Soc 3900: Final Exam Questions with Correct and verified Answers

Soc 3900: Final Exam Questions with Correct and verified Answers "A regression effect occurs when the experimental group performs consistently better due to being studied. - Correct answer False" "The following is an example of a double-barreled question: do you agree or disagree that presidential elections should reflect the popular vote? - Correct answer False" "Cover letters can be form letters, and need not be personalized. - Correct answer False" "Web surveys handle filter questions poorly, so they should be avoided. - Correct answer False" "Which is an example of a double-barreled question: - Correct answer Do you agree or disagree that state budgets should be reduced and public finances made more transparent?" "A respondent must be able to classify himself or herself into one and only one of the response categories of a survey question. This means that response categories must be: - Correct answer Mutually Exclusice & Exhaustive" "What method of survey administration has the greatest ability to use complex surveys? - Correct answer In person interviews" "In actuality, the experimental effect in the Hawthorne experiment was likely the result of selection bias. - Correct answer True" "Which of the following is a potential source of internal invalidity that is associated with the staff of the experiment? - Correct answer Self-fulfilling Prophecy & Instrument Decay" "Between the experimental treatment and the post-test, subjects may drop out, talk to members of the comparison group, or mature. These are all problems associated with: - Correct answer Internal Invalidity" "While conducting a before-and-after quasi-experiment on fire preparedness at a local university and before the post-test was administered, a major fire occurs in a dorm on campus. Although the post-test showed increased fire preparedness, the researchers could not conclude that their experimental treatment was the cause. What source of internal invalidity were the researchers mostly likely concerned about? - Correct answer External Events" "A random distribution of benefits is ethical in experiments when: - Correct answer A researcher does not know if an experimental treatment will have beneficial effects or if funding does not allow all subjects to receive treatment" "Because staff expectations can change the way that subjects respond to an experimental treatment, some experiments employ this design in which neither the subject nor the staff knows who is getting the experimental treatment: - Correct answer Double blind Design" "To ensure that the treatment is being delivered as planned, many experiments take periodic measures throughout the experiment. This is known as: - Correct answer Process Analysis" "What experimental or quasi-experimental design contains a pretest, a treatment, and a posttest, but no control group? - Correct answer Before and After Design" "A researcher studies the effect of admitting men on the performance of women in traditionally all female colleges. For the study, she selects two traditionally all-female colleges that are of comparable size, have comparable admission requirements and costs, and attract a similar type of student. One of these colleges is soon to begin admitting men. She obtains academic aptitude scores for all the women in both colleges before the men were admitted. One year after men are admitted to one college, the researcher again obtains academic aptitude scores for women at both colleges. She compares the score for the two colleges to identify the effect of the college admitting men. The college that did not admit men in this design is the - Correct answer Control Group designated before the treatment occurred" "Laboratory experiments tend to have high external validity, but low internal validity - Correct answer False" "By design, a true experiment conducted in a laboratory should be able to establish all but which of the following criteria for determining that a causal relation exists between two variables - Correct answer Identification of the mechanism by which the treatment has its effect" "Electronic surveys are a good, inexpensive way to conduct research on the general population. (142-143) - Correct answer False" "The order of questions on a questionnaire may influence how respondents answer questions. - Correct answer True" "Phone surveys are able to reach unlisted numbers through which technique? - Correct answer Random Digit Dialing" "Which of the following is an example of a question with a double negative? - Correct answer Do you disagree with not increasing funding for girls' sports?" "A filter question creates: - Correct answer A skip pattern" "Skip Pattern? - Correct answer The unique combination of questions created in a survey by filter questions & contingent questions" "Contingent Question? - Correct answer A question that is asked of only a subset of survey respondents" "Cognitive Interview? - Correct answer A technique for evaluating questions in which researchers ask ppl test questions, & then probe w/ follow-up questions to learn how they understood the