Chapter 2 Study Questions- Intro to Sociology- Teander
A sociologist wants 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. A. analyzing player statistics, such as time played and level achieved B. becoming a player and observing interactions in real time C. conducting in-person interviews D. conducting focus groups
A & B
Identify the disadvantages of existing sources research. A. Existing sources research does not allow researchers to answer all questions. B. Existing sources research can describe the messages inherent in the media, but not illuminate how such messages are interpreted. C. Existing sources research has low replicability. D. Existing sources research may have low validity because respondents are dishonest.
A & B
Which of the following are advantages of interview research? A. Interviews allow respondents to speak their own words and reveal their own thoughts, feelings, and beliefs. B. Interviews may help the researcher dispel certain preconceptions and discover issues that might have otherwise been overlooked. C. Interview research is nearly always representative of the groups it captures. D. Interview research has been a pioneer in methodological innovation.
A & B
Which of the following are disadvantages of interview research? A. Interview respondents are not always forthcoming or truthful. B. Interview research may lead to conclusions that cannot be applied to a larger group. C. Interviews do not often allow respondents to speak their own words and reveal their own thoughts, feelings, or beliefs. D. Interview research often suffers from personal bias from the researcher involved.
A & B
Which of the following are double-barreled questions? A. When was the last time you ate pizza and what were the toppings you had on it? B. Do you support raising taxes to provide additional childcare subsidies to the poor? C. How many times per week do you read? D. On a scale of 1 to 5 (where 1 equals strongly disagree and 5 equals strongly agree), how much do you support the current president's policies?
A & B
Which of the following are examples of existing sources research? A. finding newspaper stories about community leaders B. using data collected during the administration of the SAT C. giving your fellow classmates a survey about their knowledge of different types of research methods D. interviewing respondents about the necessity of the U.S. Census
A & B
Which of the following are negative questions? A. Which of the following courses did you not take last semester? B. Do you not have any male teachers? C. How many teachers have you seen during office hours? D. How many courses do you need to graduate next year?
A & B
Identify the advantages of social network analysis. A. Social network analysis contributes to the production of "big data." Big data is extremely useful to both corporations and social scientists. B. Social network analysis captures important details and diversity among actors. C. Social network analysis is very useful for a variety of researchers. D. Social network analysis usually involves original data collection where studies are carefully designed to accurate capture all network connections.
A & C
Which of the following are disadvantages of ethnographic research? A. Ethnographic research often is not representative of a larger part of society. B. Ethnographic research is not very rich in detail. C. Ethnographic research suffers from a lack of replicability. D. Ethnographic research often doesn't capture a full range of expression from the respondents.
A & C
Which of the following are examples of existing sources research? A. finding newspaper stories about community leaders B. interviewing respondents about the necessity of the U.S. Census C. using data collected during the administration of the SAT D. giving your fellow classmates a survey about their knowledge of different types of research methods
A & C
A simple random sample is also which of the following? A. Sample B. Spurious Sample C. Probability Sample D. Representative Sample
A & C Feedback: A simple random sample is a type of probability sample.
A sociologist includes the following interview question in his research: "Most people now believe gay marriage should be legal. How do you feel about gay marriage?" Which of the following categories should we use to classify this research question? A. Open-Ended Question B. Closed-Ended Question C. Double Barreled Question D. Leading Question
A & D
Identify the true and false statements about Internet-based surveys. A. One disadvantage of online surveys is representativeness. B. New online tools can automatically adjust the reliability and validity of survey questions. C. Most researchers view online survey methods as unconventional. D. One advantage of online surveys is cost.
A & D
In the context of the scientific method, what is the definition of a hypothesis?
A theoretical statement explaining the relationship between two or more phenomena.
Identify the red flags that hundreds of researchers noted about the 2012 New Family Structures Survey (NFSS) conducted by sociologist Mark Regnerus. A. The article was reviewed by unqualified reviewers with obvious ties to the author. B. The researchers grouped all types of same-sex relations together—both long-term partnerships and brief or one-time affairs. C. The research was funded by conservative and religious foundations. D. The researchers used analytic categories that did not distinguish between family structure and family stability. E. Regnerus is a Catholic conservative.
A trough D
A sociologist is worried that her presence is affecting interactions between the people she is studying. Identify the concepts she should consider during her study. A. reactivity B. reflexivity C. bias D. operational definition
A, B, & C
Place the following steps in sequential order, according to a researcher conducting ethnographic research. Analysis Rapport Field Notes Access
Access, Rapport, Field Notes, Analysis
Which scholar's research sparked debate about both ethical and legal violations?
