Chapter 1

Deeply religious individuals may defer to their religious leaders for all types of decisions, including those that seem unrelated to religion. This method of acquiring knowledge, called the method of faith, is a variant of which method?

Authority

Sara relies on news from a network known to have an extremely liberal slant, and Constance relies on news from a network known to have an extremely conservative slant. No matter what has occurred, it seems as though their takes are diametrically opposed and completely irreconcilable. Both Sara and Constance are relying on the method of:

Authority

Russell is shopping for a new car, and when he walks into the showroom, he notices huge monitors playing endorsements by famous athletes. He recognizes that reliance on the method of ____ is a common advertising ploy.

Empiricism

Jan decides to play the lottery because she just feels like it is her day to win. She picks the numbers based on those that feel right. Jan is relying on which of the following for her decisions?

Intuition

Angela likes to try to reason things out and often creates lists of pros and cons to aid her in making decisions. Angela is using the method of:

Rationalism

Upon hearing that one of her favorite actors has died, Natasha worries out loud about who the other two deaths will involve, as she is certain that deaths come in threes. Natasha's assertion that deaths come in threes is based on which of the following?

Tenacity

In the context of science, a statement that describes or explains a relationship between or among variables is called:

a hypothesis

Finding an unanswered research question is often the result of:

critical reading

Nina is about to start chemotherapy for cancer. She is aware that chemotherapy can cause vomiting and diarrhea, and therefore reasons that she, too, will experience vomiting and diarrhea. Which of the following best describes Nina's reasoning?

deduction

Jared relies on looking out the window to decide what the day's weather will be like. Jared is relying on which method?

empiricism

Which method of acquiring knowledge can be time consuming and sometimes even dangerous?

empiricism

In a recent debate about a sometimes controversial scientific theory, Debater A was able to list observations that would cause her to modify the theory Debater B supported, while Debater B said nothing would cause him to change his views. This suggests that Debater B is:

engaging in pseudoscience

Tim watches a well-known "reality" competition for fashion designers and, based on his observations of the contestants, concludes that fashion designers are prone to artificially coloring their hair and wearing long, flowing tops. Tim is engaging in:

induction

In logical reasoning, ____ statements describe facts or assumptions that are presumed to be true.

premise

The primary distinction between quantitative and qualitative research is that quantitative research typically:

produces numerical scores

Peggy is fascinated by the patterns between diet and behavior in children. She is surprised to learn that, when several researchers tried to repeat a small study of the impact of a gluten- and casein-free diet on the behavior of children with autism, they found the diet failed to produce statistically significant behavioral changes. This process of repeating experiments is known as:

replication

When the scientific method is being used, which of the following describes the characteristics or conditions that change or have different values for different individuals?

variables