Social Research Methods Quiz Questions
sampling
Choosing people using a routine, special, or unanticipated focus is called
topics studied at a distance
Content analysis is useful for
easy and fast but of limitied use
Convenience sampling is
statistical independence
Covariance means to vary together. What is the opposite of covariance in a bivariate relationship?
false
Covariation and statistical independence are the same concept
tacit
Cultural knowledge has two parts, explicit and
full filter
Dr. Adams asks respondents if they have an opinion about gas prices, and if they answer yes, she asks them to give their opinion in the second part of the question. What is the name used for this type of question?
a controlled laboratory
Dr. King is conducting a field experiment. One setting that should not be used is
standardizing information
Dr. Mottle is comparing data across two cities. If she adjusts the measures by a common base, she is
validity
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.
principal investigator
Dr. Mottle is listed as the lead researcher of a study and of the grant that funds the research. She is the PI of the study, what does that mean?
she is inserting new ideas
Dr. Mottle is revising her research report, meaning that
methodology and why the methods are appropriate
Dr. Mottle's research proposal contains a description of the research problem and its importance. What is she missing?
tips earned
Dr. Smith wants to study whether servers' dress affects amount of tips earned. The dependent variable is
very small
Dr. Van Offer has a very large sample with little diversity in the cases, so his sampling error will be
people who are smokers and have lung cancer
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?
exhaustive
Dr. Van Offer is measuring all possibilities in his research. His technique is most likely
screen potential candidates to ensure that no one is at high risk for heat attack, mental breakdowns, etc.
Dr. VanOffer is conducting a research study that will expose the subjects to a great deal of stress. What might be one way to protect his subjects from harm?
is cleaning and tightening up the mechanical aspects of writing
Editing a report
is an ongoing process of accumulating information
Empirical social research
when researchers use deception
Ethics can be an issue in research
conception
Evaluation at the ______________stage can be used to assess motivations for the existence of a program
true
Evaluation can happen at any stage of the life of a program
false
Evaluation findings are always published.
end
Evaluation helps to assess the value of a program at the ______________stage
role conflicts
Evaluators may have ___________because they are often part of the program being evaluated
true
Evaluators often have role conflicts
identifies sources of behaviors and beliefs
Explanatory research
anonymity
If Mr. Marsh traces research participants back to their identity using information they provided, he did not do a good job in protecting subjects'
that the subject does not know what she/he is getting-treatment or control
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?
information professional
If a researcher contemplates conduct of an existing statistics research study, it would be a good idea for him/her to talk with a(n) _____________first.
include everyone in the sample
If a researcher wants to sample a very small target population he might as well
the birth rate in Phoenix
If a researcher's question is about reasons for an increase in the birthrate in Phoenix, AZ, then the dependent variable is
mutually exclusive
If a unit fits into one category only, it is
the author and the date of the publication
If you are paraphrasing someone else's work, what should go in the in-text citation?
alphabetically
If you have more than one citation in a parenthetical in-text citation, how should the citations be organzied?
a colon
If you have more than one citation in an in text parenthetical citation, what punctuation should separate the citations?
wording effect
In a survey, when a particular word in itself evokes a strong feeling, this is called
numbering each element in the frame
In all random samples the researcher starts by
experiential group
In an experiment, the group that receives the experimental intervention is the
funders/stakeholders
In evaluations, questions are derived from ____________
making comparisons
In grounded theory, a researcher builds the explanation by
encourage the respondent to elaborate on an answer
In one on one interviews, a probing question is used to
false
In organizing survey questions, the demographic questions should be at the beginning of the survey.
A. increasing funding B. enhancing skills C. strengthening accountability D. all of the above Answer: D. all of the above
In program evaluations, building capacity refers to
snowball
In sampling a hidden population, a research would use what type of sampling?
eliminating alternative explanations is the most difficult condition to satisfy.
In showing cause-effect relations,
the effect of mood and environment on whether we find someone attractive
In the film "Experimental Research Methods In Psychology" the researchers were focusing on
reliability
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
are two approaches to reasoning in a study method
Inductive and Deductive
probability theory
Inferential statistics uses ____________to allow a researcher to test hypotheses, permit inferences from sample to populatino and to evaluate the strength of relationships among variables.
a guarantee of anonymity and the confidentiality of data records
Informed consent statements contain
artificial treatment
Mr. March conducts an experiment that he can't translate to real life. The treatment is not realistic. This threat to external validity is called
face
Mr. Marsh asks his colleagues if they believe that his conceputal definition and measurement fit. They agree that they do. What type of validity is this?
scientific misconduct
Mr. Marsh changed some of the data in a study because he thought that it didn't fit with the rest of the data. He didn't mean any harm, but there is a problem. If he doesn't disclose the fact that he changed the data he could be guilty of
be patient, the true "relevance" of what he is seeing may not be apparent until later when reviewing the information
Mr. Marsh is "concerned" that nothing seems to be happening in his field research. What should he do?
sampling frame
Mr. Marsh is creating a list of sample elements using a phone directory. The list is called a(n)
refined the topic
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?
