Deck 13: Finding, Evaluating, and Processing Information

Question 1

Which of the following is not true of conventional search engines?

A)They travel the web automatically, identifying new websites.
B)They access the deep Internet or hidden Internet.
C)They return to previously identified websites to look for changes.
D)Not all search engines operate in the same way.

Answer 1

B
Explanation:B)Search engines don't have access to all webpages on the Internet. The most obscure pages in the "deep" Internet cannot be accessed by conventional search engines.

Question 2

A web directory differs from a search engine in that

A)it doesn't include Usenet newsgroups.
B)it doesn't provide as precise results as a search engine.
C)human editors find and index the websites to include.
D)it usually locates more sites than a search engine.

Answer 2

C
Explanation:C)Search engines get results from computer algorithms that rank webpages. Web directories have human editors who find and evaluate useful websites.

Question 3

In evaluating material you have gathered for a report, you should

A)assume that those who've written the material are credible.
B)shun information with any hint of bias because such information is inherently unethical.
C)check to make sure you're using the most current information available.
D)avoid using government documents.

Answer 3

C
Explanation:C)The data you have found might be relevant and convincing, but it might not be the latest data out there. Before completing your report, make sure you're using the most current information available.

Question 4

Sources of secondary information include

A)first-hand observation.
B)in-person interviews.
C)newspapers and periodicals.
D)experiments.

Question 5

Possible uses of online monitoring tools include all of the following except

A)subscribing to newsfeeds from blogs and websites.
B)following people on Twitter and other microblogs.
C)entering key terms into general-purpose search engines.
D)setting up alerts on search engines and online databases.

Question 6

You would not need to cite a source if you have

A)used a direct quotation of under 250 words from a book titled Modern Economics.
B)used a table from the 1985 Farmer's Almanac.
C)described, in your own words, a plan for organizing production lines, which appeared in a professional journal.
D)provided general knowledge about your topic.

Question 7

A metacrawler is

A)a highly specialized directory that focuses on a specific subject matter area.
B)a search engine that examines only newsgroup messages.
C)a type of aggregator that offers subscribers all-day information on their desktops.
D)a special type of engine that searches several search engines at once.

Question 8

Which of the following is not a characteristic of online databases?

A)They often categorize information by subject area.
B)They offer access to many materials that are not accessible through standard search engines.
C)Using them requires knowledge of basic search techniques.
D)Most of them are available free of charge.

Question 9

Documenting the sources that you use in your writing

A)properly and ethically credits the person who created the original material.
B)shows the audience that you have sufficient support for your message.
C)helps readers explore your topic in more detail.
D)all of the above.

Question 10

Regarding the five-step research process, the planning step includes all of the following elements except

A)developing a problem statement.
B)prioritizing research needs.
C)documenting your sources.
D)maintaining standards of ethics and etiquette.

Question 11

Ask ________ to solicit opinions, insights, and information; ask ________ to elicit yes or no answers.

A)indirect questions; direct questions
B)closed questions; open-ended questions
C)open-ended questions; closed questions
D)reflective questions; descriptive questions

Question 12

The answers you receive from a person you're interviewing will be influenced by

A)the types of questions you ask.
B)the way you ask your questions.
C)his or her cultural and language background.
D)all of the above.

Question 13

Primary research refers to

A)new research done specifically for your current project.
B)the evidence that stands out in your report.
C)the research you conduct first.
D)research that is fairly easy to conduct.

Question 14

At the beginning of a research project, you need to

A)develop a formal outline that you plan to stick to throughout your researching and writing.
B)familiarize yourself with the subject.
C)just jump in by finding resources on the Internet and taking notes from them.
D)develop the conclusion you want to reach and start looking for evidence that supports that conclusion.

Question 15

Which of these documents would not qualify as primary research?

A)A recent survey of your company's top clients
B)The most recent issue of a trade magazine in your industry
C)Notes from a conversation you recently had with a local government official
D)Your company's latest balance sheet

Question 16

After you've developed a problem statement to define the problem or purpose of your research, your next step will involve

A)evaluating sources of information.
B)analyzing numerical data and textual information.
C)creating a knowledge manipulation system to categorize your research.
D)discovering the specific information gaps that your research must fill.

Question 17

Innovations in research technology allow you to

A)completely avoid unreliable information on the web.
B)rely exclusively on standard search engines, regardless of your needs.
C)access all online databases free of charge.
D)find webpages and also the documents webpages that are linked to those sites.

