SOC 101-166 Quiz 1 & 2
W. E. B. Du Bois described African Americans as having a "double consciousness" because...
African Americans are American citizens who have a second identity based on skin color.
What research method was used in Philip Zimbardo's study, the "Stanford County Prison"?
An Experiment
The term "sociology" was coined in 1838 by...
Auguste Comte.
A global perspective has little in common with a sociological perspective.
False
According to Robert K. Merton, all social patterns are good and have the same beneficial effect on all members of a society.
False
According to sociologists, human behavior reflects our personal "free will."
False
Based on the research by Barbara Ehrenreich, who tried to live by working at low-wage jobs, we would expect most people in such jobs to be able to move ahead to better paying work.
False
Both Karl Marx and W. E. B. Du Bois carried out their work following the structural-functional approach.
False
Durkheim documented that categories of people with weaker social ties have lower suicide rates.
False
In the United States, white people have a lower suicide rate than Hispanics.
False
Sociological generalizations are the same as simple stereotypes.
False
The focus of the symbolic-interaction approach is how society is divided by class, race, and gender.
False
The goal of the structural-functional approach is not simply to understand how society operates, but to reduce social inequality.
False
The last of Comte's three stages is the metaphysical stage, in which people know the world in terms of God's will.
False
The term "sociology" was coined by Emile Durkheim in 1898.
False
Using the sociological perspective, we would conclude that people's lives are mostly a result of what they decide to do.
False
William Edward Burghardt Du Bois encouraged sociologists to avoid studying controversial topics such as racial inequality.
False
Who helped launch the discipline of sociology by studying the evils of slavery and also by translating the writings of Auguste Comte?
Harriet Martineau
E. Digby Baltzell's study, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, showed that a very high number of "top achievers" listed in the Dictionary of American Biography came from...
Massachusetts
The sociologist who called on his colleagues to be "value-free" in the conduct of their research was
Max Weber
_________ one of the founding sociologists, urged sociologists to understand a social setting from the point of view of the people in it.
Max Weber
Which of the following concepts refers to the value that occurs midway in a series of numbers arranged from smallest to largest (that is, the middle case)?
Median
Thomas Hobbes's idea that society reflects a selfish human nature illustrates the thinking common at which of Comte's historical stages?
Metaphysical stage
Which of the following is the term for the value that occurs most often in a series of numbers?
Mode
Regarding ethical research guidelines, the American Sociological Association states that researchers
Must protect the privacy of subjects taking part in a research project
Which of the following concepts refers to deciding exactly what is to be measured when assigning value to a variable?
Operationalizing
E. Digby Baltzell's historical study, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, illustrates which research method?
Secondary analysis
Which sociological research method saves the time and expense of data gathering, but the researcher has no control over possible data bias?
Secondary analysis of existing sources
Which theoretical approach claims that it is not so much what people do that matters as much as what meaning they attach to their behavior?
Symbolic-interaction approach
What concept refers to any change in a subject's behavior that is caused by the awareness of being studied?
The Hawthorne effect
Which sociological research method provides the best chance to understand social behavior in a natural setting?
The experiment
Which of the following concepts refers to the arithmetic average of a series of numbers?
The mean
A statement that explains how and why specific facts are related is called a(n)...
Theory
"Stacking" in sports is the pattern by which people of one racial category disproportionately play in specific positions.
True
Among all academic disciplines, sociology is one of the youngest
True
Both feminism and the gender-conflict approach highlight ways in which women are unequal to men.
True
In the United States, men have a higher suicide rate than women.
True
Like the gender-conflict approach, the race-conflict approach is concerned with social inequality.
True
Rarely are people aware of all the functions of any social structure.
True
Sociologists test a theory by gathering facts in order to confirm, reject, or modify the theory.
True
Sociology is defined as the systematic study of human society.
True
Sociology is useful training for any job that involves working with people.
True
The sociological perspective helps us to assess the truth of the "common sense" beliefs most people tend to take for granted.
True
U.S. sociologist C. Wright Mills argued that times of social crisis foster widespread sociological thinking.
True
From a research point of view, what is the problem with the question, "Do you think that the government should spend less on defense and spend more on health care?"
Two different questions are being asked, so a simple "yes" and "no" may distort the subject's actual opinions.
What might a sociologist say about people's selection of marriage partners?
Typically, a person marries someone of similar social position.
In a questionnaire, asking respondents to identify their income level from a number of possible categories represents
a closed-ended question format.