Alice Goffman Alice Goffman's ethnography, On the Run: Fugitive Life in an American City, was published to great acclaim but became controversial after critics challenged the truthfulness of her account. According to critics, one passage in her book constitutes not only ethical violations but also possibly a prosecutable felony—conspiracy to commit murder.
Which statement correctly explains the difference between participant observation and autoethnography? A. There are no differences, the two terms are used interchangeably. B. Only in autoethnography are the feelings and actions of the researcher the focal point of the study. C. Only in participant observation is the researcher a member in the social setting.
B
A sociologist is worried that her presence is affecting interactions between the people she is studying. Identify the concepts she should consider during her study. A. Operational Definition B. Bias C. Reactivity D. Reflexivity
B, C, & D
Which of the following are advantages of existing sources research? A. Existing sources research allows researchers to gain the context and interpretations of the original messages. B. Existing sources research allows researchers to avoid the unpredictable intrusions of the real world. C. Existing sources research allows researchers to work with information they could not obtain on their own. D. Existing sources research allows researchers to use the same data that has been used for previous research and thus has high replicability.
C & D
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
A sociologist wants to examine how black men have been portrayed in television shows in the past year. Which type of study is most appropriate to examine this research topic and compare the portrayal of black men across different television shows?
Content Analysis Feedback: A content analysis of a number of different television shows shown in the last year is the most appropriate method to examine this research question.
A sociologist creates a questionnaire but is not sure if the questions will be suitable for the research hypotheses she wants to test. Which type of study should she conduct to test the validity of her survey?
Pilot
Identify each research method as either qualitative or quantitative. A. Each person at a gathering of academics is invited to talk about his or her political views. B. An observer takes notes on the nonverbal behavior of members of a focus group for car commercials. C. The number of people in a large gathering is recorded. D. Each person in a sample group is recorded as being either a United States citizen or a citizen of another country.
Qualitative: A & B Quantitative: C & D
Before collecting data, social researchers must identify a ______________from which to select their __________. After that, if they want to interview________________ , sociologists must first get ___________________, which means that participants agree to be interviewed and know what they are getting into.
target population sample respondents informed consent
Ethnographers look for patterns and themes that are revealed in their field notes. While the _________________ generally uses a ___________ approach—forming a hypothesis first and then testing to see whether it is accurate—ethnographers use an ______________ approach, beginning with specific observations and then forming broad generalizations from them.
Scientific Method Deductive approach Inductive approach
What is the primary reason to include a control group in an experiment?
The control group allows you to make comparisons to the experimental group.
A sociologist wants to study racial discrimination in hiring, and decides to either distribute a survey asking employers about their hiring methods, or conduct an experiment that involves sending fake resumes to employers to see who gets an interview. Which method would best examine racial discrimination in hiring and why?
The experimental method because the researcher can isolate the effect of race by creating otherwise identical resumes.
A sociologist thinks he has discovered a very interesting and unique finding. His data show a correlation between children's shoe sizes and their reading test scores. He thinks that children with bigger feet must be smarter. What is the most logical explanation based on this information?
The relationship with reading test scores and shoe size is spurious. Feedback: When a third variable (in this case, child's age) explains the relationship between two other variables (in this case, shoe size and reading test score), the correlation between the first two variables is spurious.
Value-free sociology suggests that sociologists should not allow their personal beliefs to influence their research. True False
True Feedback: Humans have flaws, prejudices, and blind spots, and all these things can affect the way they conduct research.
Choose the answer that best completes the sentence.Social network analysis (SNA) is a tool for measuring and visualizing the structure of social relationships between ________ or more people.
Two
Peter Stearns (2004) consulted various existing sources for his book Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America. What did he find?
While children were once viewed and self-sufficient mini adults, beginning in the late 1800s, children were seen as particularly vulnerable.
Who coined the phrase "value-free sociology"?
Max Weber
A sociologist thinks he has discovered a very interesting and unique finding. His data show a correlation between children's shoe sizes and their reading test scores. He thinks that children with bigger feet must be smarter. When he tells a colleague about his finding, the colleague suggests that both shoe size and reading test score are correlated with a child's age. In this case, which of the following is the correct classification for the child's age? A. Intervening Variable B. Spurious Correlation C. Dependent variable D. Correlation
D. Intervening Variable Feedback: An intervening variable is a third variable that explains a relationship between two other variables, in this case, shoe size and reading test score.
Which sociologists was one of the first to do work in the area of social network analysis (SNA)?
Georg Simmel
A sociologist thinks he has discovered a very interesting and unique finding. His data show a correlation between children's shoe sizes and their reading test scores. He thinks that children with bigger feet must be smarter. When he tells a colleague about his finding, the colleague suggests that both shoe size and reading test score are correlated with a child's age. In this case, which of the following is the correct classification for the child's age?
Intervening Variable