Deck 2: Communication Research and Inquiry

Question 1

_________ is the idea that good science produces more questions than it answers.

A) Knowledge is power
B) Good theory is good science
C) The specification of ignorance
D) The unknown known
E) McLuhan's Quandary

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Because a theory is not a fact, we can best judge its worth by assessing its ______.

A) support among those in the discipline
B) reputation of its most ardent supporters
C) parsimony
D) presence in the general culture
E) usefulness

Answer 2

E

Question 3

When you view theory as a means of shaping scholars' perception by focusing attention on some specific feature of communication, you are applying the ________ metaphor for theory.

A) net
B) lenses
C) map
D) spotlight
E) fly paper

Answer 3

B

Question 4

The fact that theories are developed by people who have biases, interests, skills, and values means that they are___________.

A) dynamic
B) human constructions
C) abstractions
D) often rejected and replaced
E) here today and often gone tomorrow

Question 5

The fact that theories are always changing to meet not only the scientific advances of those who employ them, but to meet changing times and social conditions, means that they are ________.

A) dynamic
B) human constructions
C) abstractions
D) often rejected and replaced
E) here today and often gone tomorrow

Question 6

The fact that theories reduce the topics under investigation to categories, variables, propositions, and assumptions means they are ____________.

A) dynamic
B) human constructions
C) abstractions
D) often rejected and replaced
E) here today and often gone tomorrow

Question 7

The starting point of scientific inquiry is asking scientifically testable questions. Which of the following is such a question?

A) "Why does my brother like Star Wars rather than Star Trek?
B) "How do people know when it's their turn to talk when in conversation with others?"
C) "Why does my family always choose to go north for summer vacation?"
D) "When do brown shoes make more sense than black shoes?"
E) "What's up with jumbo shrimp?"

Question 8

The three essential steps of the process of scientific inquiry are ask a scientifically testable question, __________, and develop answers.

A) conduct a survey or experiment
B) engage in scholarly research
C) engage in systematic observation
D) develop a solid hypothesis
E) consult with other scientists

Question 9

The ontology of the social sciences allows three discrete positions. One says the world is real, tangible, and measurable, existing apart from our efforts to study it. This is the ___________ position.

A) realist
B) objectivist
C) social constructionalist
D) subjectivist
E) metaphysical

Question 10

The ontology of the social sciences allows three discrete positions. One says that reality is a combination of the real world "out there" and our experiences with and of it. This is the ___________ position.

A) realist
B) objectivist
C) social constructionalist
D) subjectivist
E) metaphysical

Question 11

You have questions about a specific piece of research on conversations in the early stages of dating, so you decide to run that same study, albeit with a different set of young men and women. You are engaging in the scientific practice of _________.

A) means testing
B) abstraction
C) hypothesis testing
D) replication
E) random sampling

Question 12

The epistemology of social science operates on a continuum between two positions. At one end is the position that the best way to generate and expand knowledge is through closing the gap between knower and known. This is the __________.

A) realist
B) objectivist
C) social constructionalist
D) subjectivist
E) metaphysical

Question 13

Social scientists recognize that it is close to impossible to keep values out of their inquiry. Some, then, embrace them as a natural part of humans doing human work. Others do their best to limit the influence of those values on their inquiry. They try to set them aside, or _________ them through how they conduct their work.

A) obfuscate
B) bracket
C) celebrate
D) ignore
E) challenge

Question 14

The form of social science scholarship that is most closely aligned with the natural sciences in ontology, epistemology, and axiology is ___________ theory and research.

A) post-positivist
B) interpretive
C) critical
D) objectivist
E) metaphysical

Question 15

A post-positivist researcher who studies the effects of social networking on friendships wants to ____________ those phenomena.

A) understand
B) change
C) explain and control
D) shift perceptions of
E) boost the economic value of

Question 16

Which of the following is an example of a text that might be of interest to an interpretive researcher?

A) The number of tail-wag signals from one bee to another when it rains.
B) The tattoos of a motorcycle gang in Vermont.
C) The most effective tire-tread pattern on that gang's bikes.
D) The temperature at which a classroom becomes too hot for successful learning.
E) The most effective curriculum for teaching math to suburban kids

Question 17

For critical researchers, what is real and knowable in the social world is the product of the interaction between structure (the social world's rules, norms, and beliefs) and ________ (how humans act and interact in that world).

A) tradition
B) normalization
C) dialectic
D) agency
E) representation

Question 18

Critical researchers refer to the interplay of the social world's rules, norms, and beliefs and how humans act and interact in that world as __________.

