Research Methods (Ch. 2) – Flashcards
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Which approach to sociological research starts with empirical observations and then works to form a theory?
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Inductive
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Which of the following is more difficult to do in social science research?
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To establish that something is the cause of something else.
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_________ is probably the best method available to the social scientist interested in collecting original data and for describing a population too large to observe directly.
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Survey Research
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Which of the following is an example of a correlation?
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People with higher levels of income tend to enjoy better overall health
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Because they are an accessible population, sociologists sometimes use undergraduate students in their research. In relation to the concept of generalizability in science, this tendency could represent a potential defect in research because:
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College undergraduates are not typical of the public at large
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Charles is a sociologist studying a population of gay fathers in the US. He interviews 200 men in his data collection. These 200 men constitute what researchers call a:
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Sample
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The extent to which a researcher can claim that his or her findings explain a larger population that was studied is known as:
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Generalizability
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Which of the following is an example of a negative relationship between individual behavior and health?
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As nicotine consumption decreases, life expectancy increases.
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A type of longitudinal study in which the same sample of respondents is tracked over a long period of time known as:
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A panel study
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Interpretive sociologists examine meanings attached to behaviors. This leads them to use which of the following measures most commonly?
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Qualitative
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In establishing causation, it helps to know which variable precedes the other in time. If not, it is easy to make a mistake involving:
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Reverse Casualty
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A potential shortcoming of survey research is that surveys:
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Rely on people's honesty and willingness to cooperate.
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In social research, a hypothesis is:
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A proposed relationship between 2 or more variables
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Ethnographer Mitchell Duneier spent 5 years hanging out with booksellers on the streets on Manhattan. His role as both researcher and participant provides a great example of the importance of:
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Critically assessing how our role as researchers may affect the people we study.
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The 3 factors needed to establish causality are:
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Correlation, ruling out alternative explanations, and time order
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The General Social Survey (GSS) is replicated yearly with a new sample of 2,000 respondents. This is an example of:
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A repeated cross-sectional survey
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The likelihood that a researcher will obtain the same result using the same measures the next time he or she tests a hypothesis is:
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Reliability
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The research method that uses information that can be converted to numerical form is:
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Quantitative Research
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Social research aimed at influencing public policy and society as a whole is referred to as:
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Public Sociology
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What type of research describes people's behavior in rich detail and focuses on the meanings people give to their actions?
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Qualitative Research
