SOCW 480
There is no relationship between or no difference between
null hypothesis writing
Prestige and honor within the scientific community depend largely on...
one's reputation as a researcher as demonstrated by having many publications in highly respected scholarly journals
Which of the following is LEAST suited to providing clear evidence about a causal relationship between two variables?
one-shot case study
You pick up an article and read the following: In a dating relationship, each person learns to model their behavior and acts based on the responses of the other person. If one person makes an elaborated entry and presents and expensive gifts, the other person will respond and offer consistent rewards to maintain a balanced relationship. A repayment through an offer of something of value (expressions of affection, sexual relations, etc.) is expected. The failure to repay the social debt may create embarrassment or place the receiver of the gift in a dependent position. Which social work theoretical framework is the author using?
Behaviorist-Cognitive
How is something to be measured?
operational definitions
Which of the following propositions has the greatest theoretical scope?
During the past century, people in human societies moved toward using mass media on a more frequent basis.
Empowerment research combines the concepts of four different approaches. Which one did it NOT draw on?
Euro-centric perspective
Which social work theoretical framework assumes that individuals are capable of movement toward more satisfying participation and control of their destinies? They can do this by participating in groups, communities, and institutions in which they receive positive regard and empathy...
Humanist/Strengths
Which statement about prediction and causal explanation is TRUE?
If one has a good causal explanation, one should be able to make accurate predictions.
What level of measurement is being used in the statement: "A fox terrier is smaller than a Russian wolfhound but bigger than a Chinchilla."?
ordinal
How do inductive and deductive approaches to social theory and research differ?
Inductive begins with concrete or observable things and moves toward abstract or theoretical ideas. Deductive begins with abstract or theoretical ideas and moves toward concrete or observable things.
What is the purpose of Informed Consent?
It documents that a researcher has followed the Principle of Voluntary Participation.
The Interpretative Social Science approach is described as ideographic and inductive in its theory and method. What does this mean?
It focuses on descriptions of specific people and events in a particular situation. It also starts with direct observations of the details in a situation and later develops somewhat more abstract generalizations if appropriate.
Which of the following is measured at the ordinal measure?
Mary weighs less than Janet.
An article you read refers to the Hawthorne Effect. What does this mean?
None of the above.
Which of the following is NOT a double-barreled hypothesis?
People accept increased taxes that both go for services they directly receive and are collected in a less visible manner.
Compared to an ideology, which of the following is ONLY TRUE of social work theory?
Social work theory welcomes tests and all evidence, both positive and negative.
How does a new instrument correlate with others of known validity?
criterion validity
Where are the Institutional Review Boards and what is the purpose of one?
They are at most colleges, hospitals, and research centers. They make sure that research involving humans is carried out ethically.
False consciousness goes with which approach?
critical
Reification goes with which approach?
critical
The intervening variable in this diagram (X>Y>Z) is...
Y
The dependent variable in this diagram (X>Y>Z) is...
Z
For the positivist approach to research, a theory looks like...
a logical system of laws, axioms, and propositions
According to the Postulate of Adequacy...
a researcher should present the results of a study to the people who were studied to see whether it 'makes sense' to them as a description of their social life.
Dr. Smith said that social science cannot be value neutral, and a good study requires putting results into action to help people change society. Dr. Smith uses which approach to social science?
critical social science
One-time surveys
cross sectional studies
The Principle of Voluntary Consent in social work research means...
all of the above=a professor who hands out a questionnaire to students should inform the students that their participation is voluntary and can refuse to participate without penalty; many research findings actually have limited generalizability to those subjects/respondents who agree to participate; this norm is violated in covert field research; a researcher using deception should tell subjects that they can leave at any time.
It is NOT ethical for a sponsor to do which of the following?
all of the above=school district wants a study of students, but demands that a researcher reach findings showing an improvement in test scores; supervisor requires prior review of questionnaire items to make some of them 'leading' to make certain the the company looks good; government agency suppresses finding which indicates that is has not enforced a law it is supposed to and has been an overall failures; a political party calls people for telephone interviews on opinions but is really identifying potential financial contributors.
