Deck 4: From Concepts to Models: Hypotheses, Operationalization, and Measurement

Question 1

When a researcher makes a decision to focus only on certain units or angles of a concept,she is choosing to study only certain

A)measures.
B)populations.
C)dimensions.
D)variables.

Answer 1

C

Question 2

Studies that focus on such countable aspects of social life as texts,news stories,or paintings dealing with a particular subject matter are relying on ________ as their unit of analysis.

A)social artifacts
B)aggregation
C)data points
D)indicators

Answer 2

A

Question 3

In scientific research,an idea that can be clearly named,defined,and eventually measured is called a

A)measure.
B)dimension.
C)variable.
D)concept.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Barbara is studying the potential effect of female political representation on fertility rates across several industrialized countries.She has decided to translate the abstract idea "female political representation" into something more concrete and opts for the proportion of political offices held by women in each country.In this study,________ is the concept and ________ is the variable.

A)proportion of political offices held by women;industrialized country
B)female political representation;proportion of political offices held by women
C)proportion of political offices held by women;female political representation
D)industrialized country;proportion of political offices held by women

Question 5

Gregory has designed a study of how health differs by level of educational attainment among adults.He decides to focus on degenerative diseases,such as heart disease,diabetes,and cancer.From there,he chooses simple representations about whether the respondents have ever had these conditions,and then constructs a series of yes/no questions.In this study,________ is most closely connected to the importance of dimensions.

A)representing disease by whether respondents have had that disease
B)studying only adults
C)examining health differences by educational attainment
D)focusing on degenerative diseases

Question 6

If a researcher studying poverty decides to measure poverty solely in terms of income,very wealthy people with no income would be erroneously counted as poor.This example shows the problem of measures being

A)too precise.
B)overly broad.
C)relative standards.
D)at the wrong unit of analysis.

Question 7

Chenguang has been very careful to clearly define the construct of job satisfaction in her study of employed parents.This is an important step to ensure that

A)she and those reading her study are thinking of the same meaning of job satisfaction.
B)those reading her study are clear what population is being studied.
C)she has not violated any ethical considerations regarding social science research.
D)the key data points can be compared within her study.

Question 8

Farhad is deciding between studying the importance of cultural sexual norms of religious denominations versus those same norms of different countries.His is a choice between a ________ level of analysis and a ________ level of analysis.

A)individual;societal
B)institutional;societal
C)institutional;organizational
D)group;institutional

Question 9

Josephina is designing a study on how school-level graduation rates predict students' risk of illegal drug use.Her research question is focused on the effect of being

A)a student with a higher risk of using illegal drugs.
B)a student with a certain likelihood of graduation.
C)a college-bound senior.
D)in a school with a certain graduation rate.

Question 10

Valeria plans to study the influence of students' attachment to school on their educational outcomes.She defines attachment to school as how much students feel they are part of the school community and defines students' educational outcomes as their educational performance.She then measures students' feelings about belonging to the school community with specific questions about how much they think they matter to their teachers and to other students,ranging from "not at all important" to "very important." Educational performance is measured by the students' grade point average and by scores on standardized tests.In this study,"feeling part of the school community" and "educational performance" are examples of

A)measures.
B)concrete definitions.
C)operationalization.
D)hypotheses.

Question 11

If a researcher creates a measure of exercise frequency by averaging individual reports of exercise behavior across a neighborhood,this researcher is studying exercise at the ________ level.

A)individual
B)operational
C)group
D)societal

Question 12

Poverty can be defined according to some specific quantitative criteria,like income,without differentiating poverty by context.This is an example of a(n)

A)relative standard.
B)unit of analysis.
C)absolute standard.
D)measurement.

Question 13

Qualitative research,often using an inductive approach,typically starts with data collection,which means that conceptualization and operationalization

A)are usually the first steps after hypothesis formation.
B)are typically classified in a very clear and neat way.
C)often come later than they do in a quantitative study.
D)inform the type of information qualitative researchers look for in their studies.

Question 14

Luka has decided to collect quantitative survey data on health behaviors to test a general theory about social learning.He defines health behaviors as dietary habits and then writes standardized survey questions that measure that dimension of health behaviors.He then collects and analyzes those data.Luka's conceptualization and operationalization decisions follow a(n)________ approach.