Science can be defined as a
a logical system that bases knowledge on direct, systematic observation
An apparent, although false, association between two variables that is caused by a third variable is called
a spurious correlation
Imagine that you were going to measure the age of a number of respondents taking part in a survey. As you record the data, you are using the concept "age" as
a variable
Critical sociology can best be described as a(n) ________ approach.
activist
an experiment
an experiment
In a questionnaire, the question "Please state your opinions about the extent of economic inequality" is an example of
an open-ended format.
The social-conflict approach sometimes receives criticism for...
being openly political
Making use of the sociological perspective encourages...
challenging many commonly-held beliefs.
"A mental construct that represents some aspect of the world in a somewhat simplified form" is the definition of a
concept
The ability to neutralize the effect of one variable in order to assess the relationship between two other variables is called
control
If you have been criticized for "androcentricity" in your research, you are being criticized for...
doing the research from a male perspective.
Sarah is spending a summer living in another country where people have a way of life that differs from her own. A sociologist might expect that this experience would lead her to...
end up with a greater understanding of both a new way of life and her own way of life
We would expect the sociological perspective to be most likely to develop in a place that was...
experiencing many social changes.
If you were to conduct sociological research that closely follows the logic of science, which research method would you most likely use?
experiment
Scientific sociology ________
favors quantitative data.
Interpretive sociology refers to sociology that
focuses on the meaning people attach to behavior
You are doing research and you never stop to think about the possible importance of gender. Your work could be criticized for the problem called
gender blindness
Lois Benjamin's investigation of racism may be criticized because...
her sample may not be representative of all African Americans.
Sociology differs from the older discipline of philosophy by focusing on...
how society actually operates
Sociologists cannot precisely predict any person's behavior because
human behavior is highly complex and has many causes.
Sociologists cannot identify "laws of society" that allow us to precisely predict the behavior of an individual because...
human behavior may be patterned, but it is also spontaneous.
A sociologist using the gender-conflict approach might state that...
in many ways, men are in positions of power over women
Understanding the differences between countries encourages...
increasing our understanding of both of our own lives and the lives of others.
Sociologists use the term "empirical evidence" to refer to...
information we can verify with our senses.
People can mislead others with statistics by
interpreting the data to lead their readers to a desired conclusion.
If you were trying to measure the "social class" of various people, you would have to keep in mind that...
it is necessary to specify exactly what variable you are measuring.
A researcher doing participant observation may often "break in" to a setting more easily with the help of a
key informant
Looking at the United States, high suicide rates are typical of areas in which people..
live spread apart in rural areas.
It is difficult to establish all the cause-and-effect relationships in a social situation because...
most patterns of behavior are caused by many factors.
The sociological perspective coupled to research reveals that
much of what passes for "common sense" in the United States turns out to be at least partly wrong.
In deciding what kinds of questions to ask in their research, sociologists are guided by...
one or more theoretical approaches
With regard to the process of measurement, ...
or measurement to be valid, it must be reliable.
Looking at the operation of U.S. schools guided by the social-conflict approach might lead a sociologist to conclude that...
our society provides some students with far better schooling than others.
You wish to conduct an exploratory and descriptive study of people in a particular neighborhood. You have plenty of time, but you have little money or other resources. What research method should you use?
participant observation
The social-conflict approach draws attention to...
patterns of social inequality.
Sociologists use the term "social marginality" to refer to...
people who are defined by others as an "outsider."
A small number of people that are used to represent a much larger population is called a
sample
Critical sociology
seeks to bring about desirable social change.
The "framework for building theory that sees society as an arena of inequality that generates conflict and change" is the...
social-conflict approach
Scientific methodology is most closely linked to
structural-functional theory
Sociologist Lenore Weitzman carried out research showing that women who divorce...
suffer a significant loss of income.
Qualitative research has special appeal to investigators who favor
symbolic-interaction approach
Three researchers wish to test the effects of playing soft music during an exam on the test performance of their sociology students. They conduct an experiment in which one test-taking class hears music and another does not. In experimental terms, the class hearing the music is called...
the experimental group
In a cause-and-effect relationship
the independent variable must come before the dependent variable in time.
The basic idea of the symbolic-interaction approach is that society is...
the product of people interacting in countless everyday situations.
About 1 million immigrants have entered the United States each year, and many (including Arnold Schwarzenegger and Gloria Estefan) have become well known. These facts support the conclusion that...
the world's nations are increasingly interconnected.
Two variables are said to display correlation if
they vary together
Deductive logical thought involves
transforming specific observations into general theory.
Inductive logical thought involves
transforming specific observations into general theory.
The ideal of objectivity means that a researcher must
try to adopt a stance of personal neutrality toward the outcome of the research.
_________ refers to measuring exactly what one intends to measure.
validity
In the process of measurement, reliability refers to
whether repeating the measurement yields consistent results