5
Mr. Marsh is using systematic sampling and his sample frame has 2000 names from directory. If he is sampling 400 what is his sample interval?
index
Mr. Marsh uses a special measure combining information from separate indicators into one score. He is most likely using a(n):
true
No evaluation is good unless findings are used to make a difference
A. gender B. religion C. political party D. IQ score Answer: D. IQ score
Nominal measures indicate a difference among categories. Which of the folllowing would NOT be a nominal measure?
quota
One limitation of this type of sampling is that the researcher only captures the diversity of a few predetermined population characteristics.
the researcher analyzes data that someone else collected
Secondary analysis is similar to existing statistics research in that
a threat to internal validity
Selection bias is an example of
can be used in policy decisions
Social indicator is a measure of social conditions and
physical harm or bodily injury
Social research can cause harm by causing
an illusionary relationship resulting from an unacknowledged other variable that is a cause of both the independent and dependent variable.
Spuriousness is
"dont know" choice
Standard format questions in a closed-ended survey do not offer which of the following?
the probability of finding a relationship in sample data when there is none in the population
Statistical significance indicates
are never used in field research
Structural questions
APA
The citation format that we use in the Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences is:
introduction and entry
The first stage of a person to person interview involves
engage stakeholders
The first step in program evaluation is:
attitudes about the BBC
The focus group example shown in class focused on
the smaller the sampling error
The larger the sample size
should be 5% or smaller by rule of thumb
The level of statistical significance
web based
The lowest cost format for surveys is
false
The most representative samples do not use a random selection process.
that participation in a study must be voluntary at all times
The principle of voluntary consent means
stable
The purpose of assessing a ____________program is to evaluate/show program successes as well as areas in need of improvement
to provide a description of a way of life from the standpoint of the insiders
The purpose of ethnography is
what he discovered
The purpose of the research report is to tell others what the researcher did, how he did it, and
restates the research question and summarizes major findings
The report conclusion
a type of contract between the researcher and the funding source
The research proposal is
scale
The simplest one of these is visual rating. These are used to create measures of variables. What are they?
is the unit on which a researcher measures variables and gathers data
The unit of analysis
never causing unnecessary or irreversible harm to research participants
There are some very clear prohibitions in regard to human subject research, including
standard deviation
This measure is the most comprehensive measure of variability, giving an "average" difference between all scores and the mean. It is called what?
validity
This term is used to address how well a researcher's measure of reality matches the ideas she uses to understand that aspect of reality. What is this term?
face
This type of validity is the easiest to achieve and is the most basic form of validity. It is a judgment by knowledgeable people that the indicator really measures the concept it claims to measure.
A. selection bias B. quasi experimental conditions C. testing D. history Answer: B. quasi experimental conditions
Threats to validity include all of the following EXCEPT
disclosure
Three major issues to consider when entering the field include: presentation of self, social role, and what?
composing
Three steps in the writing process include prewriting, rewriting and what?
have the coders code the same text independent of one another and check for consistency
To make sure that assistant coders are consistent, a researcher should
the researcher may get a lot of data that may lead to false interpretation.
Topic knowledge can limit research because
end
Traditionally, most evaluations have occurred at the _____________ of a program
themes
Two major ways of organizing field research reports are by chronological natural history and by
the fact that they are social and political products
Use of official existing statistics raises ethical issues regarding
standard deviation
Variation can be measured in three ways: range, percentile, and
have continued in modern times and all over the world
Violations of the ethical code
it's faster and easier to collect data
What are the advantages of quantitative nonreactive research?
you could be expelled from school
What can happen if you plagiarize
being creative in thinking about how to turn the data into variables that can answer research questions
What challenge(s) does a researcher face in doing existing statistics research?
A. time order B. spuriousness C. association D. ruling out of alternative causal factors Answer: B. spuriousness
What is NOT needed for a causal explanation?
A two-part question in which a first question screens who gets the second question.
What is a contingency question?
start up
What is the first stage in conducting a survey?
formulate a research question
What is the first step in conducting content analysis research?
6
What is the mean of the following set of numbers: 6, 3, 9
14
What is the median in the following set of numbers? 1, 16, 35, 14, 7
1
What is the mode in this group of numbers? 1, 1, 1, 1, 5, 6, 16, 33, 1
privacy
What is the most common ethical issue in field research?
