Soci 160 #1

You are about to do a series of interviews about drug abuse and academic performance. In order to make people feel more comfortable, you tell them that these interviews are about student satisfaction with the university and have them sign a form showing that they've willingly agreed to participate. You have the informed consent of your research subjects.

False

Humans are essentially social beings

True

In a random sample, everyone who happens to be available when a researcher is seeking participants could be included in a study

True

The anthropologist Ruth Behar traveled to San Luis Potosi to learn more about the everyday lives of Mexican women. Instead she ended up conducting one very long, very intensive interview with a woman named Esperanza, and wrote a book based upon more than a year of interview data. Which disadvantage of the interview methodology does this book highlight? a. Face-to-face interviewing is time consuming, and interviews are rarely used with large numbers of people. Thus, their representativeness is sometimes questionable. b. Respondents are not always forthcoming or truthful. Sometimes they are difficult to talk to, and at other times they may try too hard to be helpful. c. Interviews generally lack qualitative data that might better capture the social reality the researcher wishes to examine. d. Interviews, although able to describe messages inherent in the media, do not illuminate how such messages are interpreted. e. Interviews sometimes distance the researcher from the messy realities of the social world.

a. Face-to-face interviewing is time consuming, and interviews are rarely used with large numbers of people. Thus, their representativeness is sometimes questionable.

What does Max Weber mean when he says that modern people are trapped in an "iron cage"? a. Most aspects of life are increasingly controlled through rigid rules and rationalization. b. Increasingly, we live and work in smaller and smaller physical locations, as if crammed in a cage. c. More and more people live under totalitarian dictators and so lose basic rights and freedoms. d. Increasingly, modern society has more laws and uses them to incarcerate more people in prison. e. The conditions of modern life create a psychic prison that leaves most people discontent with civilization

a. Most aspects of life are increasingly controlled through rigid rules and rationalization.

Pam Fishman noticed that, within couples, women are more likely than men to use questions in conversation. Why is this sociologically important? a. Questions are more likely to be used by the partner with less power, so Fishman's research demonstrates connections between general social trends and individual behaviors. b. Conversational styles are inherent, so Fishman's research shows a biological basis for larger social structures. c. It proves that there really are gender differences, something many people don't believe. d. It demonstrates the importance of conversation to maintain a healthy relationship. e. It shows that individuals have no real free will or agency and are controlled by the dictates of social structure.

a. Questions are more likely to be used by the partner with less power, so Fishman's research demonstrates connections between general social trends and individual behaviors.

One of Mitch Duneier's main conclusions in his ethnography of street vendors in New York City was that, despite the chaos and disorder they seem to bring to the street, the opportunity to sell something actually gave vendors a sense of purpose and dignity. Disputing aspects of New York's crackdown on petty and nonviolent crimes, Duneier argues that politicians have failed to distinguish between physical signs of decline, like graffiti, and street vendors who are working to improve their lives. Which of the following advantages of ethnography does Duneier's research demonstrate? a. The detailed nature of ethnographies can help to reshape the stereotypes that we hold about others and that are often the basis for social policy. b. Ethnographies offer a means of studying groups that are often overlooked with other methods. c. Ethnographies allow respondents to speak in their own words. d. Ethnographies are not always representative. e. Ethnographic research can be used to gather data on a population that is too large to study by other means.

a. The detailed nature of ethnographies can help to reshape the stereotypes that we hold about others and that are often the basis for social policy.

In her ethnography, Number Our Days, Barbara Myerhoff investigated the daily lives of elderly Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe who lived in Los Angeles. Most of her work took place at a senior citizen center. Before she could even start this research, Meyerhoff had to convince the director of the center that it was a legitimate and worthwhile project, a process known as: a. gaining access. b. participant observation. c. field notes. d. thick description. e. sampling.

a. gaining access.

A social research methods class wants to study smoking. First the professor asks how many people in the class are smokers. Two people say yes. Then she asks how many people have smoked a cigarette in the last week, and ten people say yes. From this the class decides that, for the purposes of its survey, a smoker will be anyone who has had a cigarette in the last week and currently owns a pack of cigarettes. This is a(n): a. operational definition b. ethnography c. hypothesis d. spurious correlation e. ethical challenge

a. operational definition

Which of the following theories views society as a whole unit, made up of interrelated parts that work together? a. structural functionalism b. conflict theory c. symbolic interactionism d. psychoanalysis e. postmodernism

a. structural functionalism

Which of the following is a basic statement of historical materialist thinking? a. It is not the consciousness of men that determines their existence, but their social existence that determines their consciousness b. Remember, that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, rather thrown away, five shillings, besides. c. The Puritan wanted to work in a calling; we are forced to do so. For when asceticism was carried out of monastic cells into evervday life, and began to dominate worldly morality, it did its part in building the tremendous cosmos of the modern economic order d. It is unthinkable that systems of ideas like religions, which have held such a large place in history - the well to which peoples in all ages have come to draw the energy they had to have in order to live - could be mere fabrics of illusione. Invariably, these alien societies carry an implicit promise: They have remained untainted by the forces of commodity culture. Thus we are easily fascinated by "primitive" peoples whom we can make out to have had minimal contact with Western society. e. Invariably, these alien societies carry an implicit promise: They have remained untainted by the forces of commodity culture. Thus we are easily fascinated by "primitive" peoples whom we can make out to have had minimal contact with Western society.

b. Remember, that time is money. He that can earn ten shillings a day by his labor, and goes abroad, or sits idle, one half of that day, though he spends but sixpence during his diversion or idleness, ought not to reckon that the only expense; he has really spent, rather thrown away, five shillings, besides.