question and what their answers mean" "A person who considers his or her opinion as neutral is known as a: - Correct answer Fence-sitter" "When pretesting a survey instrument, a researcher may conduct an interview in which the respondent answers a question and the researcher then probes with follow-up questions to learn how the question was understood. This type of interview is known as: - Correct answer A cognitive interview" "A group administered survey is similar to a mailed survey in all of the following ways EXCEPT: - Correct answer More than one respondent completes the questionnaire at one time." "The principal problem with using anonymous surveys is - Correct answer Follow-ups are impossible" "Frequency distributions and graphs are examples of inferential statistics. - Correct answer False" "The mean of a variable is defined as its arithmetic average. - Correct answer True" "Crosstabulation is a statistical technique for describing association between two (or more) variables. - Correct answer True" "The probability average is an accurate measure of central tendency for unimodal and bimodal distributions. - Correct answer False" "A frequency distribution can display a singe variable's distribution. - Correct answer True" "Secondary Data Analysis has only been used in the last few years in the social sciences - Correct answer False" "Big Data is never useful on social science research - Correct answer False" "Elaboration analysis allows what to be added to a crosstabs? - Correct answer A third variable" "What statistic indicates whether a relationship found in a random sample's crosstabs is a good estimate for the same relationship in the population? - Correct answer Chi Square" "A histogram is an appropriate graph for what type(s) of variable? - Correct answer Nominal, Ordinal or Interval" "What measure of central tendency is most appropriate for a skewed numeric variable, such as income? - Correct answer Median" "Three features of a distribution's shape are: - Correct answer Central tendency, variability & skewness" "Which statement about the mode is correct? - Correct answer It is the most frequently used measure of central tendency" "All of the following are ways of defining the median of a distribution EXCEPT: - Correct answer The arithmetic average" "In words, the standard deviation is the: - Correct answer Square root of the average absolute deviation of each case from the mean" "Which of the following is FALSE about normal curves? - Correct answer There cannot be any cases above or below standard deviations from the mean" "What is not a reason that secondary data analysis is popular with social scientists - Correct answer Easy" "Estimating the probability that an association between two variables is not due to chance in a crosstabular analysis is based on an inferential statistic called: (p. 213) - Correct answer Chi Square" "Qualitative research, such as participant observation, generally involves little time commitment. - Correct answer False" "It is always unethical to enter into the field without disclosing identity as research to all subjects of field research. - Correct answer False" "Qualitative researchers generally select a single or small number of field sites or key informants to interview - Correct answer True" "There is no formal procedure for assessing the generalizability of focus groups. - Correct answer True" "In-depth interviews must have a strict, planned order of questions. - Correct answer False" "The primary source of data in focus groups and intensive interviews is - Correct answer Transcriptions" "At least some subjects are aware of the field researcher's identity, except in: - Correct answer Covert Participation" "Which is not a form of qualitative research? - Correct answer Content Analysis" "A field researcher must be vigilant of reactive effects, in which: - Correct answer Changes in individual or group behavior that are due to being observed" "Participant observation refers to: - Correct answer A continuum of roles from complete observer to complete participant" "Field research is a common name for which of the following forms of research: - Correct answer Participant Observation" "A researcher studies the effect of admitting men on the performance of women in traditionally all female colleges. For the study, she selects two traditionally all-female colleges that are of comparable size, have comparable admission requirements and costs, and attract a similar type of student. One of these colleges is soon to begin admitting men. She obtains academic aptitude scores for all the women in both colleges before the men were admitted. One year after men are admitted to one college, the researcher again obtains academic aptitude scores for women at both colleges. She compares the score for the two colleges to identify the effect of the college admitting men. What quasi-experimental design is this study? - Correct answer Non-equivalent control group" In a true experimental design, a researcher uses random assignment to designate two groups: one that receives experimental treatment and one that does not. - Correct answer