Deck 2: Studying Social Life: Sociological Research Methods

Question 1

A study showed a fairly high 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 doesn't cause someone to lose brain cells or study less, you would probably conclude that the study:

A) had an invalid hypothesis.
B) used basic research.
C) was valid.
D) misused a control group.
E) employed a spurious correlation.

Answer 1

E

Question 2

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) astrological signs and symbolism
E) California and college students

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Karl Marx was influenced by the philosopher Georg Hegel but 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) problem with validity and reliability.
B) classic demonstration of reactivity.
C) participant observation.
D) paradigm shift.
E) justification of qualitative research.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

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?

A) analyzing data
B) disseminating the findings
C) forming a hypothesis
D) collecting data
E) developing an operational definition

Question 5

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

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

Question 6

What is the scientific method or approach?

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 use of technology to understand the physical world
E) the study of nature

Question 7

You're 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) number of violent acts and age of television watchers
C) watching television, violence on television, and violent behavior
D) violent behavior
E) violence in the media

Question 8

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 sociological research method?

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

Question 9

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

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

Question 10

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

A) ethnography
B) commercial research
C) quantitative
D) qualitative
E) interviews

Question 11

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 forces a new way of looking at the world
C) religion and theology
D) increased awareness of the current paradigm
E) objective knowledge of the world

Question 12

A famous social scientist tells you that the most important, though never totally successful, 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's a qualitative researcher.
C) She cannot use interviews as a methodology.
D) She must not have selected her research method yet.
E) She exclusively uses quantitative methods.

Question 13

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 that interactions between co-workers who are more similar will be more positive, and he has operationalized study variables. What is the next step Jai should take in the sociological research or approach or method?

A) identify a problem or ask a question
B) analyze data
C) form a hypothesis; give operational definitions to variables
D) choose a research design or method
E) collect data

Question 14

You're conducting research on violence in the media. If you're 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) disseminating your research findings
E) reviewing the literature

Question 15

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 sociological research or approach or method?

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

Question 16

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

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

Question 17

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) ethnography.
C) hypothesis.
D) spurious correlation.
E) ethical challenge.

Question 18

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. This means that religiosity was:

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

Question 19

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, predict outcomes, collect data, analyze data
B) form a hypothesis, predict outcomes, define variables, collect data, analyze data
C) analyze data, review the literature, collect data, form a hypothesis
D) form a hypothesis, analyze data, make predictions, review the literature
E) collect data, analyze data, form a hypothesis, predict outcomes, define variables

Question 20

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
E) creating relevant variables

Question 21

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) ethnographers' prejudices or biases may slip into their work.
D) the presence of ethnographers may alter the behavior of the people they are observing.
E) ethnographers intervene in the lives of the people they're studying.

Question 22

Which of the following affect the methods used by sociological researchers?

A) what they want to accomplish
B) the methods they are trained in and feel comfortable with
C) the time available to complete their projects
D) the resources and funds available
E) all of the above

Question 23

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.
E) They make their hypotheses explicit.

Question 24

A sociologist wants a major national organization to fund her study of medical marijuana clubs in San Francisco but is turned down because the grant-makers don't see how her study would represent knowledge about anything more than the clubs that would be studied. What is the organization concerned about?

A) representativeness
B) replicability
C) bias
D) sampling error
E) the target population

Question 25

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) bias
B) response rate
C) reflexivity
D) validity
E) thick description

Question 26

In her ethnography Number Our Days, Barbara Myerhoff investigated the daily lives of elderly Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who lived in Los Angeles. Most of her work took place at a senior citizen center. Before she could even start this research, Myerhoff had to convince the director of the center that it was a legitimate and worthwhile project, a process known as:

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

Question 27

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

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

Question 28

One of Mitch Duneier's main conclusions in his ethnography of street vendors in New York City was that, despite the chaos and disorder they seem to bring to the street, the opportunity to sell something actually gave vendors a sense of purpose and dignity. Disputing aspects of New York's crackdown on petty and nonviolent crimes, Duneier argues that politicians have failed to distinguish between physical signs of decline, like graffiti, and street vendors who are working to improve their lives. Which of the following advantages of ethnography does Duneier's research demonstrate?

A) The detailed nature of ethnographies can help to reshape the stereotypes that we hold about others and that are often the basis for social policy.
B) Ethnographies offer a means of studying groups that are often overlooked with other methods.
C) Ethnographies allow respondents to speak in their own words.
D) Ethnographies are not always representative.
E) Ethnographic research can be used to gather data on a population that is too large to study by other means.

