Exam 1

Question 1

If you wanted to find out what techniques were used to collect the data for a research study, which section of a research article should you look in?

Answer 1

Methods

Question 2

True or False: The purpose of scientific research is to
supplement other sources of information.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Give an example of a variable and its attributes.

Answer 3

Gender: Male and Female

Question 4

Give a specific example of a unit of analysis that would be classified as a social artifact.

Answer 4

Books/Newspapers

Question 5

What information is typically included in the literature review section of a research article?

Answer 5

Gives background and sets up a question that needs answering.

Question 6

Name three types of longitudinal research.

Answer 6

Trend studies
Cohort studies
Panel studies
Time-series designs

Question 7

Identify the independent variable and the dependent variable in the following hypothesis: “Participation in treatment will result in lower recidivism.”

Answer 7

I: Participation
D: Recidivism

Question 8

In a cause-and-effect relationship, the ___________ variable is the cause, and the _________ variable is the effect.

Answer 8

Independent; Dependent

Question 9

True or False: To be ethical, participation in research should be voluntary.

Answer 9

True

Question 10

At how many points in time would a researcher collect data if he or she were doing a cross-sectional study?

Answer 10

One point.

Question 11

what would be the main purpose of the following study? A researcher studies students at a university to determine why some of them like research methods better than others.

Answer 11

Explanation

Question 12

does the following describe an inductive or deductive process? “A scholar believes that the nature of police agencies can best be explained by using the ideas of organizational sociology. She further hypothesizes that departments are more efficient when their organizational structures are less complex. She sets out to collect data to test this expectation.”

Answer 12

Inductive

Question 13

___ refers to the degree to which a measure will produce accurate results.

Answer 13

Validity

Question 14

___ refers to the degree to which a measure will produce consistent results.

Answer 14

Reliability

Question 15

True or False: reliability can be checked using a split-half technique only if the concept is measured with mulitiple items.

Answer 15

True

Question 16

How precise should a measure of a concept be?

Answer 16

As clear and precise as possible.

Question 17

Name the sources of knowledge and understanding that we discussed in class.

Answer 17

Experience
Authority
Reason

Question 18

Name the common errors in human inquiry that we discussed in class.

Answer 18

Inaccurate observation
Overgeneralization

Question 19

identify the unit of analysis in the following scenario: “Our research showed that people with higher educations are more likely to have at-home access to the internet than less educated people. Further, people who reported higher incomes tended to use the internet more often.”

Answer 19

The individual.
why?
The research is analyzing the characteristics and behaviors of individual people.

Question 20

what is the “ecological fallcy”?

Answer 20

Drawing conclusions about individuals based on data drawn from groups/organizations.

Question 21

what is “determinism”?

Answer 21

Everything is caused by something; no free will.

Question 22

what are the three criteria that must be met to establish causation?

Answer 22

1. Two variables must be related.
2. Change in the independent precedes change in the dependent.
3. Relationship is not spurious.

Question 23

Identify the independent variable and the dependent variable in the following hypothesis: “Fundamentalist protestants are more supportive of the death penalty than Catholics.”

Answer 23

I:Religious affiliation.
D:Support for the death penalty.

Question 24

what is a “paradigm”?

Answer 24

Model/framework for observation and understanding that shapes both what we see and how we understand it.

Question 25

give an example of a probabilistic statement

Answer 25

“Tends to…”

Question 26

in the article by Weiss & Chermak, “the news value of aferican-american victims.” what was the unit of analysis?

Answer 26

Social artifact.

Question 27

name the guidelines for ethical research that we discussed in class

Answer 27

1. Voluntary participation.
2. No harm to participants.

Question 28

name, in order the five major componets of the cycle of scientific research.

Answer 28

1. Theory
2. Hypothesis
3. Operationalization
4. Observations
5. Empirical Generalizations

Question 29

what is the difference between basic research and applied research?

Answer 29

Basic- Seeks knowledge for its own sake.
Applied- Seeks knowledge as a guide to action.

Question 30

in the article we read at the beginning of the term by weiss & chemak - “the news value of aferican-american victims”- where did the researchers get data on their dependent variables, and where did they get data on their independent variables?

Answer 30

I: Obtained data from uniform crime reports.
D: Obtained data from Lexis-Nexis database

Question 31

what does it mean to say that social scientific research is empirical?

Answer 31

Assumptions and predictions must be tested against observable reality.

Question 32

in what way is replication an important idea in scientific inquiry?

Answer 32

Finding the same results enhances confidence.

Question 33

one key characteristic of social scientific research is “generalization.” what does this mean

Answer 33

Provides info on a broad set of events.

Question 34

what is the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?

Answer 34

Theory- Links several elements into a meaningful whole
Hypothesis- Relationship between independent and dependent variables.

Question 35

A researcher asks students in a class he is teaching to volunteer, he explains, will get “favorable consideration” on their test grades. To study the effects of alcohol on decision-making, he has each participant drink 5 shots of tequila (80 proof) in a 30-minute period.
What ethical concerns are there with this research project?

Answer 35

Coercion
Harm
Informed Consent

Question 36

identify any two specific limitations of the Weiss & Chermak study,

Answer 36

Selection Bias
Measurment error

Question 37

What three principles of ethical research were identified by the Belmont Report?

Answer 37

Justice
Respect for persons
Beneficence

Question 38

What information is typically included in the “Discussion” section of a research article?

Answer 38

Talk about findings in a broader sense.

Question 39

What is “face validity”?

Answer 39

Whether or not a test or measure looks to be measuring what it claims to be measuring.

Question 40

what is a “typology”?

Answer 40

Classification based on types of categories.

Question 40

how is the composite measure of a concept called an index created?

Question 40

What is “test-related reliability”?

Answer 40

Refers to test scores that are consistent across different occasions of testing.

Question 40

Identify one way you could operationalize whether someone is “a hard worker.”

Question 41

What are three main steps in constructing a measure of a concept?

Question 41

What is the purpose of composite measures (such as indexes, scales, or typologies)?

Answer 41

Used to measure multidimensional and abstract concepts.

Question 42

What is the difference between criterion-related validity and content validity?

Question 43

Explain how the technique known as “split-half” is used to check reliability.

Question 43

What is the difference between a conceptual definition and an operational definition of a concept?

Answer 43

Conceptual- What the concept is and how it is related to other concepts.
Operational- How to measure or observe a concept.

Question 44

A researcher decides to use the class status- freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior- of a sample of high school students as an approximate measure of their ages. Briefly explain how this measure would be unreliable.

Answer 44

Class status does not consistently reflect the true variable it is supposed to measure which is age.

Question 45

A researcher develops a measure of “ambition” and finds that it is related in the expected direction to an established measure of “academic success.” What type of validity does this establish?

Answer 45

Construct validity.