1
ISC Practice Quiz Corrected Version -
Research Methods and Concepts Practice
Quizzes
1. Applied research is when ______.
a. the researcher conducts the research without distraction
b. the researcher designs the research to shed light on a specific company or organizational
problem
c. the research data is analysed at a distance from where it was collated
d. the researcher conducts all aspects of the research themselves
2. Action research is when ______.
a. the research involves a great deal of travelling
b. the respondents are involved in collecting and analysing the data themselves
c. the researcher studies an organizational change over time
d. the focus of the research is the researcher themselves
3. Pure research is where ______.
a. the main focus of the research is on new contribution to knowledge and the development of
theory
b. the research process is followed in as precise a manner as is humanly possible
c. the results of previous studies form the basis of the hypothesis to be used for a new study
d. ethical approval ratings are as high as possible
4. Which of the following are secondary data as opposed to primary data?
a. observation of a particular activity
b. interviewing stakeholders
c. sending out questionnaires to specific individuals for them to answer questions on an issue
or topic
d. customer feedback forms
5. Mode 1 research is conducted within the context of ______.
a. engagement
b. by the researcher keeping a discreet distance
c. a discipline
d. practice
6. Mode 2 research focuses on ______.
pg. 1
,2
a. engagement with a wide range of stakeholders
b. keeping a discreet distance from those connected to the issue under study
c. a single academic disciplinary area
d. a particular problem or practice
7. A useful analogy for research is ______.
a. fighting in a battle, where a commander deploys their troops
b. climbing a hill, where you prepare what equipment you will need
c. cooking, where there is a recipe for which ingredients are needed
d. sailing across the oceans, where you will need to carefully navigate unknown areas in
unknown conditions
8. Research requires clear objectives and Tracy (2013) gives a number of suggestions of how
students might identify a research topic. Which of the following does she not suggest as
helpful?
a. interests stemming from the students’ personal life
b. current events, e.g. societal problems or organizational dilemmas
c. a topic done by a student in a previous year
d. current research debates drawn from reading academic literature in the person’s area of interest
9. Why might developing a conceptual model of how your research might fit within
existing literature help?
a. It offers a blueprint for exactly where the research should be conducted.
b. It might help to guide and align the researcher’s theorizing in productive and focused
ways.
c. It offers a casual map to enable the researcher to undertake the components of their research
in a particular order.
10. Which of the following is NOT a component of research that needs to be in balance? a.
the researcher’s skills
b. how others have tackled similar research questions before
c. the choice of an appropriate research design, methodology, and the techniques to be used for
the conduct of the research
d. the particular questions to be answered/explored through the research
**********************************************************************
11. Which of the following is a reason to undertake a systematic review of the literature?
pg. 2
,3
a. being able to access important ‘grey’ literature
b. increasing the transparency of a review
c. being able to reach older yet still important contributions
d. enhancing creativity and intuition
12. What is the function of a Boolean operator?
a. to identify a particular type of publication
b. to broaden the scope of a search on a particular subject
c. to delineate the scope and depth of research results
d. to have a programme that can operate within the Google platform
13. What is a citation search?
a. It traces all the publications of a particular author over time.
b. It traces key authors of journal articles or books to previous or future related work in
relation to a particular topic.
c. It traces articles on a particular topic from books as opposed to journal articles.
d. It calculates the impact factor for a journal.
14. Which of these is NOT an advantage of using a library?
a. to obtain print information that is available but difficult to access elsewhere
b. to access working papers ahead of print
c. to have experts to help
d. to identify adjacent material that might be of interest/use on a related topic
15. Which of the following is a scholarly database?
a. Detox
b. Protocol
c. ABI Complete
d. ReQuest
e. all of these
16. A checklist of a literature review would NOT include which of the following key items?
a. the topic and scope clearly identified
b. a clear understanding of the relevant terms and concepts
c. material from as far back as it is possible to obtain
d. research conceptualized/reordered in such a way that new perspectives are generated
17. Which of the following statements would NOT define a main purpose of a literature
review?
a. to learn from previous research in order to be in a position to ask focused questions
b. to provide a context for the research that is to be undertaken
pg. 3
, 4
c. to show volume of research that has been conducted on a particular topic
d. to clearly indicate what the new research will add to what is already known
18. Which of the following questions links to the key criterion of ‘authorship’, used for
evaluating sources of information?
a. When was the source created and last updated?
b. Is the source authoritative and therefore credible?
c. What motivations have led to the creation of the work?
d. Is there sufficient information/data/analysis offered to make the paper rigorous?
19. A critical literature review requires the researchers to ______.
a. be negative about the literature they read
b. highlight the reasons why previous research was misguided or poorly conducted
c. select literature they find easy to criticise
d. evaluate the contribution of previous research in the light of a new research questions
20. It can be useful to begin a literature review with a brief research statement. Of the
statements below, which would you NOT expect to see?
a. What is the topic of the research?
b. How does this project relate to past research in the field?
c. What methodological approaches should be excluded?
