Research Methods

Dr. Mottle's experiment is conducted in the School of Nursing's cafeteria. The student nurses that she observes in the study do not know that they are being studied.

Dr. Mottle wishes to avoid the Hawthorne effect.

Mr. Marsh writes the following in his notes: the cashier had a bad hairdo. What would be a better way to describe the cashier's ______hair for field notes?

The cashier had combed his jet-black hair straight-forward over his eyes.

A sponsor tells Mr. Marsh that it will pay for his research if the results come out a certain way.

The ethical choice is for him to refuse to continue the study.

A gatekeeper can be intimidating; a researcher may need to negotiate with him/her.

True

A qualitative researcher's goal is to capture social life in a manner that rings true to experience of people being studied.

True

A symbol can have complex, multilayered meanings, and researchers must make qualitative judgments about how to code images.

True

An independent variable is the cause in a cause-effect study.

True

An interviewer needs to control the interview and its flow of interaction.

True

Argument used in the research context means a set of of logically connected statements that end with a logical conclusion.

True

Building relationships through doing small favors, appearing interested, and avoiding conflicts are all strategies for success in field research.

True

Cluster sampling has advantages and is less expensive than simple random sampling, but is slightly less accurate.

True

Grounded theory has nothing to do with electricity and grounding circuits.

True

In qualitative studies two different researchers may not get identical results when studying the same thing.

True

Index and scale are often used interchangeably and give information on variables.

True

Many measures in large bureaucratic organizations are social indicators.

True

Quota sampling is better than convenience sampling because with it a researcher ensures that major differences in the population also appear in the researcher's sample.

True

Snowball sampling is the same as network sampling.

True

The greater the possibility of risk to the subject (participant), the greater the need to obtain informed consent.

True

Two different types of research (e.g. descriptive and exploratory) can often blend together in practice.

True

When a researcher uses coding s/he turns aspects of text content into quantitative variables.

True

Data collection techniques include all the following

experiments, surveys, content analyses.

Two types of research are typically done in the later stage of the learning process. They are

explanatory, evaluation

Dr. Richards took his research in a completely new direction, and found himself asking the "What" question again and again to try to design a second study. His first study was considered a(n) __________ study.

exploratory

An experimenter's control over an experimental setting affects

external validity.

When a researcher reads a scholarly journal, s/he should

form a mental image of the article's topic.

What is the first step in conducting content analysis research?

formulate a research question

When a researcher leads a respondent to pick one response over another, the researcher is asking what type of questions?

leading questions

If a double-blind study means that the subject (participant) and the person administering the treatment do not know whether the treatment is the control or placebo, then what does a single-blind study mean?

that the subject (participant) does not know what s/he is getting - treatment or control

Use of official existing statistics raises ethical issues regarding

the fact that they are social and political products.

Professional associations promote codes of ethics, and

the penalty for a minor ethical violation rarely goes past public embarrassment and a letter of complaint.

When using a true random process, over the long run the odds are

the people in the groups will be equal.

Secondary data analysis is similar to existing statistics research in that

the researcher analyzes data that someone else collected.

Dr. Mottle wants to test whether the style of clothing has an impact on servers' tips. The dependent variable is

the size of the tips.

Mr. Marsh is confused - a probability sample would allow him to do what?

to make valid inferences from the sample to the population

The purpose of ethnography is

to provide a description of a way of life from the standpoint of its insiders.

When all the items in a scale or index fit together and measure a single concept, this is called

unidimensionality.

Tacit knowledge includes

unspoken cultural norms.

How many independent variables are in a 2 x 3 x 6 x 8 factorial design?

4

What is a contingency question?

A two-part question in which a first question screens who gets the second question.

Mr. Marsh is concerned that nothing seems to be happening in his field research. What should he do?

Be patient, the true relevance of what he is seeing may not be apparent until later when reviewing the information.

A researcher should look at what elements when reading an experimental research paper?

How was the dependent variable measured?

Nominal measures indicate a difference among categories. Which of the following would NOT be a nominal measure?

IQ scores

Which of the following are things a researcher would do to conduct a study with physical evidence?

Identify a physical evidence measure of a behavior of interest, Compare the two variables of the hypothesis using quantitative data analysis, and Systematically record the physical evidence.

What are the advantages of quantitative nonreactive research?

It is often faster and easier to collect data.

What is true of audio or video recordings in field research?

Recorders frequently miss action or are out of range.

