Quiz 1/2
Why can sociologists who conduct interviews only gather data from a limited number of people?
Interviews are very time-consuming.
What is a closed-ended question?
one that limits the possible responses
Imagine that you are trying to rewrite a survey. You find a multiple-choice question that asks, "What is your favorite recreational activity?" and gives three response options: watching television, shopping, or sports. You add a fourth response option, "other," and invite respondents to write an activity of their choice. What kind of question have you just created?
open-ended
When a sociologist argues that their study of a particular group tells us something about a larger group, they are claiming
representativeness.
Which of the following theories views society as a unit made up of interrelated parts that work together?
structural functionalism
Max Weber's The Protestant Ethic and TheSpirit of Capitalism discusses the origin of the capitalist system. In this work he addresses how people are trapped by the bureaucratic structure of society; what did he refer to this entrapment as?
iron cage
Which early social theorist sought to bring the scientific method to the discipline of sociology?
Auguste Comte
Which theorist gave symbolic interactionism its name?
Herbert Blumer
Which of the following theorists is credited with coining the phrase "the survival of the fittest"?
Herbert Spencer
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.
Critical race theory emerged out of legal scholarship in the 1970s and '80s. Why is this theory viewed as an offshoot of conflict theory?
It is a focused on the imbalance of power related to race that is embedded in American institutions.
Why is action research controversial among more traditional social scientists despite the methodological approach gaining popularity among students?
It is aligned with values and challenges objectivity.
Why is it beneficial for us, as sociologists, to experience culture shock?
It makes us realize we lack an understanding of our surroundings so we can perceive what is right in front of us.
What can an institutional review board do if it has reservations about the safety or ethics of a research project?
It may stop the project from going forward, at least until changes have been made.
Peter Stearns (2004) consulted various existing sources for his book Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America. What did he find?
Whereas children were once viewed as self-sufficient mini-adults, beginning in the late 1800s children came to be seen as particularly vulnerable.
When studying social phenomena, which level of analysis is more useful: microsociological or macrosociological?
Both are useful in different ways because they each provide different types of information about the same object of study.
How was Harriet Martineau similar to W.E.B. Du Bois?
Both were intrigued by America's democratic promise, but disappointed in its hypocritical injustices.
Which of the following is a latent function of the U.S. educational system?
keeping children out of trouble while parents are at work
Which theorist stated that industrial capitalism is the primary tool for the oppression of the lower social classes?
Karl Marx
Symbolic interactionism was established by
the Chicago School of sociology.
A research team is curious about the relationship between exercise habits and academic performance among American college students. The researchers randomly select seventeen colleges by pulling names out of a hat. They travel to campuses and stand in prominent public places asking for volunteers until they have ten people from each campus willing to be interviewed. What is the researchers' target population?
American college students
A hypothesis is a clear and precise definition of a variable.
False
Ethical guidelines for sociologists strictly prohibit deception.
False
Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) evaluate sociological studies after they have been conducted to make sure they were ethically done.
False
Which of the following is a disadvantage of using existing sources of data for research?
Researchers often seek answers to questions the data does not directly address.
Why is sociology exceptional among the social sciences?
Sociology's integrative approach makes it more comprehensive than other social sciences because it covers a wider intellectual territory.
How did Durkheim characterize solidarity in The Division of Labor in Society?
Solidarity is present in all societies but different societies have different types of bonds.
It is always important to ask clear and unambiguous questions regardless of the method you use. Why is it especially important to avoid confusion when conducting surveys?
Survey researchers are usually not present to clarify any misunderstandings.
When conducting experiments, how is the experimental group different from the control group?
The experimental group is administered the independent variable, while the control group is not.
What is an advantage of using interviews as a research method?
They reveal attitudes and beliefs inaccessible by any other means.
Why should sociologists generally follow the steps of the scientific method or approach?
To ensure they are objective and consistent in problem solving.
Sociologists try to follow the steps of the scientific method or approach to gather new empirical data that can change and deepen our understanding of human social life.
