Deck 2: Worldviews in Social Research

Question 1

Positivism means that ______.

A) research is only expected to provide positive results
B) scientific statements and knowledge refer to phenomena confirmed by the senses
C) there is an external reality separate from our descriptions of it
D) interpretation is more relevant than measurement and objectivity

Answer 1

B , C

Question 2

Critical realism means that ______.

A) researchers should construct hypotheses that make them undergo acid tests of corroboration
B) researchers should be critical about the world and realistic about what research can achieve
C) methods define problems
D) the aim is verification of statements

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Paradigms ______.

A) are belief systems not to be put to question
B) develop slowly into other paradigms
C) are never overcome by new ones
D) define the framework of the accepted research methods

Answer 3

D

Question 4

The normative paradigm assumes ______.

A) identical everyday knowledge for researchers and participants
B) that social rules are consistent and unambiguous
C) that researchers should define rules for how participants should behave
D) that rules and meanings are subject to interpretation

Question 5

The Thomas Theorem means:

A) When a person defines a situation as real, this situation is real in its consequences.
B) When consequences are real, a person defines a situation as real.
C) When the questions are good, the answers are real.
D) When the answers are real, the person is real, too.

Question 6

Social constructionism means that ______.

A) researchers should start from understanding how participants see their world and the issue under study
B) there is no reality
C) everything is relative
D) we do not need any methods

Question 7

Epistemology should ______.

A) give researchers an orientation for how to proceed
B) motivate the researcher to reflect only theoretically about research
C) provide arguments for criticizing research in a fundamental way
D) be irrelevant for doing research

Question 8

Symbolic Interactionism assumes that ______.

A) people act towards things on the basis of the meanings that the things have for them
B) nothing is real, all is symbolic
C) the meaning of things result from interaction
D) research should avoid direct communication with participants

Question 9

Concurrent research programs mean that ______.

A) researchers should not collaborate
B) there can be several explanations for a phenomenon
C) explanations are in competition in clarifying an issue
D) several methodological approaches co-exist