RESEARCH METHODS EXAM 1 EXAM PREP
2026 Q&A COMPLETE REVIEW WITH
ACCURATE ANSWERS GUARANTEED PASS
◉ Criticisms of Positivism: Critical Realism
Answer: -A paradigm that holds things are real insofar as they
produce effects.
◉ Review Question:
A researcher studying prejudice seeks to determine how racial
prejudices are used by some groups to dominate other groups. What
paradigm is this researcher using?
Answer: Because this researcher is examining how prejudice
operates in systems of social domination, the Conflict paradigm is
being used.
◉ Elements of Social Theory
1. Observation
2. Fact
3. Laws
4. Theory
5. Concepts
,6. Variable
7. Axioms or Postulates
8. Propositions
9. Hypothesis
Answer: 1. seeing, hearing, touching.
2. a phenomenon that has been observed.
3. universal generalization about classes of facts.
4. a systematic explanation for observations that relate to a
particular aspect of life.
5. abstract elements representing classes of phenomena within the
field of study.
6. a set of attributes.
7. fundamental assertions on which a theory is grounded
8. specific conclusions, derived from the axiomatic groundwork,
about the relationships among concepts.
9. a specified, testable expectation about the empirical reality that
follows from a more general proposition.
◉ Review Question
______ are fundamental assertions that are taken to be true.
A. Hypotheses
B. Propositions
C. Axioms
,D. Paradigms
Answer: -Axioms (or postulates) are fundamental assertions that are
taken to be true.
◉ Traditional Model of Science: Operationalization
Answer: -the process of developing operational definitions, or
specifying the exact operations involved in measuring a variable.
◉ The Traditional Model of Science:
Answer: -the concrete and specific definition of something in terms
of the operations by which observations are to be categorized.
◉ The Traditional Model of Science: Observation
Answer: -specifying the exact operations involved in measuring a
variable.
◉ The Traditional Image of Science
Answer: -The deductive model of scientific inquiry begins with a
sometimes vague or general question, which is subjected to a
process of specification, resulting in hypotheses that can be tested
through empirical observations.
◉ Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Answer: Deductive = Traditional Model of Science
, -Deductive reasoning starts with a general theory, statement, or
hypothesis and then works its way down to a conclusion based on
evidence.
-Inductive reasoning starts with a small observation or question and
works it's way to a theory by examining the related issues.
-A Case Illustration (Glock, Ringer, and Babbie, 1967)
-Comfort Hypothesis:People are more likely to believe when they are
deprived.
◉ Null Hypothesis
Answer: -In hypothesis testing and tests of statistical significance,
the hypothesis that suggests there is no relationship among the
variables under study.
◉ Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Answer: Deductive: hypothesis, observations, accept or reject
hypothesis
Inductive: Observations, find pattern, tentative conclusion
◉ Big Data
Answer: -Extremely large data sets generated through the automatic
monitoring of ongoing processes.
-Examples:Amazon purchases, Phone and internet communications
2026 Q&A COMPLETE REVIEW WITH
ACCURATE ANSWERS GUARANTEED PASS
◉ Criticisms of Positivism: Critical Realism
Answer: -A paradigm that holds things are real insofar as they
produce effects.
◉ Review Question:
A researcher studying prejudice seeks to determine how racial
prejudices are used by some groups to dominate other groups. What
paradigm is this researcher using?
Answer: Because this researcher is examining how prejudice
operates in systems of social domination, the Conflict paradigm is
being used.
◉ Elements of Social Theory
1. Observation
2. Fact
3. Laws
4. Theory
5. Concepts
,6. Variable
7. Axioms or Postulates
8. Propositions
9. Hypothesis
Answer: 1. seeing, hearing, touching.
2. a phenomenon that has been observed.
3. universal generalization about classes of facts.
4. a systematic explanation for observations that relate to a
particular aspect of life.
5. abstract elements representing classes of phenomena within the
field of study.
6. a set of attributes.
7. fundamental assertions on which a theory is grounded
8. specific conclusions, derived from the axiomatic groundwork,
about the relationships among concepts.
9. a specified, testable expectation about the empirical reality that
follows from a more general proposition.
◉ Review Question
______ are fundamental assertions that are taken to be true.
A. Hypotheses
B. Propositions
C. Axioms
,D. Paradigms
Answer: -Axioms (or postulates) are fundamental assertions that are
taken to be true.
◉ Traditional Model of Science: Operationalization
Answer: -the process of developing operational definitions, or
specifying the exact operations involved in measuring a variable.
◉ The Traditional Model of Science:
Answer: -the concrete and specific definition of something in terms
of the operations by which observations are to be categorized.
◉ The Traditional Model of Science: Observation
Answer: -specifying the exact operations involved in measuring a
variable.
◉ The Traditional Image of Science
Answer: -The deductive model of scientific inquiry begins with a
sometimes vague or general question, which is subjected to a
process of specification, resulting in hypotheses that can be tested
through empirical observations.
◉ Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Answer: Deductive = Traditional Model of Science
, -Deductive reasoning starts with a general theory, statement, or
hypothesis and then works its way down to a conclusion based on
evidence.
-Inductive reasoning starts with a small observation or question and
works it's way to a theory by examining the related issues.
-A Case Illustration (Glock, Ringer, and Babbie, 1967)
-Comfort Hypothesis:People are more likely to believe when they are
deprived.
◉ Null Hypothesis
Answer: -In hypothesis testing and tests of statistical significance,
the hypothesis that suggests there is no relationship among the
variables under study.
◉ Deductive and Inductive Reasoning
Answer: Deductive: hypothesis, observations, accept or reject
hypothesis
Inductive: Observations, find pattern, tentative conclusion
◉ Big Data
Answer: -Extremely large data sets generated through the automatic
monitoring of ongoing processes.
-Examples:Amazon purchases, Phone and internet communications
