Deck 6: Strategies of Research Design

Question 1

A recent article on the topic of gun control legislation argued that those who said they oppose gun control laws do so because they have a negative attitude towards laws controlling guns. The problem with the article is

A) tautology.
B) ecological fallacy.
C) teleology.
D) spurious statement.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Mary Rodale studied discrimination against women plumbers. She hypothesized that individuals who believe strongly in traditional sex roles would be more discriminatory than individuals who showed strong non-traditional sex roles. She contacted 100 individual home owners who planned to hire a plumber. She offered each subject six possible plumbers to choose from. The plumbers had varying levels of experience and training and charged different rates. One of the six was a woman and the other five were men. Every single home owner who believed strongly in traditional sex roles chose a male. All those who believed in non-traditional sex roles ignored gender and chose on the basis of skill and price alone.
What is the independent variable in the study?

A) the amount charged by the plumber
B) whether a small business owner was male or female
C) whether or not discrimination against women plumbers occurred
D) traditional versus nontraditional sex roles

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Mary Rodale studied discrimination against women plumbers. She hypothesized that individuals who believe strongly in traditional sex roles would be more discriminatory than individuals who showed strong non-traditional sex roles. She contacted 100 individual home owners who planned to hire a plumber. She offered each subject six possible plumbers to choose from. The plumbers had varying levels of experience and training and charged different rates. One of the six was a woman and the other five were men. Every single home owner who believed strongly in traditional sex roles chose a male. All those who believed in non-traditional sex roles ignored gender and chose on the basis of skill and price alone.
What is the dependent variable in the study?

A) whether or not discrimination against women plumbers occurred
B) the amount charged by the plumber
C) whether the plumber is union or nonunion
D) whether a homeowner was male or female

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Which of the following is a characteristic of causal hypotheses?

A) Causal hypotheses cannot be shown to be false.
B) Once proven true, causal hypotheses are never refuted.
C) Causal hypotheses must apply to all humans in all human history in all societies.
D) Causal hypotheses can be expressed as a prediction.

Question 5

Dr. Dunham hypothesizes that an individual's political orientation has an effect on that individual's stand on the abortion issue. "Political orientation" was used as his

A) dependent variable.
B) aggregate.
C) independent variable.
D) unit of analysis.

Question 6

Which of the following is a characteristic of quantitative research design?

A) Researchers begin by developing hypotheses then they test them using empirical data.
B) Researchers ignore past research studies on their topic so that their work can be original.
C) Researchers never attempt to replicate their findings in a diverse social setting.
D) Researchers develop measurement tools during the data collection phase.

Question 7

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Mary Rodale studied discrimination against women plumbers. She hypothesized that individuals who believe strongly in traditional sex roles would be more discriminatory than individuals who showed strong non-traditional sex roles. She contacted 100 individual home owners who planned to hire a plumber. She offered each subject six possible plumbers to choose from. The plumbers had varying levels of experience and training and charged different rates. One of the six was a woman and the other five were men. Every single home owner who believed strongly in traditional sex roles chose a male. All those who believed in non-traditional sex roles ignored gender and chose on the basis of skill and price alone.
The Lord of the Rings movies are a trilogy because there are three movies to the series. This statement makes what kind of error of causality?

A) ecological fallacy
B) teleology
C) reductionism
D) tautology

Question 8

What type of logical error in making a causal statement is illustrated by the statement below? "Members of the Ku Klux Klan dislike black people because they are highly prejudiced against Blacks."

A) tautology
B) ecological fallacy
C) reductionism
D) teleology

Question 9

What is the independent variable in the following hypothesis? "Persons who experience economic deprivation during socialization will place a higher priority on economic self-interest later in life than will people who did not experience economic deprivation during socialization."

A) later life
B) persons
C) priority of economic self-interest
D) economic deprivation

Question 10

The idea that a hypothesis can never be proven, but it can be disproven, is a central tenet of

A) the logic in practice.
B) the logic of disconfirming hypotheses.
C) the reciprocal effect relationship.
D) the double-barreled hypothesis.