True
You will still have to sacrifice some types of information in order to acquire others even if you pick your research method carefully.
True
What did C. Wright Mills say we are failing to see when we think of our personal problems as individual character flaws?
Your Answer: How cultural or historical factors can impact things that happen to us.
Every discipline that does research on humans needs a code of ethics in order to protect its research participants. The risks associated with sociological research may seem subtler than the harm that medical research could cause people if not carried out ethically. Describe the risks of sociological research.
Your Answer: Potential risks of sociological research could be researchers not explaining the full details of the project or deception by the researcher. There could also be potential bias by researchers or even participants. Harm could come to participants if there is a breach in confidentiality as well.
In what ways does queer theory suggest that no category of sexual identity is fundamentally deviant or normal?
Your Answer: Queer theory proposes that it should be seen as a social construct and that specific categories are irrelevant. More fluid notions of identity should replace the societal norm of gay/straight.
What are the advantages of midrange theory?
Your Answer: Smaller theories that build to a larger sociological theory Knowledge building to make it more effective as a science
What must there be for a survey to be considered valid?
a high response rate
Émile Durkheim's study on suicide found that not only did suicide rates increase when the economy slumped, they also increased when the economy boomed. Which of Durkheim's concepts explains why both positive and negative economic conditions could increase suicide rates?
anomie
Jess is conducting a study on skydiving and will focus on their own thoughts and feelings on participating in the sport. This is an example of which type of research?
autoethnography
Bernard McGrane suggested that individuals adopt a(n) ________ to unlearn what we already know and better understand the social world.
beginner's mind
During the COVID-19 pandemic, vaccination requirements and mask mandates have become a point of controversy. Many individuals argue such mandates violate their personal rights, whereas others see them as sound public health measures. Which sociological concept best allows one to see the connection between the personal and the public?
beginner's mind
How do sociologists observe society?
by studying the various parts of a society and the ways they interact and influence one another
A sociologist wants to study how educational credential requirements for employment have changed in the last fifty years in the United States, Sweden, and Germany by using newspaper classified ads. What research concept best describes this study?
comparative historical research
Critical race theory is associated with which of the major theoretical perspectives of sociology?
conflict theory
Postmodernists are interested in ________ or taking apart and examining stories and theories.
deconstruction
You are conducting research on violence in the media. In what part of the research process are you engaged if you are trying to decide whether "violence" includes words as well as actions?
defining the variables
According to Émile Durkheim, what is the basis for the bonds created through organic solidarity in industrialized societies?
difference, interdependence, and individual rights
The research method most closely related to the scientific method is
experimental research.
Julie Bettie's ethnography Women without Class: Girls, Race, and Identity examined the role of race and class in the lives of girls in California's Central Valley. She did most of her work at a high school, hanging out with students and writing down her observations. What do ethnographers call her written observations?
field notes
If conducting research, what steps must you take to follow the scientific method? Identify them in the correct order in which you should do them.
form a hypothesis, define variables, choose research method, collect data
Of the following options, which was probably Harriet Martineau's most important contribution to the development of sociology as a discipline?
her translation of the work of Auguste Comte into English
Maya conducted an ethnography of local food truck operators. Before observing them, she let them know that she was a researcher. Maya took on a(n) ________ role in her research.
overt
A researcher is studying pet ownership in the United States. They hypothesize that adults without children are more likely to own pets than those who have children. What are the variables in this study?
parental status and pet ownership
If a sociologist is critical of what they call "grand narratives," which theoretical perspective do they most likely believe in?
postmodernism
Karl Marx thought intellectuals should not just theorize about the social world but also attempt to improve it. What is the term he used to describe this idea?
praxis
According to Marx, an individual who makes money exclusively by selling their own labor must be a member of what social group?
proletariat
Researchers should avoid using double-barreled questions when designing a survey. What are double-barreled questions?
questions that ask about multiple issues
Researchers must avoid negative questions when writing a survey. What are negative questions?
questions that ask respondents what they do not think rather than what they do think
In her ethnography Wheeling & Dealing, Patricia Adler investigates the social and professional worlds of mid-level cocaine and marijuana smugglers. Her research started unexpectedly when she discovered that her next-door neighbor and friend was a drug smuggler. This was a huge advantage for her because it meant that she already had ________ with one of her informants.
rapport
In his research, ethnographer Richard Mitchell kept his identity a secret while studying militant survivalist groups. Sometimes, he even presented himself as a believer in the survivalists' paranoid, racist ideologies in order to establish
rapport.