True" "Quasi-experimental designs are distinguished from true experimental designs because they lack control groups. - Correct answer False" "In field research, research subjects who control access to the field or to other subjects are called: - Correct answer Gatekeepers" "The primary means of recording participant observation data is by creating: - Correct answer Field Notes" "Which of the following is FALSE about intensive interviewing - Correct answer Tape recording generally alters the content of intensive interviews" "An emic focus involves representing a setting with the researcher's terms. - Correct answer False" "Grounded theory is a theory developed deductively. - Correct answer False" "Interpretive Questions? - Correct answer Questions included in a questionnaire or interview schedule to help explain answers to other important questions" "To read text interpretively, a researcher tries to interpret what the text really means. - Correct answer True" "Conversation analysis focuses on the sequence and details of conversational interaction rather than on the "stories" that people are telling - Correct answer True" "NVivo and HyperRESEARCH are statistical software packages. - Correct answer False" "Anthropologists call the intention of representing a setting under study in the terms of the researcher: - Correct answer Etic Focus" "Research questions in qualitative analysis tend to be - Correct answer Open-ended and Exploratory" "To reflexively analyze text, what must a researcher focus on? - Correct answer How his or her orientation shapes research" "After identifying concepts in qualitative data, the next step in qualitative analysis is what? - Correct answer Code the results" "Which of the following questions is not important for evaluating qualitative research? - Correct answer Is it based on thin and weak materials?" "Which of the following is NOT a guideline in order to help researchers start analyzing qualitative data? - Correct answer Be strict and inflexible" "Historical methods are predominately quantitative, variable-oriented, and nomothetic. - Correct answer False" "A unique challenge of comparative research is that the meaning of concepts and the operational definitions of variables may differ between nations or regions. - Correct answer True" "Archival data is _____ be reflective of reality. - Correct answer May Not" "Researchers who are doing ethnographic or field research are using _________ to conduct their research. - Correct answer Observations" "What is the purpose of a coding procedure? - Correct answer To detail how coding decisions are to be made, what categories are, how categories are defined and sometimes give examples of the sorts of data that fit into each category" "Developing reliable and valid coding procedures is difficult because: - Correct answer The meaning of words and phrases is often ambiguous & Text segments must also be inspected" "What can be assessed by comparing different coder's codes for the same variables in content analysis? - Correct answer Reliability" "Which is NOT a challenge of historical methods. - Correct answer The meaning of concepts and the operational definitions of variables may differ between nations or regions" "Historical research methods are generally - Correct answer Case-Oriented" "What is a unique challenge of comparative research? - Correct answer The meaning of concepts and the operational definitions of variables may differ between nations or regions." "Comparative Methods help researchers: - Correct answer - Allow for a broader vision about social relations than is possible with cross-sectional research limited to one country or other unit. - Can help social scientists identify the limitations of explanations based on single-nation research - Can suggest the relative importance of universal factors in explaining social phenomena compared with unique factors rooted in specific times & places - Realize the importance of structural factors. (All of the above)" "Ethical issues in unobtrusive methods are: - Correct answer Different from field and survey research" "The direct product of a program's service delivery process is its outcome. - Correct answer False" "Evaluability assessments usually rely on qualitative methods - Correct answer True" "Assessing needs, determining evaluability, and examining the process of a program service deliver have few special ethical dimensions relative to other social research methods. - Correct answer True" "Stakeholders are individuals and groups who have some basis of concern with the program. - Correct answer True" "Exports are resources, raw materials, clients, and staff that go into a program. - Correct answer False" "Theory-driven evaluation is guided by a theory that specifies the process by which the program has an effect. - Correct answer True" "Impact analysis typically uses qualitative methods. - Correct answer False" "Which law requires some type of evaluation on all government programs? - Correct answer The Government Performance and Results Act of 1993" "If scientific causal criteria outweigh political needs in evaluation research, it is known as having