Deck 11: Unobtrusive Research

Question 1

A researcher using official government documents need not be concerned about the reliability of those records.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

If we wanted to determine whether states that pass clean air legislation (no smoking in public areas)are more likely to enact laws requiring motorcyclists to wear helmets than are states that had not passed clean air legislation, the unit of analysis would be:

A)the individual states.
B)the individual act of legislation.
C)passage or nonpassage of the clean air legislation.
D)the clean air legislation.
E)states that passed clean air legislation.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which of the following choices is NOT a benefit of content analysis?

A)Relatively inexpensive
B)Easy to adjust measurement strategies once the research has begun
C)Can explain almost any social phenomenon
D)Can be performed by the researcher alone
E)Flexible units of analysis

Answer 3

C

Question 4

Professor Jenner was interested in using Census Bureau data to examine the trend in unemployment rates in the United States. However, Jenner's definition of unemployment did not match the one used by the Census Bureau. Jenner was dealing with the issue of _____.

A)reliability
B)validity
C)ecological fallacy
D)ideal types
E)verstehen

Question 5

Logical reasoning and replication are used to handle the problem of validity in the analysis of existing statistics.

Question 6

The adage that you must walk a mile in another person's shoes before you can understand the views and feelings of that person is similar to the sociological concept(s)of:

A)verstehen.
B)historical/comparative analysis.
C)ideal types.
D)the ecological fallacy.
E)content analysis.

Question 7

After examining the FBI Crime Reports for a 30-year period, Professor Hall claimed that the incidence of rape has increased. After examining the same reports, Professor Shine claimed that the reporting of rape, not the incidence of rape, has increased. This illustrates:

A)the problem of reliability in using existing statistics.
B)the problem of validity in using existing statistics.
C)the need to replicate existing statistics.
D)the ecological fallacy.
E)pretesting.

Question 8

A famous example of applying unobtrusive measures to great success is:

A)Émile Durkheim's study of suicide
B)Laud Humphreys "tearoom" study
C)Stanley Milgram's human obedience research
D)The Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment
E)Khayatt's "compulsory heterosexuality" study

Question 9

What is a disadvantage of using "big data" as a source of unobtrusive data?

A)You may not be able to find enough accessible data to form any conclusions.
B)You can approach a question from many different angles.
C)You can observe dynamic processes in real time.
D)You may not be able to find data that correspond exactly with the concepts you want to explore.
E)You can decrease the researcher's impact on the phenomenon being studied.

Question 10

When performing a content analysis, looking at what is suggested or insinuated is performing:

A)manifest coding.
B)latent coding.
C)concrete coding.
D)subversive coding.
E)technical coding.

Question 11

Which of the following would NOT be a potential unit of analysis in unobtrusive research?

A)Police departments
B)Internet forum posts
C)Magazines
D)Historical correspondence
E)Textbooks

Question 12

Content analysis can be used on any product of human communication.

Question 13

In which of the following analyses is content analysis LEAST likely to be useful?

A)Themes in newspaper editorials
B)The wording of this exam
C)Topics covered in class lectures
D)The theme of love as discussed in song
E)Dating patterns among high school seniors

Question 14

Thomas is concerned that in his content analysis he is misclassifying observations to support his emerging hypothesis. He turns to you for help. Which of the following suggestions would be POOR advice?

A)If there are enough cases, select some at random from each category to avoid picking those that best support the hypothesis.
B)Give at least three examples in support of every claim that you make about the data.
C)Ask others who are not involved in your research to review your analytic interpretations to see if they agree.
D)Realize that few social patterns are 100 percent consistent and so don't worry about reporting inconsistencies.
E)Ask other researchers who are not involved in your research to test your coding system to see if your results agree.

Question 15

Which of the following modes of observation does NOT require the researcher to intrude to some degree on whatever he or she is studying?

A)Interviews
B)Focus groups
C)Complete participant observation
D)Content analysis
E)Telephone surveys

Question 16

According to Berg, which of the following statements is FALSE regarding negative case testing?

A)It can be used as a technique for qualitative hypothesis testing.
B)It begins with an examination of the data to find a general hypothesis.
C)It requires you to search your data to find all the cases that contradict your initial hypothesis.
D)It requires you to reexamine all the cases that led you to form the initial hypothesis.
E)It is an example of analytic induction.

Question 17

An example of unobtrusive data collection is:

A)an interview with college freshmen to determine why they selected a particular school.
B)a laboratory experiment designed to learn whether people really prefer Pepsi or Coke.
C)a mailed survey designed to discern students' attitudes toward a planned change in the school's calendar.
D)a researcher who joins a fraternity to understand its rituals.
E)examining the wear on the tires of squad cars to determine the extent of police patrols.