A threat that might weaken external validity is

artificial setting

Hawthorne Effect is

awareness of being in a study.

A random sampling distribution curve is in the shape of

bell shape curve

The weakness of static group comparison is that the researcher

cannot know whether group differences prior to the experiment or if the independent variable caused differences in post test outcomes.

Questions that focus on similarities or differences among categories, processes, or aspect are called

contrast questions.

If a researcher walks into a bus station and starts interviewing people at random for his research is most likely using

convenience sampling

This type of validity uses a standard to indicate a concept. In other words it agrees with an external source. What type of validity is it?

criterion

Dr. Van Offer is a medical doctor with an idea about how to improve his dermatology patients care. He would like to perform a study. What type of study should he consider?

descriptive

Three major issues to consider when entering the field include: presentation of self, social role, and what other issue?

disclosure

When does a researcher focus the research question when his/her research uses quantitative data?

early in the process

Dr. Mottle is interested in studying the Amish migration into the Midwest during the 1900s. Which of the following would best fit her research?

historical research/qualitative research

Selection bias and maturation are threats to

internal validity.

Mr. Marsh is measuring temperature in his research using a thermometer that takes readings in Celsius. He will be using what variable level of measure?

interval

Convenience sampling

is easy and fast but of limited use.

Basic social research increases general knowledge and

is the source of most new scientific ideas.

In a grounded theory explanation a researcher builds the explanation by

making comparisons.

Dr. Mottle is studying chiropractic journals to determine trends for use of ultrasound in chiropractic practice. As she researches this topic, she is counting the number of times that ultrasound appears in written text. What type of coding is she most likely using?

manifest coding

When measuring space in content analysis, a researcher

measures the size, volume, and amount of time or physical space.

One key feature of random samples:

must identify and pick a particular sampling element, rarely using substitutions.

Good answer choices in closed format should have three features, including which of the following?

mutually exclusive, exhaustive, balanced

If a unit fits into one category only, it is

mutually exclusive.

This type of measurement indicates a difference among categories, and the categories can be ordered or ranked. If a student earned an A, that measurement would be a(n) __________ measurement.

nominal, ratio, interval (None of the above)

As a researcher learns how to fit in by learning rules, customs, etc., he does what?

normalizes

In all random samples the researcher starts by

numbering each element in the frame.

Cultural knowledge has two parts, explicit and

tacit.

Mr. Marsh is concerned about how he will organize the sequence of questions on his survey. Since many of his respondents will most probably lack strong views, he is concerned about

order effects

Dr. Van Offer is considering a research study of lung cancer caused by smoking. What population parameter would he most likely look for in the entire population?

people who are smokers and have lung cancer

Mr. Marsh changes his title to Dr. in order to influence survey respondents. He may be guilty of using

prestige bias

One limitation of this type of sampling is that the researcher only captures the diversity of a few predetermined population characteristics.

quota

Mr. Marsh is starting his literature review on the topic of children and tooth decay. He has found lots and lots of information and now he is really confused as to his next step. What do you think that he should have done first?

refined the topic

In verifying data quality of existing statistics Mr. Marsh discovers that the definition of work injury varies across different agencies and time. This is an example of

reliability

If Dr. Mottle's measurements of her data are consistent and do not vary because of the characteristics of how she measured, the measurement is

reliable

Which of the following might be an appropriate sample frame for a population aged 16-18?

school registration

Steps in the research process

select topic, focus question, design study, collect data, analyze data, interpret data, inform others

One of the essential steps in starting a field research project is

selecting a field site.

A researcher might use purposive sampling by

selecting cases from a specific, difficult-to-reach population.

Deception is acceptable within strict limits if a researcher

shows that it has a clear specific methodological purpose.

In sampling a hidden population, a researcher would use what type of sampling?

snowball

Which type of sampling is most applicable for capturing an existing network?

snowball sampling

Mr. Marsh responded that he always completed employee evaluations on time when he was a manager, when in fact, he rarely conducted the task. As a respondent in a survey he exaggerated to look good. This is an example of

social desirability bias.

What is the first stage in conducting a survey?

start-up

Researchers control experimenter expectancy by

using double-blind experiments.

Dr. Mottle is concerned that the information that was collected by one of the government agencies might have systematic errors in it limiting the __________ of the information.

validity

If Dr. Mottle gives items in an index more or less of a value her index is probably

weighted

Ethics can be an issue in research

when researchers use deception in their research.