d. Why a given body of literature is relevant to the research
********************************************************************************
21. What is the definition of ontology?
a. a specific way of gathering and analysing information
b. a general set of assumptions about ways of inquiring into the nature of the world
c. philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality
d. a combination of techniques used to inquire into a specific situation
22. What is the definition of epistemology?
a. a specific way of gathering and analysing information
b. a general set of assumptions about ways of inquiring into the nature of the world
c. philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality
d. a combination of techniques used to inquire into a specific situation
23. What is the definition of methodology?
a. a specific way of gathering and analysing information
b. a general set of assumptions about ways of inquiring into the nature of the world
c. philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality
d. a combination of techniques used to inquire into a specific situation
pg. 4
ISC Practice Quiz Corrected Version -
Research Methods and Concepts Practice
Quizzes
1. Applied research is when ______.
a. the researcher conducts the research without distraction
b. the researcher designs the research to shed light on a specific company or organizational
problem
c. the research data is analysed at a distance from where it was collated
d. the researcher conducts all aspects of the research themselves
2. Action research is when ______.
a. the research involves a great deal of travelling
b. the respondents are involved in collecting and analysing the data themselves
c. the researcher studies an organizational change over time
d. the focus of the research is the researcher themselves
3. Pure research is where ______.
a. the main focus of the research is on new contribution to knowledge and the development of
theory
b. the research process is followed in as precise a manner as is humanly possible
c. the results of previous studies form the basis of the hypothesis to be used for a new study
d. ethical approval ratings are as high as possible
4. Which of the following are secondary data as opposed to primary data?
a. observation of a particular activity
b. interviewing stakeholders
c. sending out questionnaires to specific individuals for them to answer questions on an issue
or topic
d. customer feedback forms
5. Mode 1 research is conducted within the context of ______.
a. engagement
b. by the researcher keeping a discreet distance
c. a discipline
d. practice
6. Mode 2 research focuses on ______.
pg. 1
,2
a. engagement with a wide range of stakeholders
b. keeping a discreet distance from those connected to the issue under study
c. a single academic disciplinary area
d. a particular problem or practice
7. A useful analogy for research is ______.
a. fighting in a battle, where a commander deploys their troops
b. climbing a hill, where you prepare what equipment you will need
c. cooking, where there is a recipe for which ingredients are needed
d. sailing across the oceans, where you will need to carefully navigate unknown areas in
unknown conditions
8. Research requires clear objectives and Tracy (2013) gives a number of suggestions of how
students might identify a research topic. Which of the following does she not suggest as
helpful?
a. interests stemming from the students’ personal life
b. current events, e.g. societal problems or organizational dilemmas
c. a topic done by a student in a previous year
d. current research debates drawn from reading academic literature in the person’s area of interest
9. Why might developing a conceptual model of how your research might fit within
existing literature help?
a. It offers a blueprint for exactly where the research should be conducted.
b. It might help to guide and align the researcher’s theorizing in productive and focused
ways.
c. It offers a casual map to enable the researcher to undertake the components of their research
in a particular order.
10. Which of the following is NOT a component of research that needs to be in balance? a.
the researcher’s skills
b. how others have tackled similar research questions before
c. the choice of an appropriate research design, methodology, and the techniques to be used for
the conduct of the research
d. the particular questions to be answered/explored through the research
**********************************************************************
11. Which of the following is a reason to undertake a systematic review of the literature?
pg. 2
,3
a. being able to access important ‘grey’ literature
b. increasing the transparency of a review
c. being able to reach older yet still important contributions
d. enhancing creativity and intuition
12. What is the function of a Boolean operator?
a. to identify a particular type of publication
b. to broaden the scope of a search on a particular subject
c. to delineate the scope and depth of research results
d. to have a programme that can operate within the Google platform
13. What is a citation search?
a. It traces all the publications of a particular author over time.
b. It traces key authors of journal articles or books to previous or future related work in
relation to a particular topic.
c. It traces articles on a particular topic from books as opposed to journal articles.
d. It calculates the impact factor for a journal.
14. Which of these is NOT an advantage of using a library?
a. to obtain print information that is available but difficult to access elsewhere
b. to access working papers ahead of print
c. to have experts to help
d. to identify adjacent material that might be of interest/use on a related topic
15. Which of the following is a scholarly database?
a. Detox
b. Protocol
c. ABI Complete
d. ReQuest
e. all of these
16. A checklist of a literature review would NOT include which of the following key items?
a. the topic and scope clearly identified
b. a clear understanding of the relevant terms and concepts
c. material from as far back as it is possible to obtain
d. research conceptualized/reordered in such a way that new perspectives are generated
17. Which of the following statements would NOT define a main purpose of a literature
review?
a. to learn from previous research in order to be in a position to ask focused questions
b. to provide a context for the research that is to be undertaken
pg. 3
, 4
c. to show volume of research that has been conducted on a particular topic
d. to clearly indicate what the new research will add to what is already known
18. Which of the following questions links to the key criterion of ‘authorship’, used for
evaluating sources of information?
a. When was the source created and last updated?
b. Is the source authoritative and therefore credible?
c. What motivations have led to the creation of the work?
d. Is there sufficient information/data/analysis offered to make the paper rigorous?
19. A critical literature review requires the researchers to ______.
a. be negative about the literature they read
b. highlight the reasons why previous research was misguided or poorly conducted
c. select literature they find easy to criticise
d. evaluate the contribution of previous research in the light of a new research questions
20. It can be useful to begin a literature review with a brief research statement. Of the
statements below, which would you NOT expect to see?
a. What is the topic of the research?
b. How does this project relate to past research in the field?
c. What methodological approaches should be excluded?
d. Why a given body of literature is relevant to the research
********************************************************************************
21. What is the definition of ontology?
a. a specific way of gathering and analysing information
b. a general set of assumptions about ways of inquiring into the nature of the world
c. philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality
d. a combination of techniques used to inquire into a specific situation
22. What is the definition of epistemology?
a. a specific way of gathering and analysing information
b. a general set of assumptions about ways of inquiring into the nature of the world
c. philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality
d. a combination of techniques used to inquire into a specific situation
23. What is the definition of methodology?
a. a specific way of gathering and analysing information
b. a general set of assumptions about ways of inquiring into the nature of the world
c. philosophical assumptions about the nature of reality
d. a combination of techniques used to inquire into a specific situation
pg. 4