what type of orientation: - Correct answer Social Science" "Eastern City proposes developing a community policing program to reduce crime in one neighborhood. The police department, in conjunction with the mayor's office, held several meetings in which they discussed this proposal with neighborhood residents, business owners, and social organizations. In this example, the outcome of the program is intended to be: - Correct answer Reduction of crime in the neighborhood" "Chambliss and Schutt suggests that qualitative interviewing can be most useful in evaluation research in terms of: - Correct answer Investigating program process" "Confidentiality is "particularly thorny" in research on social programs because: - Correct answer Researchers are not legally protected from the requirement that they provide evidence in legal proceedings" "An implementation assessment is another name for a/an? - Correct answer Process Evaluation" "When process evaluation is used to shape and refine the operations of the program that was evaluated, it is called: - Correct answer Formative Evaluation" "In order to start a new program, a service provider seeks to find out how much the program will cost per outcome desired. The service provider needs to find an investigator to conduct what kind of research? - Correct answer Efficiency Analysis" "Causal Effect? - Correct answer Finding that change in one variable leads to change in another variable" "What are the 5 criterias that causes a causal relationship? - Correct answer Association, Time Order, Nonspuriousness, Mechanism, Context" "Association? - Correct answer Criterion for establishing a causal relationship bwtn two variables: Variation in one variable is empirically related to variation on another variable" "Time Order? - Correct answer Criterion for establishing a causal relationship between 2 variables Variation in the presumed cause(IV) must occur before the variation in the presumed effect (DV)" "Nonspuriousness? - Correct answer Criterion for establishing a causal relation btwn 2 variaables; when a relationship btwn 2 variables is not caused by variation in a 3rd variable" "Mechanism? - Correct answer A discernible process that creates a causal connection btwn 2 variables." "Context? - Correct answer The larger set of interrelated circumstances in which a particular outcome should be understood" "True Experimental Design? - Correct answer Experiment in which subjects are assigned randomly to an experimental group that receives a treatment or other manipulation of the independent variable and a comparison group that does not receive the treatment or receives some other manipulation. Outcomes are measured in a posttest." "How can you make a questionnaire attractive? - Correct answer Neat, clear, clean & spacious Questions- listed vertically" "Which of the following affects the authenticity of qualitative research? - Correct answer - The credibility of informants - Whether statements were spontaneous or in response to researcher questions - How honestly the researcher explains his or her own experiences, biases, and influences on the research" "Reflexivity refers to what in qualitative research analysis? - Correct answer The researcher's experience in the field" "Floaters? - Correct answer Respondents provide an opinion on a topic in response to a closed ended quetion that does not include a "Don't know" option but who will choose "Don't know" if it is available" "What is a form of qualitative analysis in which the analyst focuses on how respondents impose order on the flow of experience in their lives and so make sense of events and actions in which they have participated? - Correct answer Narrative analysis" "Research that uses photographs, films, or other images as text is known as: - Correct answer Visual Sociology" "Photographs are not considered archival data. - Correct answer False" "Brief observations of people's actions are not useful in social science research. - Correct answer False" "The only strategy researchers use to sample units in a content analysis is simple random sampling. - Correct answer False" "Context Effects? - Correct answer Refers to the influence that earlier questions may have on how subsequent questions are answered." "Comparison Groups? - Correct answer In an experiment, groups that have been exposed to different treatments or values of the IV" "Experimental Group? - Correct answer In a experiment, the group of subjects that receives the treatment or experimental manipulation" "Control Group? - Correct answer A comparison group that receives no treatment." "Posttest? - Correct answer measurement of an outcome (DV) after an experimental intervention or after a presumed IV has changed for some other reason. The posttest is exactly the same "test" as the pretest, but it is administered at a different time" "Pretest? - Correct answer Measurement of an outcome (DV) before an experimental intervention or change in a presumed IV for some other reason." "Double Blind Procedure? - Correct answer An experimental method in which neither the subjects nor the staff delivering experimental treatments know