Study questions for quiz on September 6

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CHAPTER 1

Introduction: Why Care About Research Methods?

Multiple Choice

1. Based on your reading of this chapter, what is the best answer to the question, “Why study research methods?” Studying research methods

1. is a necessity for those who plan to conduct their own research.
2. will enhance the resumes of those who apply to graduate school.
3. will make clear the scientific foundation of sociology and other social sciences.
4. can benefit you as both a consumer and producer of research evidence.*

2. What do the textbook authors suggest about using the website Ratemyprofessors.com to get information about a professor?

1. Though limited, it is as useful as any other source of information.
2. It is an untrustworthy source of information.*
3. Its ratings provide an objective and valid source of information.
4. Its reliability depends on whether a professor is rated by a large enough sample of students.

3. One media report of Karpinski’s study of Facebook use and grades used the following headline: “Sad but true: Using Facebook can lower your GPA.” This headline is misleading because the study

1. showed that Facebook use is only a problem for first-year students.
2. merely showed an association between Facebook use and poor grades.*
3. was limited to students on Facebook.
4. found a causal relationship only for humanities and social science students.

4. In general, developing measures is part of which step in the research process?

1. formulating a research question
2. preparation of a research design*
3. data collection
4. data analysis and interpretation

5. To assess racial discrimination in the labor market, a researcher sends resumes to help-wanted ads in the newspaper. She assigns African American–sounding names to half the resumes and white-sounding names to the other half; then she records whether each job applicant was called back for an interview. This is an example of

1. an experiment.*
2. a survey.
3. qualitative research.
4. the use of existing data.

6. With this approach, researchers observe people’s behavior after they systematically introduce changes into the environment.

1. experiments*
2. surveys
3. qualitative research
4. use of existing data

7. With this approach, researchers focus on what people say as opposed to what they do.

1. experiments
2. surveys*
3. qualitative research
4. use of existing data

8. Which basic approach may involve field research or in-depth interviews?

1. experiments
2. surveys
3. qualitative research*
4. use of existing data

9. Assessing the effect of the 9/11 attacks on helping others by using the records of the Salvation Army to chart donations before and after the attacks is an example of

1. an experiment.
2. a survey.
3. qualitative research.
4. the use of existing data.*

10. Which approach is best suited for studying the past and social change?

1. experiments
2. surveys
3. qualitative research
4. use of existing data*

11. According to the text’s discussion of the basic approaches to social research,

1. some approaches are more scientific than others.
2. experimentation is the only truly scientific approach to social research.
3. quantitative approaches are superior to qualitative approaches.
4. there are more than two dozen distinctive approaches.
5. each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses.*

True and False

CHAPTER 2

Science and Social Research: From Theory to Data and Back

Multiple Choice

1. According to the text, when students think of “scientists,” they rarely think of

1. chemistry and physics.
2. white lab coats and test tubes.
3. research activities.
4. the formulation of theory.*

2. The ultimate goal of scientific inquiry is to produce knowledge in the form of

1. factual data.
2. theory.*
3. technological advances.
4. new discoveries.

3. Data are verifiable to the extent that they are

1. systematically collected.
2. numerical in form.
3. judged to be true by the researcher.
4. observable.*

4. What is the objective of logic or logical analysis?

1. to describe human thought processes
2. to facilitate creativity and imagination
3. to empirically validate scientific theory
4. to evaluate reasoning*

5. What is the primary difference between deductive and inductive logic?

1. the quality of the evidence supporting a conclusion
2. the certainty that a conclusion is true, based on the evidence*
3. whether a conclusion can be drawn, based on the evidence
4. the closeness of the association between evidence and conclusion

6. In valid deductive reasoning, if the evidence is true, the conclusion

1. may be true or false.
2. may be strong or weak.
3. must be true.*
4. depends on the variety of supporting evidence.

7. Someone studying homelessness finds that the first four homeless people he examines are mentally ill. He therefore concludes that all homeless people are mentally ill. What type(s) of reasoning is this?

1. deductive reasoning
2. inductive reasoning*
3. neither deductive nor inductive reasoning
4. both deductive and inductive reasoning

8. Which of the following sequences best describes the inductive logic of inquiry?

1. theory → data → hypothesis
2. data → theory → hypothesis
3. data → empirical pattern → theory*
4. theory → hypothesis → data
5. empirical pattern → hypothesis → theory

9. Scientists apply the deductive logic of inquiry when they

1. show how a hypothesis follows from a theory.*
2. infer empirical patterns from data.
3. formulate a theory to account for empirical patterns.
4. infer the validity of a theory from a set of data.