If you were to conduct a research project investigating the relationship between the brands and shapes of gummy candy available in American convenience stores, what methodology would you use? a. quantitative b. content analysis c. existing sources d. comparative or historical research e. interviews

b. content analysis

"Far from being a mere illusion, postmodernism marks the emergence of an actual condition, characterized by extreme social fragmentation and differentiation, skepticism toward universal systems, a preference for localized politics as opposed to mass movements, and the depthlessness of aesthetic production" David Harvey agrees with all this. In other words, he too believes that postmodernism is a new way of life and a new mode of consciousness. If you only know that Harvey is a marxist, which of the following sentences would he offer to exlpain the emergence of postmodernism? a. "Every morning brings us the news of the globe, and yet we are poor in noteworthy stories. This is because no event any longer comes to us without already being shot through with explanation. In other words, by now almost nothing that happens benefits storytelling; almost everything benefits information." b. Evolutionary schemas would no longer follow models of arborescent descent going from the least to the most differentiated, but instead a rhizome operating immediately in the heterogeneous and jumping from one already differentiated line to another. c. "The development of advanced manufacturing and marketing technologies, resulting in a more "flexible" system for managing financial services, markets and labor" d. "Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms, Strong and content I travel the open road."

c. "The development of advanced manufacturing and marketing technologies, resulting in a more "flexible" system for managing financial services, markets and labor"

A sociologist uses a survey to study the attitudes of adults in the United States concerning premarital sex among teenagers. In this study, the target population consists of ____________, and the group who is asked the survey questions is called the ____________. a. all teenagers in the United States; reference group b. all teenagers in the United States who have engaged in premarital sex; experimental group c. all adults in the United States; sample d. all adults in the United States who have teenage children; units of analysis e. all teenagers and adults in the United States; control group

c. all adults in the United States; sample

Children are sometimes diagnosed with autism shortly after they are vaccinated and parents then believe that the vaccination caused the autism. However, the commonest age at which children are diagnosed with autism is also the age at which they get vaccinated. So we would expect these events to occur together sometimes. The above graph shows a close correlation between the sales of organic foods and the number of autism cases diagnosed. No-one has suggested that organic food causes autism and there are no grounds to believe it does. This is a good example, therefore, to illustrate _____________. a. thick description b. reactivity c. correlation does not mean causation d. reflexivity e. the Hawthorne effect

c. correlation does not mean causation

You're conducting research on violence in the media. If you're trying to decide whether "violence" includes words as well as actions, in what part of the research process are you engaged? a. forming a hypothesis b. analyzing the data c. defining the variables d. disseminating your research findings e. reviewing the literature

c. defining the variables

According to Karl Marx, what is the most important factor in a person's social life? a. race and ethnicity b. religious beliefs c. relationship to the means of production d. strength of social bonds e. level of education

c. relationship to the means of production

Max Weber believed that, as the Industrial Revolution progressed, society became increasingly rationalized. How did he define rationalization? a. an increasing number of rules that limit personal freedom b. an increasing emphasis on verstehen, or the attempt to understand others' experiences c. the application of psychology to the economy in order to understand how to increase productivity d. the application of economic logic to all aspects of social life e. the increasing number of jobs that paid an hourly wage

c. the application of psychology to the economy in order to understand how to increase productivity

A simple random sample is defined as: a. a sample with only one variable. b. a sample in which other demographic variables are taken into account. c. a sample in which one variable is weighted more than another. d. a sample in which every member of the population has a chance of being included. e. a sample that uses probability to determine who will be selected.

d. a sample in which every member of the population has a chance of being included.

What is it called when polluting industries and waste dumps are located near areas where racial minorities reside? a. corporate welfare b. resource depletion c. ecoterrorism d. environmental racism e. the greenhouse effect

d. environmental racism

"It's all very well to discuss feminism as a force of cultural liberation expressed by Beyoncé, Lady Gaga and Lena Dunham, but for millions of women in the Western world it has also been an economic imperative, one that set them free from some (but not all) traditional expectations and thrust them into a job marketplace which was the real source of change." This should remind you of which term? a. historical materialism c. structural functionalism b. ideology d. false consciousness

d. false consciousness

On any given day, within ten minutes of waking up, you probably depend on more than 100 strangers to provide electricity, water, natural gas, weather forecasts, and more. According to Durkheim, this interdependence gives rise to: a. mechanical solidarity. b. class consciousness. c. conflict. d. organic solidarity. e. pragmatism.

