Research Methods: Mid-Term
A theory is defined as
A body of statement s that systematize knowledge of and explain phenomena
Which of the following most accurately describes the reasons students should learn about how political scientists conduct empirical research?
All of the above.
Which of the following words best describes a good political science research question?
All of the above. Observable, political, and significant.
Research questions may originate in
All of the above. Personal observation of experience, the research and writings of others, and current events.
The ____________ method measures reliability by measuring the same attribute more than once, but it uses two different measures of the same concept rather than the same measure.
Alternative-form
A variable that occurs prior to all other variables and that may affect other independent variables is called a(n) __________ variable.
Antecedent
Cumulative knowledge, with respect to scientific method, is
Based upon the results of prior studies
Each of the following is a basic standard for judging scientific theories, EXCEPT
Claims are normative
A concept that does not have any variation across observations is called a
Constant
______________ validity is tested by determining if a measure of a concept is related to a measure of another concept with which the original concept is thought to be related.
Construct
The ____________ validity test involves determining the full domain or meaning of a particular concept and then making sure that measures of all portions of this domain are included in the measurement technique.
Content
What is the unit of analysis of this hypothesis: The more democratic countries are, the less likely they are to have centralized healthcare systems.
Countries
Each of the following is a test of reliability, EXCEPT
Criterion method
Each of the following is a level of measurement, EXCEPT
Critical
Political scientists who believe that a proper goal of social science is to critique and improve society (by making it more just and humane) rather than merely understand or explain what is going on embrace
Critical theory
______________ is using data collected for one unit of analysis to make inferences about another unit of analysis.
Cross-level analysis
Political scientists use concepts to describe human behavior or attributes. Each of the following terms define concepts in part EXCEPT Concepts should be accurate, precise, and informative
Dissemble
Using information that shows a relationship for groups to infer that there is the same relationship for individuals when in fact there is no such relationship at the individual level is called a(n)
Ecological fallacy
______________ is the use of aggregate data to study the behavior of individuals.
Ecological inference
The dominant methodological perspective in political science is
Empiricism
A good literature review should include a citation of every relevant source.
False
A preface in a book is similar to an abstract in a journal, but will generally provide a more cursory summary.
False
All internet sources can be cited as reliable and valid.
False
Deduction refers to the process of drawing and inference from a set of premises and observations.
False
Field notes should not include a researcher's personal impressions and feelings.
False
Qualitative research relies heavily on statistical work.
False
Theoretical research is concerned primarily with practical applications.
False
Undergraduate students generally use a convenience sample rather than a simple random sample of the population of interest because it is likely to be more representative of the population.
False
Which of the following organizational arrangements is the most effective?
Focusing on concepts, ideas, and methods shared across the literature
What is the unit of analysis of this hypothesis: Governments that operate free market economies are more stable than governments relying on other economic systems.
Governments
Which of the following hypotheses predicts a positive relationship?
Greater numbers of troops in an army cause greater expenditures on logistics.
A ____________ is designed to present respondents with a range of attitude choices that are increasingly difficult to agree with; that is, the items composing the scale range from those easy to agree with to those difficult to agree with.
Gutman scale
Each of the following are often raised as practical objections to classifying political science as a science,EXCEPT
In order to understand human behavior one must try to see the world the way individuals do
Which of the following would not be a good unit of analysis?
Income
A(n) ____________ variable is thought to influence, affect, or cause some other phenomenon.
Independent
Constructionism relies on the understanding that
Instead of knowing reality directly our perceptions about many "facts" stem largely, if not entirely, from human cultural and historical experiences practices
A(n) ___________ measurement is indicated when the space between categories or values assigned to the observations have meaning, but zero does not.
Interval
The level of measurement of a variable that measures the year in which civil wars occurred (1917 for example), is
Interval
A variable that occurs closer in time to the dependent variable and is itself affected by other independent variables is called a(n) _____________ variable.
Intervening
A ______________ score is calculated by using only those answers to multiple questions about the same concept that distinguish between those with high and low scores.
Likert scale
A variable for which the values assigned represent only different categories or classifications for that variable is a(n) ____________ level variable.
Nominal
The level of measurement of a variable that measures religion as Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or other, is
Nominal
Knowledge that is evaluative, value laden, and concerned with prescribing what ought to be is known as
Normative knowledge
Scientists believe that their findings are based on ______, systematic observation.
Objective
_______________ is deciding what kinds of empirical observations should be made to measure the occurrence of an attribute or behavior.
Operational definition
A(n) _____________ measurement only assumes that a comparison can be made on which observations have more or less of a particular attribute.
Ordinal
The level of measurement of a variable that measures education as less than high school, high school, some college, college, post graduate, is
Ordinal
The level of measurement of a variable that measures income as the dollar amount an individual earns in a year, is
Ratio
Which of the following levels of measurement captures the most information?