The sociologist Mitch Duneier wrote his ethnography Sidewalk about street vendors in New York City's Greenwich Village. While writing the book, Duneier was particularly concerned that the people he was studying would alter their behavior when he was present, especially since his background was different from their own. This caused him to think critically about his activities and role as a researcher. What do sociologists call this?
reflexivity
After studying the indigenous peoples of Australia, Émile Durkheim concluded that any form of religion is united in its definition of what is/are ________ and ________.
sacred; profane
The divorce rate has steadily increased over time, and now more than a quarter of all marriages end within the first four years. What sort of factors would C. Wright Mills suggest investigating to explain this increase?
structural
What is the sociological imagination?
the ability to understand the interplay between the self and larger social forces
You have just begun studying unemployment rates in a city with fifty million people, of which fifteen million are unemployed. If you are using your sociological imagination, what is your first consideration?
the economic and political structures of the society
A researcher must identify a target population before engaging in sampling. What is the target population?
the larger group of people about whom they wish to generalize
Alice Goffman's book On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City was criticized in terms of research ethics regarding
the politics of representation.
Respondents are often more comfortable addressing sensitive subjects on surveys than in other research contexts because
they can answer in private and are usually assured anonymity.
According to Karl Marx, class consciousness is developed
through the lower classes recognizing how society works and challenging those in power.
Ethnography's main goal is to
understand the meanings people attach to their activities.
Compare and contrast conflict theory with structural functionalism. Make sure to discuss the way each theoretical perspective views the origin of social change.
Your Answer: Structural functionalism is the theory that people should be firmly anchored to family, religion, or work and they won't experience anomie. A structure of shared beliefs, traditions, and experiences are the building blocks of society. Each pillar has to contribute to maintaining stability, change comes with disorganization or disfunction. With conflict theory, the focus is on social inequalities being central to social working and change. It is a materialistic view of social status, gender, and race contributing to conflicts and change.
Explain how a change in one variable might not be caused by a change in another variable even if the variables are correlated.
Your Answer: This goes back to the saying "correlation does not equal causation." Just because things are correlated, does not mean that a change in a variable will impact all things the same way.
What does an interviewer seek when asking a respondent for their life history?
a chronological account of the respondent's life
The Yale sociologist Kai Erikson wrote a book called Wayward Puritans, in which he drew on court records from colonial Massachusetts. He learned that the rate of out-of-wedlock births was much higher than it is now and that the amount of alcohol consumed per capita was higher as well. What research methodology was Erikson using?
comparative-historical research
In physics, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle states that to measure something is also to change it. Sociologists have observed a similar phenomenon—reactivity. Describe the classic example of reactivity, which was observed and explained by Elton Mayo at the Western Electric Hawthorne Plant between 1927 and 1932.
Your Answer: After making several changes and increasing productivity, returning all variables to the original and productivity remaining high led them to the result that performance was only impacted because there was an interest in their productivity. The interest in productivity caused the shift rather than physical variables.
Why might Karl Marx and Émile Durkheim be placed far apart on sociology's family tree?
The theoretical approaches they founded are very different.
In everyday life, it is assumed that science provides access to objective truths that will never change. However, the philosopher Thomas Kuhn argues that truth is relative and dependent upon the paradigm through which one sees the world. Explain what a paradigm is and how the scientific method can lead to paradigm shifts.
Your Answer: A paradigm is a broad view of how things work in social and natural worlds. A paradigm shift can happen when a theory is tested to counteract that initial paradigm.
