Deck 4: Knowledge Building and Older People

Question 1

Which two ideas are at the heart of the scientific method?

A) all knowledge is final, and not subject to refutation
B) most knowledge is provisional, but cherished beliefs are not subject to refutation
C) knowledge obtained in a scientific way is final, and not subject to refutation
D) all knowledge is provisional, and subject to refutation
E) all knowledge should be tested scientifically, then it is no longer subject to refutation

Answer 1

D

Question 2

Social gerontologists may be interested in research that examines which of the following?

A) how leaving a job to care for an older person affects a women's income in later life
B) how neurological changes affect an older person's motor skills
C) how the development of neurofibrillary tangles affects memory loss
D) how cancer cells replicate
E) how exercise increases metabolism and artery blood flow

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Research on aging has shifted from

A) treating older people like a static, homogeneous group, to viewing aging as a dynamic process
B) treating older people like a heterogeneous group, to viewing aging as a static process
C) focusing on the biological processes of aging, to focussing on the social processes of aging
D) focusing on a bio/psycho/social/cultural approach to aging, to emphasizing the physical effects of aging
E) taking a "long view" of aging over the life course, to taking a "short view" of older people in one particular circumstance

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Deducing something about an older person's behaviour after observing him or her in a situation is an example of

A) premature closure
B) ex post facto hypothesizing
C) overgeneralizing
D) eliminating rival hypotheses
E) hypothesizing

Question 5

Early studies claimed that people were likely to die after retirement. If social gerontologists had stopped studying retirement after this knowledge had been acquired, this would be an example of

A) ex post facto hypothesizing
B) illogical reasoning
C) premature closure
D) made-up information
E) selective observation

Question 6

The goals of social gerontologists include

A) description only
B) explanation only
C) exploration only
D) description and explanation
E) exploration, description, explanation

Question 7

The three key principles of the scientific method include

A) empiricism, subjectivity, control
B) empiricism, objectivity, control
C) empiricism, objectivity, causation
D) empiricism, subjectivity, causation
E) empiricism, reliability, validity

Question 8

Empiricism refers to

A) evidence gathered systematically through observation and experiment
B) information gathered from popular opinion
C) judgements made about people's values and beliefs
D) information provided by authority figures
E) evidence gathered from multiple sources

Question 9

Determining how well an elder abuse scale actually measures elder abuse describes which of the following?

A) reliability
B) validity
C) reliability coefficient
D) objectivity
E) both reliability and validity

Question 10

Reporting the logic, method, and analyses of research studies meets the requirement of

A) reliability
B) validity
C) objectivity
D) empiricism
E) control

Question 11

A researcher may have a favourite explanation of why people 65 years of age and older watch more television than those aged 45 to 64, but the same researcher must also consider alternative explanations of the television-viewing patterns of older adults and use procedures to rule out these alternatives. This process is an example of

A) reliability
B) validity
C) objectivity
D) empiricism
E) control

Question 12

The scientific process consists of

A) theories, facts, observations, empirical generalizations
B) theories, hypotheses/predictions, observations, empirical generalizations
C) theories, hypotheses/predictions, observations, paradigms
D) theories, hypotheses/predictions, induction, empirical generalizations
E) theories, hypotheses/predictions, deduction, empirical generalizations

Question 13

Starting with theory, it was hypothesized that belonging to a visible minority group is associated with lower income in old age. Data were collected from visible minorities about their income, and the observations were compared to the theory. This is an example of

A) qualitative research
B) an inductive approach
C) a deductive approach
D) the scientific method
E) empiricism

Question 14

A researcher collects data from First Nations people about their aging experiences, and from the data discovers a number of patterns, one being that older First Nations women have very low incomes. This information is then used to formulate a theory about the aging of older First Nations women. This is an example of

A) quantitative research
B) an inductive approach
C) a deductive approach
D) the scientific method
E) empiricism

Question 15

Epistemology refers to the study of

A) ontology
B) induction
C) deduction
D) objectivity
E) knowledge

Question 16

Research in gerontology often falls within three major paradigms:

A) positivism/postpositivism, epistemology, critical gerontology
B) epistemology, grounded theory, critical gerontology
C) positivism/postpositivism, interpretive approaches, critical gerontology
D) experimental designs, interpretive approaches, critical gerontology
E) experimental designs, survey research, secondary data analysis

Question 17

Systems of knowledge or paradigms are

A) mutually exclusive
B) exhaustive
C) also called ontologies
D) also called epistemologies
E) made up of an ontology, epistemology and methodology

Question 18

An interpretive/constructivist researcher would most likely argue that

A) there is a real reality, but it can only be imperfectly known
B) there is a real reality, and it can be perfectly known
C) reality is independent of the knower
D) reality is dependent of the knower
E) reality is best understood through longitudinal study designs

Question 19

Positivism in the social sciences represents an attempt to

A) transfer the principles of the physical sciences directly to human behaviour
B) transfer the principles of the social sciences directly to human behaviour
C) transfer the principles of the social sciences directly to the physical sciences
D) obtain positive results from research studies
E) understand how people construct positive realities

Question 20

If you strive to be objective in your research and use mainly quantitative methods to study older people, you are probably a

A) postpositivist
B) postmodernist
C) critical theorist
D) interpretivist
E) methodologist

Question 21

Survey research

A) is most widely used within the critical paradigm
B) is the best design for explaining social processes of aging
C) is used to study a population that is too large to examine directly
D) cannot offer generalizable results
E) uses in-depth interviews to collect data

Question 22

If a researcher wanted to examine the attitudes and beliefs about elder abuse in Canada, and drew a random sample from the Canadian population, then

A) each person has an equal chance of being included in the sample
B) each person has an unequal chance of being included in the sample
C) every person in Canada will be included in the sample
D) only people interested in preventing elder abuse will be included in the sample
E) only people less than 65 years of age will be included in the sample

Question 23

When conducting surveys with older adults, the research has shown that older people compared to younger people

A) have a higher non-response rate
B) have a lower non-response rate
C) have a higher non-response rate and give more "I don't know" responses
D) are home more often
E) spend a longer time completing the survey

Question 24

A gerontologist decides to use the census data to study how many older people are living in poverty. Using existing data that were initially collected for another purpose is an example of

A) ethnography
B) phenomenology
C) secondary data analysis
D) data collection
E) participatory action research

Question 25

One of the major limitations gerontologists encounter in using secondary data is that

A) it is expensive
B) it is time-consuming
C) it is only useful for exploratory purposes
D) the researcher is limited to the variables in the data file
E) only large sample sizes can be analyzed

Question 26

A program was developed to improve the health status of older homeless people. In order to determine if the program was effective, the researcher needs to provide evidence of the three criteria required for causation, which are

A) reliability, validity, and control of extraneous factors
B) satisfaction with the program, covariation, and reliability
C) reliability, validity, and temporal ordering
D) temporal ordering, covariation, and satisfaction with the program
E) temporal ordering, covariation, and control of extraneous factors

Question 27

A gerontologist wants to determine the effectiveness of a psychosocial intervention to reduce caregiver burden among daughters of parents with Alzheimer's disease. Which of the following approaches is the gold standard for determining whether the intervention was effective?

A) experimental design
B) survey research
C) secondary data analysis
D) biography
E) participatory action research

Question 28

A counselling program is developed to reduce the misuse of alcohol among older people. For convenience, the program is offered twice per week, and delivered by a different therapist on each night. Participants are asked to attend at least one session per week. The researcher should be concerned with

A) overgeneralization
B) inter-rater reliability
C) intervention fidelity
D) precision
E) agreement

Question 29

A study is conducted to determine the effectiveness of group therapy on abstinence among older people who are substance abusers. The older people involved in the study either receive group therapy or they are in a comparison group. The presence of a comparison group suggests

A) older people were randomly assigned to one of the two groups (group therapy or comparison)
B) older people were not randomly assigned to one of the two groups (group therapy or comparison)
C) the two groups are equivalent on all important characteristics
D) all alternative explanations can be ruled
E) the two groups were matched on important characteristics

Question 30

A gerontologist is interested in studying the retirement experience of older gay men. The researcher is interested in how older gay men interpret and construct their social world, and is probably a

A) postpositivist
B) postmodernist
C) interpretivist
D) methodologist
E) policy maker

Question 31

A gerontologist who collects data, conducts in-depth interviews, observes participants, and analyses contents, most likely falls within which research tradition?

