Sociological Research Methods
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Sociological Research Methods explores the foundational techniques and strategies used to conduct scientific investigations within sociology. The course covers both qualitative and quantitative research designs, including surveys, experiments, interviews, ethnography, and content analysis. Attention is given to formulating research questions, designing studies, collecting and analyzing data, and interpreting results. Students will also examine ethical considerations in research, the role of theory, and the challenges of working with diverse populations. By the end of the course, students will be equipped with the skills necessary to critically evaluate sociological research and to design and implement studies addressing key social issues.
Recommended Textbook
An Invitation to Social Research How Its Done 5th Edition by Emily Stier Adler
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2
Chapter 1: The Uses of Social Research
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Q1) The scientific method benefits from the pursuit of counterexamples.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Exploratory research
A) is research which seeks to provide a picture of how "the land lies" on a particular social issue.
B) tends to be deductive using pre-existing theories to decide what kinds of data should be collected.
C) is analysis that results in the interpretation of action or representation of meanings in the researcher's own words.
D) is ground breaking research on a relatively unstudied topic or in a new area.
E) generally includes theory-testing.
Answer: D
Q3) Basic research serves the function of developing knowledge for its own sake.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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3
Chapter 2: Theory and Research
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Q1) One of the implications of Wallace's cyclical model is
A) the model explains all research.
B) research may not touch on all elements of the model at once.
C) the model is ideal for testing a theory.
D) the model can be altered to fit specific research questions.
E) none of these
Answer: B
Q2) If social scientists want to develop or build theories about an aspect of social life that has previously been misunderstood,they might engage in
A) developing grounded theory
B) deductive reasoning
C) testing existing theory
D) inductive reasoning
E) both inductive reasoning and developing grounded theory
Answer: E
Q3) A hypothesis is a testable statement about how two or more variables link together. A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Ethics and Social Research
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Q1) A researcher observing behavior in a public place,for example,a bus station or a public library,is under no ethical obligation to disclose to those in the setting that he or she is conducting research.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) "To do no harm" researchers must be careful not to cause pain to subjects.Critics of Milgram's study argue that he violated this principle by
A) failing to provide incentives to participants.
B) failing to anticipate that subjects might suffer by participating in the study.
C) disclosing participants' identities and causing embarrassment.
D) allowing some individuals to inflict pain on others.
E) all of these
Answer: B
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Chapter 4: Planning a Research Project
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Q1) Which of the following is a researchable question?
A) Is the death penalty moral?
B) Is high academic achievement in high school related to academic success in college?
C) Is ketchup or mustard better on hamburgers?
D) all of these are researchable questions.
E) none of these are researchable questions.
Q2) Describe how the social,political,and economic world influences research.
Q3) A researchable question is usually one that other researchers have already explored. A)True B)False
Q4) Scott believes that the higher a student's GPA in the freshmen year,the more likely he or she will be to graduate
From college in four years.This is an example of a A) research question.
B) hypothesis.
C) feasibility study.
D) sociological concept.
E) literature review.
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Chapter 5: Sampling
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Q1) If we were interested in understanding the relationship between level of education and lifetime earnings,what elements would you sample?
A) individuals
B) schools
C) cities and towns
D) occupational choice
E) all of these
Q2) Which type of probability sampling procedure involves randomly selecting clusters from a population then randomly selecting elements from each of the clusters?
A) cluster sample
B) multi-stage sample
C) quota sample
D) simple random sample
E) snowball sample
Q3) If a potential respondent does not participate in the research,the study suffers from coverage error.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Identify and describe the four types of nonprobability sampling.
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Chapter 6: Measurement
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Q1) Reliability is
A) the degree to which a measure taps what we think it is measuring.
B) the degree to which a measure yields consistent results.
C) comparing the results of each researcher's findings.
D) a method of checking researcher's conclusions.
E) none of these.
Q2) How would you explain operationalization and conceptualization to someone who has no background in social research?
Q3) What does it mean for a concept to be multidimensional? Use the example of marital satisfaction and explain how the concept of marital satisfaction can be multidimensional.
Q4) Multidimensionality refers to concepts that have more than one way of manifesting themselves.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Develop mutually exclusive and exhaustive categories for the variable "involvement of college students in employment." Explain your choices.
Q6) What is the difference between reliability and validity?
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Chapter 7: Cross-Sectional, Longitudinal, and Case Study Designs
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Q1) Temporal precedence is a necessary condition for longitudinal studies. A)True
B)False
Q2) If we are interested in generating new theoretical perspectives in an area where little research has been done,we would most likely use
A) a panel study.
B) a case study.
C) a cross-sectional study.
D) a trend study.
E) applied research.
Q3) Identify and explain the major challenges to doing research using longitudinal study designs.
Q4) Asking respondents about past events can create issues regarding external validity. A)True B)False
Q5) A study design must balance ethical,practical,and methodological issues. A)True B)False
Q6) What are some good reasons to conduct a case study?