A) tradition
B) normalization
C) dialectic
D) agency
E) representation

Question 19

Communication research employs___________ (inquiry relying on the collection and analysis of numerical data) and___________ (inquiry relying on the collection and analysis of symbolic data such as language and other cultural products).

A) qualitative research/quantitative research
B) quantitative research/qualitative research
C) experimental/survey
D) survey/experimental
E) humanistic/democratic

Question 20

In your TV violence experiment you show one group of children a cartoon in which a character is punished for hitting another character. A second group sees the same cartoon, but in this one the aggressive character is rewarded for hitting. This means that reward/punishment for aggression in cartoons is your ___________.

A) dependent variable
B) independent variable
C) text
D) structure
E) control variable

Question 21

You cannot decide in this experiment how to measure the effect of your manipulation of the reward or punishment the children see in your cartoons. You are struggling with the question of ___________.

A) epistemology
B) nomenclature
C) operationalization
D) hypothesis building
E) enumerating

Question 22

Experiments are the most-favored research method of postpositivist social scientists because they are the only way that __________ can be demonstrated.

A) causality
B) connection
C) correlation
D) social influence
E) representation

Question 23

But one major problem for those social scientists is that it is the results of those experiments are ______________.

A) not always statistically valid
B) usually difficult to replicate
C) difficult to generalize to the larger population
D) subject to researcher bias
E) often open to challenge

Question 24

Surveys _______________________.

A) are very expensive and time-consuming to conduct
B) rely on what many people consider to be questionable statistics
C) cannot demonstrate causality
D) are difficult to administer when large populations are of interest
E) have difficulty when many variables are of interest

Question 25

____________ is a quantitative (numerical) textual analysis that depends not on researchers' deep reading, but on their objective categorization and accurate measurement based on their deep reading.

A) Content analysis
B) A focus group
C) An online survey
D) Structural analysis
E) Means testing

Question 26

Communication theorist Em Griffith offered 3 metaphors as ways of understanding how social scientists use theories. They were nets, lenses, and _________.

A) microscopes
B) maps
C) lasers
D) mazes
E) rulers

Question 27

To build theory, social scientists utilize ___________, the active, systematic process of discovery, leading scholars from observation to knowledge.

A) random testing
B) peer review
C) blind trials
D) means testing
E) scientific inquiry

Question 28

Social scientists face questions of ontology in the conduct of their work. These are questions of ____________.

A) how to best created and expand knowledge
B) the nature of reality and what is knowable
C) the proper role of values in research and theory building
D) the best way to protect participants' privacy
E) the best way to connect with other, like-minded scientists

Question 29

Social scientists face questions of epistemology in the conduct of their work. These are questions of ____________.

A) how to best create and expand knowledge
B) the nature of reality and what is knowable
C) the proper role of values in research and theory building
D) the best way to protect participants' privacy
E) the best way to connect with other, like-minded scientists

Question 30

Social scientists face questions of axiology in the conduct of their work. These are questions of ____________.

A) how to best create and expand knowledge
B) the nature of reality and what is knowable
C) the proper role of values in research and theory building
D) the best way to protect participants' privacy
E) the best way to connect with other, like-minded scientists

Question 31

The same piece of furniture is called a desk when you sit at it and write a term paper but it's called a table when you sit at it to eat. This phenomenon best fits the ontology of ___________.

A) realists
B) nominalists
C) experimentalists
D) social constructionists
E) postpositivists

Question 32

Much like those who work in the natural sciences, postpositivist social scientists typically adopt an epistemological ___________ position.

A) Objectivist
B) subjectivist
C) experimentalist
D) textual
E) metaphysical

Question 33

Which social science tradition puts values front-and-center of their research and theory building, arguing that values should drive research which, like all good science, is intended to create change?

A) postpositive theory and research
B) interpretive theory and research
C) critical theory and research
D) normative theory and research
E) metaphysical theory and research

Question 34

Interpretive researchers typically study __________, any product of social interaction.

A) Texts
B) behaviors
C) signs
D) symbols
E) representations

Question 35

The goal of interpretive research and theory is ____________.

A) Understanding
B) changing the social world
C) explanation, prediction, and control
D) shifting perception
E) challenging the status quo

Question 36

The goal of postpositivist research and theory is ___________.

A) understanding
B) changing the social world
C) explanation, prediction, and control
D) shifting perception
E) challenging the status quo

Question 37

The goal of critical research and theory is ___________.

A) understanding
B) changing the social world
C) explanation, prediction, and control
D) shifting perception
E) upholding the status quo

Question 38

You are a social scientist. You have a social-constructionist ontology, an objectivist epistemology, and you employ the scientific method to limit the influence of your values on your work. You are a(n) ___________ researcher.

