Deck 2: How Sociologists Do Research

Question 1

Variable is to a concept as hypothesis is to an observation.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

A researcher studying a new religious movement is concerned whether he really understands why new members join the movement.What issue is the researcher concerned about?

A)validity
B)testing
C)authenticity
D)operationalization

Answer 2

C

Question 3

A testable hypothesis is a product of the process of induction.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

Sociologists engage in participant observation when they attempt to objectively observe a social milieu and take part in the activities of the people they are studying.

Question 5

What political movement has forced sociologists to consider issues such as the division of labour in the household, violence against women, and the effects of child-rearing responsibilities?

A)functionalism
B)feminism
C)postmodernism
D)conservatism

Question 6

Experimental research tends to have low reliability and high validity.

Question 7

In research, the control variable determines the context of the hypothesized relationship.

Question 8

Deciding which observations to link to which variables is known as operationalization.

Question 9

In a probability sample, the units are selected randomly.

Question 10

The whole point of using scientific research methods is to eliminate bias from our observations and arrive at an objective perception of reality.

Question 11

A spurious relationship is one in which the control variable causes both the independent and dependent variables to change.

Question 12

As sample size increases, so does the likelihood that it reflects the population accurately.

Question 13

The use of random-digit dialling techniques for telephone interviews has the advantage of including disadvantaged populations in a sample.

Question 14

The right to privacy is an ethical consideration when doing research on human subjects.

Question 15

The goal of participant observation is to understand a setting from the viewpoint of its members.

Question 16

A researcher measures individual intelligence by the circumference of a person's head in centimetres.Which of the following statements best characterizes this measurement?

A)It has high reliability and high validity.
B)It has high reliability and low validity.
C)It has low reliability and high validity.
D)It has low reliability and low validity.

Question 17

Which of the following terms refers to the process whereby individuals are assigned to research groups by chance?

A)randomization
B)systematic sampling
C)experimentation
D)probability sampling

Question 18

Knowledge based on established authority or tradition can be considered scientific because it has been effective for a long time and respected people endorse it.

Question 19

Two researchers conduct participant observation of a remote village in the Canadian Arctic.Comparing notes, they find that one has focused on religious practices and the other on the work of the local council.What characteristic of qualitative research does this situation illustrate?

A)low reliability
B)low validity
C)high authenticity
D)high spuriousness

Question 20

Every research project must preserve anonymity of participants.

Question 21

Which principle of ethical research was violated in the Canadian government's research into health benefits of nutrition conducted in Aboriginal communities in the 1940s?

A)authenticity
B)privacy
C)harm minimization
D)voluntary participation

Question 22

What is the most important characteristic that investigators such as those whose work is the subject of the film Zero Dark Thirty share with scientific researchers?

A)techniques of data collection
B)goals of data collection
C)ethics of data collection
D)style of data collection

Question 23

Which of the following research characteristics leads to statistically significant research results?

A)experimental method
B)sophisticated statistics
C)representative sample
D)outsider's viewpoint

Question 24

If a relationship is spurious, what will occur?

A)It will appear when the control variable changes and when it is held constant.
B)It will appear when the control variable changes but disappear when it is held constant.
C)It will disappear when the control variable changes but appear when it is held constant.
D)It will disappear when the control third variable changes and when it is held constant.

Question 25

Which of the following best distinguishes quantitative research from qualitative?

A)deduction
B)insider's viewpoint
C)confidentiality
D)case studies

Question 26

Every year, before farmers plant their crops, a community holds a parade.While the parade does not influence the harvest in any demonstrable way, some community members believe that a good parade increases the crop yield.What does this example illustrate?

A)sociological thinking
B)scientific thinking
C)formal thinking
D)traditional thinking

Question 27

Where is the abstract level of experience located?

A)in the mind
B)in percepts
C)in sensations
D)in perceptual patterns

Question 28

A researcher is interested in the effect of violent media content on aggression.She exposes an all-female experimental group to a violent action drama and an all-male control group to a non-violent nature documentary.Which experimental requirement has the researcher violated?

A)precision of measurement
B)randomization
C)experimental control
D)authenticity

Question 29

Which principle of research ethics makes debriefing of research participants mandatory in some studies?

A)anonymity
B)authenticity
C)confidentiality
D)voluntary participation

Question 30

The textbook discusses 10 types of unscientific thinking.Which of the following is one of them?

A)consistent observation
B)subjective observation
C)premature closure of inquiry
D)irrational investigation

Question 31

Sooraj is planning a study of political opinions of francophone Canadians.He wishes to obtain statistically significant results, but fears that his research budget is too small.What is most likely to make statistically significant results unlikely in this situation?

A)too few closed-ended questions
B)too few open-ended questions
C)a large sample
D)a small sample

Question 32

At what level of experience do patterns occur?

A)the abstract level
B)the symbolic level
C)the concrete level
D)the sensate level

Question 33

How does the inclusion of a control variable improve a researcher's interpretation of the relationship between the independent and the dependent variables?

