Sociology Test 1

Sociology can be defined as the systematic and scientific stufy of human society and social behavior. Given this definition, which of the following levels of social structure best describes what sociologists might examine?

Almost any level-from interactions between to people to large-scale institutions

According to the theoretical position developed by Karl Marx, what is the engine of social change?

Conflict between social groups

In her research for The Second Shift, Arlie Hochschild interviewed married couples to find out how they dealt with changing family roles as more women entered the workforce. What advantages came from her decision to use interviews as a research method?

It allowed her to gather direct quotations and construct an intimate portrait of married couples.

Which of the following statements best characterizes microsociology?

It is an approach that examines interaction between individuals and the ways those interactions reflect larger patterns within a society.

Many Marxist sociologists assume that large-scale economic structures are the most important factors in people's lives. This assumption is an example of what?

Macrosociology

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

If you observe a group in order to determine its norms, calues, rules, and meanings, then what kind of research are you doing?

Qualitative

After formulating a general research question, what will a good researcher always do?

Review the literature in order to become familiar with earlier research that relates to his topic.

Every four years when it is time to elect a new president, we pay much attention to surveys, which we usually call "polls". Even though there are more than 300 million people in the United States, most political pollsters ask about a thousand people who it is they plan to vote for and use that information to predict how the election will turn out. Who is the sample for a presidential poll?

The 1,000 people who are asked whom they will vote for.

What is the sociological imagination?

The ability to understand the connections between biography and history, or the interplay of the self and the world.