SOCY 1000 MCCONNELL STANDARD EXAMS
ANSWERS AND QUESTIONS SET A+
✔✔independent variable - ✔✔a measured factor that the researcher believes has a
causal impact on the dependent variable.
✔✔hypothesis - ✔✔a proposed relationship between two variables, usually with a
stated direction.
✔✔operationalization - ✔✔how a concept is defined and measured in a given study.
✔✔validity - ✔✔the extent to which an instrument measures what it is intended to
measure.
✔✔reliability - ✔✔the likelihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure.
✔✔generalizability - ✔✔the extent to which we can claim our findings inform us about a
group beyond the one we studied.
✔✔participant observation - ✔✔a qualitative research method that seeks to uncover the
meanings people give their social actions by observing their behavior in practice.
✔✔survey - ✔✔an ordered series of questions intended to elicit information from
respondents.
✔✔representative sample - ✔✔the idea that a particular slice of social observation—a
sample of survey respondents, an ethnographic research site such as an organization,
or a batch of social media posts—captures in an accurate way the larger set (or
universe) of those phenomena that it is meant to stand in for.
✔✔historical methods - ✔✔research that collects data written from reports, newspaper
articles, journals, transcripts, television programs, diaries, artwork, and other artifacts
that date back to the period under study.
, ✔✔population - ✔✔an entire group of individual persons, objects, or items from which
samples may be drawn.
✔✔sample - ✔✔the subset of the population from which you actually collect data.
✔✔case study - ✔✔an intensive investigation of one particular unit of analysis in order
to describe it or uncover its mechanisms.
✔✔comparative research - ✔✔a methodology by which two or more entities (such as
countries), which are similar in many dimensions but differ on the one in question, are
compared to learn about the dimension that differs between them.
✔✔content analysis - ✔✔a systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure
of a communication, such as a written work, speech, or film.
✔✔experimental methods - ✔✔methods that seek to alter the social landscape in a very
specific way for a given sample of individuals and then track what results that change
yields; they often involve comparisons to a control group that did not experience such
an intervention.
✔✔white coat effect - ✔✔the phenomenon wherein a researcher's presence affects
subjects' behavior or response, thereby disrupting the study.
✔✔reflexivity - ✔✔analyzing and critically considering our own role in, and effect on, our
research.
✔✔feminist methodology - ✔✔a set of systems or methods that treats women's
experiences as legitimate empirical and theoretical resources, that promotes social
science for women (think public sociology, but for a specific half of the public), and that
takes into account the researcher as much as the overt subject matter.
✔✔culture - ✔✔the sum of the social categories and concepts we operate within in
addition to beliefs, learned behaviors, and practices; everything but the natural
environment around us.
✔✔ethnocentrism - ✔✔the belief that one's own culture or group is superior to others,
and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one's own.
✔✔nonmaterial culture - ✔✔values, beliefs, social norms, and ideologies.
✔✔material culture - ✔✔everything that is a part of our constructed, physical
environment, including technology.
ANSWERS AND QUESTIONS SET A+
✔✔independent variable - ✔✔a measured factor that the researcher believes has a
causal impact on the dependent variable.
✔✔hypothesis - ✔✔a proposed relationship between two variables, usually with a
stated direction.
✔✔operationalization - ✔✔how a concept is defined and measured in a given study.
✔✔validity - ✔✔the extent to which an instrument measures what it is intended to
measure.
✔✔reliability - ✔✔the likelihood of obtaining consistent results using the same measure.
✔✔generalizability - ✔✔the extent to which we can claim our findings inform us about a
group beyond the one we studied.
✔✔participant observation - ✔✔a qualitative research method that seeks to uncover the
meanings people give their social actions by observing their behavior in practice.
✔✔survey - ✔✔an ordered series of questions intended to elicit information from
respondents.
✔✔representative sample - ✔✔the idea that a particular slice of social observation—a
sample of survey respondents, an ethnographic research site such as an organization,
or a batch of social media posts—captures in an accurate way the larger set (or
universe) of those phenomena that it is meant to stand in for.
✔✔historical methods - ✔✔research that collects data written from reports, newspaper
articles, journals, transcripts, television programs, diaries, artwork, and other artifacts
that date back to the period under study.
, ✔✔population - ✔✔an entire group of individual persons, objects, or items from which
samples may be drawn.
✔✔sample - ✔✔the subset of the population from which you actually collect data.
✔✔case study - ✔✔an intensive investigation of one particular unit of analysis in order
to describe it or uncover its mechanisms.
✔✔comparative research - ✔✔a methodology by which two or more entities (such as
countries), which are similar in many dimensions but differ on the one in question, are
compared to learn about the dimension that differs between them.
✔✔content analysis - ✔✔a systematic analysis of the content rather than the structure
of a communication, such as a written work, speech, or film.
✔✔experimental methods - ✔✔methods that seek to alter the social landscape in a very
specific way for a given sample of individuals and then track what results that change
yields; they often involve comparisons to a control group that did not experience such
an intervention.
✔✔white coat effect - ✔✔the phenomenon wherein a researcher's presence affects
subjects' behavior or response, thereby disrupting the study.
✔✔reflexivity - ✔✔analyzing and critically considering our own role in, and effect on, our
research.
✔✔feminist methodology - ✔✔a set of systems or methods that treats women's
experiences as legitimate empirical and theoretical resources, that promotes social
science for women (think public sociology, but for a specific half of the public), and that
takes into account the researcher as much as the overt subject matter.
✔✔culture - ✔✔the sum of the social categories and concepts we operate within in
addition to beliefs, learned behaviors, and practices; everything but the natural
environment around us.
✔✔ethnocentrism - ✔✔the belief that one's own culture or group is superior to others,
and the tendency to view all other cultures from the perspective of one's own.
✔✔nonmaterial culture - ✔✔values, beliefs, social norms, and ideologies.
✔✔material culture - ✔✔everything that is a part of our constructed, physical
environment, including technology.
