Deck 2: Studying Social Life: Sociological Research Methods

Question 1

You are doing a research project on the effects of contemporary media.If your hypothesis is that "watching violence on television causes an increase in violent behavior," then what are your variables?

A) violence on television and violent behavior
B) watching television, violence on television, and violent behavior
C) violent behavior
D) violence in the media

Answer 1

A

Question 2

You want to conduct some sociological research on whether people on social networking sites are less likely to meet in person as a result of their online community participation.What is the next step in the scientific method?

A) conduct a literature review
B) form a hypothesis; give operational definitions to variables
C) choose a research design or method
D) collect data

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Jai is conducting a sociological research study on differences in interactions between similar and dissimilar co-workers.After reviewing the literature,he developed a hypothesis and has operationalized the variables he will study.What is the next step Jai should take in the scientific method?

A) identify a problem or ask a question
B) analyze data
C) choose a research design or method
D) collect data

Answer 3

C

Question 4

One study found a strong correlation between parental bonding and adolescent drug use.Children with stronger bonds to their parents were far less likely to try drugs or alcohol.However,when the researchers examined their data more closely,they discovered that parental bonding was really a predictor for teen religiosity and that high levels of religiosity prevent drug use rather than parental bonding.This means that religiosity was:

A) a spurious variable.
B) an issue of reflexivity.
C) a paradigm shift.
D) the intervening variable.

Question 5

If the federal government conducts research on the value of checking batteries in home smoke detectors,what method will produce data that is easiest to transmit to many people?

A) ethnography
B) quantitative
C) qualitative
D) interviews

Question 6

A sociologist wants to study popular attitudes and perceptions about astrology among college students in California.She believes that people who have astrological signs identified with fire will have a greater knowledge of astrology because fire signs tend to have more interesting and attractive symbolism.What are the variables in this study?

A) astrological signs and knowledge of astrology
B) college students and symbolism
C) popular attitudes and perceptions
D) California and college students

Question 7

You are conducting research on violence in the media.If you are trying to decide whether "violence" includes words as well as actions,in what part of the research process are you engaged?

A) forming a hypothesis
B) analyzing the data
C) defining the variables
D) reviewing the literature

Question 8

A study showed a strong correlation between not smoking and having a high college grade point average.Although some people used this study as evidence that smoking is bad,if you accept that smoking does NOT cause someone to lose brain cells or study less,you would probably conclude that the study:

A) used basic research.
B) was valid.
C) misused a control group.
D) employed a spurious correlation.

Question 9

A famous social scientist tells you that the most important task in her research was to move from "total bewilderment" to "finding her feet" with the people she was studying.What can you say about this researcher?

A) She worries about ethical issues in her research.
B) She is a qualitative researcher.
C) She cannot use interviews as a methodology.
D) She exclusively uses quantitative methods.

Question 10

Survey research tends to produce quantitative data.One key advantage of this kind of data is that it:

A) is easy to transmit to the public.
B) includes observations and informal interviews.
C) allows the researcher to review the literature.
D) affords easy access to the norms, values, and meanings held by members of a group.

Question 11

What do you call broad theoretical models of the social or natural world?

A) paradigms
B) hypotheses
C) interviews
D) grounded theory

Question 12

According to the scientific method,what are the steps in research,and in what order should they be completed?

A) form a hypothesis, define variables, choose research method, collect data
B) form a hypothesis, choose research design, define variables, analyze data
C) form a hypothesis, choose research design, review the literature
D) analyze data, form a hypothesis, choose research design, define variables

Question 13

Lili is conducting a sociological research study on the underground music scene.She has just finished collecting data for the study.What is the next step Lili should take in the scientific method?

A) disseminate findings
B) analyze data
C) form a hypothesis; give operational definitions to variables
D) choose a research design or method

Question 14

In the 1980s,many politicians argued that listening to heavy metal music led teenagers to commit suicide.Though you might find this belief silly,it is a(n):

A) variable.
B) paradigm shift.
C) hypothesis.
D) operational definition.

