ch 2

Question 1

cross-sectional designs

Answer 1

A research design in which data are collected at a single point in time.

Question 2

quasi-experiment

Answer 2

A research design that resembles an experiment but does not meet all the requirements and therefore does not exhibit complete internal validity.

Question 3

idiographic

Answer 3

An approach to understanding that seeks specific, unique knowledge about a person or group, typically concerning interpretations or meanings held by the persons studied

Question 4

nomothetic

Answer 4

An approach to explanation that utilizes general laws and principles, which are said to apply to some population beyond the people studied.

Question 5

research design

Answer 5

The term used in this book to refer to a framework for the collection and analysis of data. The choice of research design reflects the goals that the researcher hopes to achieve (for example, generalization, establishing causality, or producing empathetic understanding)

Question 6

Quantitative researchers often explain a phenomenon in terms of proposed causes and effects that are expressed in

Answer 6

laws and principles

Question 7

Quantitative researchers often explain a phenomenon in terms of proposed causes and effects that are expressed in

Answer 7

1. correlation
2. time order
3. non spuriousness

Question 8

qualitative is idiographic and they usually involve a detailed “story” or description of the people studied that is based on

Answer 8

empathetic understanding

Question 9

interview schedule

Answer 9

A collection of questions designed to be asked by an interviewer; always used in a structured interview.

Question 10

The word “spurious” means

Answer 10

false or illegitimate.

Question 11

Nomothetic explanation is to ________ investigation as idiographic explanation is to ________ investigation

Answer 11

quantitative; qualitative

Question 12

true experiments are fairly ____ in sociology

Answer 12

rare

Question 13

The greatest strength of experiments is that they can in some instances be effective in

Answer 13

establishing causation (sometimes referred to as internal validity), especially when they are used to isolate the effects of a small number of factors

Question 14

If experiments may be strong in establishing causation, why do social researchers not make more use of them?

Answer 14

an experiment manipulates an independent variable (a proposed cause of some phenomenon) to determine its influence on a dependent variable (the proposed effect).
The problem is that many of the independent variables of concern to social researchers cannot be manipulated.

Question 15

reason why experiments are so rare in sociology

Answer 15

reason why experiments are so rare in sociology

Question 16

eason why experiments are uncommon in sociology is that many of the things of interest to sociologists—gender roles, political preferences, the formation of social movements, and so on—have

Answer 16

complex, long-term causes that cannot be easily simulated in experiments.

Question 17

why experiments are not great for social

Answer 17

even where social scientists are successful in using experiments to identify causal variables, the perceptions and feelings of the participants—which provide information vital to a full understanding of the phenomenon in question—are usually not examined in depth

Question 18

field experiments

Answer 18

A study in which the researcher directly intervenes in and/or manipulates a natural setting to observe what happens as a consequence

Question 19

experimental group

Answer 19

A research design that rules out alternative explanations of findings deriving from it (in other words, that possesses internal validity) because it involves (a) both an experimental group, which is exposed to a treatment, and a control group, which is not, and (b) random assignment to the two groups

Question 20

history

Answer 20

This refers to events other than the manipulation of teacher expectations that might have caused the spurters’ scores to rise

Question 21

Testing

Answer 21

This threat refers to the possibility that participants may become more experienced at taking a test or sensitized to the aims of the experiment as a result of the pre-test. The presence of a control group, which presumably would also experience the same things, diminishes this possibility.

Question 22

Instrumentation.

Answer 22

This threat refers to the possibility that changes in the way a test is administered can account for an increase (or decrease) in scores between a pre-test and post-test; for example, perhaps the teachers know their students better or are more friendly the second time they give the test. Again, if there is a control group, the people in that group should be affected as well

Question 23

Mortality

Answer 23

some people will leave the experiment before it is over: for example, some students might move to a different school, or experience a long-term illness. Since this problem is likely to affect the control group too, it may not make a difference to the results

Question 24

maturation

Answer 24

Quite simply, people change over time and the ways in which they change may have implications for the dependent variable. The spurters might have improved anyway as they got older, regardless of the effect of teacher expectancies. But the control group would also mature, so maturation effects cannot explain the differences between it and the experimental group

Question 25

selection

Answer 25

When participants are not assigned randomly to the experimental and control groups, variations between them in the post-test may be due to pre-existing differences between the two groups

Question 26

whether the variables used in the study have been adequately measured. This refers to the matter of

Answer 26

measurement validity

Question 27

whether the experimental manipulation really worked. In other words, was the identification of some schoolchildren as spurters enough to create the conditions needed for the hypothesis about teacher expectations to be tested?