A)ordinal
B)inductive
C)reductionism
D)deductive

Question 15

Variables are used to capture the variability in the presence or level of some concept across the group being studied.This feature of variables illustrates that they

A)are only useful for aggregate data.
B)are ideas that can eventually be measured.
C)are most useful for measuring processes.
D)break down concepts into comparable data points.

Question 16

Sanjay has decided to study poverty comparatively across several nations and chooses to measure poverty by whether people have access to safe drinking water.Sanjay's measure is problematic because it does not properly consider the importance of

A)the unit of analysis.
B)social context.
C)longitudinal design.
D)aggregation.

Question 17

In the quantitative social science research process,moving from a concrete definition of a concept to an actual measure of the defined concept involves

A)conceptualization.
B)aggregation.
C)hypotheses.
D)operationalization.

Question 18

Anurak is designing a study on the importance of parent-child relationship quality for children's social adjustment in school.For parent-child relationship quality,he has decided to focus on the children's perceptions of how much their parents love them,respect them,and make them feel important.In making this choice,Anurak is creating ________ that represent the level of parents' love and respect and children's importance.

A)concepts
B)hypotheses
C)variables
D)intervals

Question 19

Which of the following research decisions is associated most closely with the concept of dimensions?

A)choosing between measuring "prison quality" by either reports from current inmates or by job attainment of former inmates after release
B)choosing between a study of all college students and a study of only female college students
C)choosing between a deductive approach and an inductive approach
D)choosing between quantitative method and qualitative method

Question 20

When we consider a concept,such as marital quality,there is not universal agreement about what that concept means.This lack of clear agreement is because of the ________ quality of concepts.

A)abstract
B)aggregate
C)nominal
D)ethical

Question 21

Affonso plans to study the effect of degree type on the income of college graduates.He chooses to represent degree type with college major and to represent income with individual annual income (in dollars).In this study,college major is a(n)________ variable and individual annual income is a(n)________ variable.

A)ordinal;nominal
B)nominal;ratio
C)interval;ordinal
D)ordinal;interval

Question 22

In a study of social phenomena that are complex,the researcher creates variables that represent certain units or parts of a concept and assigns values to those variables to set out a blueprint for measurement.This is relevant to the fact that ________ are more abstract and ________ are more concrete.

A)variables;dimensions
B)measures;indicators
C)measures;variables
D)dimensions;indicators

Question 23

Danilo is going to study the way middle schoolers develop a sense of identity around academic performance.He decides to conduct a qualitative study using ethnographic methods to learn more about these processes.In this study,Danilo is almost certainly likely to establish the operational definitions of his key concepts

A)before the study population is chosen.
B)before any data collection procedures are decided.
C)after data collection begins.
D)at the same time that he applies for research funding.

Question 24

A key reason researchers clearly decide on and describe their operations for observing phenomena is that

A)it helps to clarify the conceptualization of the key ideas.
B)it clearly identifies which population is being studied.
C)it helps the researcher decide on which dimensions the study will focus.
D)those reading the study will be clear on exactly how the researcher conducted the study.

Question 25

There are different types of confusion that can emerge around a study's unit of analysis.If a researcher draws conclusions about individuals using group-level data,the mismatch is called ________.If he or she draws conclusions about a group based on individual-level data,the mismatch is called ________.

A)an ecological fallacy;reductionism
B)an ecological fallacy;an aggregation
C)reductionism;an aggregation
D)reductionism;an ecological fallacy

Question 26

When a researcher decides to represent adolescent risk behaviors with variables about illegal drug use and the use of tobacco products,he or she is

A)moving from an abstract to a more concrete phase of the study.
B)deciding to give up some precision by focusing only on two representations of risk behaviors.
C)assuming that illegal drug use and tobacco use is only risky for adolescents.
D)choosing risk behaviors that are universally agreed to be the most important.