Question 15

A social research methods class wants to study smoking.first the professor asks how many people in the class are smokers.Two people say yes.Then she asks how many people have smoked a cigarette in the past week,and ten people say yes.from this the class decides that,for the purposes of its survey,a smoker will be anyone who has had a cigarette in the past week and currently owns a pack of cigarettes.This is a(n):

A) operational definition.
B) hypothesis.
C) spurious correlation.
D) ethical challenge.

Question 16

After formulating a general research question,what will a good researcher always do?

A) review the literature in order to become familiar with earlier research that relates to his topic
B) clearly define his variables
C) look for correlations between two or more different phenomena
D) form a hypothesis

Question 17

A paradigm shift is a major break in the assumptions that are used to understand the world.for social scientists,what causes a paradigm shift?

A) the study of history
B) new data forcing a new way of looking at the world
C) religion and theology
D) increased awareness of the current paradigm

Question 18

A graduate student is almost done with his dissertation when he is informed that twenty years ago someone did a very similar project and already demonstrated what he had hoped to be the first to discover.What basic step of the scientific method could have saved him from this problem?

A) developing an operational definition
B) selecting a research method
C) analyzing data
D) reviewing the literature

Question 19

What is the scientific method?

A) the use of statistics to analyze numerical data
B) the study of scientific processes
C) the standard procedure for acquiring and verifying empirical knowledge
D) the study of nature

Question 20

In recent years,sociologists who study deviance have learned that they can measure the quantities of narcotics consumed by a community by testing its sewage before treatment.What part of the research process would the sociologists be carrying out when they visit the sewage treatment plant to test its sewage?

A) analyzing data
B) forming a hypothesis
C) collecting data
D) developing an operational definition

Question 21

What are the goals of ethnography?

A) to develop quantitative data sets that allow researchers to discover correlations
B) to conduct interviews with people who have very different ways of life
C) to describe activities sociologists observe and to understand what those activities mean to the people involved
D) to develop ethics and standards for sociological research

Question 22

Which of the following is a DISADVANTAGE of using ethnography as a method of social research?

A) Participants are self-selected.
B) Participants are usually not completely candid when asked to describe their attitudes and behaviors.
C) It is difficult for another researcher to repeat or replicate any particular ethnography.
D) Ethnographies tend to have ethical problems that are of central concern to most sociologists.

Question 23

If a piece of sociological research is representative,it means that the:

A) researcher has avoided any overt bias.
B) research has been conducted systematically with the scientific method.
C) smaller group of people studied can tell us something about a larger group.
D) researcher avoided using any double-barreled questions.

Question 24

Karl Marx argued that in some fundamental ways Hegel's theories were mistaken about how the world worked.Marx said he needed to "stand Hegel on his head" because Marx believed that "it is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence,but their social existence that determines their consciousness." for many who came afterward,Marx's argument represented a:

A) classic demonstration of reactivity.
B) participant observation.
C) paradigm shift.
D) justification of qualitative research.

Question 25

When engaging in participant observation,researchers can study others as well as themselves. Research that focuses on one's own thoughts,feelings,and experiences is known as:

A) life history.
B) autoethnography.
C) internal investigation.
D) content analysis.

Question 26

Julie Bettie wrote her ethnography Women without Class: Girls,Race,and Identity to examine the role of race and class in the lives of girls in California's Central Valley.She did most of her work at a high school,hanging out with and talking to students,but she felt very self-conscious about writing down her observations where the girls could see her,so she often ducked into a bathroom stall to write.What do ethnographers call her written observations?

A) interviews
B) representativeness
C) nonverbal communication
D) fieldnotes

Question 27

Which of the following research techniques focuses on gaining an insider's perspective of the everyday lives of subjects under investigation,often dispelling stereotypes about the group being investigated?

A) participant observation
B) surveys
C) analysis of existing data
D) experiments

Question 28

Sociologists who conduct interviews can only gather data from a limited number of people because:

A) it is impossible to find enough people through a random sample.
B) researchers are only allowed to talk to people who are eighteen and older.
C) it is extremely difficult to guarantee confidentiality to large groups.
D) interviews are too time-consuming.

Question 29

The sociologist Mitch Duneier wrote his ethnography Sidewalk about street vendors in New York City's Greenwich Village.While writing the book,Duneier was particularly concerned that the people he was studying would alter their behavior when he was present,especially since his background was very different from theirs,causing him to think critically about his action and role as a researcher.What do sociologists call this?

