Chapter 2 Practice Quiz – Flashcards
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What research method was used in Philip Zimbardo's study, the "Stanford County Prison"?
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An experiment
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Which sociological research method saves the time and expense of data gathering, but the researcher has no control over possible data bias?
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Secondary analysis of existing sources
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From a research point of view, what is the problem with the question, "Do you think that the government should spend less on defense and spend more on health care?"
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Two different questions are being asked, so that a simple "yes" or "no" may distort the subject's actual opinion.
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Deductive logical thought involves ________
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Turning theories into hypotheses suitable for testing
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People can mislead others with statistics by _______
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Interpreting the data to lead their readers to a desire conclusion
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In the process of measurement, reliability refers to _______
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Whether repeating the measurement yields consistent results
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If you read a study that draws conclusions about all of humanity based on research using only females as subjects, you would correctly point to the problem called ________
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Overgeneralization
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The use of existing data and documents makes most historical research possible.
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True
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Which sociological research method is best used to study what cannot be directly observed, such as attitudes and values, among large numbers of people?
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The survey
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A variable that causes change in another variable is called the "dependent variable."
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False
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_________ refers to measuring exactly what one intends to measure
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Validity
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Whenever two variables are statistically related, a cause-and-effect relationship always exists
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False
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Max Weber urged sociologists to strive toward the goal of being value-free
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True
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Lois Benjamin's research on the life experiences of high-achieving African Americans suggests that _______
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Racism remains a burden even among privileged African Americans
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"A statement of a possible relationship between two or more variables" is the definition of which concept?
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Hypothesis
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In real life, sociologists always achieve complete personal objectivity in their work
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False
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E. Digby Baltzell's historical study, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, illustrates which research method?
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Secondary analysis
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Interpretive sociology refers to sociology that ______
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Focuses on the meaning people attach to behavior
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The sociological perspective coupled to research reveals that ________
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Much of what passes for "common sense" in the United States turns out to be at least partly wrong
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Interpretive sociology focuses less on action itself and more on the meaning people attach to their actions
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True
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Science is a logical system that is based in intuition and insight
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False
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A researcher doing participant observation may often "break in" to a setting more easily with the help of a ______
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Key informant
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A small number of people that are used to represent a much larger population is called a _______
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Sample
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A false correlation between two variables caused by a third variable is described as a "spurious" correlation
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True
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Carrying out research on Hispanic people, Asian people, or people of any distinctive ethnicity or category requires that researchers be sensitive to how these subjects will interpret a researcher's words and actions
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True