A) postpositivism
B) empiricism
C) methodology
D) constructivism
E) life course perspective

Question 32

The life story of a person written by someone else can be used to capture the lived experience of aging. This is an example of which type of qualitative research method?

A) phenomenology
B) ethnography
C) biography
D) grounded theory
E) case study

Question 33

A gerontologist is interested in understanding the lived experience of older lesbian women. This is an example of which type of qualitative research method?

A) phenomenology
B) ethnography
C) biography
D) grounded theory
E) case study

Question 34

A gerontologist is interested in using data collected about the retirement of older gay men and lesbian women to develop a theory for understanding their retirement experiences. This is an example of which type of qualitative research method?

A) phenomenology
B) ethnography
C) biography
D) grounded theory
E) case study

Question 35

Over a six-month period, a researcher used participant observation to document the way of life of people with dementia living in a long-term care facility, and their interactions with staff. This is an example of which type of qualitative research method?

A) phenomenology
B) ethnography
C) biography
D) grounded theory
E) case study

Question 36

The paradigm that subscribes to the view that reality is shaped by social, political, cultural, class and gender divisions is called

A) postpositivism
B) postmodernism
C) critical theory
D) interpretivism
E) methodology

Question 37

A researcher interested in understanding how social structures have affected the gender income inequality would likely be

A) a postpositivist
B) a postmodernist
C) a critical theorist
D) an interpretivist
E) a methodologist

Question 38

A gerontologist conducts a study on the use of computers, and finds that older people do not use them as much as younger people. The researcher suggests this finding may be due to the fact that as people grow older, they may have difficulty using technology, and therefore may not use computers as often. This is an example of

A) an age effect
B) a cohort effect
C) a period effect
D) a large effect
E) no effect

Question 39

Younger people have grown up with the use of computers, which is not true for older people today. Thus, the age difference between the groups may account for the finding that older people use computers less than younger people . This is an example of

A) an age effect
B) a cohort effect
C) a period effect
D) a large effect
E) no effect

Question 40

A study found that younger people use computers more often than older people. If all of the older people included in the study lived through a major recession, and chose not to spend their money on a computer, the finding could be explained by

A) an age effect
B) a cohort effect
C) a period effect
D) a large effect
E) no effect

Question 41

Past research in social gerontology has made the mistake of interpreting cross-sectional age differences as if they referred to the process of aging. This has been referred to as

A) the life course perspective
B) the life course fallacy
C) the life span approach
D) longitudinal analysis
E) cross-sectional analysis

Question 42

A researcher is interested in studying burn-out among gerontological social workers. The researcher conducts a study of gerontological social workers hired in long-term care facilities in 1997, and measures their burnout in 1998, 1999, and so on, through to 2002. This study is an example of

A) a cohort study
B) a trend study
C) a panel study
D) a cross-sectional study
E) an inappropriate study

Question 43

We are interested in what happens to the incidence of substance abuse among adults with schizophrenia as they age. We survey a sample of people aged 50-55 in 1999 about their drug and alcohol use, and then we draw a new sample from the same population, this time aged 60-65 in 2000, and another new sample of those aged 70-75 in 2001. This is an example of

A) a cohort study
B) a trend study
C) a panel study
D) a cross-sectional study
E) an inappropriate study

Question 44

Researchers begin to analyze the results of a longitudinal labour survey to find out how many years retirees spend in retirement before they go back to work, why they go back, what the national rates are for the reversal in any given year, and how the rates have increased or decreased over time. This is an example of

A) a cohort analysis
B) a trend analysis
C) a panel analysis
D) an event history analysis
E) an inappropriate analysis

Question 45

Studies which retrospectively compare events and periods within the life of a single individual, focusing on time-marked events, are which type of study?