A) response rate
B) reflexivity
C) validity
D) thick description

Question 30

Which of the following is an advantage of using ethnography to study social life?

A) Ethnography is a quick and easy form of social science research.
B) Ethnography requires the researcher to spend little time gaining familiarity with the research subjects.
C) Ethnography allows the researcher to gather abundant data on a small population.
D) Ethnography requires no training since it is something we all do as human beings.

Question 31

Which methodology most closely resembles the scientific method?

A) ethnography
B) survey research
C) experimental research
D) interviews

Question 32

In his research,the ethnographer Richard Mitchell kept his identity a secret while studying militant survivalist groups.Sometimes he even presented himself as a believer in the survivalists' paranoid,racist ideologies.By engaging in such covert research,with what was Mitchell concerned?

A) validity
B) thick description
C) rapport
D) replicability

Question 33

If you observe a group in order to determine its norms,values,rules,and meanings,then what kind of research are you doing?

A) normative
B) quantitative
C) qualitative
D) natural science

Question 34

In her ethnography Wheeling & Dealing,Patricia Adler investigates the social and professional worlds of midlevel cocaine and marijuana smugglers.Her research started unexpectedly when she discovered that her next-door neighbor and friend was a drug smuggler;this was a huge advantage for her because it meant that she already had ________ with one of her informants.

A) informed consent
B) rapport
C) sampling
D) causation

Question 35

Charles Darwin suggested that rather than being superior to the rest of the animal kingdom,human beings are simply one part of a larger system governed by natural laws.To the extent that this radically changed how people thought about almost everything,we would call it a(n):

A) paradigm shift.
B) ethical issue.
C) example of reactivity.
D) research proposal.

Question 36

Which method of social research might involve shifting between participating in a social situation and being an observer?

A) interviews
B) surveys
C) comparative-historical research
D) ethnography

Question 37

In their ethnography,Promises I Can Keep: Why Poor Women Put Motherhood before Marriage,Kathryn Edin and Maria Kefalas studied the realities of single motherhood for poor,urban women in Camden,New Jersey.Before beginning their research they immersed themselves in the community.Edin moved her family to the city,and they both volunteered in community programs.Embedding themselves in the community is an example of:

A) gaining access.
B) fieldnotes.
C) thick description.
D) sampling.

Question 38

Ethnographers using participant observation must always be aware of reflexivity,which occurs because:

A) participants may not consider their own motivations and act out of reflex.
B) ethnographers' conclusions may not be applicable to any larger group.
C) the presence of ethnographers may alter the behavior of the people they are observing.
D) ethnographers intervene in the lives of the people they are studying.

Question 39

What does it mean if ethnographers are overt about their roles?

A) They maintain narrow and limited definitions of appropriate research methodologies.
B) They spend a great deal of time reflecting on their roles in the research process.
C) They observe and record data without letting anyone know they are doing research.
D) They openly admit that they are doing sociological research.

Question 40

frances is assigned a research project where she is to attend a celebratory family meal and analyze her experiences as she participates in the meal.She is asked to make a detailed account of the meal that includes her thoughts and feelings about the event.What type of research is frances assigned?

A) comparative-historical
B) survey
C) autoethnography
D) experiment

Question 41

What is it that interviewers seek when asking a respondent for his or her life history?

A) a chronological account of the respondent's life
B) biographical information on the maternal side
C) detailed accounts of early childhood memories
D) a genealogical map of family ancestry

Question 42

Why do social scientists who use interviews rarely speak with large numbers of people for a project?

A) It is hard to find people willing to be interviewed.
B) There are usually very few people who are interesting enough to be interviewed.
C) face-to-face interviewing is a very time-consuming process.
D) The data is so rich that few interviews are typically needed.

Question 43

After researchers conduct a series of interviews,they usually transcribe the responses.The transcription process is fairly time-consuming,but it is valuable in part because it allows researchers to:

A) look for patterns in their data.
B) check for bias in how they asked questions.
C) think up new questions they did not ask.
D) determine the average age of their interviewees.

Question 44

What kind of question usually produces a wide variety of responses by allowing respondents to answer in whatever way seems appropriate to them?