In everyday life, it is assumed that science provides access to objective truths that will never change. However, the philosopher Thomas Kuhn argues that truth is relative and dependent upon the paradigm through which one sees the world. Explain what a paradigm is and how the scientific method can lead to paradigm shifts.
Your Answer: A paradigm is a set of assumptions, theories, and perspectives that make up a way of understanding social reality. The scientific method can lead to shifts by creating a theory of why something is or isn't the way we currently view it, and providing data to support a necessary change.
Describe the three main theoretical perspectives of macrosociology, and name at least one theorist for each perspective.
Your Answer: Functionalist theory- Emile Durkheim- sociert us a stable, ordered system of interrelated structures that contribute to the stability of the whole. (Family, educational system, politics, economy, and religion) Conflict theory - Karl Marx- social inequality is a basic characteristic of society. Social arrangements represent the interests of those in power. Interactionist theory - George Herbert Mead- how self and society develop through interactions with others. We act toward things based on meanings; meanings are negotiated through interaction and can be modified through interaction.
What recommendations are set out in the American Sociological Association's Code of Ethics?
Your Answer: How to avoid bias, adhere to professional standards, and protect respondents from harm.
Imagine you are a sociologist studying college students' academic performance. Provide an example of a hypothesis on this topic and identify the independent and dependent variables.
Your Answer: Hypothesis: Ten or more hours a week in study time can impact grades in a beneficial way. Independent variables: 10 hours of studying Dependent variables: grades
Consider the contrast between practical knowledge and scientific knowledge. Describe an activity or social phenomenon of which you have practical knowledge, and then list the steps you might take to develop scientific knowledge of it. Describe how your knowledge might change as you develop this scientific approach to the subject and demonstrate that you understand the difference between the two types of knowledge.
Your Answer: I know how to ride a bike; you hold the bicycle and put your feet on the pedals and push off while rotating the hub via the pedals. To develop a scientific approach to how to ride a bike, first, you would have to question why the hub spins when the pedals are pushed. By analyzing each piece and how they fit together to rotate would help you understand why it moves the bike forward.
Which level of analysis and theoretical perspective would be best for a sociologist interested in studying your sociology class?
Your Answer: I think the best way to study our sociology class would be through micro-sociology. Since this is an online platform, seeing how the class interacts through discussions could help a sociologist understand how we work together to understand our needed knowledge base on the subject. Symbolic interactionism would be a great way to study our class since most of our classroom interaction is based on discussion posts. How are we interacting with each other, and are we building that necessary knowledge?
If you were feeling very generous to shoe manufacturers, you might argue that the manifest function of the production of newer and more expensive athletic shoes is to increase athletic performance. For a moment, let's not be generous. Explain another manifest function of the appearance of new athletic shoes and at least two latent functions.
Your Answer: Manifest function: better grip for walking surfaces Latent Functions: less heel pain while walking, better aligned back while walking
Classical sociological theory arose in the nineteenth century in the aftermath of the American and French Revolutions and during the Industrial Revolution. Summarize how the theories of Karl Marx, Émile Durkheim, and Max Weber all reflect a concern for the consequences of modern life.
Your Answer: Marx wanted people to see how modernization created a class issue between those with resources and those without and wanted people to challenge that standing. He believed social change required conflict. Durkheim felt that with modernization came a disconnecting of family and religion, which could lead to depression. With the changes in society, social bonds were going to be neglected. Weber focused on how individual motivations are ingratiated into society and how it shapes society. He felt that the bureaucracy had trapped people into not doing or feeling what they wanted but rather doing and feeling how they were told to. Ultimately, that society was controlled by bureaucratic goals rather than individual wants or needs.
According to symbolic interactionism, describe how meaningful reality is created.
Your Answer: Meaningful reality is created through symbolic interactionism by having an understanding of human actions and what they mean. By interacting with others, there is an exchange of both verbal and nonverbal communication. This helps to build relationships and maintain social order.
Structural functionalist theory is concerned with the ways in which structures contribute to the stability of society. What is a structure?
a social institution that is stable over time and helps meet the needs of society