Question 18

According to the fair use doctrine

A)plagiarism is not an issue in the business world-it is a problem only in schools and academic circles.
B)crediting sources is all that is necessary to avoid legal problems.
C)once material is made public, it no longer belongs to the author.
D)you can use other people's work only if you don't prevent them from benefiting as a result.

Question 19

Unlike Internet search engines, online databases

A)can be accessed only from a library.
B)often provide access to various parts of the hidden Internet.
C)are rarely up to date.
D)do not require a subscription.

Question 20

A problem statement

A)outlines all the potential drawbacks of your research.
B)defines the purpose of your research.
C)is an unsupportable claim or assertion.
D)should be long and complex.

Question 21

Unlike a summary, a paraphrase

A)restates the original material in your own words and with your own sentence structures.
B)presents the gist of the original material in fewer words by eliminating some of the original words.
C)does not require complete documentation of sources.
D)is never acceptable in business documents.

Question 22

A ________ is an unbiased condensation of the information uncovered in your research.

A)problem statement
B)research summary
C)cause and effect analysis
D)primary collation

Question 23

What would be the median for the following set of monthly salaries: $1200, $1200, $1300, $1500, $1700, $2000, $2800?

A)$1200
B)$1500
C)$1671.43
D)$1700

Question 24

"How do you spend your leisure time on the weekends?" is an example of

A)a closed-ended question.
B)an open-ended question.
C)a restatement question.
D)an inappropriate question.

Question 25

Applying the findings of your research can involve all of the following except

A)summarizing your results.
B)making recommendations.
C)drawing conclusions based on your results.
D)developing a problem statement that defines your research.

Question 26

People are more likely to respond to a questionnaire if

A)they can complete it within a short time.
B)you allow them plenty of time to research their answers.
C)the questions are open ended.
D)all of the above are the case.

Question 27

An online survey is vulnerable to ________ because it captures only the opinions of those who visit the site and choose to complete the survey.

A)sampling bias
B)backchannel static
C)circular reasoning
D)transactional dysfunction

Question 28

When conducting an information interview, it is a good idea to

A)learn about the person you are interviewing ahead of time.
B)stick to using just one type of question.
C)save the most important questions for last.
D)avoid making an appointment, since you don't want the subject to think ahead about answers.

Question 29

Ronnie has just started an internship with Finedum & Sellum, Inc., a provider of online surveys for retailers. One of her first assignments involved drafting an online questionnaire for a local apparel store. After reviewing the questions she had written, her manager told her to revise a question that read, "Do you prefer that we extend our weekend hours for the convenience of customers?" Why did Ronnie's manager want her to revise that question?

A)It is an open-ended question.
B)It is a leading question.
C)It is an ambiguous question.
D)It is a closed-loop question.

Question 30

A disadvantage of using too many closed questions in an interview is that they

A)do not take full advantage of the interview format.
B)prevent any important information from being revealed.
C)diminish the interviewer's control over the interview.
D)none of the above.

Question 31

When you're selecting people to participate in a survey, be sure to get a ________ of the population you want to survey.

A)stratified sample
B)representative sample
C)cross-sectional sample
D)small sample

Question 32

The two most common primary research methods in the social sciences are

A)not appropriate for test marketing.
B)experiments and observations.
C)surveys and interviews.
D)test panels.

Question 33

The number 29 is the ________ in this set of figures: 25, 29, 34, 29, 29, 42, 8.

A)mean
B)median
C)mode
D)correlation

Question 34

Which of the following is a closed-ended question?

A)Would you rate the proposed expansion plan as likely to succeed or unlikely to succeed?
B)What do you see as the primary benefit of the proposed expansion plan for your family?
C)What corporate goals does the expansion help achieve?
D)How will the expansion affect day-to-day operations?

Question 35

A survey is not valid if it

A)does not include at least 50 responses.
B)is more than one year old.
C)fails to measure what it is intended to measure.
D)lacks secondary evidence to supplement it.

Question 36

To find out your company's average monthly utility bill over the last year, you would need to calculate the ________ of the last twelve bills.

A)mean
B)median
C)mode
D)highest

Question 37

Questions such as, "Do you shop at the mall often?" are

A)perfect for most surveys.
B)too ambiguous to yield useful information.
C)likely to offend your respondents.
D)too personal and will offend most audiences.

Question 38

Researchers, who are analyzing numeric data, look for ________ to identify patterns that tend to repeat over time.

A)trends
B)causations
C)correlations
D)cross-differentiations

Question 39

You create a survey and administer it five times under identical conditions. Because it yielded completely different results each time, you should conclude that this survey is

A)not valid.
B)not reliable.
C)valid.
D)reliable.