A) closed-ended
B) open-ended
C) double-barreled
D) leading

Question 45

Which of the following is an advantage of using interviews as a research method?

A) They allow the researcher to maintain strict control of the data-collection process.
B) They reveal attitudes and beliefs not accessible by any other means.
C) They can affirm preconceptions and stereotypes.
D) They allow researchers to analyze data statistically and draw correlations.

Question 46

A research team is curious about the relationship between exercise habits and academic performance among American college students.In order to get their data,the researchers randomly select seventeen colleges by pulling names out of a hat and traveling to campuses,where they stand in prominent public places and ask for volunteers until they have ten people from each campus willing to be interviewed.What is the researchers' target population?

A) students at the seventeen colleges they visited
B) the 170 students who were interviewed
C) young people
D) American college students

Question 47

The anthropologist Ruth Behar traveled to San Luis Potosí to learn more about the everyday lives of Mexican women.Instead,she ended up conducting one very long,intensive interview with a woman named Esperanza and took more than a year to collect her interview data.Which DISADVANTAGE of the interview methodology does her research highlight?

A) face-to-face interviewing is time-consuming.
B) Respondents are not always forthcoming or truthful.
C) Interviews generally lack qualitative data that might better capture social reality.
D) Interviews sometimes distance the researcher from the messy realities of the social world.

Question 48

Maria is worried about the representativeness of her study.She is conducting interviews,but each one seems to last at least five hours.Given that she only has one month to collect her data,what strategy might she use to increase her sample size?

A) cut off interviews at two hours regardless if all questions were answered
B) conduct a focus group
C) ask only open-ended questions
D) make respondents write out answers during interviews instead of answering verbally

Question 49

Every four years when it is time to elect a new president,we pay much attention to surveys,which we usually call "polls." Even though there are more than 300 million people in the United States,most political pollsters ask about a thousand people who it is they plan to vote for and use that information to predict how the election will turn out.Who is the sample for a presidential poll?

A) every person who is planning on voting
B) every American
C) people who have strong political opinions
D) the 1,000 people who are asked whom they will vote for

Question 50

Any time a social researcher is going to use sampling,he or she must first identify his or her target population.What is this target population?

A) the group of people whose behavior he or she wishes to change
B) the group of people from whom he or she will gather data
C) the group of people least often studied in the past
D) the larger group of people about whom he or she wishes to generalize

Question 51

If a researcher has obtained informed consent from all his participants,it means that:

A) they have all agreed to participate in the study for monetary compensation.
B) they all understand the nature of the study and what will be asked of them.
C) their confidentiality has been guaranteed.
D) they have all read the prior literature on the subject area.

Question 52

When survey researchers write closed-ended questions,they often use Likert scales to construct the possible answers.How do Likert scales allow respondents to answer?

A) They allow respondents to answer along a continuum, from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree."
B) They allow respondents to answer with their own opinions.
C) They allow respondents to answer in simple dichotomies, like true/false or yes/no.
D) They encourage respondents to include detailed responses.

Question 53

A closed-ended question is one that:

A) allows for a wide variety of responses.
B) encourages respondents to answer creatively.
C) limits the possible responses.
D) can only be answered orally.

Question 54

Some researchers suggest that interviews give "voice" to people who may never have been heard before and offer privileged access to authentic experience,private worlds,and true selves.How do interviews do this?

A) Interviews may contribute to unfair stereotypes.
B) Interviews are relatively quick and economical and can provide a vast amount of data.
C) Interviews allow respondents to speak in their own words; they can reveal their thoughts, feelings, and beliefs-internal states that would not necessarily be accessible by any other means.
D) Respondents are not always forthcoming or truthful. Sometimes they are difficult to talk to, and at other times they may try too hard to be helpful.

Question 55

In her research for The Second Shift,Arlie Hochschild interviewed married couples to find out how they dealt with changing family roles as more women entered the workforce.What advantages came from her decision to use interviews as a research method?

A) It allowed for a large group of people to be included in the study.
B) It ensured that the respondents were always honest and forthcoming about their family lives and marital roles.
C) It allowed her to gather direct quotations and construct an intimate portrait of married couples.
D) It created both a control group and an experimental group and allowed Hochschild to compare them.