Question 11

Professor Staulbaumer looked at the number of arrests for drunken driving on the roads in ten urban and ten rural counties of Nebraska. He found police made more arrests on roads in the rural counties. The professor concluded that people who live in rural areas are more likely to drink and drive than are people who live in urban areas. Staulbaumer's conclusion has the problem of

A) reductionism.
B) teleology.
C) spuriousness.
D) ecological fallacy.

Question 12

The global "War on Terror" of the 2000s was caused by 19 hijackers who flew commandeered airplanes into the World Trade Centers in New York, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a field in Pennsylvania. Which logical error of causal explanation is presented in this explanation of the "War on Terror"?

A) tautology
B) reductionism
C) teleology
D) ecological fallacy

Question 13

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Mary Rodale studied discrimination against women plumbers. She hypothesized that individuals who believe strongly in traditional sex roles would be more discriminatory than individuals who showed strong non-traditional sex roles. She contacted 100 individual home owners who planned to hire a plumber. She offered each subject six possible plumbers to choose from. The plumbers had varying levels of experience and training and charged different rates. One of the six was a woman and the other five were men. Every single home owner who believed strongly in traditional sex roles chose a male. All those who believed in non-traditional sex roles ignored gender and chose on the basis of skill and price alone.
What is are the units of analysis in the study?

A) plumbers
B) sex roles
C) home owners
D) skills, experience, and price

Question 14

Harry Angstrom studied the admissions practices and sports records of 300 colleges to see whether colleges with more lax admissions standards won more games than colleges with high admissions standards. What are the units of analysis in this study?

A) college students
B) colleges
C) admissions standards
D) sports teams

Question 15

Which of the following is a double-barreled hypothesis?

A) Taxpayers tend to accept taxes that both go for services they directly receive road repair) and are collected in a more subtle manner cigarette and casino taxes).
B) Taxpayers tend to object strongly to new taxes when economic conditions are declining and to ones that wealthiest people do not have to pay.
C) Generally speaking, taxpayers are more likely to support tax hikes when the government is seen as efficient and elected officials win office by a large majority.
D) Taxpayers who tend to oppose increases in tax rates for high-income families generally support market- oriented economic tax breaks.

Question 16

Millie conducted a study on the different attitudes children have towards the president of the U.S. Her unit of analysis is

A) children's attitudes.
B) the individual child.
C) attitudes.
D) the president.

Question 17

What is the dependent variable in the following statement? "Absence of a father leads to low educational attainment among offspring in single-parent families."

A) educational attainment
B) socialization theory
C) single-parent family
D) absence of father

Question 18

Dr. Thompson said, "A democratic form of government will develop in Sudan because it is human nature to want a democratic political structure." Which logical error in causal explanation is Dr. Thompson making?

A) reductionism
B) spurious statement
C) teleology
D) ecological fallacy

Question 19

Professor Redears examined the following types of marital status: married, never married, widowed, separated and divorced. The types of marital status are called

A) attributes.
B) theoretical elements.
C) units of analysis.
D) variables.

Question 20

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Mary Rodale studied discrimination against women plumbers. She hypothesized that individuals who believe strongly in traditional sex roles would be more discriminatory than individuals who showed strong non-traditional sex roles. She contacted 100 individual home owners who planned to hire a plumber. She offered each subject six possible plumbers to choose from. The plumbers had varying levels of experience and training and charged different rates. One of the six was a woman and the other five were men. Every single home owner who believed strongly in traditional sex roles chose a male. All those who believed in non-traditional sex roles ignored gender and chose on the basis of skill and price alone.
What is the null hypothesis for the study?

A) There is no discrimination by homeowners against women plumbers.
B) Men and women both discriminate against women plumbers.
C) Traditionalist homeowners are more likely to discriminate against women who are plumbers.
D) Regardless of sex role values, all homeowners discriminate against women plumbers.

Question 21

What is triangulation and why is it recommended for all research?

Question 22

Compare qualitative and quantitative research methods on the logic of the research path. How do qualitative and quantitative research differ in their use of logic?