Question 29

In her ethnography Wheeling & Dealing, Patricia Adler investigates the social and professional worlds of midlevel cocaine and marijuana smugglers. Her research started serendipitously 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) thick description
D) sampling
E) causation

Question 30

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
E) content analysis

Question 31

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

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

Question 32

Ethnographers sometimes write down key words or quotations while they're interacting with people. Given that they will write much more detailed fieldnotes later, what is the advantage of these brief, sketchy notes?

A) They are not as difficult to compile as comprehensive fieldnotes.
B) They are more ethical.
C) They are an aid to memory when writing more detailed fieldnotes.
D) They involve reflexivity.
E) They allow the ethnographer to achieve thick description.

Question 33

Clifford Geertz coined the term "thick description" to define good ethnographic fieldnotes. Which of the following is NOT associated with thick description?

A) sensitivity to context
B) interactional details
C) the meaning events have for those participating in them
D) attention to tone of voice and facial expressions
E) a comprehensive list of events

Question 34

Which methodology most closely resembles the scientific method?

A) ethnography
B) survey research
C) experimental research
D) interviews
E) content analysis

Question 35

What are the goals of ethnography?

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

Question 36

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

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

Question 37

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) hypothesis.
E) research proposal.

Question 38

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 research
B) quantitative research
C) qualitative research
D) natural science research
E) geophysical research

Question 39

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
E) ethnographies

Question 40

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 allows the researcher to hold on to rigid stereotypes about others.
E) Ethnography requires no training since it's something we all do as human beings.

Question 41

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.
E) When respondents seemed to be giving questionable answers, she used leading questions.

Question 42

When he was writing The Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian Culture, the ethnographer Walter Williams was always very open about his own sexual orientation because he believed that being open with the people he was studying was the only way to establish a trusting and sharing interaction with them. What was Williams concerned with?

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

Question 43

Which of the following is NOT a disadvantage of using interviews to conduct social research?

A) Interviewees are allowed to speak in their own words.
B) Interviewees are not always truthful.
C) Interviewees can be difficult to talk to.
D) Interviews are time consuming.
E) It can be difficult to generalize from interviews because the sample size is usually small.

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) a closed-ended question
B) an open-ended question
C) a double-barreled question
D) a leading question
E) a loaded question

Question 45

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.
E) Researchers are able to work with interviews to describe the social world with complete accuracy.

Question 46

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) a self-fulfilling prophecy.
E) reflexivity.

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, very intensive interview with a woman named Esperanza and wrote a book based upon more than a year of interview data. Which disadvantage of the interview methodology does this book highlight?

A) Face-to-face interviewing is time consuming, and interviews are rarely used with large numbers of people. Thus, their representativeness is sometimes questionable.
B) 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.
C) Interviews generally lack qualitative data that might better capture the social reality the researcher wishes to examine.
D) Interviews, although able to describe messages inherent in the media, do not illuminate how such messages are interpreted.
E) Interviews sometimes distance the researcher from the messy realities of the social world.

Question 48

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 very carefully selecting only totally representative interviewees
B) by deciding that she didn't need to generalize to any larger population
C) by asking only open-ended questions
D) by doing follow-up interviews with each interviewee
E) by comparing demographic information about her interviewees with information about her target population

Question 49

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 a researcher has no access to without talking to people.
C) They can affirm preconceptions and stereotypes.
D) They allow researchers to analyze data statistically and draw correlations.
E) Finding respondents is fairly easy for most research topics.

Question 50

Every four years when it's time to elect a new president, we pay much attention to surveys, which we usually call "polls." Even though there are more than three hundred 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) all those people who have strong political opinions
D) voters
E) the one thousand people who are asked whom they will vote for

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 belong to the target population identified by the researcher.
C) they all understand the nature of the study and what will be asked of them.
D) their confidentiality has been guaranteed.
E) they have all read the prior literature on the subject area.

Question 52

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 people who were interviewed were representative of the larger population.
C) It ensured that the respondents were always honest and forthcoming about their family life and marital roles.
D) It allowed her to gather direct quotations and construct an intimate portrait of married couples.
E) It created both a control group and an experimental group and allowed Hochschild to compare them.

Question 53

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 didn't ask.
D) determine the average age of their interviewees.
E) determine if their sample was representative of the larger population.

Question 54

A research team is curious about the relationship between diet and 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 travel 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 ten students who were interviewed
C) Americans
D) young people
E) American college students

Question 55

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) is used as the final question in a survey.
E) can only be answered orally.

