Chapter 2

Question 1

importance of resaerch

Answer 1

research informs our understanding of the nature of prejudice and discrimination, how they come about, and the effects they have on people. Research also offers clues about how to reduce prejudice and improve intergroup relations. Research is the primary source of the information presented in this book, so a full understanding of that information requires an understanding of where it comes from.

Question 2

good chart on pg 61

Answer 2

kk

Question 3

gabriel and ranier banse

Answer 3

strangers more likely to make phone calls for straight than gay couples

Question 4

As it turns out, the results of several studies have indicated that IAT scores in research on weight bias indicate

Answer 4

a bias in favor of slim people rather than a bias against fat people

Question 5

ethnographic research

Answer 5

uses a variety of qualitative data collection techniques, such as observing behavior and conducting interviews, to understand how people experience and interpret events in their daily lives. Ethnographic research also emphasizes studying behavior in the context in which it occurs.

Question 6

ethno vs exp

Answer 6

In contrast to experimental research, then, ethnographic research emphasizes naturalism over control and understanding events from the research participants’ points of view over constructing events (such as experimental manipulations and operational definitions of dependent variables) that reflect the researchers’ point of view.

Question 7

meta analysis def and its two principles

Answer 7

Meta-analysis is a research method that statistically combines the results of multiple studies to determine the average relationship between the variables across those studies. Meta-analysis is based on two principles. The first is that an average provides a more accurate estimate of a relationship between two variables in a population than the results of any one study that uses a sample from that population. The second principle is that when one averages results across a set of studies, the advantages of one study can offset the limitations of another, once again providing a more accurate representation of what is happening in the population.

Question 8

Research on prejudice and discrimination can

Answer 8

describe the psychological and social processes that underlie prejudice and discrimination, aid in the development of theories that can point to ways of reducing prejudice and discrimination, and test the effectiveness of programs aimed at reducing prejudice and discrimination.

Question 9

The research process has a number of steps:

Answer 9

Researchers derive hypotheses from theories. Hypotheses are turned into predictions that can be tested in research by operationally defining the variables in the hypotheses.

Question 10

To study stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination, researchers must be able to measure them. Two essential characteristics of measures are

Answer 10

reliability, which refers to the consistency of measurement, and validity, which refers to the accuracy of a measure.

Question 11

The most commonly used method of assessing stereotypes and prejudice is self-report, asking people to report on their own attitudes, beliefs, behaviors, and so forth. pros and cons of self report measures?

Answer 11

Self-report measures are easy to administer and allow researchers to efficiently collect a large amount of data from many people in a short period of time. However, they are very susceptible to social desirability response bias, the tendency of people to give responses that make themselves look good.

Question 12

Alternatives to self-report measures include

Answer 12

unobtrusive behavioral measures, which assess behaviors that people may not be aware they are performing. Physiological measures, which assess bodily responses to stimuli, can also be used instead of self-reports because some physiological responses indicate the valence and intensity of emotional responses. However, such measures require costly equipment.

Question 13

implicit cognition measures assess the degree to which concepts are associated with other positive or negative concepts in memory. These measures are designed to

Answer 13

assess responses people make without stopping to think or that are involuntary, and so are less susceptible to social desirability response bias

Question 14

A growing body of evidence shows that different types of measures assess different ways in which people can express prejudice. Self-reports assess

Answer 14

controllable expressions, that is, what people want others to know about their attitudes. The other measures assess uncontrollable expressions of prejudice—that is, expressions that people are unaware that they are making. Scores on self-report are related to controllable behaviors, such as what a person says to a member of another race, whereas scores on other measures are related to less controllable behaviors, such as nonverbal cues. Thus, it can be useful to use a variety of measures when studying prejudice.

Question 15

In correlational studies, researchers measure variables and look for relations among them. Surveys are

Answer 15

a common way of collecting data for correlational research. The results of correlational studies are often summarized with a statistic called the correlation coefficient. The major limitation of correlational research is that it provides no means for determining whether one variable caused another.

Question 16

Surveys that use probability sampling try to construct a sample of respondents that is an accurate representation of the population of interest and so provide results that can be confidently generalized to the research population. Convenience samples are drawn from

Answer 16

populations that the researchers have easy access to, but which may or may not reflect the characteristics of the population as a whole. Consequently, researchers must be cautious in generalizing results based on them.

Question 17

Experimental research constructs situations that meet the criteria for causality. Much experimental research is carried out in laboratory settings, which—although providing the high degree of control needed to draw causal conclusions—are low in naturalism. Field experiments try to increase naturalism by

Answer 17

collecting data in natural settings, but entail some loss of control. Some studies include both nonmanipulated variables and experimental variables; in such cases is it important to draw causal conclusions only about the manipulated variables but not about the nonmanipulated variables.

Question 18

Ethnographic methods bring a high degree of naturalism because researchers collect data about people in the context of their everyday lives. Similarly, content analysis focuses on

Answer 18

using products people create, such as documents and works of art, to draw conclusions about the factors that affect their behavior. However, these naturalistic methods lack the controls needed to draw causal conclusions.

Question 19

Because each research strategy has its own strengths and limitations, researchers have more confidence if

Answer 19

a body of research includes data from studies that have used a variety of research methods but still find the same pattern of results.

Question 20

Meta-analysis is a research method that statistically combines the results of multiple studies to determine the average relationship between the variables across studies. This average provides

Answer 20

a more accurate estimate of a relationship between two variables at the population level than the results of any one study. In addition, when averaging results across a set of studies, the advantages of one study offset the limitations of another.

Question 21

There are two questions the researchers want to answer when drawing conclusions from their data:

Answer 21

“Were the hypotheses supported by the data?” and “What do the data mean?” Data are frequently open to more than one interpretation, so researchers who hold different theoretical perspectives may draw different conclusions.

Question 22

Researchers try to verify their results by conducting further research. This verification process addresses two issues.

Answer 22

The first is the extent to which the results of the original study could have resulted from the random errors to which all research is open. The second issue is the extent to which the results generalize across variations in research methods, populations, and procedures.

Question 23

Once researchers have confidence in the accuracy of their results, those results can be used to modify the theory being tested. Once researchers are confident that the theory is accurate, it can be used to

Answer 23

design applications. The effectiveness of these applications can then be tested with further research.