Deck 16: Analyzing Available Records: Quantitative and Qualitative Methods

Question 1

Which of the following statements is true about analyzing existing statistics?

A)Existing statistics in official government documents can be presumed to be highly valid.
B)Existing statistics in official government documents can be presumed to be highly reliable.
C)In government agencies existing statistics always can be presumed to have been collected in a careful, systematic fashion.
D)None of these

Answer 1

D

Question 2

The adage that you must walk a mile in another person's shoes before judging the person is similar to which of the following concepts?

A)verstehen.
B)foot sense.
C)ideal types.
D)all of these.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Professor Jenner was interested in using Census Bureau data to examine the trend in unemployment rates in the United States.However,Jenner's definition of unemployment did not match the one used by the Census Bureau.Jenner was dealing with the issue of

A)reliability.
B)validity.
C)the ecological fallacy.
D)ideal types.
E)verstehen.

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Historical research can involve quantitative as well as qualitative methods.

Question 5

Cluster sampling techniques should NOT be used in content analysis.

Question 6

Which of the following statements is/are true about historical/comparative analysis?

A)It is comparative in that it seeks to discover common patterns that recur in different times and places.
B)Primary sources for raw data might include old letters, diaries, or lectures.
C)Flaws might exist in both primary as well as secondary sources.
D)Even official government records might be biased.
E)All of these.

Question 7

In which of the following analyses is content analysis least likely to be useful?

A)themes in newspaper editorials.
B)the wording of this exam.
C)topics covered in class lectures.
D)the theme of love as discussed in song.
E)dating patterns among high school seniors.

Question 8

In comparison to coding the manifest content of communication,coding the latent content

A)has a disadvantage in terms of validity.
B)has an advantage in terms of reliability.
C)is better designed for tapping the underlying meaning of communications.
D)has an advantage in terms of specificity.

Question 9

Which of the following statements is true about the strengths or weaknesses of content analysis?

A)It is likely to be economical in terms of time and money.
B)It is hard to correct mistakes.
C)It cannot study processes that occur over time.
D)It is obtrusive.

Question 10

After examining the FBI Crime Reports for a 30-year period,Professor Hall claimed that the incidence of rape has increased.After examining the same reports,Professor Shine claimed that the reporting of rape,not the incidence of rape,has increased.This illustrates

A)the problem of reliability in using existing statistics.
B)the problem of validity in using existing statistics.
C)the need to replicate existing statistics.
D)the ecological fallacy.

Question 11

Professor Perlman from question 4 found that textbook A contained the word "he" 80 times,whereas textbook B contained it 20 times.In addition,textbook A used the word "chairman" 16 times,whereas textbook B used it only 4 times.Perlman was correct in concluding that

A)textbook A was four times as sexist as textbook B.
B)textbook B was one-fourth as sexist as textbook A.
C)the words "he" and "chairman" appeared four times more in textbook A than in textbook B.
D)all of these.

Question 12

An ideal type is a conceptual model composed of the essential characteristics of social phenomena.

Question 13

A researcher using official government documents need not be concerned about the reliability of those records.

Question 14

Secondary analysis refers to the analysis of data collected by another researcher for a purpose similar to your research interests.

Question 15

Latent coding has the advantage of tapping underlying meanings,while reliability is an advantage of manifest coding

Question 16

Professor Perlman was interested in comparing two textbooks to determine whether one used more sexist language than the other.Perlman counted the number of times a gender reference appeared in each book.Perlman was doing

A)latent content coding.
B)manifest content coding.
C)quota sampling.
D)theoretical sampling.

Question 17

Which of the following is NOT a limitation of secondary analysis?

A)Large chunks of data might be missing.
B)There might be no variation in a variable that you want to analyze.
C)Trends over time cannot be assessed.
D)The variable might have been defined in a way that does not match your definition of that variable.

Question 18

For social scientists,an advantage to utilizing available records for data is

A)the reliability and validity of the data am guaranteed.
B)the reliability and validity of the data can easily be assessed and connected, if necessary.
C)the reports are very accurate.
D)the data can be obtained with limited financial cost.
E)the data is already in ideal types.

Question 19

Which of the following is true about negative case testing in qualitative content analysis?

A)It does NOT apply to hypothesis testing.
B)The data should be searched to find all cases that would contradict the original hypothesis.
C)It is a deductive process.
D)None of these.

Question 20

As a mode of observation,content analysis is essentially an operation of coding.

Question 21

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of secondary analysis.

Question 22

The cost savings of secondary analysis enable researchers to study larger and representative samples.

Question 23

Describe a study for which content analysis is the appropriate research method.Discuss how you would use manifest and latent coding.Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two coding schemes.

Question 24

Historical analysis can overlap with content analysis.

Question 25

Describe the dangers to keep in mind when using primary sources in historical research.Discuss how you would attempt to protect against these dangers.

Question 26

Describe a study for which the analysis of existing statistics is the appropriate research method.What source would you use? What problems might you encounter and how would you resolve them?

Question 27

Describe the dangers to keep in mind when using secondary sources in historical research.Discuss how you would attempt to protect against these dangers.

Question 28

Corroboration in historical research is best done using the same type of source,NOT different types of sources.

Question 29

Manifest content refers to the meanings contained within communications.

Question 30

A danger in working exclusively with secondary sources in historical research is that you may merely repeat the mistakes contained in those sources.