Chapter 2
Identify the examples of protected populations, whose study often requires an extra level of approval.
prisoners, minors, people with disabilities
Participant observation tries to find out what meanings people give to their social behavior by observing it in _____, rather than by asking questions later on in _____. This enables researchers to get past survey respondents' tendency to give what the respondents think are the "right" answers. However, this method requires the researcher to invest time at the ______ of the study to become an accepted _____.
real time, artificial setting, start, member of the community
True or False: Selection bias can be avoided by making sure the sample size is large enough.
False
What is the definition of a hypothesis for the purposes of social research?
A proposed relationship between to variables, usually with a stated direction
Identify the methods Sandra Harding proposes to make sociological research distinctly feminist.
Be aware of the power imbalance between researcher and research subject, Treat women's experiences as a legitimate source of empirical and theoretical information, Seek ways of practicing sociology that will bring about policy changes helpful to women.
Identify the scenarios in which A might be correlated with B.
C causes both A and B, A causes B, B causes A
Which phrase describes a study in which a "snapshot" is taken of all members of a sample group at one specific time?
Cross-sectional study
In a certain forest, dying trees are consistently found to be infested with beetles. Identify the hypotheses that could explain this correlation.
Dying trees are more prone to beetle infestation, Beetle infestation is causing the trees to die, A fungus causes the trees to die and also lures beetles.
In his sociological study, Duncan Watts identified factors that contribute to the success of pop songs. Suppose you were the head of a book publishing company and wanted to apply Watts's findings regarding music to your own industry. Identify the steps you would take.
Encourage book clubs to adopt the books you publish, Seek book recommendations from celebrities
Identify the correct and incorrect statements about power and its influence on research and research findings.
Graduate students and junior faculty have to worry about staying on good terms with senior faculty, which can influence research choices, Research requires money, and those who control the funding control what gets studied, The rich have more power than the poor to control the conditions under which they are studied.
Identify the effects that Shamus Khan's class background might have had on his research at St. Paul's, an exclusive private boarding school.
He may have had an easier time gaining admission to St. Paul's, He may have established stronger rapport with his research subjects than someone from another class background.
Urban ethnographer Mitchell Duneier spent five years studying booksellers in Manhattan, trying to understand how street vendors—many of them homeless—functioned in the community. Identify the decisions that Duneier made in an attempt to avoid exploiting his participants.
He remained in contact with the people he researched, He shared the output of his research with his participants before it was published
What is the function of comparative research?
It examines two or more entities in order to learn more about how and why they differ.
Type the term that fits the blank. _____ study is another term for a panel survey.
Longitudinal
The textbook author believes that sociology is among the most difficult sciences. Identify the reasons why he believes this.
Reality is always changing as it is being studied, Sociologists are tasked with identifying causal pathways without the use of experimental methods.
Identify the measurement methods that would yield results generalizable to the student population of a large university.
School records are used to select 100 students from different categories (male and female, white and non-white, etc.) in numbers that mirror the overall student population. These students will fill out a short questionnaire, Comprehensive school records are used to randomly select a sample group of 100 students, who will fill out a short questionnaire.
The diagram shows a proposed relationship connecting a person's stress level to his or her blood pressure and sleep patterns. A horizontal, two directional arrow connects the phrase blood pressure on the left with the phrase sleep pattern on the right. Below them, the phrase stress level has a one directional arrow pointing upward toward blood pressure and another one arrow pointing toward sleep pattern. If stress causes high blood pressure, and separately causes sleeplessness, then all three of these variables will be correlated. Which correlation will be spurious?
The correlation between blood pressure and sleep pattern
What is the function of historical methods of research?
They draw on written materials from an earlier historical time.
What is the difference between a census and a study that is not a census?
a census collects data on the entire population
When two numeric variables are related in such a way that they go up and down together, or one consistently goes up when the other goes down, it is called a(n) _______________.
correlation
Identify the factors needed to establish causality between variables A and B.
elimination of alternative explanations, time order, correlation
Identify the effects that Shamus Khan's class background might have had on his research at St. Paul's, an exclusive private boarding school.
generalizability, validity
What did sociologist Duncan Watts do to investigate how some pop songs become hits?
he manipulated songs ratings and downloaded numbers to observe the effects on songs popularity
A researcher notices that her interview subjects speak more freely when she puts away her tape recorder, and sometimes contradict what they say when being taped. What aspect of sociological investigation does the researcher's realization illustrate?
reflexivity
The diagram shows the possible relationships among a medical patient's stress level, blood pressure, and sleep patterns. A horizontal, two directional arrow connects the phrase blood pressure on the left with the phrase sleep pattern on the right. Below them, the phrase stress level has a one directional arrow pointing upward toward blood pressure and another one arrow pointing toward sleep pattern. A doctor surmises that the patient's elevated stress level is causing high blood pressure and, separately, sleeplessness. Suppose that instead, the patient's lack of sleep (due to hormonal imbalance) is causing elevated stress, which in turn leads to high blood pressure. Which relationship will be a case of reverse causation?
the relationship between stress level and sleep pattern
What is a common goal of qualitative and quantitative research?
to determine the causal relationships between social elements
Identify the findings of Ann Morning's 2004 content analysis study of 92 high-school textbooks in biology and the social sciences.
Biology texts still used a traditional conception of race, The majority of texts did not overtly critique the traditional concept of race.
Identify the reasons why the process used in the U.S. Census is politically important.
Census results affect the distribution of federal funds to state and municipal agencies, Census results are used to decide representation in Congress, Census results can influence tax policies.
Identify the reasons why some city officials and statisticians advocate using sampling to adjust official census counts.
Evidence suggests that the census undercounts some populations, such as African Americans, more than others, Evidence suggests that the census undercounts the U.S. population by 1.2 percent.
True or False: If there is a correlation between two variables A and B, it may be because A causes B, or because B causes A, but it cannot be both
False
Suppose a sociologist wanted to study a global community of online gamers who all play the same multiplayer game. Identify the activities that could realistically be part of the research.
becoming a player and observing interactions in real time, analyzing player statistics, such as time played and level achieved, online interviews
