Sociology 101 Chapter 2
What must there be for a survey to be considered valid?
a high response rate
If a researcher allows their own values and opinions to affect their analysis, they are guilty of
bias
In sociological terms, reliability refers to
the consistency of a question or measurement tool.
When conducting experiments, how is the experimental group different from the control group?
the experimental group is administered the independent variable, while the control group is not.
What can an institutional review board do if it has reservations about the safety or ethics of a research project?
It may stop the project from going forward, at least until changes have been made.
Researchers should avoid using double-barreled questions when designing a survey. What are double-barreled questions?
questions that ask about multiple issues
Researchers must avoid negative questions when writing a survey. What are negative question?
questions that ask respondents what they do not think rather than what they do think
Survey researchers often use Likert scales to construct the possible answers when they write closed-ended questions. How do Likert scales allow respondents to answer?
They allow respondents to answer along a continuum from from "strongly agree" to "strongly disagree."
What is an advantage of using interviews as a research method?
They reveal attitudes and beliefs inaccessible by any other means.
When a sample provides the same chance of being included to every member of the population, it is known as
a simple random sample
If conducting research, what steps must you take to follow the scientific method? Identify them in the correct order in which you should do them.
form a hypothesis, define variables, choose research method, collect data
What is a closed-ended question?
one that limits the possible responses
What kind of question usually produces a wide variety of responses by allowing respondents to answer in whatever way seems appropriate to them?
open-ended
Which of the following research techniques focuses on gaining an insider's perspective of the everyday lives of participants under investigation, which often dispels stereotypes about the group being investigated?
participant observation
If a researcher has obtained informed consent from all his participants, it means that
the participants understand the nature of the research and are participating freely.
The standard procedure for acquiring and verifying empirical knowledge, as well as building and testing a body of scientific theory that helps explain and predict different aspects of our world, is known as
the scientific method.
Respondents are often more comfortable addressing sensitive subjects on surveys than in other research contexts because
they can answer in private and are usually assured anonymity.
Ethnographers are covert about their roles if
they observe and record data without letting anyone know they are doing research.
The primary goal of comparative and historical research methods is to
understand relationships between parts of society in various regions and time periods.
Ethnography's main goal is to
understand the meanings people attach to their activities.
What does it mean for a sociologist to control for a variable?
All factors except the independent variable are taken into account.
Which of the following is NOT an example of qualitative data.
Answers to multiple-choice surveys like the census.
What is an advantage of replicability in experiments?
Experiments can be performed again and again over time in order to measure change.
Why can sociologists who conduct interviews only gather data from a limited number of people?
Interviews are very time-consuming
A sociologist wants to study how student-teacher interactions either promote or help reduce gender inequality in the classroom. In order to study this, he becomes a teacher's assistant in an actual classroom to spend time with both students and teachers and see firsthand what is taking place. This is an example of what type of research?
Participant observation
It is always important to ask clear and unambiguous questions regardless of the method you use. Why is it especially important to avoid confusion when conducting surveys?
Survey researchers are usually not present to clarify misunderstandings.
What is the primary reason to include a control group in an experiment?
The control group allows you to make comparisons to the experimental group.
Why must ethnographers using participant observation always be aware of reflexivity?
The presence of ethnographers may alter the behavior of the people they are observing.
If changing one variable seems to lead to a change in another variable, this shows _____ but does not necessarily prove _____.
correlation; causation
Researchers usually transcribe responses after they conduct a series of interviews. The transcription process is fairly time-consuming, but it is valuable, in part, because it allows researchers to
look for patterns in their data.
A small-scale study carried out to test the feasibility of conducting a study on a larger scale is referred to as a(n)
pilot study
The tendency of research participants to change their behavior in response to being studied is known as
reactivity.
When a sociologist argues that their study of a particular group tells us something about a larger group, they are claiming
representativeness
A researcher must identify a target population before engaging in sampling. What is the target population?
the larger group of people about whom they wish to generalize