Ratio
______________ is the extent to which an experiment, test, or any measuring procedure yields the same results on repeated trials.
Reliability
Global or broad range theories might include theories of each of the following topics EXCEPT
Role of revolution in political development
What is the unit of analysis of this hypothesis: Senators from small population states are more likely to follow constituent advice than senators from large population states.
Senators
Which of the following is a characteristic of a good hypothesis?
Should be an empirical statement, explain general phenomena, be testable.
The ______________ method measures reliability with two measures of the same concept, with both measures applied at the same time.
Split-halves
Falsifiability is defined as
Statements or hypotheses can in principle be rejected in the face of contravening empirical evidence
A(n) _____________ is a subgroup of a population that shares one or more characteristics.
Stratum
Each of the following is a characteristic associated with scientific method EXCEPT
Subjectivity
A ____________ is a method of accumulating scores on individual items to form a composite measure of a complex phenomenon.
Summation Index
Which of the following is a scholarly source for use in a literature review?
The American Political Science Review
A causal relation means that
The emergence of one condition will necessarily bring about another.
The statement that scientific knowledge must be transmissible means that
The methods used in making scientific discoveries must be made explicit so that others can analyze and replicate the findings
Which of the following characteristics are most closely associated with a proper research question for an empirical political science research project?
The questions address a political phenomenon
The term parsimony refers to
The simplest explanation
Research questions that focus on discrete facts will likely be
Too limited in scope
A demanding yet essential aspect of field study is note taking.
True
A researcher might use a snowball sample if individuals in the population are hard to identify or locate.
True
An abstract will often include the research question, the theory and hypotheses, the data and methods used to test the hypotheses, and the results and conclusions.
True
Applied research has a fairly direct, immediate application to a real-world situation.
True
Direct observation can be used to study things like political campaigning.
True
Empirical research is research based on the actual, "objective" observation of phenomena to achieve scientific knowledge about political phenomena.
True
Ethical concerns could be raised with a research project if negative repercussions from associating with the researcher arise because of the researcher's sponsors, nationality, or outsider status.
True
Inductive reasoning differs from deductive reasoning because the premises do not guarantee the conclusion but instead lend support to it.
True
Many scholarly journals include book reviews of scholarly books that can be helpful in quickly identifying books relevant to a literature review.
True
Political science is the application of empirical research principles to the study of phenomena that are political in nature.
True
The difference between a sampling fraction and a sampling interval is that the sampling fraction indicates the relationship between the sample and population sizes while the sampling interval describes the number of elements that are skipped when drawing a sample.
True
The traditional era of political science emphasized historical, legalistic, and institutional subjects.
True
Verification is an important part of the scientific method because it provides further confirmation that a finding is correct.
True
Which of the following is NOT one of the ethical principles that form the foundation for assessing the ethical dimensions of research involving human subjects?
Trust
A dichotomous variable has _______ categories.
Two
A suitable explanation for the political phenomena of interest must include a statement about how _________ phenomena are related.
Two or more.
____________ means the degree of correspondence between the measure and the concept it is thought to measure.
Validity
Which type of case study is likely to have more explanatory power?
a comparative case study
Simulations rely on an analysis of
a process or structure
One reason a researcher might choose to use a disproportionate stratified sample is that the researcher is studying
a small group within a large population.
The_________ of a relationship in a research questionâ?"that is, the association, dependence, or covariance of the values of one variable with the values of anotherâ?"makes the question fundamentally _________ in scope.
absence, limited
Which of the following sections is most likely to allow you to quickly determine if an article is relevant to your literature review?
abstract
Which of the following terms best describes indirect observation where data is created by the deposition and accumulation of materials?
accretion measures
Each of the following would be considered extraneous factors, EXCEPT
an experiment treatment
What kind of research design would be most appropriate if you wanted to assess how a change in voter identification requirements in Georgia affected voter participation in the 2008 federal election more than two years after the election?
an intervention analysis
Why would a researcher want to include several pre and post-tests in an experimental design?
because it is often unclear how long before or after an experiment researchers should make observations
A __________ sample is a sample that relies on a sampling frame initially consisting of groups of elements.
cluster
Each of the following is a nonprobability sample EXCEPT
cluster sample
Causal relationships express three characteristics including time order, elimination of alternative explanations, and ____________.
covariation
In a ______________ measurements of the independent and dependent variables are taken at approximately the same time, and the researcher does not control or manipulate the independent variable, the assignment of subjects to treatment or control groups, or the conditions under which the independent variable is experienced.
cross-sectional design
Differences between the answers to a pre-test and a post-test are generally considered to
demonstrate the effect of the experimental variable
A(n) ___________ variable is thought to be caused, to depend upon, or to be a function of a(n) ____________ variable.
