Social Science Research
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Course Introduction
Social Science Research introduces students to the fundamental concepts, methodologies, and ethical considerations involved in studying human behavior and societies. The course covers both qualitative and quantitative research methods, including survey design, interviews, observation, and data analysis techniques. Emphasis is placed on developing critical thinking, formulating research questions, constructing hypotheses, and interpreting research findings. Through practical assignments and case studies, students learn how to conduct independent research projects, evaluate published studies, and apply research skills to real-world social issues. This course equips learners with the essential tools to understand, assess, and contribute to the field of social science.
Recommended Textbook
Understanding Research 2nd Edition by W. Lawrence Neuman
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Why Do Research
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Q1) This type of data collection typically requires that a researcher closely observes a small group of people over a length of time.
A) ethnographic field research
B) surveys
C) quantitative data collection
D) historical-comparative research
Answer: A
Q2) Briefly describe the difference between qualitative data and quantitative data.
Answer: qualitative words,images;quantitative = numbers
Q3) An ongoing process of accumulating information is______research.
Answer: empirical social
Q4) Quantitative Research experiments
A) are also called survey research.
B) do not follow the logic found in natural science research.
C) require a well-defined research question.
D) have nothing to do with science.
Answer: C
Q5) Which is more important,the type of data collected or whether the data are trustworthy? Why?
Answer: Data are trustworthy- invalid data,study may be invalid.
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Chapter 2: Planning a Study
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Q1) What questions should you ask when taking notes while reading material for your literature review?
A)How many researchers worked on this project?
B)What is the study's basic design?
C)How long did it take the author to do the research?
D)Which of the researchers designed the experiment or survey?
Answer: B
Q2) Most ______ research studies are reported in journals.
Answer: scholarly
Q3) Grounded theory has nothing to do with electricity and grounding circuits.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) Which of the following is NOT true? Scholarly journals
A)are commonly found in college or university libraries.
B)have a reference or bibliography section that lists sources in detail.
C)have peer-reviewed articles within them.
D)are not part of any index location system.
Answer: D
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Chapter 3: Becoming an Ethical Researcher
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Q1) When presenting research data to the public it should be released in aggregate form only.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Two major types of______ are plagiarism and research fraud.
Answer: scientific misconduct
Q3) A researcher has little responsibility in minimizing the risk of harm to participants.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) Discuss Institutional Review Boards.What are they,what is their purpose? Why would you be interested in an IRB's operating procedures if you were conducting research?
Answer: an ethical board to oversee research done in their facility;would be interested in operating procedures,especially if submitting to the IRB and following all the rules to continue the research.
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Chapter 4: Sampling
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Q1) A quasi-random sampling method when a computer is not available is______.
Q2) Define convenience sampling.
Q3) Accidental sampling occurs when a researcher selects cases that are easy and convenient.It lacks depth and is also called
A)convenience sampling.
B)snowball sampling.
C)quota sampling.
D)purposive sampling.
Q4) A(n)______ is a specific list of sampling elements in the target population.
Q5) Compare and contrast convenience sampling with purposive sampling.
Q6) Cluster sampling has advantages and is less expensive than simple random sampling,but is slightly less accurate.
A)True
B)False
Q7) The size of a sample is more important than its frame.
A)True
B)False
Q8) What is a sampling frame,and give an example?
Page 6
Q9) The______ the homogeneity (or the less the diversity),the smaller its sampling error.
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Page 7
Chapter 5: Measuring Social Life
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Q1) Least precise,lowest level of measurement is ______.
Q2) Mr.Marsh is measuring temperature in his research.He will be using what variable level of measure?
A)nominal
B)interval
C)ratio
D)ordinal
Q3) What is the three-part sequence of measuring quantitative data flow?
Q4) Which of the following is NOT true?
A)A Guttman scale indicates whether a set of items corresponds to a hierarchical pattern.
B)When a researcher intends to use the Guttman scale,she must design a study with the technique in mind.
C)A Guttman scale has been applied to many phenomena.
D)The data,when plotted,in a Guttman scale form a triangle.
Q5) Differentiate scale versus index.
Q6) In a study with quantitative data,a researcher typically moves from the______ concepttoward a(n)______ measure.
Q7) What are two complications of index construction and why?
Page 8
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Chapter 6: The Survey
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Q1) People tend to ______-report having an illness or disability or engaging in illegal or deviant behavior in a survey.
Q2) Dr.Van Offer hired a new assistant to conduct a survey for him.During one of the research luncheon meetings,the new assistant starts to discuss information that respondents have given her.In particular,she tells about one respondent's sexual preferences and then accidentally gives the respondent's name.One of the other assistants is horrified because she is related to the respondent. Discuss three issues related to the ethical survey,including invasion of privacy,voluntary participation and misuse of surveys.What should Dr.Van Offer do? Are any of these issues related to lessons learned in Chapter 3?
Q3) Answer choices on a survey should be balanced.What does that mean?
A)There should always be an even number of answers.
B)The favorable or unfavorable choices are offered equally in a set of responses.
C)There is a fulcrum in the answers.
D)There are equal "right" and "wrong" answers.