Question 56

Arlie Hochschild was concerned that her sample of interviewees was too small to guarantee representativeness.How did Hochschild attempt to overcome this problem?

A) by deciding that she did not need to generalize to any larger population
B) by asking only open-ended questions
C) by doing follow-up interviews with each interviewee
D) by comparing information about her interviewees with a national survey

Question 57

Imagine that you are trying to rewrite a survey.You find a multiple-choice question that asks,"What is your favorite recreational activity?" and gives three response options: watching television,shopping,or sports.You add a fourth response option,"other," and invite respondents to write an activity of their choice.What kind of question have you just made?

A) open-ended
B) quantitative
C) reductionist
D) closed-ended

Question 58

Researchers are often worried that interviewees have not been completely honest or forthcoming,especially when asked about sensitive subjects.How did Arlie Hochschild attempt to deal with this problem?

A) She asked each question in a different way to try to trap respondents in contradictions.
B) She interviewed each spouse separately to see if their stories matched.
C) She observed some respondents as they went about their daily routines to see if their actions matched their answers.
D) She confronted respondents when they gave answers that seemed dubious.

Question 59

A professor has been commissioned by a college to do research on its new academic system.The college has moved from a semester system to block scheduling.He asks,"How have teachers and students responded to the new intensive block scheduling system?" This is an example of:

A) a leading question.
B) a double-barreled question.
C) a closed-ended question.
D) reflexivity.

Question 60

Researchers should try to avoid double-barreled questions,or questions that:

A) ask about multiple issues.
B) use emotional language that may bias the respondent.
C) are vague or ambiguous.
D) have a hidden agenda.

Question 61

A sociologist uses a survey to study the attitudes of adults in the United States concerning premarital sex among teenagers.In this study,the target population consists of all ________ and the group that is asked the survey questions is called the ________.

A) teenagers in the United States; reference group
B) teenagers in the United States who have engaged in premarital sex; experimental group
C) adults in the United States; sample
D) adults in the United States who have teenage children; units of analysis

Question 62

While it is always important to ask clear and unambiguous questions regardless of the method you use,it is especially important to avoid confusion when conducting surveys.Why?

A) Survey research methods commonly use statistics.
B) Survey researchers are usually not present to clarify any misunderstandings.
C) Survey researchers talk to many people.
D) Survey research tends to look at large-scale social patterns.

Question 63

A simple random sample is defined as a sample:

A) with only one variable.
B) in which other demographic variables are taken into account.
C) in which one variable is weighted more than another.
D) in which every member of the population has a chance of being included.

Question 64

When writing a survey,researchers must avoid negative questions,which are defined as questions that:

A) ask about two different topics.
B) let the respondent know how the researcher hopes he or she will answer.
C) belittle or insult a group or individual.
D) ask a respondent about what he or she does not think rather than what he or she does think.

Question 65

What is the primary goal of comparative and historical research methods?

A) to enhance the validity of experiments
B) to understand relationships between parts of society in various regions and time periods
C) to uncover issues that have been neglected by mainstream social research
D) to select participants who are very similar so that the independent variable can be isolated

Question 66

Cecilia is conducting research using public health records to examine flu outbreaks among public school students.Since her research does NOT require her to disturb people in the social context that she is studying,it is considered to be a(n):

A) comparative-historical research.
B) representative sample.
C) focus group.
D) unobtrusive measure.

Question 67

Why are respondents often more comfortable addressing sensitive subjects on surveys than in other research contexts?

A) They know that many other people will also answer the same questions.
B) They know that their answers will only be analyzed statistically.
C) They can answer in private and are usually assured of anonymity.
D) Surveys guarantee that their answers will be confidential, while other methods do not.

Question 68

When high schools want to ask students about sensitive subjects like drug use or sexual health,they often use surveys rather than a more direct form of communication like interviews.Why?

A) Surveys allow respondents to speak in their own words; they can reveal their own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs.
B) Surveys allow researchers to ask much more complex questions than they could with any other methodology.
C) Surveys allow students to answer the questions in private and assure the confidentiality of their responses.
D) Surveys are more expensive and allow for larger staffs and budgets.