Question 56

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.
E) allow for a wide variety of responses.

Question 57

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) The transcription process takes a long time.
C) There are usually very few people who are interesting enough to be interviewed.
D) Face-to-face interviewing is a very time-consuming process.
E) The data is so rich that few interviews are typically needed.

Question 58

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

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

Question 59

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 18 and older.
C) it is extremely difficult to guarantee confidentiality to large groups.
D) interviews are too time consuming.
E) it is hard to obtain informed consent from large numbers of people.

Question 60

Imagine that you're 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
E) spurious

Question 61

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

A) Researchers often seek answers to questions the data doesn't directly address.
B) Researchers have to spend a great deal of time and money to get the data.
C) Researchers do not always understand how the data was interpreted or what it meant in its original context.
D) Researchers do not have access to existing sources.
E) Existing sources of date are never relevant to the contemporary world because they emerged from a different time and place.

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) When using survey research methods, the researcher is usually not present to clarify any misunderstandings.
C) Confusing and ambiguous questions create an ethical dilemma.
D) Survey researchers talk to many people.
E) Survey research tends to look at large-scale social patterns.

Question 63

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) likely to have issues with reflexivity.
E) using existing sources.

Question 64

A simple random sample is defined as:

A) a sample with only one variable.
B) a sample in which other demographic variables are taken into account.
C) a sample in which one variable is weighted more than another.
D) a sample in which every member of the population has a chance of being included.
E) a sample that uses probability to determine who will be selected.

Question 65

When writing questions for a survey, researchers must avoid all of the following EXCEPT:

A) leading questions.
B) double-barreled questions.
C) negative questions.
D) bias.
E) open-ended questions.

Question 66

Any time a social researcher is going to use sampling, they must first identify their target population. What is this target population?

A) the group of people whose behavior they wish to change
B) the group of people from whom they will gather data
C) the group of people least often studied in the past
D) the larger group of people they wish to generalize about
E) the group of people who wish to be studied

Question 67

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.
E) A weighted sample is only used when a researcher needs to ask weighted questions.

Question 68

Imagine that you work at a local hospital and that it's your job to design a customer-satisfaction survey. One of the most important questions concerns patient satisfaction with care received, but you don't know how to compare responses. Which of the following is a common tool that survey researchers use to standardize answers?

A) open-ended questions
B) quota sampling
C) leading questions
D) grounded theory
E) Likert scales

Question 69

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 researcher may not be present to explain any confusing issues that may result from a sensitive question.
C) The respondents may think about the sensitive issue when answering later questions.
D) Sensitive questions make the questionnaire confusing and difficult to fill out.
E) Sensitive questions spoil the representativeness of the researcher's sample.

Question 70

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 ____________, and the group that is asked the survey questions is called the ____________.

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

Question 71

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's 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.
E) It would be impossible to use these methods to gather data on a large population.

Question 72

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.
D) They don't take surveys seriously.
E) Surveys guarantee that their answers will be confidential, while other methods do not.

Question 73

Which of the following is NOT an advantage of survey research?

A) A researcher can gather data on very large populations.
B) It's relatively quick and cheap.
C) Compared to other research methods, surveys are usually more reliable.
D) It's easier to ensure confidentiality.
E) Because survey research often allows for anonymity, respondents are more honest and often produce more valid data.

Question 74

When do sociologists most often use statistical tools to analyze their data?

A) when they use ethnographic methods
B) when they use experimental methods
C) when they use interviews and participant observation
D) when they use historical research
E) when they use surveys

Question 75

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. What is this technique called?

A) weighting
B) bias
C) probability sampling
D) Likert scales
E) leading questions

Question 76

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.
E) Surveys produce far more honesty and are almost always more valid.

Question 77

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 allow respondents to opt out of a question if they don't have an answer.
E) They encourage respondents to include detailed responses.

Question 78

Which of the following is true about a sample?

A) It is always smaller than the group it is used to generalize about.
B) It is always selected randomly.
C) It must always contain a large number of people.
D) It must be weighted to take into account the demographics of the target population.
E) It is only used with quantitative methods.

Question 79

What is a pilot study?

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

Question 80

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

A) questions that ask about two different topics.
B) questions that let the respondent know how the researcher hopes they will answer.
C) questions that demean or insult a group or individual.
D) questions that ask a respondent about what they don't think rather than what they do think.
E) questions that are designed to elicit a negative response.