A) Postpositivist
B) critical
C) interpretive
D) cross-boundary
E) representational

Question 39

You are a social scientist. You believe that all knowledge is local, you believe that knowledge is best advanced through subjective interaction with other scholars, and you willingly accept the role of values in your work. You are a(n) ___________ researcher.

A) post-positivist
B) critical
C) interpretive
D) cross-boundary
E) representational

Question 40

You are a social scientist. Your believe that knowledge is advanced only when it serves to free people, your ontology argues that reality is the product of the interplay between structure and agency, and you believe that it makes no sense to keep values out of your work. You are a(n) ___________ researcher.

A) post-positivist
B) critical
C) interpretive
D) cross-boundary
E) representational

Question 41

Experiments involve the manipulation of one variable (the _______ variable) to measure its influence on another variable (the ________ variable).

A) independent/dependent
B) primary/secondary
C) dependent/independent
D) secondary/dependent
E) control/placebo

Question 42

Experiments typically employ a(n) ________ group, participants who are not subjected to the experiment's manipulation of variables.

A) blind
B) anonymous
C) stratified
D) control
E) placebo

Question 43

Survey researchers sometimes present questions to __________ samples of respondents; that is, all population members have an equal likelihood of appearing in the sample.

A) stratified
B) random
C) non-linear
D) anonymous
E) representative

Question 44

Survey researchers sometimes present questions to __________ samples of respondents to ensure the inclusion of particular categories of respondents.

A) stratified
B) random
C) non-linear
D) anonymous
E) representative

Question 45

An important benefit of surveys is they ___________.

A) can demonstrate causality
B) allow researchers great control over independent variables
C) allow researchers great control over dependent variables
D) do not require use of a control group
E) can investigate the influence of a large number of variables

Question 46

Interpretive researchers feel no need to generalize their findings because they believe that____________.

A) generalizing scientific findings to large populations in meaningless
B) meaning is made between text and "reader" so there is no intention to generalize
C) causality is the only true measure of communication's influence
D) only surveys allow such generalizations
E) the social world is fundamentally corrupt

Question 47

___________ research is quantitative textual analysis that depends not on researchers' deep reading, but on their objective categorization and accurate measurement based on their deep reading.

A) Survey
B) Experimental
C) Ethnography
D) Content analysis
E) Critical

Question 48

___________ is the study of human social interaction from the inside, for example when researchers move into a half-way house for delinquent teens and become part of the institution's daily routine.

A) Survey research
B) Experimental research
C) Ethnographic research
D) Content analysis
E) Critical research

Question 49

Researcher Janice Radway successfully mixed research methods and traditions in her study of the _____________.

A) communication patterns of teens in a half-way house
B) ways in which female readers of romance novels make meaning from those texts
C) way women employees ask for time off at work
D) effect of television violence on young children
E) motorcycle gang tattoos

Question 50

Theory is never __________.

A) changed
B) fact
C) disproved
D) fiction
E) debated

Question 51

What are Em Griffin's three metaphors that can explain how theories work? What function of theory is implied by each?

Question 52

Explain the value of the specification of ignorance.

Question 53

Theories are human constructions; they are dynamic; and they are abstractions. Explain and offer an example of each of these concepts.

Question 54

List and describe the three steps involved in scientific inquiry.

Question 55

What is ontology? What are the three ontological positions?

Question 56

What error in understanding do people make when they dismiss scientific findings as
"only a theory"? What factors separate theory from even really good speculation?

Question 57

We typically think that good science minimizes the role of values in its conduct. But we also know that this is impossible in the social sciences. Describe the various axiological positions typically adopted by communication scholars and explain how each serves the interests of those who adopt them.

Question 58

Social scientists (post-positivists) who model their inquiry as close as possible to the work of natural science researcher (positivists) adopt the ontology, epistemology, and axiology of those scholars. What are the ontology, epistemology, and axiology of social science's post-positivists and how might they differ from those of the natural scientists?

Question 59

Each of the major traditions of communication inquiry-postpositivism, interpretive research and theory, and critical research and theory-has a different goal. What is the goal of each and which do you believe should be the most important goal of social science research and theory?

Question 60

Identify a question about communication that interests you, for example, why are college students so attached to their smartphones or why do some newly arrived immigrants choose to assimilate into the larger culture more quickly than others or how do male and female employees differ in their responses to an aggressive female supervisor? Now present your scientifically testable question, choose a research method (or mixed methods) for answering it, and describe how you might undertake your effort at systematic inquiry. By the way, the offered examples are there as guides-they are off the table as possible research questions.