Does it come earlier in time?
What question will help identify the independent variable?
what is the study's basic design
What questions should you ask when taking notes while reading material for your literature review?
weighting and missing data
What two items complicate index construction?
leading questions
When a researcher leads a respondent to pick one response over another, the researcher is asking what type of questions?
form a mental image of the article's topic
When a researcher reads a scholarly journal, s/he should
paraphrasing
When a researcher uses another person's ideas or thoughts, but uses his own wording, this is called
social desirability bias
When a respondent distorts answers to look good or conform to social norms, this is called
unidimensionality
When all the items in a scale or index fit together and measure a single concept, this is called
codebook
When coding categories of variables it is essential to keep written records of coding rules in a
index
When creating this measure, two or more items are combined into a single numerical score. What is it called
early in the process
When does a researcher focus the research question when his/her research uses quantitative data?
measures the size, volume, and amount of time or physical space.
When measuring space in content analysis, a researcher
the researcher becomes the data collection instrument
When observing and collecting data
give the original author credit by referencing
When paraphrasing a researcher must
experimental mortality
When participants don't finish a study it is called
the people in the groups will be equal
When using a true random process, over the long run the odds are
can look at 2 variables together simultaneously and evaluate the statistical relationships between variables
When using bivariate statistics, the researcher
write while you are reading
When writing a literature review it is important to
provide concrete examples that can't be misinterpreted
When writing for the public an author should
A. identify a physical evidence measure of a behavior of interest B. compare the two variables of the hypothesis using quantitative data analysis C. systematically record the physical evidence D. all of the above Answer: D. all of the above
Which of the following are things a researcher would do to conduct a study with physical evidence?
suggested notes
Which of the following is NOT a level of field notes?
timelines of the input
Which of the following is NOT a limitation when using existing statistics?
A. scattergram B. cross tabulation C. bell curve D. measures of association Answer: C. bell curve
Which of the following is NOT a technique to help decide if there is a relationship between two variables?
A. refine the topic B. read books C. design your study D. organize notes, synthesize and write the review Answer: B. read books
Which of the following is NOT one of the six steps discussed for Literature Reviews?
A. are commonly found in university libraries B. have a reference section that lists sources in detail C. have peer reviewed articles in them D. are not part of an index location system Answer: D. are not part of an index location system
Which of the following is NOT true? Scholarly journals
gain insight
Which of the following is a reason to evaluate a program?
A. copying someone else's paper B. directly quoting a passage from a text without putting quotations around the passage and/or providing the author, date and page number C. quoting every passage of a text D. all of the above Answer: D. all of the above
Which of the following is an example of plagiarism?
A. property records B. birth announcements C. telephone directory D. school registration Answer: D. school registration
Which of the following might be an appropriate sample frame for a population aged 16-18?
peer reviewed scholarly journals
Which of the following might be considered a type of periodical that a researcher might consider in a literature search?
an issue or event that was not significant
Which of the following might interfere with a respondent's recall in a survey asking about past events?
what types of research are funded
Which of the following questions would be appropriate to ask of a funding source?
snowball
Which type of sample is most applicable for capturing an existing network?
it depends on your research topic and what type of data you are collecting
Which type of sample is the best sample to shoot for when doing research?
with a series of steps that result in a final product
Writing is a process
the author's name, date of publication and page number
You have directly quoted a passage from a text. What should go in the in-text citation?
A. you have already cited all of the authors in the text at least one time B. never C. if there are six or more authors on the publication D. both a and c Answer: Both A. and C.
You should automatically use the first author's last name of an article and the phrase et. al if
It depends on the type of research
You should never deceive a research participant in any way.
evaluations
____________ are conducted to generate findings intended for use by a specific program.
research
________________ is conducted to produce knowledge that is generalizable across different programs
is a convenient way to determine how close people feel toward a social group to which they belong
A social distance scale
focus group
A specialized qualitative research technique that involves informal group interviews about a topic is a(n)
refers to the type of words, length and form of sentences, and pattern of paragraphs
Research report style
using double blind experiments
Researchers control experimenter expectancy by
works with variables that have 2-5 categories and data at nominal or ordinal levels of measurement
A bivariate table
specifies how variables are connected
A causal hypothesis
discrete
A continuous variable has an infinite number of values that flow along a continuum, while a __________ variable has a fixed set of separate values or categories.
a literature review
A critical look at existing research is
true
A double-barreled question joins 2 or more questions together and makes a respondent's answer ambiguous.
false
A field site or setting is a fixed physical location
can limit access to a field site
A gatekeeper
scattergram
A graph that allows a researcher to see bivariate relationships and usually has independent variables on the horizontal axis and dependent variables on the vertical axis is called a
lack of photos
A limitation to use of the General Social Survey is
a bell
A random sampling distribution curve is in the shape of
false
A researcher faces three survey question sequence issues: how to organize, how to reduce question order effects, and how to control researcher bias.
selecting cases from a specific, difficult to reach population.