Question 23

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Joyce James tested whether the "military effort of modern industrial nations" is caused by the "electoral success by the right-wing parties" or the "popularity of nationalist beliefs" in a society. She tested the theory by looking at data on 22 large industrial nations during 1969-1999. She measured military effort as the "share of the gross national product" for military e.g. weapons, training, stationing troops), right-wing party success by the percent of votes going to right-wing political parties in both national and local elections, and nationalist beliefs by attitude data from each nation. Data for the share of the gross national product came from the International Labor Organization, data for right-wing party power and nationalist attitudes came from previous studies by other researchers.
Teleology is an error of causal explanation. It states that

A) the causal relationship is untestable because the independent variable cannot be empirically measured.
B) the causal relationship should not be supported because an unmeasured variable is the true cause of the dependent variable.
C) the causal relationship does not exist due to the lack of supporting evidence.
D) the causal relationship is testable because the independent variable and the dependent variable are the same.

Question 24

State a hypothesis with an independent and dependent variable. At what unit of analysis is your hypothesis aimed? List and explain two control variables that may influence your hypothesis.

Question 25

Discuss how qualitative and quantitative methods of social research look at causality. How does each method deal with potential errors of causation?

Question 26

What are an ecological fallacy and reductionism? In what ways do the ecological fallacy and reductionism involve problems with the units of analysis?

Question 27

Explain what tautology and teleology are. How are tautologies and teleologies considered errors in causal explanations? Give an example of each.

Question 28

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Joyce James tested whether the "military effort of modern industrial nations" is caused by the "electoral success by the right-wing parties" or the "popularity of nationalist beliefs" in a society. She tested the theory by looking at data on 22 large industrial nations during 1969-1999. She measured military effort as the "share of the gross national product" for military e.g. weapons, training, stationing troops), right-wing party success by the percent of votes going to right-wing political parties in both national and local elections, and nationalist beliefs by attitude data from each nation. Data for the share of the gross national product came from the International Labor Organization, data for right-wing party power and nationalist attitudes came from previous studies by other researchers.
When conducting social research, it is more accurate to look at a social phenomenon from multiple perspectives. This is called

A) dynamic research agenda.
B) tinabulation.
C) triangulation.
D) bricolage.

Question 29

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Joyce James tested whether the "military effort of modern industrial nations" is caused by the "electoral success by the right-wing parties" or the "popularity of nationalist beliefs" in a society. She tested the theory by looking at data on 22 large industrial nations during 1969-1999. She measured military effort as the "share of the gross national product" for military e.g. weapons, training, stationing troops), right-wing party success by the percent of votes going to right-wing political parties in both national and local elections, and nationalist beliefs by attitude data from each nation. Data for the share of the gross national product came from the International Labor Organization, data for right-wing party power and nationalist attitudes came from previous studies by other researchers.
In this study, the dependent variable is

A) military effort.
B) gross national product.
C) nationalist beliefs.
D) the International Labor Organization.

Question 30

Explain the logic of disconfirming hypotheses. Use an example to explain now negative evidence is more convincing than supporting evidence.

Question 31

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Joyce James tested whether the "military effort of modern industrial nations" is caused by the "electoral success by the right-wing parties" or the "popularity of nationalist beliefs" in a society. She tested the theory by looking at data on 22 large industrial nations during 1969-1999. She measured military effort as the "share of the gross national product" for military e.g. weapons, training, stationing troops), right-wing party success by the percent of votes going to right-wing political parties in both national and local elections, and nationalist beliefs by attitude data from each nation. Data for the share of the gross national product came from the International Labor Organization, data for right-wing party power and nationalist attitudes came from previous studies by other researchers.
When making statements of causality, one has to be careful of not making the error of ecological fallacy. Ecological fallacy is

A) an error in explanation in which associations among large-scale units countries, etc.) are used to explain associations among small-scale units individuals, etc.).
B) interpretations made by researchers that explain causations from a ecological/biological perspective.
C) when two variables are associated but are not causally related because a third factor is the actual cause of the association.
D) an error in explanation in which associations among small-scale units individuals, etc.) are used to explain associations among large-scale units countries, etc.).