A)It makes the variables change more systematically.
B)It prevents random relationships.
C)It specifies the quality of the relationship.
D)It provides context for this relationship.

Question 34

What is the relationship between quantitative and qualitative research?

A)They are incompatible.
B)They are complementary.
C)They are mutually dependent.
D)Quantitative research is a type of qualitative research.

Question 35

A researcher is interested in the effect of violent media content on aggression.She is also interested to learn if men and women react identically to the same content.In this example, what type of variable is gender?

A)a connected variable
B)an independent variable
C)a dependent variable
D)a control variable

Question 36

A researcher believes that colder temperatures lead to more snowfall.Which of the following terms refers to the amount of snowfall?

A)the independent variable
B)the dependent variable
C)the spurious variable
D)the sociological variable

Question 37

Which of the following is the most common objection of sociologists to removing participants from their natural social settings to a laboratory in experimental research?

A)It is unethical.
B)It is stressful and traumatic.
C)It is detrimental to the validity of research findings.
D)It is unfair to minority participants.

Question 38

A survey question asks "What do you think about current Canadian foreign policy?" and provides several lines for respondents to write their answers.Which of the following terms refers to this type of question?

A)a closed-ended question
B)an open-ended question
C)a fact-based question
D)a value-based question

Question 39

How often does Statistics Canada conduct a census?

A)every two years
B)every five years
C)every seven years
D)every ten years

Question 40

Which of the following terms refers to a sociological construct that can have more than one value?

A)a variable
B)a hypothesis
C)a grounded theory
D)a construct

Question 41

Consider this statement: "People with more intelligence have better sex lives." What does this statement exemplify?

A)a pattern
B)a concept
C)a percept
D)a proposition

Question 42

What would be the best way to gain access to a high school youth gang you would like to do research on?

A)ask a teacher to act as a gatekeeper
B)ask permission from the members' parents
C)ask a police officer to introduce you to gang members
D)ask members' schoolmates to introduce you to the gang members

Question 43

For what reason do people who are interviewed on a particular street corner not constitute an acceptable sample of Canadian adults?

A)The sample is unlikely to be representative.
B)The sample is too concentrated.
C)The sample will overlook children.
D)The reactivity will ruin the sample.Happiness
Answer questions based on the following table.HAPPINESS
GENDER
Male
Female
Happy
56%
75%
Unhappy
44%
25%
N
200
100

Question 44

What process translates an abstract concept into a testable variable?

A)measurement
B)validation
C)operationalization
D)abstraction

Question 45

In research on mass media, several researchers watch the same content independently and then compare their interpretations of it.What aspect of research does this procedure improve?

A)objectivity
B)sampling
C)subjectivity
D)observation

Question 46

Some students think that Introduction to Sociology is a difficult course.What would a scientist use to confirm whether or not this statement is accurate?

A)reviewing the literature
B)logical thinking
C)empirical evidence
D)personal experience

Question 47

What underlying methodological principle is reflected in Comte's preferred name for sociology, "social physics"?

A)interpretivism
B)Verstehen
C)subjectivity
D)positivism

Question 48

What do you call the person who answers a researcher's questions?

A)a gatekeeper
B)a respondent
C)a test subject
D)a sponsor

Question 49

Which element of the research process is common to quantitative and qualitative research?

A)asking participants to answer questions
B)random sampling
C)control of the independent variable
D)hypothesis testing

Question 50

Which concept is referred to in the following question: "Would another researcher interpret or measure the phenomenon in the same way"?

A)validity
B)generalizability
C)causality
D)reliability

Question 51

How are surveys and experiments similar to one another?

A)Both are interested in demonstrating causal connections.
B)Both use representative samples.
C)Both use control variables.
D)Both manipulate independent variables.

Question 52

What does a quantitative research process begin with?

A)a theoretical idea
B)selecting a research method
C)a case study
D)collecting the data

Question 53

Sandra has just finished a qualitative study of ways to improve recent immigrants' access to the Canadian health care system.Which of the following is she most likely to use to ensure authenticity of her study?

A)member validation
B)narrative
C)social mapping
D)exploratory research

Question 54

What kind of link exists between storks and babies in Scandinavia?

A)a time-ordered relationship
B)a controlled association
C)a causal relationship
D)a spurious association

Question 55

A researcher has found that male and female students achieve the same average grade in an introductory sociology course.This means that the causal relationship between gender and success in the course has failed which type of test?

A)sequencing test
B)relationship test
C)authenticity test
D)spuriousness test

Question 56

What is the main advantage of an outsider's viewpoint for acquiring knowledge of an organization?

A)a critical attitude
B)extensive detail
C)a global perspective
D)disruption of organizational rules

Question 57

According to the textbook, what is the aim of sociological research?

