For
Society
The
Basics
Sixteenth Edition
Chapter 1: Sociology: Perspective, Theory, and Method
In this revision of the test bank, I have updated all of the questions to reflect
changes in Society: The Basics, Sixteenth Edition and increased the number of
questions by 50 percent so that this test bank covers all the new material
that has been added and better meets your needs. The questions are
tagged according to four levels of learning that move from lower-level to
higher-level cognitive reasoning. The four levels:
Recollection: a question involving recall of key terms or factual material
Understanding: a question testing comprehension of more complex ideas
Application: a question applying sociological knowledge to some new situation
,Analysis: a question requiring identifying elements of an argument and their
interrelationship
The 279 questions in this chapter’s test bank are divided into four types.
True/False questions are the least demanding. As the table below shows,
two-thirds of these are “Recollection” questions, and all of them fall within
the lowest three levels of cognitive reasoning (“Recollection,”
“Understanding,” and “Application”). Multiple-choice questions span a
broader range of skills (almost half are “Recollection” questions and the
remainder are divided among the three higher levels). Short-answer
questions also span a broad range of skills (from “Understanding” to
“Analysis”). Finally, essay questions are the most demanding because they
require analysis and other higher levels of cognitive reasoning.
Types of Questions
True/False Multiple Short Answer Essay Total Qs
Choice
Recollection 60 (70%) 71 (49%) 6 (19%) 0 137
Understanding 19 (22%) 22 (15%) 9 (28%) 0 50
Application 7 (8%) 30 (20%) 5 (16%) 3 (20%) 45
Analysis 0 23 (16%) 12 (38%) 12 (80%) 47
86 146 32 15 279
Chapter 1: Sociology: Perspective, Theory, and Method
TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS
1. Most people in the United States marry partners whose racial and ethnic identity differs from
their own.
Answer: False
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Recollection
2. According to sociologists, human behavior reflects our personal ―free will.‖
, Answer: False
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Recollection
3. Sociology is defined as the systematic study of human
society. Answer: True
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Recollection
4. Sociologists focus only on unusual patterns of
behavior. Answer: False
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Recollection
5. Using the sociological perspective, we would conclude that people‘s lives are mostly a result
of what they, as individuals, decide to do.
Answer: False
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Application
6. On average, college students in the U.S. come from families with above-average
incomes. Answer: True
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Recollection
7. Emile Durkheim provided evidence that categories of people with weaker social ties have
lower suicide rates than people with stronger social ties.
Answer: False
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
, Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Recollection
8. In the United States, Black people have a higher suicide rate than White
people. Answer: False
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Recollection
9. In the United States, men have a higher suicide rate than
women. Answer: True
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Recollection
10. In the United States, White people have a lower suicide rate than people who identify as
Hispanic. Answer: False
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Recollection
11. People with lower social standing are usually more likely to see the world from a
sociological perspective than people who are well off.
Answer: True
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Moderate
Skill Level: Application
12. U.S. sociologist C. Wright Mills argued that times of social crisis encourage widespread use of
the sociological perspective.
Answer: True
Learning Objective: LO 1.1: Apply the sociological perspective to show how society shapes our
individual lives.
Topic: The Sociological Perspective
Difficulty Level: Easy
Skill Level: Recollection
13. C. Wright Mills claimed that sociology encourages people to take personal responsibility for
solving their own problems.