selected exactly one time.
D)The individual obtained on any specific selection must be unpredictable.
Q3) When a researcher does not know the exact number of individuals in the population,it is necessary to use a nonprobability sampling method. A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Research Strategies and Validity
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Q1) A research _______ is a general plan for implementing the research strategy.
A)procedure
B)design
C)study
D)protocol
Q2) As the values for one variable decrease from one person to another,the values for a second variable also tend to decrease.This is an example of a __________ relationship.
A)positive
B)negative
C)curvilinear
D)These data show no consistent relationship.
Q3) The purpose of the descriptive research strategy is to describe the relationship between two variables.
A)True
B)False
Q4) An extraneous variable is any variable that is part of a research study but not directly investigated.
A)True
B)False
Page 8
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Chapter 7: The Experimental Research Strategy
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Q1) Holding a specific variable constant guarantees that the variable cannot be a confounding variable.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Dr.Jones is interested in studying how indoor lighting can influence people's moods during the winter.A sample of 100 households is selected.Fifty of the homes are randomly assigned to the bright-light condition where Dr.Jones replaces all the lights with 100-watt bulbs.In the other 50 houses,all the lights are changed to 60-watt bulbs.After two months,Dr.Jones measures the level of depression for the people living in the houses.In this study,the independent variable is
A)the brightness of the lights.
B)the level of depression.
C)the houses with 100-watt bulbs.
D)the houses with 60-watt bulbs.
Q3) A no-treatment control group is a condition in which participants
A)receive a zero-value of the independent variable.
B)receive the treatment.
C)receive a fake treatment.
D)receive a non-zero value of the independent variable.
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Chapter 8: Experimental Designs: Between-Subjects Design
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Q1) A limitation of a single-factor multiple group design is that
A)the mean differences between the groups become smaller as more groups are used.
B)it is simple to interpret.
C)it increases the chances of demonstrating a significant mean difference.
D)it may not provide a complete picture of the relationship between the variables.
Q2) In a between-subjects experiment,when the process of assigning participants to the treatment conditions produces groups with different characteristics,the _____ of the study is threatened.
A)internal validity
B)external validity
C)reliability
D)accuracy
Q3) In a between-subjects experiment,increasing the variance within treatments increases the likelihood of finding significant differences between treatments.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Explain the benefit of independent scores in a between-subjects design.
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Chapter 9: Experimental Designs: Within-Subjects Design
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Q1) Describe a matched-subjects design and explain how this design attempts to avoid the major problems that exist with a between-subject design and a within-subjects design.
Q2) A researcher is evaluating the changes in performance that occur during a 6-week training program.Participants are observed at the beginning and at the end of the program and the researcher rates each individual's level of performance.If the researcher's standards for rating performance change from the first observation to the last,then the internal validity of the study is threatened by A)history.
B)instrumentation.
C)maturation.
D)statistical regression.
Q3) If one or more of the treatments in an experiment is expected to have a large and long-lasting effect that could influence the participants' scores in later treatments,the best strategy is to use a between-subjects design.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Under what circumstances is a within-subjects design not a good choice for a research study?
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Chapter 10: The Nonexperimental and Quasi-Experimental Strategies: Nonequivalent Group, Pre-Post, and Developmental Designs
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Q1) The changes that occur as a person ages from child to adult to elderly,are called cohort effects.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Describe the similarities and differences between time-series and interrupted time-series designs.
Q3) The pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design reduces the threat of assignment bias and limits time-related threats and therefore is a quasi-experimental design.
A)True
B)False
Q4) One of the primary advantages of a pretest-posttest nonequivalent control group design,in comparison to other nonequivalent group designs,is A)the posttest scores can help reduce threats from history effects.
B)the pretest scores can help reduce the threat of assignment bias.
C)the posttest scores can help reduce the threat of differential history.
D)the pretest scores can help reduce the threat of differential history.
Page 12
Q5) Describe the similarities and differences between experiments and nonexperiments or quasi-experiments.
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Chapter 11: Factorial Designs
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Q1) If the means for a two-factor study are displayed in a graph and the lines in the graph are perfectly parallel,then what can you conclude about the main effects and interaction?