Question 27

When a researcher is making decisions about the operational process,he or she must typically first choose the field of study from several quantitative and qualitative research methods.If it were very important that his or her study clearly establish the effect of a reading program on students' graduation rates,it would probably be best if he or she

A)created a survey and wrote standardized questions for respondents to answer.
B)conducted an experiment and defined a treatment effect.
C)conducted a content analysis and created a coding scheme.
D)conducted an ethnography and developed a plan for which site should be observed.

Question 28

Using statistical data on individual baseball players' performance in past games is not a good way to make predictions about which teams will win future games.Taking this approach would introduce the problem of

A)aggregation.
B)reductionism.
C)manipulation.
D)an ecological fallacy.

Question 29

A survey uses a closed-ended question to measure which language a respondent learned in early childhood,naming all known languages as possible responses.The survey will likely need to allow respondents to choose more than one option for respondents who learned multiple languages as children.This illustrates that

A)there are no circumstances under which mutual exclusivity can be absent.
B)there are some circumstances under which exhaustiveness can be absent.
C)exhaustiveness can sometimes be absent,but mutual exclusivity cannot.
D)mutual exclusivity can sometimes be absent,but exhaustiveness cannot.

Question 30

A variable that represents identification with different racial-ethnic groups is a nominal variable because the

A)distance between the ranked categories cannot be known.
B)values include a true zero point.
C)values are on a continuum.
D)values cannot be ranked.

Question 31

A study on the effect of adolescents' criminal behavior on their likelihood of graduating high school asks adolescents about their own criminal behavior,but uses county-level high-school graduation rates.This study has a problem,which is

A)mutual exclusivity.
B)reductionism.
C)a lack of reliability.
D)an ecological fallacy.

Question 32

Anh plans to study the effect of age on standardized test performance,and chooses to represent age with number of years of age and to represent standardized test performance with Graduate Record Examination (GRE)scores.In this study,age is a(n)________ variable and GRE scores are a(n)________ variable.

A)ratio;ratio
B)interval;ordinal
C)ratio;interval
D)ordinal;ratio

Question 33

The reason that variables are more abstract than indicators is that

A)indicators assign values to variables,thus bringing them closer to final measurement.
B)variables are units or angles of a concept,and,as such,they are more abstract than indicators.
C)indicators move the research process from operationalization to conceptualization.
D)variables are closer to the operationalization stage than indicators.

Question 34

Reports,observations,artifact counts,and manipulation are the four basic

A)processes of creating variables.
B)forms of conceptualization.
C)forms of measurement.
D)forms of analysis units.

Question 35

A researcher is carefully making decisions that will affect how much variation he or she needs to adequately measure a variable.This concern with variation will influence his or her decisions regarding

A)his or her choice between a quantitative survey and a qualitative ethnography.
B)whether the values should be mutually exclusive.
C)how he or she should conceptually define the variable.
D)whether to use precise measures or sort subjects into basic categories.

Question 36

The key difference between an interval and a ratio variable is that only

A)interval variables have a true zero point.
B)ratio variables have values that can be ordered.
C)ratio variables have a true zero point.
D)interval variables have values that can be ordered.

Question 37

Sarah is designing an international study of the effect of age composition on voting behaviors.After deciding to compare older,middle-aged,and young nations on rates of voting in national-level elections,she will assign values to the age composition variable,categorizing them by those who have at least 12% of residents who are over 64,those who have at least 35% of residents who are under 15,and those who have neither a high number of young or old residents.In assigning these values,Sarah is choosing

A)measurements.
B)conceptualizations.
C)indicators.
D)dimensions.

Question 38

If a variable has an infinite set of possible values from low to high,it is a(n)________ variable.

A)nominal
B)continuous
C)ordinal
D)categorical

Question 39

Agata is planning two different studies.One will be a content analysis of how often romantic storylines occur among older adult movie characters.The second will be a study of whether those who see older adults in romantic film roles have different attitudes about older adults' sexuality than those who do not see older adults in romantic film roles.The form of measurement Agata will most likely use for the first study is ________.Alternatively,she will probably use ________ as the form of measurement for the second study.

A)observation;reports
B)reports;manipulation
C)artifact counts;manipulation
D)observation;artifact counts

Question 40

A key difference between ordinal variables and interval variables is that the values

A)have known relative distances in interval,but not ordinal variables.
B)can be put in a rank order in interval,but not ordinal variables.
C)are continuous in ordinal,but not interval,variables.
D)are categorical in interval,but not ordinal,variables.

