Practice of Social Research Chapter 4 Research Design

Professor Willard was interested in examining whether countries with higher GNPs tend to have more gangs than countries with lower GNPs. Willard's unit of analysis was a. countries. b. GNPs. c. gangs. d. individuals. e. police departments.

a. countries.

Professor Stone designs a study to examine the effect of a teenage pregnancy on young women's career choices. Stone wants to interview a sample of teenage women during their pregnancy, after the baby's birth, and once a year after that for a ten year period. Stone is using a a. panel study. b. experimental study. c. cross sectional design. d. trend study. e. cohort study.

a. panel study.

A researcher selects a sample of citizens in a community and interviews them before a new factory is built in the community. The researcher interviews these same citizens six months later and one final time a year later. The researcher has engaged in ______ research design. a. trend b. panel c. period d. age e. cross-sectional

b. panel

Which of the following statements is FALSE regarding necessary and sufficient causes? a. Idiographic analyses typically yield sufficient causes for a particular result. b. A sufficient cause represents a condition that, if it is present, will pretty much guarantee the effect in question. c. In social science, we typically find a single necessary and sufficient cause to establish a causal relationship. d. A sufficient cause is not the only possible cause of a particular outcome. e. A necessary cause represents a condition that, by and large, must be present for the effect to follow.

c. In social science, we typically find a single necessary and sufficient cause to establish a causal relationship.

Criminologists often examine the relationship between supervision and delinquency. When they do so, they might examine Table A or Table B. Table A Delinquent - Well supervised 0% Delinquent - Poorly Supervised 30% Not Delinquent - Well supervised 100% Not Delinquent - Poorly Supervised 70% Table B Delinquent - Well supervised 30% Delinquent - Poorly Supervised 100% Not Delinquent - Well supervised 70% Not Delinquent - Poorly Supervised 0% Table A illustrates a ________ condition; and Table B illustrates a _______ condition. a. necessary; necessary b. sufficient; sufficient c. necessary; sufficient d. sufficient; necessary

c. necessary; sufficient

The ecological fallacy is most relevant in terms of which one of the following? a. writing hypotheses b. necessary and sufficient causes c. criteria for establishing nomothetic causal explanations d. units of analysis e. purposes of research

d. units of analysis

Which of the following designs uncovers only net changes? a. cohort and panel studies b. cohort and cross-sectional studies c. trend and panel studies d. trend and cross-sectional studies e. cohort and trend studies

e. cohort and trend studies

Ricardo studied married couples in order to see if length of marriage affected the nature and quality of communication patterns. Which unit of analysis did he use? a. social artifact b. communication patterns c. individual d. organization e. group

e. group

The period of a research study in which data is actually collected is what step? a. sampling b. data processing c. analysis d. operationalization e. observation

e. observation

The smaller group that is selected from a larger one for closer study in research is the: a. population b. body c. party d. subset e. sample

e. sample