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Chapter 8: Experimental Research
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Q1) Describe the situation in which a natural experiment is more appropriate over a classical experimental design.What are the inherent differences between these experimental designs? What issues do you have to account for when doing a natural experiment?
Q2) The Solomon four-group design has
A) two experimental and two control groups.
B) three experimental groups and one control group.
C) two pretest groups and two posttest groups.
D) four experimental groups.
E) four control groups.
Q3) The focal research by Chris Caldeira is a field experiment because the experiment is being held in a regular classroom.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Experimental study designs are best suited forresearch.
A) exploratory
B) descriptive
C) controlled
D) community
E) explanatory
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Chapter 9: Questionnaires and Structured Interviews
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Q1) Rewrite the following question to avoid wording problems outlined in the text: "Don't you agree that the government should not unnecessarily intervene with military actions around the world?"
Q2) The_________refers to a change in a respondent's answer based on the fact that an interviewer is present.
A) response bias
B) criterion bias
C) Hawthorn effect
D) interviewer effect
E) none of these
Q3) A group administered questionnaire has the advantage that A) the researcher can explain the survey and answer any questions that may arise.
B) the conditions under which the questionnaire is administered are the same for all respondents.
C) it is less expensive to conduct than mail surveys.
D) all of these
Q4) Provide an example of a closed-ended and an open-ended question that seeks information about racial and ethnic tolerance.
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11
Chapter 10: Qualitative Interviewing
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Q1) The key difference between a group interview and a focus group is
A) how many individuals are involved.
B) the financial reimbursement offered to respondents.
C) the moderator's management of the discussion.
D) the number of questions addressed by the group.
E) the structure of the questions.
Q2) An unstructured interview has the advantage of yielding comparable data from many respondents.
A)True
B)False
Q3) In Enos's research on Managing Motherhood in Prison,a semi-structured interview was appropriate because
A) there was limited research in this area.
B) this sort of interview works well with groups with which the interviewer may be unfamiliar.
C) this sort of interview can be completed in less than 90 minutes.
D) this sort of interview provides flexibility yet organizes paths of investigation for the researcher to pursue.
E) this was an exploratory research project.
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Chapter 11: Observational Techniques
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Q1) What other method also relies on observations?
A) experiments
B) content analysis
C) interviews
D) data from questionnaires
E) All of these methods rely on observation in one way or another.
Q2) Sally is a researcher engaging in observational methods.She is taking part in all activities of those she is observing.What is her observer role?
A) participant as observer
B) observer as participant
C) complete participant role
D) complete observer role
E) complete researcher role
Q3) "Qualitative methods" can include qualitative interviewing and the use of available data.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Thick descriptions are based on bare bone facts versus context and motives.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: Using Available Data
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Q1) If we take group based results and infer that individuals in those groups share those characteristics,we are committing ecological fallacy.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Personal records tend to have easier access than physical traces.
A)True
B)False
Q3) There are few sources of available data that allow researchers to examine changes over time.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What are the key differences between primary and secondary data? When using secondary data,what are the main issues researchers need to be aware of?
Q5) In the focal research by Martinez and Lee,Martinez had to spend hours with police detectives who acted as gatekeepers for the data.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Describe the ecological fallacy and how you might avoid it.
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Chapter 13: Content Analysis
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Q1) Content analysis can be applied only to recorded communication.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Content analysis allows researchers to study
A) surveys.
B) census data.
C) experiments.
D) available recorded data.
E) secondary data.
Q3) Content analysis allows us to study the past.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What was a main finding in the focal research by Arthur,Clark,Clark,and Racine?
A) All minority groups began to be introduced in anthologies starting in the 1950s.
B) Women are the minority group represented most in anthologies.
C) Some minority groups experienced gatekeeper issues and were not represented in anthologies until the 1990s.
D) There is discrimination in the publishing of authors in anthologies.
E) None of these are true.
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Chapter 14: Applied Social Research
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Q1) What was the program used for evaluation in the focal research by Harrison and Norton-Hawk?
A) a women's shelter in Ecuador
B) a children's shelter in Ecuador
C) a men's prison in Ecuador
D) a women's prison in Ecuador
E) none of these.
Q2) Typically,evaluation research is intended to
A) provide information about the history of the program or policy.
B) inform program participants about the goals of the program or policy.
C) create knowledge that is of general interest to scientists studying social policy.
D) assess the impact of a specific program or policy.
E) evaluate the expenses a program has incurred.
Q3) The tasks involved in an evaluation are mainly determined by the needs and interests of stakeholders and the stage of development of a program.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 15: Quantitative and Qualitative Data Analysis
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Q1) One form of data display is a cross-tabulation of variables you are interested in.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In describing a population,why is it advantageous to not only know the measures of central tendency,but also to calculate measures of dispersion?
Q3) A memo can be used to help the researcher think about what needs to be examined or pursued during the next opportunity for data collection.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The process where researchers examine data with the purpose of discovering what is in the data is called analytic coding.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Measures of dispersion indicate how varied the population is with respect to certain values.
A)True
B)False
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