Deck 5: How to Review the Literature and Conduct Ethical Studies

Question 1

Use the following citation to answer the following questions.
Hammond, Michael. 2003. "The Enhancement Imperative: The Evolutionary Neurophysiology of Durkheimian Solidarity." Sociological Theory 21: 359-397.
When evaluating the quality of a research article, reading the often provides all the pertinent information to make a sound decision.

A) introduction
B) conclusion
C) abstract
D) methods section

Answer 1

C

Question 2

A great deal of learning about ethics is based on "famous cases." Which of the following was a "famous case" in which poor black men were not treated but allowed to become disabled and permanently harmed in a Public Health Service study administered by the U.S. federal government?

A) Milgram Obedience Experiment
B) Bad Blood
C) Tearoom Trade
D) Jury Study

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Use the following citation to answer the following questions.
Hammond, Michael. 2003. "The Enhancement Imperative: The Evolutionary Neurophysiology of Durkheimian Solidarity." Sociological Theory 21: 359-397.
Who is the author of this research publication?

A) Michale Hammond
B) Emile Durkheim
C) W. Lawrence Neuman
D) Chris F. Biga

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Use the following citation to answer the following questions.
Hammond, Michael. 2003. "The Enhancement Imperative: The Evolutionary Neurophysiology of Durkheimian Solidarity." Sociological Theory 21: 359-397.
The use of the Internet has become a valuable tool in conducting literature reviews, but should NOT be considered a replacement to traditional library research. Why?

A) What are you talking about, the Internet has completely replaced traditional library research with no ill consequences.
B) There is no quality control over what gets on the Internet.
C) The Internet has had a "democratizing" effect, which has harmed elite status of sociologists.
D) While all important information is posted on the Web, secondary research is often not posted.

Question 5

What is the purpose of an Institutional Review Board?

A) It ensures that researchers do not misuse money given to them for research.
B) It makes sure that research involving humans is carried out ethically.
C) It ensures that research is methodologically sound and scientific.
D) It lobbies for more research money from government and private agencies.

Question 6

What is the general ethical principle regarding deception in social research?

A) Deception can be ethically used if the researcher can guarantee that subjects will never have knowledge that they had been part of a study.
B) Deception can be ethically used only if it is essential to the research, where other methods of data collection would yield tainted unusable data.
C) Deception is completely unacceptable and is considered taboo amongst social scientists.
D) Deception is fully acceptable and is not considered unethical.

Question 7

A researcher asks a group of teenagers who had previously been convicted of shoplifting to shoplift from a drugstore so he can observe the social dynamics of these skilled thieves. This researcher may be violating the ethical principle, which states

A) do not place subjects in legal jeopardy.
B) do not create new inequalities.
C) avoid causing psychological abuse or stress.
D) do not cause physical harm.

Question 8

Use the following citation to answer the following questions.
Hammond, Michael. 2003. "The Enhancement Imperative: The Evolutionary Neurophysiology of Durkheimian Solidarity." Sociological Theory 21: 359-397.
Which of the following type of publications provides the best quality of research?

A) popular magazines
B) newsmagazines
C) peer-reviewed scholarly journals
D) newspapers

Question 9

Use the following citation to answer the following questions.
Hammond, Michael. 2003. "The Enhancement Imperative: The Evolutionary Neurophysiology of Durkheimian Solidarity." Sociological Theory 21: 359-397.
What volume is this article published in?

A) 4
B) 2003
C) 21
D) 359

Question 10

Cho has taken on a senior project to conduct a survey on students' attitudes and behaviors concerning sexual behavior. While distributing the questionnaire, he assures the group of students that no one will be able to trace responses to an individual. What ethical consideration is Cho assuring the respondents?

A) harm to subjects
B) confidentiality
C) anonymity
D) concealed identity of researcher

Question 11

Describe the difference between anonymity and confidentiality.

Question 12

What is informed consent? Why was it developed? How does it protect research subjects?

Question 13

Use the following citation to answer the following questions.
Hammond, Michael. 2003. "The Enhancement Imperative: The Evolutionary Neurophysiology of Durkheimian Solidarity." Sociological Theory 21: 359-397.
What year was this article published?

A) 2005
B) 1997
C) 2003
D) 1359

Question 14

The primary thing that keeps most social scientific research within ethical-moral boundaries is

A) a researcher's personal moral code and the norms of the scientific community.
B) the strict laws and regulations outlined by the federal government.
C) fear of lawsuits against researchers by subjects.
D) the ethics enforcement committee that strictly monitors the research of social scientists.

Question 15

Often social scientists are employed outside of the academic or university setting. When working for a sponsor that has a keen interest in your research findings, which of the following scenarios is considered ethical?

A) An environmental sociologist agrees to include questionaire items on a survey that will shed a "positive" light on an environmental organization in exchange for access to study the members of the organization.
B) A social scientist working for a local school district does NOT report findings that show a decrease in student language comprehension after the school district implements a new language comprehension program.
C) A medical sociologist working for a drug company refuses to conduct a satisfaction study on patients taking a experimental drug selected by the drug company.
D) A community sociologist hired by a large corporation agrees NOT to publish an article that shows the corporation has had a negative impact on the local economy.

Question 16

The principle of voluntary consent in social research means that

A) researchers, when possible, must notify subjects that their participation is voluntary and that they can refuse to participate without penalty.
B) a researcher uses deception in order to study a social phenomenon.
C) researchers need to get permission from respondents to conduct an interview with a member of the opposite sex.
D) researchers studying public settings malls, stores, street corners, etc.) do not need to notify subjects that they are being studied, because there is no expectation of privacy in public settings.

Question 17

How do power relations, deception, and coercion participate in research conflict with the principle of voluntary consent?

Question 18

When social scientists conduct interviews, it is required by the ethics of the field that the social scientist receives "informed consent." What is "informed consent"?

A) when funding agencies give the "go ahead" to begin the research that is being funded
B) getting permission from other researchers to use non-random sampling
C) getting permission to conduct the interview after having given the respondent some information about research/interview
D) getting permission to talk to respondents about their sexual behaviors

Question 19

The original source for the principles of codes of ethics for research on human subjects was developed out of

A) the Amnesty International Code of 1975.
B) the Nuremberg Trial of Nazi war crimes in 1946-47.
C) the League of Nations Charter of 1919.
D) the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Question 20

Which of the following ethical issues was NOT raised by the famous "Tearoom Trade" study by Laud Humphries on homosexuals?

A) protecting the privacy of respondents and confidentiality of data
B) protecting the research subjects from legal jeopardy
C) covert observation without informed consent
D) all of the above were involved

Question 21

Milgram's obedience study, Zimbardo's prison experiment, and Humphrey's tearoom trade study are examples of research that had ethical consequences. Describe the basic principle of ethical research they illustrated.

Question 22

Why do social scientists conduct literature reviews? How does an exhaustive literature review benefit one's research project?

Question 23

Describe the strengths and weaknesses of using the Internet in the literature review process.

Question 24

How might a sponsor attempt to illegitimately influence a researcher? What can the researcher do about it?

Question 25

The literature review stage of social research has several goals. Identify and evaluate three goals of the literature review.

Question 26

Compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of peer-reviewed scholarly journals, academic books, and newspapers.

Question 27

What distinguishes a strong from a weak literature review?