which subjects are getting the treatment" "Double Negative? - Correct answer A question or statement that contains two negatives, which can muddy the meaning of the question." "Double- Barreled questions? - Correct answer A single survey question that actually asks two questions but allows only one answer." "Filter questions? - Correct answer A survey question used to identify a subset of respondents who then are asked other questions." "Questionnaires? - Correct answer A survey instrument containing the questions in a self-administered survey" "Cover Letter? - Correct answer The letter sent with a mailed questionnaire that explains the survey's purpose and auspices and encourages the respondent to participate" "How can we administer surveys? - Correct answer Mailed, Group, Phone, In-person & Electronic" "Descriptive Statistics? - Correct answer Statistics used to described the distribution of and relationship among variables" "Inferential Statistics? - Correct answer Stats used to estimate how likely it is that a statistical result based on data from a random sample is representative of the population from which the sample is assumed to have been selected" "Central Tendency? - Correct answer most common value (for variables measured at the nominal level) or the value around which cases tend to center (for a quantit. variable)" "Variability? - Correct answer The extent to which cases are spread out through the distribution or clustered around just one value" "Skewness? - Correct answer The extent to which cases are clustered more at one or the other end of the distribution of a quantit. variable rather than in a symmetric pattern around its center. Skew can be positive (right skew), w/ the number of cases tapering off in the positive direction, or negative(left skew) w/ the number of cases tapering off in the neg. directions." "Frequency Distribution? - Correct answer Numerical display showing the # of cases & usually the percentage of cases (relative frequencies) corresponding to each value or group of values of a variable" "Mode (probability average)? - Correct answer The most frequent value in a distribution" "Median? - Correct answer The position average, or the point, that divides a distribution in half (50th percentage)" "Mean? - Correct answer The arithmetic or weighted, average computed by adding the value of all the cases and dividing by the total # of cases" "Range? - Correct answer The true upper limit in a distribution minus the true lower limit" "Outlier? - Correct answer An exceptionally high or low value in a distribution" "Interquartile range? - Correct answer The range in a distribution btwn the end of the 1st quartile & the beginning of the 3rd quartile." "Quartiles? - Correct answer The points in a distribution corresponding to the 1st 25% of the cases, the first 50% of the cases & the 1st 75% of the cases" "Variance? - Correct answer A statistic that measures the variability of a distribution as the average squared deviation of each case from the mean" "Standard Deviation? - Correct answer The square root of the average squared deviation of each case from the mean" "Normal Distribution? - Correct answer A symmetric distribution shaped like a bell and centered around the population mean, w/ the # of cases tapering off in a predictable pattern on both sides of the mean" "Cross-Tabulation (crosstab)? - Correct answer A bivariate distribution showing the distribution of one variable for each category of another variable; can also be elaborated using three or more variables" "Reactive Methods? - Correct answer Ppl being studied know they are being studied & may modify their answers or even the behavior being studied itself" "Physical traces? - Correct answer Either the erosion of the accumulation of physical substances that can be used as evidence of activity." "Archival Data? - Correct answer Written or visual record, not produced by the researcher" "Contrived Observation? - Correct answer Observations of situations in which the researcher has deliberately intervened" "Content Analysis? - Correct answer A research method for systematically analyzing and making inferences from text" "Coding Procedures? - Correct answer trash" "Coding? - Correct answer Deciding what variables to measure, using the unit of text to be coded such as words, sentences, themes or paragraphs" "Procedure of Coding? - Correct answer 1. Decide what variables to measure 2. Categories into which the text units are to be coded must be defined." "Archives? - Correct answer Records of all sorts that are already being kept, aside from any social science purpose" "Case-Oriented Research? - Correct answer Research that focuses attention on the nation or other unit as a whole" "Holistic Research? - Correct answer Research concerned w/ the context in which events occurred & the interrelations btwn different events & processes" "Narrative Explanation? - Correct answer An explanation that involves developing a narrative of events and processes that indicates a chain of causes and effects." "Event- Structure Analysis? - Correct answer A systematic method of developing a causal diagram