Q4) What is the difference between an opinion poll and a survey?
Q5) What are the advantages and disadvantages of a mailed questionnaire?
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Page 9
Chapter 7: The Experiment
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Q1) _____ design allows a researcher to test for causal relationships in situations where a true experimental design is difficult or inappropriate.
Q2) If a researcher uses deception,they must also
A)debrief participants as soon as possible.
B)keep the deception to themselves.
C)deny that they used deception in publications.
D)discuss the study with colleagues.
Q3) Two-group posttest-only design has all parts of ______ design except pretest.
Q4) Dr.Mottle's experiment includes randomizing subjects to a group that gets a needle-stick or to a group that gets a "fake" needle-stick. Differentiate experimental group from control group.What is the role of the placebo in experimental design? Give another example of use of a placebo.
Q5) What is a double-blind experiment?
Q6) ______ experimental design has random assignment,a pretest and a posttest,an experimental group,and a control group.
Q7) What is the difference between a classical experimental and quasi-experimental study?
Q8) Discuss external validity.Name two threats that might weaken external validity.
Page 10
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Chapter 8: Research With Non-Reactive Measures
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Q1) Dr.Mottle is comparing data across two cities.If she adjusts the measures by a common base,she is
A)creative.
B)standardizing the information.
C)using ecological fallacy.
D)using topic understanding.
Q2) To make sure that assistant coders are consistent,a coder should
A)code the same text independent of one another.
B)not work with other coders.
C)circle errors and have other coders redo the work.
D)None of these answers are correct.
Q3) Physical evidence
A)is direct and does not include bias.
B)measures a behavior or viewpoint of interest.
C)is the same as content analyses measures.
D)is part of all topic knowledge.
Q4) Creativity has no place in nonreactive research.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What is of most ethical concern when conducting physical evidence analysis?
Page 11
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Chapter 9: Making Sense of the Numbers
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Q1) R-squared in multiple regression analysis is
A)always 20 percent.
B)based on improvement over zero.
C)considered good if it is at least .50.
D)never a helpful measurement.
Q2) A bivariate table
A)is used infrequently.
B)works with variables that have 2-5 categories and data at nominal or ordinal levels of measurement.
C)is exactly the same as a scattergram.
D)uses percentages exclusively.
Q3) Mr.Marsh wants to see if smokers like to gamble at casinos.Once he has his data,he plots the information in a scattergram.What three aspects of the bivariate relationship will the scattergram reveal? Explain the significance of each.
Q4) _____ indicates the probability of finding a relationship in sample data when there is none in the population.
Q5) Mr.Marsh lost his codebook at a meeting.Is this a problem? If so,why?
Q6) What is a control variable in a nonexperimental research study?
Page 12
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Chapter 10: Observing People in Natural Settings
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Q1) What does "being an earnest novice" mean?
Q2) What three issues should be considered when entering the field?
Q3) Building relationships through doing small favors,appearing interested,and avoiding conflicts are all strategies for success in field research.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Self-awareness in the context of preparing for field research means
A)attending support classes.
B)being aware of a researcher's own personal concerns.
C)writing an autobiography.
D)attending a self-awareness meeting.
Q5) The purpose of ethnography is
A)to provide a description of a population using historical documents.
B)to provide a description of a way of life from the standpoint of its insiders.
C)to explain why a specific religious sect uses varies articles of worship from the viewpoint of political candidates.
D)to provide a description of a population sample with historical and political documents.
Q6) What is the most common ethical issue in field research?
Page 13
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Chapter 11: Looking at the Past and Across Cultures
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Q1) Imposing a researcher's own sense of order to make people's beliefs or actions consistent is a type of distortion called
A)coherence imposition.
B)supracontext awareness.
C)capacity overestimation.
D)episode overestimation.
Q2) One limitation of running records is that organizations do not always maintain the records;what is another limitation?
Q3) In historical-comparative research a researcher uses a blend of research techniques.
A)True
B)False
Q4) If two units are actually subparts of a single larger unit,relationships may have a common origin.This could result in possible mistakes or
A)Dalton's problem.
B)Galway's problem.
C)Gastad's problem.
D)Galton's problem.
Q5) Historical-comparative research integrates macro and ______ levels of data.
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Chapter 12: Writing a Research Report
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Q1) Most historical-comparative reports mix two types of organization- topic and ______.
Q2) Writing is a process
A)with a series of steps that result in a final product.
B)that only authors can understand.
C)that requires one type of style only.
D)None of these answers are correct.
Q3) List two questions that the "Description of Method" section answers.
Q4) Which of the following questions would be appropriate to ask of a funding source?
A)What types of research are funded?
B)If I am funded,can I negotiate with the agency to get more funding?
C)Can I get more funding if I do a different type of research?
D)Does your agency have knowledgeable reviewers?
Q5) List two suggestions for improvement in the rewriting process.
Q6) A research report should be written for a scientifically literate audience.What three things did Hurd suggest that a scientifically literate person should be able to do?
Q7) ______ is not using another's exact words;rather a researcher restates someone else's ideasin his or her own words.
Page 15
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