The classical experimental design contains all EXCEPT which of the following?
at least two different independent variables
I took an abstract idea and developed a clear conceptual definition for it. This is called...
conceptualization
Which sequence illustrates the correct progression of quantitative measurement steps?
conceptualization, conceptual definition, operational definition, and measurement in the empirical world
Janice developed a new test of anger management and control. She then tested two groups of people. One group scored low on the existing anger control tests. The other scored very high. Those who scored low on old tests usually scored low on her new test; those who scored very high on old tests usually scored high on the new test. Her new measurement has...
concurrent validity
What is the underlying principle of idea being measured?
construct validity
Of all the ways there are to measure something, how many are here?
content validity
The Solomon 4 Group Design combines which two other designs?
classical experimental and two group posttest only
Professional social work researchers may devote years of work and their own money to get their results into a scholarly journal. Yet, they rarely receive a commission or royalties from the publication. Which norm of the scientific community pressures them to do this and share the results with others?
communalism
Verstehen goes with which approach?
interpretative
Moving from theory/general ideas toward individual pieces of data
deductive reasoning
Occurs after the independent variable, often client condition or outcome
dependent variable
Most surveys, using frequency or stats to describe what exists
descriptive analysis
Below are five of the seven steps of a research project in scrambled order. Of the five listed below, which on is supposed to be second in the sequence among them?
design study
Can we tell the difference between two or more measures?
discriminant validity
What is the INDEPENDENT variable(s) in the following hypothesis? 'Persons who experience economic deprivation during socialization will place a higher priority on economic self-interest later in life than will people who did not experience economic deprivation during socialization.'
economic deprivation
Levels of measurement
nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio
Positivism seeks universal laws, and positivist researchers attempt to create law-like generalizations to explain events in the social world. This focus on laws in explanation is called...
nomothetic
Dr. Ruth Useem designed an experiment on group competition to be realistic. She divided subjects into 6 three person teams. Only one could win a race to assemble a large complex toy. She wanted subjects to get 'caught up' in the situation so it would have a large impact on them. A confederate posed as the VP of a toy manufacturer who offered each member of the winning team $300, but members of the 5 losing reams got nothing. She is trying to create...
experimental realism
Most powerful time of design, controlled experiments
explanatory analysis
Attributes of experimental design
explanatory design, random selection, division, assign; control, exp. dep var time 1
Henry Hogson conducted an experiment in which he tested the theory that the intensity of social interaction among people increases if they are anxious. What type of study is this most likely to be?
explanatory research
Commonly case studies, qualitative research
exploratory analysis
Can we generalize to other populations not studied (surveys are generally strong here)?
external validity
Several people criticized Dr. Bluenose's experiment on the effects of density of living conditions on aggression for its external validity problems. This means problems with...
generalizability
Which best summarizes the main goal of descriptive research?
give a verbal or numerical (e.g. percentages) picture
Field experiments, compared to laboratory experiments, generally...
have higher external validity and lower internal validity
Contains statement of relationship between 2 variables, or anticipated differences between 2 or more groups
hypothesis writing
Presumed caused, precedes dependent variable in time
independent variable
Senator Quicksand stated that an individual's political orientation has an effect on that individual's stand on the abortion issue. "Political orientation" was used as his...
independent variable
Moving from specific pieces of data toward general conclusions/possibly informing theory
inductive reasoning
How well does a study understand relationships inside? (such as in an experiment)
internal validity
The speed limit on interstate highways was reduced from 65 to 55 in 1976. It was raised back to 65 in 1988 then in 1996 individual state governments could decide the limit and many raised it to 75. Proponents and critics of the law have looked at the number of traffic deaths per 1000 miles driven on the highways between 1970 and 1998 to see whether the law affected traffic deaths. What type of design is this?
interrupted time series design
What is the general ethical principle regarding deception in social work research?
it can be ethically used if essential to the research, but only to the minimal degree necessary and it must be followed by debriefing.
How has social work's recent efforts to better integrate diversity issues influenced ethics and politics in social work research?
it has led to increased sensitivity to the assumptions, values, and understandings of diverse people being studied or served, especially if they diverge from those of the majority group in a society.
An experimenter says 'it was 3 by 3'. What does this mean?
it was a factorial design with two variables, each had three levels.