d. organic solidarity

The Egg McMuffin is a vastly more efficient version of eggs benedict. Egg McMuffins are cheaper, are ready almost instantly at drive-through windows, and can be eaten with one hand while driving. However, they do not improve on the taste or the experience of eggs benedict. Max Weber might have described the Egg McMuffin as the ____________ of breakfast. a. iron cage b. alienation c. manifest dysfunction d. rationalization e. verstehen

d. rationalization

Consider the writings of the American journalist Thomas Frank, who frequently espouses an updated version of the idea of ___________. His 2004 book, What's The Matter With Kansas?, exemplifies this patronising outlook; it concludes that 'people getting their fundamental interests wrong is what American political life is all about'. a. the protestant ethic b. manifest functions c. symbolic interactionism d. structural functionalism e. false consciousness

d. structural functionalism

What is the sociological imagination? a. a property of society that ensures that people remain ignorant of the connections between their lives and social change b. a particular way of understanding the criminal mind, such as that of a serial killer c. the sociological approach that assumes that large-scale social institutions structure individual interactions d. the ability to understand the connections between biography and history, or the interplay of the self and the world e. the sociological approach that assumes that individual decisions and interactions create larger social institutions

d. the ability to understand the connections between biography and history, or the interplay of the self and the world

Ethnographers using participant observation must always be aware of reflexivity, which occurs because: a. participants may not consider their own motivations and act out of reflex. b. ethnographers' conclusions may not be applicable to any larger group. c. ethnographers' prejudices or biases may slip into their work. d. the presence of ethnographers may alter the behavior of the people they are observing. e. ethnographers intervene in the lives of the people that they're studying.

d. the presence of ethnographers may alter the behavior of the people they are observing.

What is reactivity? a. the way that the experimental group reacts to the independent variable b. the independent variable in an experiment c. one of the ways that bias can creep into a research project, often without the researcher even realizing d. the tendency of research subjects to change their behavior in response to being studied e. the goal of applied research, to create a reaction

d. the tendency of research subjects to change their behavior in response to being studied

A research team is curious about the relationship between diet and exercise habits and academic performance among American college students. In order to get their data the researchers randomly select 17 colleges by pulling names out of a hat and travel to campuses, where they stand in prominent public places and ask for volunteers until they have 10 people from each campus willing to be interviewed. What is the researchers' target population? a. students at the 17 colleges they visited b. the 10 students who were interviewed c. Americans d. young people e. American college students

e. American college students

How does Karl Marx differentiate between members of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie? a. Members of the proletariat own the means of production, while the bourgeoisie possess only their own labor. b. Members of the proletariat benefit directly from their own labor, while the bourgeoisie do not. c. Members of the proletariat have a greater sense of solidarity than do those of the bourgeoisie. d. Members of the proletariat have vast amounts of investment wealth. e. Members of the bourgeoisie own the means of production, while the proletariat possess only their own labor.

e. Members of the bourgeoisie own the means of production, while the proletariat possess only their own labor.

In The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, Emile Durkheim argues that, in the past, religion was a powerful source of social solidarity. Why? a. Religion established authorities who had control over entire societies. b. Different religions were constantly appearing and disappearing. c. There were many arguments over which religion represented the truth. d. Religion fostered interdependence and individual rights. e. Religion reinforced collective bonds and cultivated shared moral values.

e. Religion reinforced collective bonds and cultivated shared moral values.

If you didn't know anything about Pam Fishman but that she studied conversation patterns, what could you logically determine about her? a. She is a conflict theorist. b. She is a macrosociologist. c. She is a structural functionalist. d. She is very interested in inequality. e. She is a microsociologist.

e. She is a microsociologist

What are environmental sociologists referring to when they use the term "environment"? a. the countryside b. wilderness and other areas that have not yet been developed by humans c. both renewable and nonrenewable resources d. those elements of the world that were not constructed through human effort e. both the natural and the human-made environment

e. both the natural and the human-made environment

Which method of social research might involve shifting between participating in a social situation and being an observer? a. interviews b. surveys c. access negotiation d. comparative-historical research e. ethnography

e. ethnography

What term did Karl Marx use to describe the fact that most of the population accepts the pervading ideology, even when it fails to tell the truth about their lives? a. class consciousness b. existentialism c. pragmatism d. ethnomethodology e. false consciousness

e. false consciousness

According to Emile Durkheim, industrialized societies display organic solidarity.What is the basis for organic solidarity? a. religion and tradition b. shared experiences and similar beliefs c. bureaucracy and strong central government d. globalization and communications technology e. interdependence and individual rights

e. interdependence and individual rights

Which of the following parts of a research project is always free of bias? a. identifying the project b. selecting the sample c. wording the questions d. analyzing the data e. none of the above

e. none of the above

One study found a strong correlation between parental bonding and adolescent drug use. Children with stronger bonds to their parents were far less likely to try drugs or alcohol. However when the researchers examined their data more closely, they discovered that parental bonding was really a predictor for teen religiosity, and that high levels of religiosity prevent drug use. This means that religiosity was: a. a spurious variable. b. a qualitative factor. c. an issue of reflexivity. d. a paradigm shift. e. the intervening variable.

e. the intervening variable.

According to conflict theory, most major social institutions are separate from the economy and therefore do not reinforce the class structure

false