Question 18

Unobtrusive measures can reduce the problem(s)of:

A)the researcher's impact on the phenomenon being studied.
B)invalid operationalization of concepts.
C)unreliable measurements.
D)corroboration.
E)the ecological fallacy.

Question 19

Understanding the sometimes ambiguous relations between concepts linked together in secondary analysis is known as _____.

A)content analysis
B)comparative research
C)existing statistics
D)relational analysis
E)historical research

Question 20

Which of the following statements is FALSE regarding comparative and historical research?

A)It is often regarded as a qualitative technique.
B)It can use quantitative methods.
C)It assumes that the documented history coincides with what actually happened.
D)It sometimes uses time-series data to monitor changing conditions over time.
E)It is used to examine societies over time and to compare them to each other.

Question 21

Professor Perlman was interested in comparing two textbooks to determine whether one used more sexist language than the other. Perlman counted the number of times a gender reference (e.g., "he," "she," or "chairman")appeared in each book. Perlman was doing:

A)latent content coding.
B)manifest content coding.
C)quota sampling.
D)the ecological fallacy.
E)base counting.

Question 22

How can the use of existing data and statistics help researchers? What are the benefits of using them? If they are used, what are potential shortcomings and caveats that need to be acknowledged in the research?

Question 23

Many existing statistics can be found on the Internet.

Question 24

Compare and contrast two comparative and/or historical methods and provide at least one example of each.

Question 25

Only official government documents should be used in historical analyses.

Question 26

In the case of historical research corroboration is analogous to replication.

Question 27

What are some sources of data that can be used for unobtrusive research? What are three challenges of using such data to answer research questions?

Question 28

Which of the following is NOT an example of using online unobtrusive data?

A)Examining the connection between social media use and the electoral success of politicians
B)Conducting online surveys to examine attitudes about gay marriage
C)Analyzing Facebook profiles to document the number of LGBTQ people in different states
D)Reviewing blog posts for evidence of white supremacist messages
E)Analyzing Twitter feeds for racial bias

Question 29

An ideal type is a conceptual model composed of the essential characteristics of social phenomena.

Question 30

In data collection and analysis, the determination of the unit of analysis occurs after sampling.

Question 31

Which of the following is a disadvantage of using content analysis to explore a research topic?

A)It has a high degree of impact on the subjects being studied.
B)It is limited to recorded communications.
C)It is limited to written communications.
D)It tends to be expensive.
E)It cannot be used to analyze social phenomena.

Question 32

You are interested in doing a content analysis on the characteristics people seek in a partner by examining the personals section of three newspapers. Your unit of analysis is:

A)the three newspapers.
B)the characteristics desired in a partner.
C)the individual ads.
D)the personals section of the paper.
E)the person who wrote the ad.

Question 33

What is the difference between manifest and latent coding in content analysis? Give an example of when you might choose one coding technique over the other.

Question 34

Standard probability sampling techniques should NOT be used in content analysis.

Question 35

Identify at least two ethical issues that might be involved in doing unobtrusive research. How can researchers minimize the potential for ethical problems?

Question 36

Existing statistics can be used appropriately to prove or disprove theory.

Question 37

Which of the following is NOT illustrative of unobtrusive observations?

A)Examining the floor tiles at a museum to determine which exhibits are the most popular
B)Examining the number of beer cans in the university garbage collections to determine beer consumption patterns
C)Examining the wear on the tires of squad cars to determine the extent of police patrols
D)Examining the radio dial settings of cars brought in for oil changes to determine the popularity of radio stations
E)Examining domestic violence by conducting interviews

Question 38

A friend of yours is doing a term paper to compare the infant mortality rates in the United States, Japan, Bolivia, and Pakistan. You tell your friend that a good source to check is:

A)Common Cause.
B)the Demographic Yearbook.
C)the Statistical Abstract of the United States.
D)the Gallup poll.
E)the Almanac.

Question 39

In a study of two magazines, Marie found that the first magazine had 150 uses of male pronouns (he, him, etc.)but only 75 uses of female pronouns (she, her, etc.). The second magazine had 200 uses of male pronouns and 205 uses of female ones. What can be concluded from her work?

A)Magazine 1 was twice as sexist as magazine 2.
B)Magazine 2 was not sexist.
C)Magazine 2 was half as sexist as magazine 1.
D)Magazine 2 had 130 more female pronouns.
E)Magazine 1 was sexist.

Question 40

In comparison to coding the manifest content of communication, coding the latent content:

A)has a disadvantage in terms of validity.
B)has an advantage in terms of reliability.
C)is better designed for tapping the underlying meaning of communication.
D)has an advantage in terms of specificity.
E)is easier to complete.