Question 40

To paraphrase effectively

A)avoid using any business language or jargon.
B)check your version against the original to make sure that you didn't alter the meaning.
C)make sure your version is the same length as or longer than the original.
D)do all of the above.

Question 41

The difference between primary sources and secondary sources is that primary sources are those you create specifically for your project.

Question 42

A metacrawler enables you to use multiple search engines simultaneously.

Question 43

A ________ is a set of technologies, policies, and procedures that can allow a company to capture and share information throughout the organization.

A)process superstructure
B)desktop search protocol
C)cross-departmental interchange
D)knowledge management system

Question 44

When drawing conclusions for a report, you should

A)introduce new information that wasn't discussed in the report.
B)avoid getting input from other members of your research team.
C)ignore information in the report that doesn't support your point of view.
D)interpret your research results logically, based strictly on the information in your report.

Question 45

A work is not considered copyrighted until it is legally registered.

Question 46

Some of the most useful and up-to-date resources available at libraries are online databases.

Question 47

When using the Internet to conduct research, you can be reasonably sure that any information you find will be accurate.

Question 48

A survey is considered reliable if it measures what it is intended to measure.

Question 49

Unlike conclusions, recommendations

A)suggest a clear course of action.
B)interpret evidence.
C)are always acceptable to readers.
D)always come at the end of the report.

Question 50

A ________ is a logical interpretation of the facts and information in a report; a ________ is a suggested course of action.

A)recommendation; conclusion
B)problem statement; summary
C)conclusion; recommendation
D)trend analysis; synthesis

Question 51

The best general purpose search engines are capable of reaching information on the hidden Internet.

Question 52

Observations, surveys, and experiments are all considered secondary sources of information.

Question 53

A survey is valid if it produces identical results when repeated.

Question 54

Search engines and directories use different approaches to find and index websites.

Question 55

To help guide your research, you should develop a problem statement that defines the problem or purpose of your research.

Question 56

According to the fair use doctrine, you can use other people's work only as long as you do not unfairly prevent them from benefiting as a result.

Question 57

When you need to consult government documents, your only option is to go to the appropriate government office in your city.

Question 58

Unlike most search engines, a web directory yields results that have been screened by human editors.

Question 59

Boolean operators include terms such as AND, OR, and NOT.

Question 60

The recommendations you make in a report should

A)interpret the results of your research.
B)not be limited by the report's conclusion.
C)tell audience members what they want to hear.
D)adequately describe the steps that come next.

Question 61

"Do you watch sports and news shows on TV?" is a compound question.

Question 62

Online ________ ________ identify individual webpages that contain a specific word or phrase you've asked for.

Question 63

Paraphrases do not require documentation of sources.

Question 64

An example of a recommendation would be "Given the state of the economy, now is a good time to invest in precious metals."

Question 65

You can narrow or broaden an Internet search by using ________ operators such as AND, OR, and NOT.

Question 66

A(n)________ ________ defines the purpose of your research.

Question 67

________ law covers printed materials, audiovisual material, many forms of artistic expression, computer programs, maps, mailing lists, and even answering-machine messages.

Question 68

A Boolean ________ operator placed between restaurant and Louie's will find all sites that include both the word restaurant and Louie's.

Question 69

The median value of a group is the sum of all the values in a series divided by the number of values in that group.

Question 70

It is always preferable for interviews to take place in person rather than to conduct them via email.

Question 71

If the price of a baseball cap in six different stores was $22, $20, $18, $20, $19, and $21, the mean price would be $21.

Question 72

"Do you think the styling of the new Mini Cooper is a departure from previous styling?" is an example of an open-ended question.

Question 73

When conducting an interview, you use ________ questions to get the interviewee to offer an opinion and not just a yes-or-no answer.

Question 74

If you plan to quote your interview subject in writing, it is a bad idea to provide him or her with a list of questions a day or two ahead of time.

Question 75

If you find a strong correlation between employee use of company stress-reduction programs and increased worker productivity, you can conclude that such programs do indeed cause increased productivity, without considering any other variables.

Question 76

You should assume that everyone who examines the evidence you present in your report will arrive at the same conclusion.

Question 77

Online ________ provide access to journals, electronic books, and other resources often unavailable through general purpose search engines.

Question 78

A survey is considered ________ if it produces identical results when repeated. A survey is considered ________ if it measures what it's intended to measure.

Question 79

A(n)________ ________ search lets you ask questions in normal, everyday English.

Question 80

Books, periodicals, newspapers, and websites are all examples of ________ sources.