What is the problem with the measure of college student age? i) 17-18 ii) 19-20 iii) 21-22
its attributes are not exhaustive
Multiple measurements across time (formative or summative)
longitudinal studies
major types of design
longitudinal, cross-sectional, explanatory, exploratory, descriptive
During the conceptualization process, a researcher should...
look for multiple dimensions of a construct
Luis Perez developed a theory that describes patterns of migration flows and returns for people in agricultural villages of Northern Mexico to Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas over the past 100 years. He developed a...
macro-level theory
According to Interpretative Social Science, human beings are...
meaning-creating beings who attempt to make sense of the world around them
The Interpretive Social Scientist says that researchers should study...
meaningful social actions
A theory that seeks to identify the types of interaction patterns that enables pairs of homeless males in two shelters of a city to form stable friendship relations during the first three days in the shelter is...
micro
A local human service organization contacted Mr. Tanaka. The organization asked him to conduct a study to identify difficulties and problems of the elderly in the local community so that the organization could develop social programs for them. What type of study was Mr. Tanaka being asked to conduct?
needs assessment
You attend the regional Social Work association meeting. At the session you hear several researchers arguing (in a friendly way) about a study. They critique its design and discuss possible flaws in it. You are witnessing which norm of the scientific community?
organized skepticism
Yolanda Foss studied gender differences in attitudes toward mathematics and science among 45 first grad students. Over the next 12 years she studied the same 45 children when they were in fifth, eighth, and twelfth grades. This is what type of research?
panel study research
Dr. Mooman explains marital happiness with complex theory containing 91 concepts. Dr. Tootan has a less complex theory with 12 concepts that is just as good. What says Dr. Tootan's theory is better?
parsimony
The "Halo Effect" occurs when...
people over generalize from a one positive or prestigious feature of a person to other areas
What is sampled, the target group to select elements from, draw inferences to
population
Covering law model goes with which approach?
positivist
From now into the future, as a program or intervention moves through time
prospective
Treating human creations as if they were something separate and alien that have a force independent of the people who created them is called...
reification
What term means that there is no absolute standard, value or truth we can use to judge actions?
relativism
Big Harry got on the scale at 7 AM and weighed 295 lbs. At 7:02 AM he again got on the scale and weighed 200 lbs. At 7:04 AM he weighed 499 lbs. The measurement of Harry's weight has problems with
reliability
Consistency of measurement over time
reliability
Professor Juan Lopez said he is going to conduct a "Subpopulation analysis" to check...
representative reliability
All of the following statements are TRUE of positivist research design EXCEPT...
researchers ignore past research studies on their topic so that their work can be original.
Looking back in time, what happened in the past
retrospective
A consequence of sample size, measure of amount of representatives
sampling error
According to the "No Net Effects" model of relevance...
social work research is only of value because of the inherent rewards of improved understanding by the researcher. Knowledge it yields can be used to cause evil or good.
You read an article on a study that mentions the 'test-retest method'. What is the author trying to demonstrate by using it?
stability reliability
Measures of scales that have been used or tested with validity and reliability and generalizability known
standardization
A recent article on the topic of gun control legislation argues that those who said that they oppose gun control laws do so because they have a negative attitude towards laws controlling guns. The problem with the article is called...
tautology
What type of logical error in making a causal statement is illustrated by the following statement? "Members of the KKK dislike black people because they are highly prejudiced against blacks."
tautology
In exploratory research, one does all of the following, EXCEPT...
test a theory or explanation
Which of the following CANNOT be measured at a higher level than the nominal level?
the color of a person's hair
Professor Rodgers examined survey information on people who were 65 years old and older. He found the average level of happiness reported increased from 1982 to 2002. He concluded that people under 65 years of age also experience increasing levels of happiness from 1982 to 2002. The error he committed is called...
the error of over generalization
Millie Kiddie conducted a study of how children thought about society. She asked them about their attitudes toward the President of the U.S. Her unit of analysis is...
the individual child
If the time between the pretest and the posttest is very short, then...
the maturation effect is less likely to occur
Researchers construct a measure with several Likert scale items phase items so that a person who holds a consistent standpoint indicates it by giving positive answers on some items and negative answers to others. Why do they do this?
to try to avoid the 'response set' problem
Professor Turtle cross-classifies the degree of conflict in a divorce (bitter, unpleasant, neutral, friendly) by whether the divorce involved custody of children. He ends up with eight types of divorce and uses them to study divorce. Professor Turtle developed a...
typology
