Ch 2: Theories and Methods HDFS 3710
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By the 18th century researchers began to see aging as _____. **
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Mathematical -surveys -statistical methods
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Historians credit ____ with the first use of the term gerontology in 1905.
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ellie Metchnikoff of the Pasteur institute in paris
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Senescence, written by G.Stanley Hall in 1922 ____.
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one of the first scientific studies of aging in the united states
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Research on aging in the 1960's
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moved beyond a study of problems: illness/ disease --> to include studies of normal aging
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The status of gerontology as a discipline depends on
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whether gerontology has claim to a \"distinct body of knowledge\"
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The three areas that make up the core of aging studies are ____.
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1. biomedicine 2. psychosocial studies 3. socioeconomic environmental studies
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Biomedicine studies refers to _____
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-changes in the body that come with age. including studies of DNA, the cells, body systems and DEMENTIA
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Geriatrics is defined as _______
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The medical specialist that deals with older people
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Psychosocial studies look at the changes that take place
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-inside the individual,and between individual and group
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Socioeconomic- environmental studies examine the effects of aging on
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social institutions
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Social gerontology makes up apart of the total body of gerontologists knowledge and ____
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it includes the psychosocial, socioeconomic, environmental and practice related studies of aging
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Gerentologists create theories to
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explain everything from child- parent relations to the treatment of older people by the govt
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what are the two levels of theories that scientists use?
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1. macro level 2. micro level `
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Macro-level theories _____
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look at social institutions (such as family) and social systems (health care, housing, policies_and whole societies
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Micro-level theories
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describes people and their relationships
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Another example of a macro-level theory is
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modernization theory -A model of economic and social development that explains global inequality in terms of technological and cultural differences between nations
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which perspective is not included in micro- and macro- level theories?
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-interpretive perspective -functionalist perspective -conflict perspective
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The interpretive perspective
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focuses on the MICRO-level of social life. - it looks at how people relate to one another, -how they define situations, -and how they create social order
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According to Mead, symbolic interaction __
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study how symbols such as clothing and body language and written words share social relations
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The interpretive perspective II.
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sees the person as an act of and creator of social life
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Gerentologists have used the interpretive perspective to study how people adapt to___
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one another and situations, and how they create social order
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______ studies a phenomenon- sickness, retirement, health -- from the subjects point of view
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PHENOMENOLOGY
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Critics of the interpretive perspective say that it __
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overlooks links between the individual and the larger social institutions -does not look at the impact of social policies -MICRO
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Functionalism:
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* or structural functionalist theory- included in the functionalist perspective A school of psychology that focused on how mental and behavioral processes function - how they enable the organism to adapt, survive, and flourish.
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one example of the functionalist perspective is ___
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sees society as an organism that tries to stay in equilibrium
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Age stratification theory links ____
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individual aging to social institutions -one of the most influential and enduring gerontological theories, analyzes the relationship between age and social culture
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Age stratification theory does not discuss
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-individual aging -societal aging -cohort flow
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Age stratification theory views individual aging as a(n)
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life- long process
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societies have a set of age grades that stratifies its members. Age grades in the U.S. do not include
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-childhood -adolescence -young adulthood -middle age -old age
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each age cohort moves through life as if on a(n)
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escalator
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Bengtson and colleagues say that age stratification theory provides new ways to explore differences related to time, period, and ------
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COHORT
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The life course approach looks at ____
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Both micro and macro level of analysis, like principle human development of aging, history and location, life transitions, independence, taking actions, making choices
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conflict perspective
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* looks at the tensions that exists between groups in society -A sociological approach that assumes that social behavior is best understood in terms of conflict or tension between competing groups
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one example of the conflict perspective is
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new machines demanded faster work - stressor for older people to keep up with
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According to the political economy theory
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a type of conflict theory that looks at the state, the economy, social class, and their impact on people. ex: traces the origins of older peoples problems to the political and ecological structures of capitalist society
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cumulative disadvantage theory is a type of ___
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conflict theory that focuses on the lifelong effects of inequality
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cumulative disadvantage theory focuses on
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A theory that people who begin life with greater resources continue to have opportunities to accumulate more of them, while those who begin with few resources fall further behind.
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Researchers criticize the conflict perspective because
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it overemphasizes the effect of social structures on individual aging and \"poverty\" and other problems -sees person as product of social and political force
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______ offers one new theoretical framework for studying aging.
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Narrative gerontology
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?researchers use _______ to explore issues such as retirement, long term care, and community volunteerism.
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...
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Gerontologists use many different methods to study aging. Research methods _____
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Range from laboratory work of biomedical scientists to intelligence tests of psychologists, literature, diaries, surveys.
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_______ want to understand the changes that take place in individuals over time .
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Social gerontologist
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gERONTOLOGISTS place changes in older people into one of three categories. Which of the following is not a category of change?
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A-age effects P-period effects C-cohort effects
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Gerontologists use a number of research designs to look at the APC problem. which of the following is not used to examine this problem?
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1. cross sectional design 2. longitudinal design 3. Time- lag design 4.questionnare
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Brach and colleagues (2004) used data from a _____ to compare the physical functioning of older people who exercised with those who were inactive.
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questionnaire study
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According to the text paradigms are ______
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frameworks used to think about and organize an understanding of natural or social phenomenon.
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Gerontology has a long history of using natural science paradigm to conduct studies. This is known as ________
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POSITIVISM
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critical gerontologists often use ______ to conduct their research
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QUALITATIVE METHODS
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How do the interests of critical gerontologists and positive gerontology differ?
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critical gerontology- exposes the effects of positivism in older people Positivist gerontology- turns them into objects - flowing through healthcare
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________ allow researchers to gather a great deal of information on a wide range fo issues
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QUANTITATIVE METHODS
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_________ studies how individuals understand and give meaning to their lives.
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QUALITATIVE METHODS
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According to the text, the study of aging has grown to include _________
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HUMANITIES
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The internet offers a storehouse of information on aging, but provides no guide to the quality of the information. Therefore a gerontologist must be _________
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INFORMATION LITERATE
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Research studies on human subjects face ______ challenges
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ETHICAL
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How will gerontologists research change in the future?
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- new and more sophisticated research -choose theory and catastrophe theory -further develop political, ecological, phenomenological theories, feminist and life course theories -qualitative methods will continue to play a role -studies in humanities will ass new methods to gerontology research
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