Exam 2: Examining the Social World: How Do We Know

Studies that take place under laboratory conditions are:

The most common form of representative sample is the convenience sample.

A correlation occurs when there is no causal relationship between the independent and dependent variables.

Why is sociology a science? Provide one example of a sociological research question and how it is approached and studied scientifically.

Pam wants to study the impact of war on soldiers. She plans to observe therapy groups for soldiers who have posttraumatic stress disorder and to take a representative survey of returning soldiers. Pam's proposed research method can best be described as:

A central premise of micro-level rational choice theory is that human behavior involves choices.

Auguste Comte and Karl Marx are prominently identified with structural-functional theory.

Which of the following theories can be used with all three levels of analysis?

Quasi-groups include individuals who have similar social positions and interests but do not belong to an organized group.

It is the day before the first sociology exam. Mark, a first-year college student, chose to play games on Facebook until 2:00 a.m. instead of studying for the exam. According to rational choice theory, why did Mark play Facebook games?

Ethnography is a form of:

Inductive reasoning tests a theory by using scientific research methods to obtain relevant facts.

Macro-level theories would consider questions related to U.S.-Chilean policies.

Rational choice theory involves individuals making decisions based on symbols in their environments.

The scientific approach is based on all of the following assumptions except:

According to the text, codes of ethics answer all ethical dilemmas that arise during the research process.

Compare and contrast manifest and latent functions. Provide examples of each.

Adam wants to study why men choose to go into nursing careers. He theorizes that men are heavily recruited into nursing because their physical strength and presence in hospitals benefits both patients and other hospital staff. Which theoretical perspective is Adam using?

In an experiment, what is the difference between the experimental group and the control group? Provide an example.

Describe one of the five theoretical perspectives mentioned in the text, and pose a question the perspective could address. Further, explain the critiques of that perspective. Do those critiques make the perspective useless? Why or why not?