A)There is no main effect for either of the two factors.
B)There is a main effect for both of the two factors.
C)There is no interaction between factors.
D)There are no main effects and no interaction between factors.
Q2) A two-factor study with two levels of factor A and three levels of factor B uses a separate group of n = 5 participants in each treatment condition.How many participants are needed for the entire study?
A) 5
B) 10
C) 25
D) 30
Q3) Explain what it means to say that main effects and interactions are all independent.
Q4) In a two-factor design,there are two separate main effects.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Describe two situations in which factorial designs are commonly used.
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Chapter 12: The Correlational Research Strategy
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Q1) Describe the third-variable problem and the directionality problem in correlational research.Explain how these problems make it impossible to obtain an unambiguous cause-and-effect conclusion from a correlational study.
Q2) Suppose there is a correlation of +0.87 between the length of time a person is in prison and the amount of aggression the person displays on a psychological inventory.This means that spending a longer amount of time in prison causes people to become more aggressive.
Q3) Describe the differences between a correlational study and differential research.
Q4) A defining characteristic of the correlational study is
A)the research is conducted in field settings rather than in a laboratory.
B)the intent is simply to describe behaviors.
C)the intent is to demonstrate the relationship between variables.
D)the other three options are all defining characteristics of the correlational study.
Q5) It is possible for a sample to have a real,non-zero correlation,even though the correlation for the general population is zero.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 13: Descriptive Research Strategy
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Q1) A political scientist uses a survey to determine whether college students' sleeping habits are related to their grade point averages.This researcher is using the descriptive survey research design.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The goal of the descriptive research strategy is
A)to describe an individual person or patient in great detail.
B)to describe a variable (or variables)as they exist naturally.
C)to describe the relationship between two variables.
D)to establish the existence of a cause and effect relationship between variables.
Q3) The case study design can be useful for studying unusual clinical cases such as rare psychiatric disorders.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Although a case study typically involves a single participant,the results can serve as a counterexample that influences an entire theory.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 14: Single-Subject Research Designs
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Q1) The success of a single-subject experiment depends on demonstrating that behavior changes when the treatment is implemented and then repeating the demonstration at least one more time.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Discuss the general advantages and disadvantages of single-subject research compared to traditional group designs.
Q3) A researcher begins an ABAB design but finds that the participant shows no change in behavior when the first treatment phase is administered.The research can
A)withdraw the treatment and return to baseline.
B)introduce a modified version of the treatment.
C)introduce a completely different treatment.
D)a variety of options are available including all of the other three choices.
Q4) If a clinician wanted to determine whether a specific treatment causes a change in a client's behavior,a single-subject design could be used.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Describe the goal of a single-subject research study.
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Chapter 15: Statistical Evaluation of Data
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Sample Questions
Q1) A researcher records the average age for a group of 25 preschool children selected to participate in a research study.The average age is an example of a statistic.
A)True
B)False
Q2) For scores measured on a nominal scale of measurement (for example,job classification),which measure of central tendency is appropriate?
A)mean
B)median
C)mode
D)standard deviation
Q3) The purpose of a hypothesis test is
A)to measures the strength of the relationship between two variables.
B)to determine the direction of the relationship between two variables.
C)to determine whether the patterns observed in sample data justify a conclusion that there are corresponding patterns in the population.
D)all of the other options are goals of a hypothesis test.
Q4) Explain the concept of statistical significance.Be sure that the concept of an alpha level in included in your explanation.
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Chapter 16: Writing a Research Report
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Q1) When citing more than one publication within the same parentheses,list the items in order by date.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The results section of an APA-style research report begins immediately following the method section,not on a new page.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which is the correct order of parts in a research report?
A)abstract,title page,introduction,references,method,results,and discussion
B)title page,introduction,method,results,discussion,abstract,and references
C)title page,abstract,introduction,method,results,discussion,and references
D)abstract,references,title page,introduction,method,results,and discussion
Q4) The method section of an APA-style research report
A)provides a general description of the study.
B)provides enough detail so that another researcher can duplicate the study.
C)includes a results subsection.
D)gives a report of the results.
Q5) Describe the two subsections typically contained in a methods section of an APA-style research report.
Page 19
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