Test 1 (Lectures 4-5)

Question 1

What is ethics? :

Answer 1

Deals with values and customs of a person or a group. It addresses the concepts about right and wrong, good and evil, & responsibility.

Question 2

Good ____ is more important to morality than good _____”

Answer 2

(motivation & consequence) - Kant

Question 3

What is an example of Kant’s ideas on morality?

Answer 3

Answer: difference between 1st & 2nd degree murder

Question 4

What is justice?

Answer 4

Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, law, religion

Question 5

The veil of ignorance?

Answer 5

The “veil of ignorance” is a a thought experiment used for reasoning about the principles that should structure a society based on solidarity. As a moral reasoning device it ensures impartiality of judgment. The parties would be deprived of all knowledge of their personal characteristics and social and historical circumstances (example: no logical being would create a society in which slavery exists due to the chance that they may be born as a slave)

Question 6

Experimental participation in research must be:

Because:

Answer 6

• Voluntary

- disrupts regular activities & reveals their personal information

Question 7

All participants of research must be aware that: (4)

Answer 7

They are participating in a study
All the consequence of the study
And Consent to participate
They need to be informed by a consent form

Question 8

Unethical research practices

Answer 8

Hiding the identity of the researcher (for eg. A sociologist begging on the street in order to investigate who is generous)
The need to conceal the nature of the study to participants
Not reporting all findings (only reporting what they want the outcome to be, not the contrary).

Question 9

Research report must include these 5 things:

Answer 9

1. Study design
2. Data collection
3. Sampling
4. Techniques used
5. Shortcoming/limitations/failures of the study

Question 10

We can prevent reports based on fake evidence by:

Answer 10

Making results open & repeatable

Ethics of the profession

Question 11

If there is no free will…

Answer 11

Morality and moral responsibility are not relevant for social activities

Question 12

Principle of Alternative Possibilities (PAP):

Answer 12

A person is morally responsible for what she has done only if she could have done otherwise

Question 13

What is a hot topic?

Answer 13

A popular research topic that has been well documented

Question 14

Understudied topics? are:

Answer 14

Difficult to begin researching but higher chance of being published (versus hot topics)

Question 15

What is a theoretical study? (compared to an empirical study)

Answer 15

Provides the proofs, logic frameworks and theorems, contribute to the development and explanation of a theory. In general, a theoretical study needs more knowledge, ability in logic and longer time. Often the researcher is not sure whether results will be delivered at the end.

Question 16

What is an empirical or applied study?

Answer 16

• Uses a theory or tests existing hypotheses using empirical evidence (data). As long as the researcher can explain the results, a research report can be delivered.
• Both qualitative and quantitative studies can be empirical studies
• Empirical research is research that is based on observation and measurement of phenomena, as directly experienced by the researcher.
• The data thus gathered may be compared against a theory or hypothesis, but the results are still based on real life experience.

Question 17

Descriptive or explanatory?: A specialty food group launching a new range of barbecue rubs would like to understand what flavors of rubs are favored by different people.

Answer 17

A: descriptive

Question 18

Difference between descriptive research & explanatory research?

Answer 18

Descriptive research is research that aims to describe or define the topic at hand. Explanatory research is research that aims to explain why particular phenomena work in the way that they do.

Question 19

What is the most important criterion that should guide social workers down their research topic, into a research question?

Answer 19

A: its answer should have significant potential relevance for guiding social welfare policy or social work practice

Question 20

Common issues in determining the feasibility of research? (6)

Answer 20

Scope
Costs in data collection, travel, ect
Time
Ethical issues
Cooperation of others
software

Question 21

A literature review must do the following:(5)

Answer 21

Be organized and related directly to the issue or research question you are working on
Synthesize results into a summary of what is known and what is not known
Identify areas of controversy in the literature
Identify methods used in the current literature
Formulate questions that need further research

Question 22

What is the difference between a literature review and an annotated bibliography?

Answer 22

An annotated bibliography examines each source based on its relationship to the topic; a literature review draws together multiple sources to examine where they agree or disagree.
Annotated bibliography summarized each source separately

Question 23

Exploration involves familiarizing a researcher with a topic.

Answer 23

Exploration satisfies the researcher’s curiosity and desire for improved understanding. Exploration tests the feasibility of undertaking a more extensive study. Exploration helps develop the methods that will be used in a study.

Question 24

Description involves:

Answer 24

describing situations and events through scientific observation. Scientific descriptions are typically more accurate and precise than causal ones. For example, the U. S. Census uses descriptive social research in its examination of characteristics of the U. S. population.

Question 25

Explanatory research:

Answer 25

deals with the ‘why’ of research questions and is therefore often based on experiments.

Question 26

A cross-sectional study:

Answer 26

is defined as a type of observational research that analyzes data of variables collected at one given point in time across a sample population or a pre-defined subset. This study type is also known as cross-sectional analysis, transverse study, or prevalence study.

Many surveys are conducted at one time / small scale by individual researchers

Question 27

Longitudinal study involves:

Answer 27

Observations over a period of time (not necessarily the same people) eg. a five-year study of children learning to read

Question 28

Trend-study?

Answer 28

Changes within some general population overtime.

For eg., the freshman class of 2008 would be given a survey, and then the freshman class of 2009 at the same school would be given the same survey, and any differences in opinion would be noted.

Question 29

Cohort study?

Answer 29

Specific groups, eg. Age and time groups as they change overtime (not necessarily the same people)
Eg. whether exposure to smoking associates with cancer … Such studies typically follow two groups of patients for a period of time and compare an endpoint or outcome measure between the two groups.

Question 30

Panel study?

Answer 30

The same people, over time

Panel data is more valuable and more expensive

Question 31

Units of analysis?

Answer 31

A unit of analysis is the entity that you wish to say something about at the end of your study, and it is considered the focus of your study.

Question 32

3 types of Units of analysis?

Answer 32

1. Individuals (eg. Students, voters, parents)
2. Groups (eg. Families, communities, provinces)
3. Social artefacts or the products of social beings (eg. Articles, books, meetings)

Question 33

Ecological fallacy?

Answer 33

• The ecological fallacy consists in thinking that relationships observed for groups necessarily hold for individuals:
  if countries with more fat in the diet have higher rates of breast cancer, then women who eat fatty foods must be more likely to get breast cancer. These inferences may be correct, but are only weakly supported by the aggregate data (correlation does not equal causation)
• Discrimination is an ecological fallacy as it is based on stereotypes

Question 34

Reductionism:

Answer 34

reductionist thinking is the idea that a certain field of study or even something more specific can be broken down into smaller parts that can thus be used to describe the idea as a whole again. The one concern with the theory of scientific reductionism overall is that the process in smaller components may simplify the situation as a whole too much and thus the whole could get distorted