A)to generate meaningful abstract propositions
B)to identify reliable and valid concrete patterns
C)to link abstract patterns to concrete propositions
D)to connect abstract and concrete levels of experience

Question 58

According to the textbook's discussion of concepts and variables, which of the following best describes the term "alienation"?

A)It is an abstract concept lacking concrete properties.
B)It is an abstract concept possessing concrete properties.
C)It is a concrete variable without meaning.
D)It is a concrete variable with meaning.

Question 59

What is used to select the members of an experimental group and a control group in an experiment?

A)a sampling frame
B)a representative sample
C)a probability sample
D)a randomization technique

Question 60

Suppose people are asked questions about their knowledge, attitudes, or behaviour in a face-to-face or telephone interview or using a "paper-and-pencil" format.What are they doing?

A)completing a survey
B)completing an answer-and-question session
C)carrying out an ethnographic interview
D)participating in an experiment

Question 61

Which of the following represents an ethical consideration when doing research?

A)selecting an inappropriate research method
B)neglecting to choose a representative sample
C)collecting evidence from a single case
D)exposing participants to embarrassment
Happiness
Answer questions based on the following table.HAPPINESS
GENDER
Male
Female
Happy
56%
75%
Unhappy
44%
25%
N
200
100

Question 62

What does the operationalization process do?

A)It translates concepts into variables.
B)It translates variables into hypotheses.
C)It translates patterns into propositions.
D)It translates patterns into hypotheses.

Question 63

If you label all of the people seated in your classroom as "students," which process are you using?

A)observation
B)conceptualization
C)classification
D)organization

Question 64

When conducting research with human beings, what must sociologists respect?

A)the reputation of their university
B)the need for public information
C)the research participants' rights
D)the need for scientific knowledge

Question 65

What is the meaning of the "25%" in the table?

A)25 percent of unhappy people are females.
B)25 percent of females are unhappy.
C)25 percent of all respondents were unhappy.
D)25 percent of females were happy.

Question 66

In the 1970s, a sociologist observed sexual encounters in public washrooms without revealing his identity to participants.What would have been the researcher's best attempt to minimize the invasion of the participants' privacy?

A)not using any recording equipment
B)debriefing the respondents
C)becoming a participant in the activity
D)revealing the respondents' identity only to his colleagues

Question 67

John tells Renée, "If you work hard you can get ahead, because my parents told me that this has happened to several people they know." What type of unscientific thinking is John guilty of?

A)traditional thinking
B)casual observation
C)authoritative observation
D)overgeneralization
Happiness
Answer questions based on the following table.HAPPINESS
GENDER
Male
Female
Happy
56%
75%
Unhappy
44%
25%
N
200
100

Question 68

A researcher decides to measure happiness by the number of times a person smiles each hour.Which statement best describes the relationship between happiness and smiling?

A)Both happiness and smiling are variables.
B)Both happiness and smiling are concepts.
C)Happiness is a concept and smiling a variable.
D)Happiness is a variable and smiling is a concept.

Question 69

What is the total sample size?

A)100
B)200
C)300
D)400

Question 70

A researcher decides to measure happiness by the number of times a person smiles each hour.What process has she accomplished?

A)measurement
B)operationalization
C)validation
D)specification

Question 71

Jonah is studying student life on campus.He moves into a dorm, joins pick-up football games on campus, and helps tutor first-year students.He tells everyone he meets that he is a researcher.Which of the following roles is Jonah taking?

A)complete observer
B)key informant
C)gatekeeper
D)participant-as-observer

Question 72

According to the textbook, why do researchers examine the effects of control variables?

A)because sequence matters
B)because relationships matter
C)because contamination matters
D)because context matters

Question 73

Surveys can gather numeric data about numerous characteristics of many respondents in a short period of time and at a relatively low cost.Which of the following theorists is LEAST likely to be interested in such data?

A)Karl Marx
B)Émile Durkheim
C)John Herbert Mead
D)Jane Addams

Question 74

If one variable changes systematically as the other changes, the variables are said to be which of the following?

A)identical
B)related
C)dependent
D)spurious

Question 75

Two sociologists studying a new religious movement are concerned that their interpretations are consistent.What issue are the two sociologists concerned about?

A)spuriousness
B)correlation
C)validity
D)reliability

Question 76

The textbook makes a point that concrete level of experience is, by itself, which of the following?

A)meaningless
B)meaningful
C)reliable
D)unreliable

Question 77

Which of the following terms best describes the thought process of grouping all chairs-wooden, metal, upholstered, and hard-into a single category?

A)observation
B)conceptualization
C)concretization
D)operationalization

Question 78

What is the dependent variable?

A)gender
B)happiness
C)male
D)happy

Question 79

Income is not likely to be the cause of gender.Which test of causality is the relationship of these variables likely to fail?

A)authenticity test
B)non-spuriousness test
C)sequencing test
D)relationship test

Question 80

Life is meaningful for humans because of which level of experience?

A)the abstract level
B)the traditional level
C)the concrete level
D)the sensate level