Question 69

Which of the following is a DISADVANTAGE of using existing sources of data for research?

A) Researchers often seek answers to questions the data does not directly address.
B) Researchers have to spend a great deal of time and money to get the data.
C) Researchers do not have access to existing sources.
D) Existing sources of data are never relevant to the contemporary world because they emerged from a different time and place.

Question 70

Sometimes survey researchers reject randomness and instead use weighting techniques to construct a sample.How is a weighted sample different from a random one?

A) The weighted sample does not target any specific group within the population.
B) The weighted sample more closely resembles the larger population.
C) A weighted sample excludes some members of the population.
D) A weighted sample draws from a larger target population rather than a random one.

Question 71

What is a pilot study?

A) a smaller study used to investigate the feasibility of a larger one
B) a study designed to improve the target population of a larger study
C) a study that concerns itself with media use and popular culture
D) a study that definitively answers a question that has been bothering sociologists

Question 72

In 2005 a commercial research firm carried out a study of hand washing in public restrooms.The researchers observed 6,336 individuals wash their hands,or not,in the public restrooms of major attractions in Atlanta,Chicago,New York City,and San francisco.Ninety percent of the women observed washed their hands,compared with only 75 percent of the men.Interestingly enough,when asked via a telephone survey,97 percent of women and 96 percent of men claimed they always washed their hands after using a public restroom.What DISADVANTAGE of survey research does this illustrate?

A) Surveys suffer from a lack of replicability, meaning that it is hard for another researcher to repeat or replicate the study.
B) Survey research generally lacks qualitative data that might better capture the social reality the researcher wishes to examine.
C) Not all respondents provide honest self-reports, so survey research has comparatively less validity.
D) In this case, as in many surveys, the respondents are self-selected, which makes it difficult to generalize from these results.

Question 73

Why are social networking sites like facebook and Twitter so exciting to sociologists who study social networks?

A) for the first time, social networking sites offer sociologists a data set rich enough to test ideas that until now have only been theorized.
B) for the first time, sociologists do not have to spend the time and money to go talk to people and can do all their work from a computer.
C) for the first time, sociologists can find out what young people's social networks look like.
D) for the first time, sociologists can track the spread of urban legends.

Question 74

If a sociologist watches a lot of television and counts the number of times women play roles with lower status than those played by men,what research method is he using?

A) experimental research
B) content analysis
C) ethnography
D) interview

Question 75

The Yale sociologist Kai Erikson wrote a book called Wayward Puritans in which he drew on court records from colonial Massachusetts to understand deviance in the past.He learned that the rate of out-of-wedlock births was much higher than it is now and that the amount of alcohol consumed per capita was higher as well.What research methodology was Erikson using?

A) ethnography
B) comparative-historical
C) interviews
D) surveys

Question 76

Why would mentioning a sensitive issue,such as divorce or infidelity,in a survey question influence how respondents answer later questions?

A) Questions about sensitive issues are double-barreled.
B) The respondents may think about the sensitive issue when answering later questions.
C) Sensitive questions make the questionnaire confusing and difficult to fill out.
D) Sensitive questions spoil the representativeness of the researcher's sample.

Question 77

If you were to conduct a research project investigating the relationship between the brands and shapes of gummy candy available in American convenience stores,what methodology would you use?

A) quantitative
B) content analysis
C) comparative or historical research
D) interviews

Question 78

One of the key methods used to do political polling is random-digit dialing,in which every phone number in an area code has an equal chance of being selected to take part in a survey.However,researchers have noticed that young people are more likely to only use a cell phone,and people with cell phones are less likely to answer a call from an unknown number.As a result,polling organizations often count responses from young people as being worth "more" than those from older people so that age in the sample is more accurately representative of the larger population.What is this technique called?

A) weighting
B) bias
C) probability sampling
D) Likert scales

Question 79

When researchers use a social networking site like facebook to obtain data,they are:

A) ethically questionable.
B) doing qualitative research.
C) using interview data.
D) using existing sources.

Question 80

The analysis of documents-such as medical records,photographs,diaries,letters,newspapers,and song lyrics-uses which of the following types of data?

A) ethnographic fieldnotes
B) interview transcripts
C) existing sources
D) experimental data