A) biographical
B) autobiographical
C) life review
D) event history
E) longitudinal

Question 46

A life review study is ______ while a longitudinal panel study is ______.

A) deductive, inductive
B) reliable, valid
C) valid, reliable
D) prospective, retrospective
E) retrospective, propsective

Question 47

One of the major limitations of longitudinal studies is

A) they provide the weakest design for studying age related changes
B) attrition
C) they cannot be used to examine when and how particular events happen
D) there are none in Canada
E) they only capture one point in time

Question 48

Constructing culturally sensitive instruments is important when a respondent does not speak either of the two official languages-English or French. A technique that can be used to address this challenge is:

A) event history analysis
B) secondary data analysis
C) back translation
D) life review
E) objectivity

Question 49

The Circadian rhythm would suggest that

A) younger adults would do the best in morning lectures
B) older adults would do the best in morning lectures
C) older adults should not be in lectures
D) young adults perform the same no matter the time of day
E) older adults perform the same no matter the time of day

Question 50

A researcher wants to understand the needs of older homeless people, so she decides to go to a homeless shelter. She arrives at the shelter and begins talking to homeless people about their situation. She does not tell them that they are part of a study, and that the information she collects will be used as data. Prior to beginning this study, it was imperative for the researcher to

A) obtain informed consent
B) offer them money
C) plan exactly how long the interview would take
D) take an extra tape for the tape-recorder
E) provide them with a meal

Question 51

A social gerontologist who is considered a "postpositivist" never conducts inductive research.

Question 52

Reliability means that in repeated observations of the same event, the same data would be collected each time.

Question 53

Validity refers to how well a measure represents what it is suppose to represent.

Question 54

Credibility and dependability are ways of warranting knowledge within the interpretive paradigm.

Question 55

Disentangling age, period and cohort effects is often an easy task for social gerontologists.

Question 56

Identify and briefly describe the three key principles of scientific guidelines.

Question 57

Identify the four aspects of the scientific process. How would the process differ for a researcher working deductively than one who is working inductively?

Question 58

Briefly discuss how ontology, epistemology, and methodology differ between the three main paradigms.

Question 59

Identify the methods particular to postpositivist, interpretive/constructivist, and critical theory approaches. How do they use the methods in research? How is the quality of the research judged in each paradigm?

Question 60

Describe the differences between an age, period and cohort effect, giving an example of each.

Question 61

What is the difference between a cross-sectional and a longitudinal study? What is the difference between panel and cohort designs? State a Canadian example of a panel design and a cohort design.

Question 62

Identify and briefly describe some of the difficulties relating to longitudinal study designs when studying age-related changes.

Question 63

With respect to measurement, what are some of the issues that need to be considered when older people who do not speak English or French, the official languages in Canada, are included in a study? Discuss safeguards that can be used to improve the data collected.

Question 64

Identify and describe the challenges related to collecting data from older people.

Question 65

Why are ethical hazards magnified for older individuals? Identify the three main ethical problem areas and how they apply to researching older individuals.

Question 66

Describe in detail the scientific process of deduction and induction using a research topic relevant to aging. Discuss how these approaches are related and how knowledge is warranted by each.

Question 67

Choose an aging research topic of interest. Describe what the research focus would be if you were a postpositivist compared to an interpretivist or critical theorist. For each paradigm, describe different types of methodologies that might be appropriate to address your research question. What do you think are some of the advantages and disadvantages of each paradigm?

Question 68

Discuss the methods within the postpositivist paradigm including survey research, secondary data analysis, and experimental designs. Briefly describe each method, and state their advantages and disadvantages. Using examples, state when it would be most appropriate to use one method over the other.

Question 69

Discuss the methods within the interpretive paradigm including biography, phenomenology, grounded theory and ethnography. Using examples, briefly describe each method, and state when it would be most appropriate to use one method over the other.

Question 70

Describe some of the ethical situations that you have encountered from working with older people in research. How were some of these issues resolved? If you have not worked directly with older people, what do think are some of the ethical issues that might arise? How could they be resolved?