Deck 5: Theories and Research in Explaining and Understanding Aging Phenomena

Question 1

According to your textbook, which of the following refers to a formal, specific explanation for some facet of the social world?

A) Theory
B) Model
C) Perspective
D) Framework

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following is based on the assumption that individuals search for social situations in which valued outcomes are possible, and in which their social, emotional, and psychological needs can be met?

A) Structural functionalist perspective
B) Interpretive perspective
C) Social constructionist perspective
D) Social exchange perspective

Answer 2

D

Question 3

According to Ray (1996), what might the term "caregiving" mean to a postmodern feminist?

A) The care is offered freely to meet the needs of another person.
B) Care is hard work performed for remuneration.
C) Care begins because of a sense of duty or responsibility.
D) Families are required by law to provide care.

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following accurately describes the life course perspective?

A) There is limited variability between older adults in the experiences that they have had over the life course.
B) Opportunities, experiences, and decisions made earlier in life can influence one's situation later in life.
C) Advantages and disadvantages experienced throughout the life course tend to cancel each other out and, therefore, do not impact our aging experience.
D) Events that happen early in life, such as education, work history, leisure, and family circumstances, have no impact on what happens to a person later in life.

Question 5

In which of the following perspectives did the activity theory originate?

A) Symbolic interactionism
B) Functionalism
C) The conflict approach
D) Modernization theory

Question 6

Which of the following theories supports the hypothesis that well-adjusted older adults have high-quality interactions with significant others, and therefore enjoy more positive self-images?

A) Continuity theory
B) Activity theory
C) Social exchange theory
D) Labelling theory

Question 7

Which of the following statements is false?

A) The disengagement theory argues that change and adaptation in the later years of life are necessary, both for the individual and for society.
B) The activity theory argues that individual adaptation in later life involves continuing an active life.
C) The continuity theory argues that as people age, they strive to maintain continuity in their lifestyles.
D) The social exchange theory argues that people enjoy interacting with one another and exchanging ideas about certain phenomena.

Question 8

Which of the following theories supports the hypothesis that lost roles must be replaced by new roles for successful aging to occur?

A) Activity theory
B) Social learning theory
C) Disengagement theory
D) Exchange theory

Question 9

According to continuity theory, which of the following is false?

A) Continuity involves adapting to changes in attitudes, values, and beliefs.
B) Continuity involves adapting to changes activities and environment.
C) Continuity implies an absence of change.
D) Continuity involves coping with discontinuity because of illness or disability.

Question 10

According to Riley and the aging and society paradigm, which of the following is not one of the main age strata?

A) Childhood and adolescence
B) Young and middle adulthood
C) Middle and later adulthood
D) Later years

Question 11

Which of the following refers to a situation in which women seeking career advancement find that economic institutions block their opportunities?

A) Cohort-centrism
B) The feminist perspective
C) Structural lag
D) Institutional inequity

Question 12

Which of the following statements regarding evaluation research is false?

A) Its purpose is to assess needs before a policy or program is started.
B) Its purpose is to determine whether any progress has been made towards a specific goal.
C) Its purpose is to measure cost-effectiveness at a particular state of a program or policy after it has begun.
D) Its purpose is to determine what is right or wrong.

Question 13

Which of the following statements regarding participatory action research is false?

A) Participants are partners in the research process.
B) The research process is done with people rather than on or for people.
C) The search to understand specific contextual factors is as important as understanding general patterns.
D) This type of research cannot lead to changes in programs or policies.

Question 14

Which of the following types of studies is best used for specifically addressing issues with the same people at different points in time?

A) Cross-sectional study
B) Trend study
C) Cohort study
D) Panel study

Question 15

According to Locher et al., which of the following ethical issues may arise when conducting research with homebound older persons?

A) The researcher may experience interpersonal conflict.
B) The caregivers of older people may not want their patients or loved ones involved in the research.
C) Researchers may not understand what it is like to be an older person.
D) Older people may mistakenly believe that they are to receive some form of treatment or cure for an ailment.

Question 16

Which of the following is not possible with cohort analysis?

A) Observing cross-sectional age differences
B) Studying age changes within a cohort over time
C) Completely separating age/period/cohort effects
D) Compare patterns exhibited by cohorts of the same chronological age at different points in history

Question 17

What do survey researchers strive to be?

A) Objective
B) Close to study participants
C) Included in the research
D) Astute observers and listeners

Question 18

Which of the following is characteristic of qualitative research designs?

A) Key informants are added until no new information can be gleaned.
B) Data are analyzed after being collected.
C) They utilize large random samples.
D) The sample size is predetermined.

Question 19

Which of the following depends on a sample comprised of readily available and visible older people?

A) A random sample
B) A genealogical sample
C) A probabilistic sample
D) A non-random sample

Question 20

What must the research process protect participants from?

A) Physical or mental harm
B) Sharing information
C) Acquiring knowledge
D) Other participants

Question 21

Who uses well-defined concepts and theoretical perspectives to guide their thinking, coupled with rigorous and standardized scientific methods to help them reach their conclusions?

