Research Chapter 10

Which one of the following is NOT a topic particularly appropriate for field research?

The effect of watching a video in a laboratory on prejudice.

Tito wanted to rebuild or improve the theory on adjustment to retirement. In his research, he gave particular attention to all the ways in which observations conflict with theories, based on a sound knowledge of the literature in this area. Which approach did he use?

The extended case method.

Jessica is concerned with the problem of reactivity in her study of a local diet group. Which of the following is NOT one of her reactivity concerns?

The members might alter their lifestyles and behavior to lose weight because they joined the group.

Which of the following is an advantage of focus groups?

The cost is relatively low

Which of the following could NOT constitute a case in a case study?

*Cuba *WW II *The Iraq war *Your family All of these choices could constitute a case for a case study.

Which one of the following is NOT a good advice for recording observations?

Avoid rewriting your notes.

According to Michael Burawoy, which of the following statements is TRUE?

Extended case study theorists seek to know all the literature before entering the field.

Aaron studied one family over several months to describe the social dynamics in the family. Which paradigm did she use?

Case study; In social science, case study is a descriptive, exploratory or explanatory analysis of a person, group or event. In contrast, ethnography is the scientific description of the customs of individual peoples and cultures.

Which mode of observation was used in the article "Social and environmental infantilization of aged persons: Observations in two ad (Links to an external site.)"?

Complete observer

Jason wants to be come a good qualitative interviewer. He should try to:

Determine very quickly the kind of person with whom the respondent feels most comfortable.

Qualitative interview is different from survey interview. Which of the following is the major contrast?

Discusses a set of topics in depth vs. uses standardized questions.

Structured interviews are more appropriate for field research than unstructured interviews.

False

Playing the complete participant role in qualitative field research has the advantage that you will not affect what you are studying.

False; Adopting the points of view of the people you are studying can reduce your objectivity. This is especially evidence in qualitative field research where you have to interact with your subjects.

In the discussion of reflexivity, Earl Babbie used his personal experience as an example. In his study of trance channeling, he fully participated in channeling sessions by temporarily disassociating himself from social science and fully embracing the idea of channeling.

False; Earl Babbie suspended his personal beliefs for a moment, neither believing channeling to be true nor disbelieving. Reflexivity refers to the fact that your own characteristics can affect what you see and how you interpret it.

Qualitative field researchers should wait to record observations until enough time has passed to put the events in a proper perspective.

False; Should record observations as soon as possible to reduce the chance of memory lapse.

Your field notes should record what you know happened NOT what you think.

False; You should record both.

Which of the following statement is CORRECT about participants in focus groups?

Group interviews tend to be unstructured.

In comparison to surveys and experiments, field research has

High validity and low reliability

Which approach was originally developed by Dorothy Smith to better understand women's everyday experiences by discovering the power relations that shape those experiences?

Institutional ethnography

An example(s) of the complete participant role is(are):

Joining a sorority or fraternity to study initiation rituals without revealing your identity as a researcher.

Which of the following field research paradigms was first developed?

Naturalism; Naturalism is an approach to field research based on the assumption that an objective social reality exists and can be observed and reported. It is related to the pre-modern view of reality.

Case studies should NOT be used for

Nomothetic purposes

Which of the following is the best example of a breaching experiment?

Opening an umbrella on a beautiful day.

A ______________ is an interaction between an interviewer and a respondent in which the interviewer has a general plan of inquiry, but not a set of questions that must be asked with particular words in a particular order.

Qualitative interview

Joshua studied underground miners by becoming a miner. He became increasingly concerned about his role, how he might affect what he studied, and how much he should become involved in the lives of the miners. He gave these issues a lot of thought, particularly regarding their impact on the study. This sense of things acting on themselves is known as:

Reflexivity In social research, reflexivity is regarded as an individual's considered response to an immediate context and is concerned with the ability of service users to process information and create knowledge to guide life choices.

Keith studied friendship patterns among pairs of women and pairs of men. Which one of the following did he study?

Relationships

Which of the following statements is(are) FALSE about participatory action research (PAR)?

Researchers should define their subjects' problems, define the desired remedies, and take the lead in helping subjects realize their aims.

________ refers to the need for social researchers to treat the beliefs they study as worthy of respect rather than as objects of ridicule.

Symbolic realism; Robert Bellah has offered this term to indicate the need for social researchers to treat the beliefs they study as worthy of respect rather than as objects of ridicule.

A qualitative interview is an interaction between an interviewer and a respondent in which the interviewer has a general plan of inquiry but not a specific set of questions

True

Case studies may be descriptive or explanatory.

True

In contrast to other research methods, qualitative field research involves a continuing interplay between data collection and theory. In other words, the data collected in field research also shapes theory both after and during data collection.

True

Naturalism is an approach to field research based on the assumption that an objective social reality exists and can be observed and reported accurately.

True

Qualitative field research is the term used to distinguish this type of observation method from methods designed to produce data appropriate for quantitative analysis.

True

The complete participant role carries more ethical dilemmas than does the complete observer role in field research.

True

The extended case method looks for all the ways in which observations conflict with existing theory.

True

Professor Milne was preparing to do some qualitative interviewing in a field research project. Milne knew that you were a research methods student and asked for your advice. You told Milne

Try not to talk too much.