10. The reasoning from scientific theory to testable hypotheses should be __________; the reasoning from data to empirical patterns should be __________.

1. deductively valid; deductively valid
2. deductively valid; inductively sound*
3. inductively sound; deductively valid
4. inductively sound; inductively sound

11. Based on the “mental alienation” theory of suicide, Durkheim argued that groups with higher rates of insanity will have higher rates of suicide. Women have higher rates of insanity than men. Therefore, women have higher rates of suicide than men. What type(s) of reasoning is this?

1. deductive reasoning*
2. inductive reasoning
3. neither deductive nor inductive reasoning
4. both deductive and inductive reasoning

12. According to Durkheim’s theory of suicide, the more socially integrated a group, the lower its suicide rate. Catholics are more socially integrated than Protestants. Therefore, the suicide rate is lower among Catholics than among Protestants. What type(s) of reasoning is this?

1. deductive reasoning*
2. inductive reasoning
3. neither deductive nor inductive reasoning
4. both deductive and inductive reasoning

13. Durkheim found that predominantly Catholic nations had lower suicide rates than predominantly Protestant nations, and that married people had lower suicide rates than single people. Noting that both Catholics and married people are more socially integrated than their counterparts, he theorized that the more socially integrated a group, the lower its suicide rate. What type(s) of reasoning is this?

1. deductive reasoning
2. inductive reasoning*
3. neither deductive nor inductive reasoning
4. both deductive and inductive reasoning

14. Consistent with their hypothesis, Dixon and Rosenbaum found that the social setting in which whites interacted with blacks

1. had no effect on their racial stereotypes.
2. reduced anti-black stereotyping when whites had black relatives.
3. reduced anti-black stereotyping when whites knew blacks from school.*
4. increased anti-black stereotyping when whites knew blacks in the workplace.

15. Based on her study of child rearing, Lareau found that

1. working-class parents were more apt than middle-class parents to allow their children to play on their own.*
2. working class parents were more apt than middle-class parents to reason and negotiate with their children.
3. working-class and middle-class parents were equally likely to support their children’s participation in organized and supervised activities.
4. there were no significant differences in the child rearing practices of middle-class and working-class families.

16. When Durkheim tested psychological theories of suicide with data from official records, he used the __________ logic of inquiry; when he developed his own theory of suicide from the same data, he used the __________ logic of inquiry.

1. deductive; deductive
2. deductive; inductive*
3. inductive; deductive
4. inductive; inductive

17. In his study Suicide, Durkheim

1. developed a comprehensive theory of suicide that included climatic, psychological, and social causes.
2. attempted to explain individual differences in types of suicide.
3. examined variation in suicide rates among different nations and groups.*
4. did not produce a single finding that has stood the test of time.

18. Why is Durkheim’s study Suicide a model of social scientific inquiry, even today?

1. It provided the first extensive quantitative analysis of suicide.
2. It presented the first truly scientific theory of suicide.
3. Virtually all of its predictions have been confirmed repeatedly by other investigators.
4. It showed how scientists use data to test theory and develop theories from data.*

19. Durkheim’s study Suicide illustrates the limitations of scientific inquiry insofar as

1. subsequent research has disconfirmed all of his findings.
2. his theory of suicide has been shown to be inconsistent with his data.
3. its narrow focus on social causes appears to have been an attempt to legitimize the field of sociology.*
4. his theory does not apply to suicide in the 21st century.

20. Which statement most accurately describes scientific knowledge or theory?

1. It is the best understanding that we have been able to produce thus far.*
2. When perfected, it is a statement of what is ultimately real.
3. A theory is accepted as “scientific” when objective tests confirm its predictions.
4. Theory in a scientific discipline is essentially an inventory of the currently most accurate predictions.

21. Which of the following statements is true of scientific theory?

1. Scientific theories can be proven logically.
2. There can be one and only one true theory of any social phenomenon.
3. Theories are less abstract than hypotheses.
4. Theories can be expressed as a logically interconnected set of propositions.*

True and False