A) Journalists
B) The public
C) Scholars
D) All of the above

Question 22

Which perspective views aging as a process in which an individual adjusts to inevitable new roles, such as a "retiree" or "widow," and argues that an individual's failure to adapt to role changes (from worker to retiree) represents an inability to fit into the existing social structure, not that the structure is ineffective or unsuitable for that individual or period in history?

A) Participatory action research
B) Structural functionalism
C) Symbolic interactionism
D) Social construction

Question 23

Which theory contends that privilege and disadvantage needs to be examined at the intersections of major systems of inequality embedded in society along age, gender, sexuality, social class, race, and ethnicity lines?

A) Structural functionalism
B) Symbolic interactionism
C) Intersectionality theory
D) Critical gerontology

Question 24

Which theory challenges the status quo, including prevailing myths and assumptions about pervasive and unaccept?able social conditions and the hidden interests and goals of power groups?

A) Structural functionalism
B) Symbolic interactionism
C) Intersectionality theory
D) Critical gerontology

Question 25

A weakness of which method is that it may not work with people who are very reserved, not very articulate, not highly educated, or not very fluent in English, or who have lost some of their memory?

A) Participant observation
B) Narrative gerontology
C) Literary analysis
D) Survey research

Question 26

The most crucial goal of research is to explain observed relationships or patterns and to interpret the meaning of a social phenomenon observed in everyday life.

Question 27

Hypotheses and theories are the same thing.

Question 28

The interpretive perspective views individuals as social actors who actively construct their reality.

Question 29

The critical perspective argues that the social structure is inherently equitable.

Question 30

Postmodern thought challenges the concept of positivism.

Question 31

Feminist studies of older women almost never focus on the economic and power relations between women and men.

Question 32

The life-course perspective bridged individual and structural dynamics of the process of aging.

Question 33

The idea of agency is that individuals are best understood as the result of institutional norms and structures.

Question 34

Activity theory posits that older people should relinquish their earlier roles in order to be happy.

Question 35

Cohort flow accounts for the aging of cohorts in a dynamic world characterized by social, economic, and political changes.

Question 36

The political economy of aging approach assumes that older people, as an age group, are impoverished and lack power.

Question 37

We need both theory and research to fully understand the social world.

Question 38

Researchers who study the aging process should only use quantitative research methods.

Question 39

Secondary analysis of data sets typically produces unreliable information.

Question 40

One advantage of qualitative approaches is that they produce reliable and reproducible results.

Question 41

Narrative research sometimes includes collecting biographical information and stories.

Question 42

Rates of chronic illness are best collected using participant research methods.

Question 43

Action research attempts to improve the situation of disadvantaged people and communities.

Question 44

A cross-sectional design collects information on the same people at multiple points in time.

Question 45

Cohort analysis helps us understand aging processes linked to age, period, and cohort.

Question 46

Non-random sampling can introduce significant bias and non-representativeness into a research study.

Question 47

Survey research uses random or purposive samples, employs face-to-face or telephone interviews or questionnaires that are mailed, accessed through the Internet, or delivered to a respondent.

Question 48

Ethical concerns are less of an issue when studying older adults.

Question 49

Quantitative research employs small, non-random samples in which key informants are added until no new information can be gleaned.

Question 50

A theory is a general or global view, which often encompasses one or more perspectives or frameworks that take a similar approach to the study of social phenomena.

Question 51

What are the major goals of scholarly research? Provide examples for each.

Question 52

How does theory contribute to knowledge as a research tool? List five ways in which this contribution occurs.

Question 53

How does theory contribute to knowledge as a product of scholarly activity? List five ways in which this contribution occurs.

Question 54

What are the foundational perspectives of social gerontology and what are they used for?

Question 55

What are the differences between the structural functionalist and social constructionist perspectives?

Question 56

What is the social exchange perspective? Apply it to patterns of support across the life course.

Question 57

How might a postmodern feminist deconstruct the word "caregiving"?

Question 58

How is the concept of poverty central to the feminist perspective as it is applied to aging?

Question 59

What is the life course perspective? How have its main assumptions changed over time?

Question 60

What is masculinity theory? How does it relate to gender studies? Use examples to describe how masculinity theory has been used in research studies of older adults?

Question 61

What is the relevance of structural lag in meeting the needs of an aging population? Provide examples to illustrate your point.

Question 62

What are the premises of a political economy approach, according to Estes (1991)?

Question 63

How is critical gerontology useful in understanding aging processes?

Question 64

How is intersectionality theory related to other theories of aging? How can it be useful in understanding aging processes?

Question 65

How are theories and research linked?

Question 66

What is the qualitative approach to research? What are its evaluation criteria?

Question 67

What is the quantitative approach to research? What are its evaluation criteria?

Question 68

What is mixed-methods research? Why do you think it is becoming more common in research studies of older adults?

Question 69

What is content analysis? Provide an example to illustrate your understanding.

Question 70

What is meant by secondary analysis? Provide examples of what researchers can study using this approach.

Question 71

What can narrative gerontology teach us about how people age? What are the limitations to this approach?

Question 72

Why is program evaluation important in gerontology? Why must we also be cautious about such evaluations?

Question 73

What are the problems with cross-sectional designs? Provide an example to illustrate your position.

Question 74

What are longitudinal research designs?

Question 75

What is meant by informed consent in research?