dependent, independent
Open-ended, flexible observation is appropriate if the research purpose is one of:
description
When choosing a data collection method you should pay attention to each of the following, EXCEPT
diversity
A single occurrence, realization, or instance of the objects being studied is referred to as a(n):
element
Simple random samples are samples for which each element and combination of elements have a(n) __________ chance of being selected.
equal
Research that tests hypotheses attempts to accomplish each of the following EXCEPT:
establish a spurious relationship
The institutional review board reviews what kind of concerns?
ethical
The ____________ of the estimator equals the corresponding value for the population from which the sample has been drawn.
expected value
A pre-test is used in which type of research design?
experiment
The extent to which the results of an experiment can be generalized across populations, times, and settings is
external validity
An experimental design applied in a natural setting is best described as a
field experiment
A set of "primitives," or undefined terms or words whose meaning is taken for granted are an important component of which approach
formal models
Each of the following could affect internal validity, EXCEPT
including only sophomores from a single college in the sample
_________ consent means that subjects are to be given information about the research, including the research procedure, its purposes, risks, and anticipated benefits; alternative procedures (where therapy is involved); how subjects are selected; and the person responsible for the research.
informed
The cost of using the written record is generally ___________ than the cost of first-hand observation.
lower
Statistical inference is
making conjecture about unknown population parameters based on sample statistics
Each of the following is a form of observation, EXCEPT
monitored or unmonitored
Which of the following is an experimental design?
multiple group design
Which of the following sources are most likely to be found using an internet search engine like Google?
non-scholarly
__________ samples are samples for which each element in the total population has an unknown probability of being included in the sample.
nonprobability
Which of the following terms best describes a form of observation where those being observed are aware of the investigator's presence and intentions?
overt observation
Numerical or quantitative indicators such as a percent or average that describe a population are called:
parameters
Which of the following characteristics is most closely associated with scholarly sources?
peer-review process
Any well-defined set of units of analysis is a:
population
Which kind of data is recorded and used by the researcher making the observations.
primary data
__________ samples are samples for which each element in the total population has a known probability of being included in the sample.
probability
Political scientists tend to use three broad types of empirical observations, or data collection methods, depending on the phenomena they are interested in studying, including all of the following EXCEPT
proofs
The textbook classifies the sources for potential research topics as all of the following, EXCEPT
public sources
If a researcher wanted to conduct case studies, a __________ sample would allow the necessary discretion over which observations to study.
purposive
Each of the following is a probability sample, EXCEPT
quota sample
The best way to create representative experimental and control groups is by assigning participants through:
randomization
What is the best label for a research design that uses a control group and multiple treatment groups in a naturally occurring setting?
randomized field experiment
_____________ is the effect of the data collection itself on the phenomena being measured.
reactivity
The key to controlling sampling error is in the
sample size
The _____________ is a theoretical expression that describes the mean, variation, and shape of the distribution of an infinite number of occurrences of the statistic when calculated on samples of size N drawn independently and randomly from a population.
sampling distribution
The __________________ is the number of elements in a sampling frame divided by the desired sample size.
sampling interval
Which of the following sources are most likely to be found using a database like Web of Science?
scholarly
Which terms listed below describes data used by a researcher who did not personally collect the data?
secondary data
Focus groups are ___________ used to make causal inferences.
seldom
A relationship in which two variables appear to be related only because both are affected by a third variable is called a ___________ relationship.
spurious
The mathematical term for the variation around the expected value is the
standard error
Numerical or quantitative indicators such as a percent or average that describe a sample are called:
statistics
In ___________ observation, the investigator looks for and systematically records the incidence of specific behaviors.
structured
In an arrow diagram, arrows indicate
that one variable is thought to explain or be related to another
When we assert that variation in variable X causes variation in variable Y we are stating that each the following are true, EXCEPT
the covariation between X and Y is spurious
The difference between a control group and an experimental group is that
the experimental group is exposed to a treatment but the control group is not
How many sources must be cited in an effective literature review?
the number is contingent on the purpose and scope of the project
An empirical research design should include an explanation of each of the following EXCEPT:
the results and conclusion
If some of the elements of a population of interest to a research question are not included in the sampling frame,
then any data collected may not be representative of the population.
Among the problems with abstract concepts like ideology one might reasonably include that
they do not have a single understood meaning and are therefore difficult to work with
Measures may be inaccurate because they are _________________.
unreliable or invalid
The term that best explains that the manipulation of the experimental or independent variable itself, and not some other variable, did in fact influence the dependent variable is
validity
The experimental research design often suffers from
weak external validity
When citing a source found on the internet, all of the following are important to include in the citation, EXCEPT
whether the source also appears in print
