Deck 5: Context

Question 1

What is meant by the "context" of a research study?

A) the "what" and "who" or which of cases
B) the "how" and "where" or location of cases
C) the "how," "what," and "when" of the study
D) the "who," "'when," and "where" of the study

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The average population density of Mongolia is 2 per square km, whereas, it is,1,260 per square km in Bangladesh. Which study factor must be kept in mind when researching population density data of these countries?

A) dimensions
B) measurement
C) plausibility
D) topic of study

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In research studies, what does the term "exclusion criteria" mean?

A) Data not available for public use or study
B) Context limits that disqualify some cases
C) Exclusion of some context factors from study
D) Data that have misleading units of measure

Answer 3

B

Question 4

On a visit to Thailand, you see an electronic board showing the current temperature as 30°. Which context criteria makes it difficult to interpret this number?

A) location
B) time period
C) type of case
D) study topic

Question 5

The weight of people were measured in pounds in Iceland until 1907. Since then, weight has been measured in the country using the metric system. Which context factor should be kept in mind for longitudinal studies on weight in Iceland?

A) type of case
B) location
C) time period
D) study topic

Question 6

In research studies, what does the term "population" refer to?

A) count of people
B) class of people
C) subset of things
D) set of all entities

Question 7

In a study of retail outlets in Middlesex county that exclusively sell flowers, what would be termed as the basic "element" of this study?

A) a retail outlet in Middlesex
B) a flower outlet
C) a flower outlet in Middlesex
D) a retail shop

Question 8

In the study given in Question 7, what would be the "entity" of the study?

A) flower outlets in Middlesex
B) retail shop
C) outlets selling flowers
D) retail outlets in Middlesex

Question 9

What does the term "sample" refer to?

A) a subset of entities from all entities
B) a subset from the population of study
C) the first 20th percentile of a data set
D) a small set of typical elements in study

Question 10

A random set of 200 data points selected from a data set was found to have the same general composition as the full data. What term best describes these 200 data points?

A) a sample
B) a subset
C) a representative sample
D) a random set

Question 11

A data set has 2,000 observations of five dimensions of a topic. A subset of 500 observations is drawn from this data set. The data set had 20% observations with "Y" as value for the first dimension, whereas the subset had 17% of its observations with "Y" as value for the same first dimension. What term would be used for these 17% observations?

A) underrepresented dimension
B) overrepresented dimension
C) representative subgroup
D) underrepresented sample

Question 12

Which of the following best describes the phrase "target population?"

A) the population of the topic of a research study
B) the group to which study findings are applied to
C) a subset of the population that is of interest
D) population of a different topic than the one studied

Question 13

What is a "sample generalization?"

A) extrapolate the results from sample analysis to multiple population groups
B) apply conclusions from sample to population from which the sample is drawn
C) generalize sample characteristics to multiple samples drawn from the data
D) apply sample conclusions to other samples with similar characteristics

Question 14

A result of a study on education levels of adult working women in Manhattan was extrapolated to all the five boroughs of New York City. What term is used to refer to this type of application?

A) sample generalization
B) generalization fallacy
C) sample extrapolation
D) cross-population generalization

Question 15

What does the term "external validity" refer to?

A) validate sample results using alternative statistical techniques
B) confirm conclusions made from a study by another researcher
C) extent to which study results can be generalized to a larger group
D) overlap of study results from a sample, with another study

Question 16

A medical study was conducted in 1980 with people having "above normal" body temperatures. "Above normal" referred to those with body temperatures above 98.6°F. It has now been accepted for several decades that normal body temperature could range from 97°F to 99°F. What term could be used for making conclusions today based on the 1980 study results?

A) sample generalization
B) cross-population generalization
C) generalization fallacy
D) sample extrapolation

Question 17

What does stereotyping mean in the context of research?

A) generalizing from a few cases to an entity
B) extrapolating characteristics from one case to another
C) making assumptions about a case from an entity
D) generalizing from a sample to a different sample

Question 18

Observing poor results of an IQ test taken by three of his students, a professor assumed that his entire student class had below average IQ. What term is used to describe this assumption?

A) overgeneralization
B) generalization fallacy
C) selective observation
D) sample extrapolation

Question 19

What does "level of analysis" mean in a research study?

A) type of analysis method or technique
B) level of aggregation of elements
C) type of research of the study
D) level of measure of each case

Question 20

What term or phrase is used to describe making an inference for one level of analysis based on the findings from another level of analysis in a study?

A) sample to target
B) false negatives
C) fallacy of level
D) stereotyping

Question 21

A person from Nepal was assumed to be of the Hindu faith, as Nepal is a self-proclaimed Hindu country. What type of fallacy would this assumption fall under?

A) reduction fallacy
B) macrolevel fallacy
C) microlevel fallacy
D) ecological fallacy

Question 22

What type of fallacy is likely if the median income of a country is taken to be equivalent to the median income of its metropolitan cities?

A) macrolevel fallacy
B) reductionism
C) microlevel fallacy
D) ecological fallacy

Question 23

What does the term "inclusion criteria" refer to?

A) rules to include a case in a sample
B) criteria for inclusion in a target set
C) criteria for including a case in a study
D) logic for populating a representative set

Question 24

The way a concept is measured could vary due to which of the following?

A) location of the study
B) person taking the measurement
C) conversion of units
D) person designing the study

Question 25

What is a sample with very similar characteristics as those of the population called?

A) a random sample
B) a stratified sample
C) a representative sample
D) a basic sample

Question 26

Context refers to the "what" and "how" of a research study

Question 27

Context is also known as the setting of a research study.

Question 28

Numeric values of a topic that are plausible in one country, may not be plausible in another country.

Question 29

Context does not refer to inclusion or exclusion criteria for data used in the study.

Question 30

For a study that conducts a survey to collect data, inclusion criteria will be limited by those who respond to the survey.

Question 31

The term "population," in research, denotes only people that are of interest in the study being conducted.

Question 32

A sample is the set of cases for which data have been collected for a study.

Question 33

An entity refers to the category or type of element used in a research study.

Question 34

An unrepresentative sample is one where topic characteristics are overrepresented compared to the population.

Question 35

Extrapolating the findings from one or a few cases to all cases of the same type is known as stereotyping.

Question 36

Using the list of Ws, explain what is the context of a research study. Provide an example for each.

Question 37

Illustrate with an example, how context with respect to location affects the plausibility of numbers in a study.

Question 38

In your own words, explain how an inclusion criteria could make some cases implausible for the research study. Provide an example.

Question 39

Sometimes, the cases of a study are limited to those cases for which data is available. Do you agree with this statement? Explain with an example.

Question 40

In addition to the list of W's for context, discuss some of the other dimensions of context that could generally be found in a research study. Illustrate with an example.

Question 41

Describe a topic of study where measurement could be affected due to the context of time. Provide an example.

Question 42

With the help of an example, explain the difference between an "element" and an "entity."

Question 43

What is a representative sample? Illustrate with an example.

Question 44

Explain what is meant by cross-population generalization with the aid of an example.

Question 45

What is a "fallacy of level?" Give an example to explain your answer.

Question 46

Discuss why the context of any research study is critical to making sense of numbers used in the study. Illustrate with examples.

Question 47

Provide a real-world study case where overgeneralization would likely occur. What could be done to correct this error of generalization?

Question 48

Distinguish between ecological fallacy and reductionism with the help of examples. What steps would you take to correct an ecological fallacy made in a research study?