A researcher might use purposive sampling by
false
A researcher shouldn't think about coding until halfway through the research process
a Likert scale
A scale that typically measures opinions or ratings at the ordinal level is probably
is called a questionnaire
A set of questions used in a social survey
has many cases of extremes of the curve
A skewed distribution has
artificial setting
A threat that might weaken external validity is
expert professionals and scholars audience
A writer's audience that is interested in a detailed description of the research process is the
convenience sampling
Accidental sampling occurs when a researcher selects cases that are easy and convenient. It lacks and depth and is also called
help identify service needs of clients
According to "Making the case for program evaluation", one of the reasons why social workers should complete program evaluations is to
5-6 people
According to Dr. Bemiller, the best size for a focus group is
prove
According to Patton, research seeks to __________, evaluation seeks to improve
reductionist
According to the film viewed in class, experiments are often criticized for being
confounding variables
According to the film viewed in class, variables that get in the way of one's research findings are referred to as
field experiment
According to the film viewed in class, which experiment tends to be the most "true to life"
operationalization, conceptualization
All measurement builds on these two processes
interval
An IQ score is an example of what type of measurement?
that they can be anonymous
An advantage of mailed questionnaires is
research report
An essential part of the research report where the researcher communicates the results of her study is the
age
An example of a continuous variable would be
is a member in the field site with whom the researcher develops a relationship and who tells the researcher details about life in the field site.
An informant in field research
often affect interviews and respondent's answers
An interviewer's visible characteristics
normalizes
As a researcher learns how to fit in by learning rules, customs, etc., he does what?
Z-score
Because standard deviation is not easy to interpret, Dr. Smith uses another standard measure that expresses scores on a frequency distribution in terms of number of standard deviations from the mean. What is Dr. Smith using?
being an earnest novice
Field researchers have strategies that they tailor to the field site and their background. Which of those strategies is listed below?
being mutually exclusive
Good answer choices in closed format should have 3 features, including which of the following
awareness of being in a study
Hawthorne effect is
interpreting the content's significance
Identify one limitation of content analysis
weighted
If Dr. Mottle gives items in an index more or less of a value her index is probably
reliable
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
false
It is not possible to plagiarize yourself.
semantic differential
Marketing researchers often use this scale to measure subjective feelings
that a biological or emotional process within the participants that is not part of the independent variable induces a change in the dependent variable
Maturation is a threat to internal validity and means
prestige bias
Mr. Adams changes his title to Dr. in order to influence survey respondents. He may be guilty of using
It means that there is statistical independence. The variables do not covary
Mr. Adams discovers that the measure of association is zero in his data relationship. What does this mean?
jot a few notes while in the field, but sit down immediately after he leaves the field and write down all his memories using whatever format is most comfortable for him
Mr. Adams is a poor notetaker. What suggestion might be most helpful for him while doing his field research?
social desirability bias
Mr. Johnson 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
engagement in illegal behavior
People tend to underreport certain things in a survey. Which of the following might be underreported?
measure a behavior or viewpoint of interest
Physical evidence measures
ethical concerns
Practical limitations on study design include
begins with a file folder full of notes, outlines and lists
Prewriting means that a researcher
true
Professional writers suggest that one should know his audience when writing.
true
Program evaluations are judgmental
developing
Program evaluations are used to monitor program progress at the ______________stage
usually number-related
Qualitative research is NOT
A. historical comparative B. surveys C. experiments D. content analysis Answer: A. historical comparative
Quantitative data collection techniques include all but the following:
true
Quota sampling is better than convenience sampling because with it a researcher ensures that major differences in the population also appear in the researchers sample.
is most likely to produce a sample that truly represents the population
Random sampling
information is reduced to its basic components
Reductionism happens when
unspoken cultural norms
Tacit knowledge includes
A. books B. speeches C. films D. all of the above Answer: D. all of the above
Text appears in all communication media, including
field experiment
The Minneapolis Domestic Violence experiment looked at police methods used in domestic violence incidents. The research question was, what police intervention works best to reduce violence? In the experiment, officers were asked to use one of three interventions when encountering an accused abuser: 1) Send the abuser away for eight hours; 2) Provide advice and mediate disputes 3) Make an arrest. Because the experiment happened in society it is considered a:
stage of program development
The ___________________ influences the reason for program evaluation.
mean
The arithmetic average is the most widely used measure of central tendency. It is also referred to as
sampling element
The case or unit of analysis in a population is