Question 32

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Joyce James tested whether the "military effort of modern industrial nations" is caused by the "electoral success by the right-wing parties" or the "popularity of nationalist beliefs" in a society. She tested the theory by looking at data on 22 large industrial nations during 1969-1999. She measured military effort as the "share of the gross national product" for military e.g. weapons, training, stationing troops), right-wing party success by the percent of votes going to right-wing political parties in both national and local elections, and nationalist beliefs by attitude data from each nation. Data for the share of the gross national product came from the International Labor Organization, data for right-wing party power and nationalist attitudes came from previous studies by other researchers.
Most quantitative scientists follow an explicit research process, where one's research is based on standardization and formal rules. This is called

A) psychologism.
B) reconstructed logic.
C) logical promiscuity.
D) logic in practice.

Question 33

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Joyce James tested whether the "military effort of modern industrial nations" is caused by the "electoral success by the right-wing parties" or the "popularity of nationalist beliefs" in a society. She tested the theory by looking at data on 22 large industrial nations during 1969-1999. She measured military effort as the "share of the gross national product" for military e.g. weapons, training, stationing troops), right-wing party success by the percent of votes going to right-wing political parties in both national and local elections, and nationalist beliefs by attitude data from each nation. Data for the share of the gross national product came from the International Labor Organization, data for right-wing party power and nationalist attitudes came from previous studies by other researchers.
Bricolage is

A) a technique of social research that uses diverse and inventive methods in conducting social research.
B) a technique of social research that uses very standardized methods of conducting social research.
C) the term used by physical scientists to distance themselves from the more abstract measurement tools of social scientists.
D) a direct comparison and evaluation of competing explanations.

Question 34

What is grounded theory? When is it used? How is grounded theory different from other theoretical methods of research?

Question 35

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Joyce James tested whether the "military effort of modern industrial nations" is caused by the "electoral success by the right-wing parties" or the "popularity of nationalist beliefs" in a society. She tested the theory by looking at data on 22 large industrial nations during 1969-1999. She measured military effort as the "share of the gross national product" for military e.g. weapons, training, stationing troops), right-wing party success by the percent of votes going to right-wing political parties in both national and local elections, and nationalist beliefs by attitude data from each nation. Data for the share of the gross national product came from the International Labor Organization, data for right-wing party power and nationalist attitudes came from previous studies by other researchers.
Which of the following is a good research question?

A) Does capital punishment detour criminal activity?
B) Who is most likely to be sentenced to capital punishment?
C) Controlling for the type of crime committed, are poor people more likely to be sentenced to capital punishment than rich people?
D) Should capital punishment be legal?

Question 36

Write a double-barreled hypothesis, then rewrite it as two separate hypotheses; finally, write it as a hypothesis that contains a combination with an interaction effect that is not double-barreled.

Question 37

Refer to the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Joyce James tested whether the "military effort of modern industrial nations" is caused by the "electoral success by the right-wing parties" or the "popularity of nationalist beliefs" in a society. She tested the theory by looking at data on 22 large industrial nations during 1969-1999. She measured military effort as the "share of the gross national product" for military e.g. weapons, training, stationing troops), right-wing party success by the percent of votes going to right-wing political parties in both national and local elections, and nationalist beliefs by attitude data from each nation. Data for the share of the gross national product came from the International Labor Organization, data for right-wing party power and nationalist attitudes came from previous studies by other researchers.
In this study, the unit of analysis is

A) the nation.
B) the military program.
C) the individual.
D) the right-wing party.

Question 38

Dr. Rogers studies environmental illness. He interviews individuals about suspected causes of environmental sensitivity and suggests that people who claim environmental sensitivity are more likely to have a prior history of anxiety or depressive disorder than the average American. Dr Roger's interpretation is called

A) first order interpretation.
B) second order interpretation.
C) third order interpretation.
D) technocratic perspective.