showing the structure of action underlying some chronology of events; the result is an idiographic causal explanation" "Oral History? - Correct answer Data collected through intensive interviews w/ participants in past events." "Variable- orientated research? - Correct answer Focuses attention on variables representing particular aspects of the cases studied and then examines the relations btwn these variables across sets of cases" "What is Evaluation research? - Correct answer A simple systems model 1. Inputs 2. Program Process 3. Outputs 4.Outcomes 5. Feedback 6. Stakeholders" "Inputs? - Correct answer Resources, raw materials, client, and staff that go into a program" "Program Process? - Correct answer The complete treatment or service delivered by the program" "Outputs? - Correct answer The services delivered or new products produced by the program process." "Outcomes? - Correct answer The impact of the program process on the cases processed" "Feedback? - Correct answer Info about service delivery system outputs, outcomes, or operations that is available to any program inputs" "Stakeholders? - Correct answer Individuals and groups who have some basis of concern w/ the program" "Stakeholder approaches to evaluation? - Correct answer An orientation to evaluation research that expects researchers to be responsive primarily to the ppl involved w/ the program" "Social Science (researcher) approaches to evaluation? - Correct answer An orientation to evaluation research that expects researchers to emphasize the importance of researcher expertise & maintenance of autonomy from program stakeholders" "Intergrative approaches to evaluation? - Correct answer An orientation to evaluation research that expects researchers to respond to the concerns of ppl involved w/ the program stakeholders, as well as to the standards & goals of the social scientific community" "Needs Assessment? - Correct answer A type of evaluation research that attempts to determine the needs of some population that might be met w/ a social program" "Evaluability Assessment? - Correct answer A type of evaluation research conducted to determine whether it is feasible to evaluate a program's effects w/in the available time & resources" "Process Evaluation? - Correct answer Investigates the process of service delivery" "Impact Analysis? - Correct answer Evaluation research that answers these questions: Did the program work? Did it have the intended result?" "Cost benefit analysis? - Correct answer A type of evaluation research that compares program costs w/ the economic value of program benefits" "Efficiency Analysis? - Correct answer A type of evaluation research that compares program costs w/ program effects. It can be either a cost-benefit analysis or a cost-effectiveness analysis" "What are the 6 federally mandate criteria that all research needs to adhere to ethically? - Correct answer 1.Are risks minimized? 2. Are risks reasonable in relation to benefits? 3. Selection of individuals equitable? (Randomization implies this) 4. Informed consent given? 5. Data Monitored? 6. Privacy and confidentiality ensured?" "Cost- effectiveness analysis? - Correct answer A type of evaluation research that compares program costs w/ actual program outcomes" "Debriefing? - Correct answer A researcher's informing subjects after an experiment about the experiment's purposes & methods & evaluating subjects' personal reactions to the experiment" "Dependent Variable? - Correct answer A variable that's hypothesized to vary depending on or under the influence of another variable" "Independent variable? - Correct answer A variable that's hypothesized to cause, or lead to, variation in another variable" "External Validity (Cross population generalizability) - Correct answer Exists when findings about one group, population, or setting hold true for other groups, populations, or settings" "Internal Validity (Casual) - Correct answer Exists when a conclusion that A leads to, or results in, B is correct" "Bias? - Correct answer Sampling bias occurs when some population characteristics are over or underrepresented in the sample because of particular features of the method of selecting the sample" "Measure of Association? - Correct answer Type of descriptive statistic that summarizes the strength of an association" "Gamma? - Correct answer A measure of association that is sometimes used in cross-tabular analysis" "Chi-square? - Correct answer An inferential statistic used to test hypotheses about relationships bwtn 2 or more variables in a cross tabulation" "Statistical Significance? - Correct answer Mathematical likelihood that an association is not the result of chance, judged by a criterion the analyst sets" "When researchers analyze data they didn't collect, they are conducting what type of research? - Correct answer Secondary research" "PD along with the mayor, the outcome of the program is to be? - Correct answer Deduction of crime" "Unobtrusive Measure? - Correct answer A measurement based on physical traces or other data that are collected w/o knowledge or participation of the individuals or groups that generated the data"