Question 41

Write a paragraph or two in which you describe two different research designs for studying attitudes about marital infidelity: one using a repeated cross-sections design and one using a panel design.In your answer,identify the key features of each design and briefly discuss the purpose of the study and by extension the types of measures you would use,giving specific examples.

Question 42

Write one paragraph describing a research project that includes the problem of an ecological fallacy,making sure to include a clear definition of the ecological fallacy and to clearly connect this definition to your example.

Question 43

Choose one representation (variable)for each of the following three concepts: (1)area of study in college, (2)religious participation,and (3)time spent studying.Once you have converted each of these concepts into variables,identify which type of variable each of these is,making sure to identify the key characteristics of these variable types and to connect these characteristics to the variables you have chosen.Your answer should be one to two paragraphs.

Question 44

If a researcher is struggling with the data in a longitudinal study of job satisfaction because the composition of the sample has changed over time,he or she is most likely dealing with a problem of

A)manipulation.
B)operationalization.
C)attrition.
D)mutual exclusivity.

Question 45

Felicia is studying religious affiliation and chooses to measure this by asking respondents how often they celebrate religious holidays in the course of a year.Felicia's study is likely to

A)inconsistently yield good information about religious affiliation.
B)yield bad information about religious affiliation in a highly consistent way.
C)yield good information about religious affiliation in a highly consistent way.
D)inconsistently yield bad information about religious affiliation.

Question 46

Although the problem of losing respondents over time can be a problem with longitudinal studies,they are often preferable to cross-sectional designs because they can help researchers detect causal effects.The reason longitudinal studies are better able to detect causal effects is that they can

A)document within-person changes.
B)document across-person changes.
C)give respondents a chance to correct earlier responses.
D)give the researcher a good way to test measurement reliability.

Question 47

Write one paragraph identifying a research question that clearly includes an example of a conceptual definition,an operational definition,and a measurement.In your answer,be clear to distinguish between these three components and state their relative levels of abstractness.

Question 48

Write two paragraphs distinguishing the formation and timing of the operational definition in the research design process for a researcher who wants to study family norms for (1)a quantitative study (such as a survey),and (2)a qualitative study (such as ethnography).

Question 49

Reliability and validity are both central to the goal of

A)matching the conceptual definition and the operational definition.
B)increasing the consistency of a study's measures and findings.
C)increasing the accuracy of a study's measures and findings.
D)matching the time span of the study to the time span of the research question.

Question 50

If a researcher were interested in the general attitude trends of a society over time,he or she would probably use a ________ design.

A)reliability
B)cross-sectional
C)panel study
D)repeated cross-sections

Question 51

In a study of the educational richness of a preschool,observers count the number of books and educational toys and observe the number of times teachers read the children a book and play with children using educational toys.These observations would be examples of observational measurement of

A)degree.
B)ratios.
C)frequency.
D)reliability.

Question 52

If a researcher wanted to see how spouses' marital quality changed over time if and when children were born,he or she would probably use a ________ design.

A)cross-sectional
B)repeated cross-sections
C)reliability
D)panel study

Question 53

Consider the concept social norms/rules.In three or four sentences,choose two or three dimensions of this concept that would be able to be represented in variables (you only need to develop this into dimensions,not variables).

Question 54

Mateo has designed a survey study in which he asks about respondents' marital quality.He administers the survey to several different samples over the course of two years and discovers that the respondents do not seem to be answering the marital quality question in very consistent ways.This suggests Mateo's measure of marital quality has a ________ problem.

A)ratio
B)reliability
C)validity
D)time span

Question 55

Start with two concepts whose relationship has been demonstrated in past research: socioeconomic status and health.Write three or four sentences shifting these concepts into operational definitions that can be used as measures.Then write a sentence or two discussing the potential problems with your measure of socioeconomic status in terms of reliability;then write another sentence or two discussing the potential validity issues of your socioeconomic status measure.Finally,write another one to two sentences each about the potential reliability and validity issues that could come up for your measure of health.