Question 28

external validity and

Answer 28

generlaizaibilty

Question 29

The representativeness of the study participants

Answer 29

To what social and psychological groups can a finding be generalized? Can it be generalized to a wide variety of individuals who differ in ethnicity, social class, religion, gender, and type of personality?

Question 30

the effects of the study

Answer 30

Can the results of a study be applied to other settings

Question 31

history effects

Answer 31

Can the results of a study be applied to other settings

Question 32

the effects of pretesting

Answer 32

s a result of being pre-tested, people in an experiment may become sensitized to the experimental treatment, with the result that their responses are affected as they become more test-wise. Consequently, the findings may not be generalizable to groups that have not been pre-tested, and, of course, in the real world people are rarely pre-tested.

Question 33

reactive effects produced by the experimental arrangements.

Answer 33

People are frequently, if not invariably, aware of the fact that they are participating in an experiment. Their awareness may influence how they respond to the experimental treatment; for example, they may react by behaving in a socially acceptable manner rather than sincerely and spontaneously, which could affect the generalizability of the findings.

Question 34

replicibilty

Answer 34

A study is replicable if others are able to repeat it and get the same results

Question 35

Clairborn failed to replicate Rosenthal and Jacobson’s findings, casting doubt on the external validity of the original research and suggesting that the first two threats to external validity referred to earlier in this chapter may have limited the applicability of the findings.

Question 36

main advantages of laboratory over field experiments is the

Answer 36

researcher’s greater control over the research environment

Question 37

it is easier to randomly assign participants to different experimental conditions in the laboratory than in a real-life situation, which enhances the researcher’s ability to establish

Answer 37

nomothetic causation

Question 38

laboratory experiments also suffer from a number of limitations. arise from

Answer 38

shortcomings arise from low external validity

Question 39

the treatment effects may be unique to the people in the study;

Answer 39

others may not act in the same way

Question 40

Quasi-experiments have some characteristics of the experimental model but lack some of the features that

Answer 40

help establish causaution

Question 41

“natural experiments,” in which

Answer 41

experiment-like conditions are produced by naturally occurring phenomena or changes brought about by people not doing research

Question 42

in natural experiments, it is usually impossible to

Answer 42

randomly assign participants to experimental and control groups. The absence of random assignment casts doubt on any causal inferences, since the groups may not have been equivalent on all relevant characteristics before the independent variable was introduced.

Question 43

Quasi-experimental designs have been particularly prominent in what study

Answer 43

evaluation research

Question 44

evaluation research examines the effects of

Answer 44

organizational innovations such as a longer school day or greater worker autonomy in a plant

Question 45

Quasi-experiments are also used to evaluate the effectiveness of

Answer 45

institutional policies.

Question 46

A major challenge in evaluation research, particularly in Canada, is

Answer 46

finding appropriate ways to assess government programs and services that affect Indigenous people.

Question 47

research involving Indigenous participants has been fraught with

Answer 47

exploitation and cultural insensitivity, and the residential schools system in Canada is an example of a program that illustrates in a very tragic way what can go wrong if Indigenous perspectives are ignored

Question 48

At the heart of the experimental design is a

Answer 48

logic of comparison which is used to isolate the causal influence of a particular variable—a goal to which researchers using other designs may also aspire

Question 49

The advantage of such comparisons is that they

Answer 49

permit a better understanding of the phenomenon in question than would be possible if it were examined under one condition alone

Question 50

Which of the following terms pertains to research outcomes that sufficiently demonstrate a causal relationship between the variables of interest?

Answer 50

Internal validity correct

Question 51

Yea and Kevin are sociological researchers interested in whether increases in income cause increases in happiness. Positive psychology research indicates this relationship holds up to a point; however, previous studies have not adequately attended to intervening variables of interest to sociologists like gender and ethnicity. What is/are Yea and Kevin’s dependent variable(s)?

Answer 51

Happiness

Question 52

In experimental notation, T denotes

Answer 52

timing of the observation.