MSW STUDY EXAM GUIDE UPDATED QUESTIONS AND
ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔Explanatory studies are designed to find answers to which of the following
questions?
a. Are people's attitudes toward public welfare changing?
b. Why are people's attitudes toward public welfare changing?
c. Who watches soap operas?
d. All of the above. - ✔✔b. Why are people's attitudes toward public welfare changing?
✔✔Exploratory studies:
a. can employ qualitative, quantitative, and/or mixed methods.
b. always use qualitative methods.
c. always use quantitative methods.
d. usually use quantitative methods. - ✔✔a. can employ qualitative, quantitative, and/or
mixed methods.
✔✔Evaluation studies:
a. are done for exploration purposes.
b. are done for description purposes.
c. all are done for explanation purposes.
d. can be done for exploration, description or explanatory purposes. - ✔✔d. can be
done for exploration, description or explanatory purposes.
✔✔Which of the following statements is true regarding the influence of ethical
considerations on social work research?
a. If a study violates any ethical guidelines, regardless of how subtle the violation is and
regardless of the study's expected benefits, it will not be approved by an IRB.
b. It is sometimes difficult to judge whether the expected benefits of a study outweigh
subtle and arguable ethical concerns.
c. Most agency studies that involve their clients as research participants do NOT
require obtaining IRB approval.
d. If a study is being done on clients who are court ordered for treatment, voluntary
participation and informed consent are no longer relevant as an ethical issue. - ✔✔b. It
is sometimes difficult to judge whether the expected benefits of a study outweigh subtle
and arguable ethical concerns.
✔✔Sampling with hidden and oppressed populations:
a. almost always should involve probability sampling methods.
b. should avoid using the researcher's judgment about finding potential participants.
c. often must utilize the snowball sampling method.
d. never should combine probability and non-probability sampling methods. - ✔✔c.
often must utilize the snowball sampling method.
✔✔Which of the following statements is true about culturally competent interviewing?
, a. All interviewers must be of the same ethnicity as the respondent.
b. Although matching interviewer and interviewee ethnicity is not a foolproof guarantee
that an interview will be culturally competent, it is a good rule of thumb to follow
whenever possible.
c. Interviewers should NOT be of the same ethnicity as the respondent.
d. Avoiding cultural bias is ensured if interviewer speaks the respondent's language. -
✔✔
✔✔A study tests the hypothesis that the provision of social work intervention will reduce
the school dropout rate. It finds that social work intervention reduces the dropout rate
only of children whose families are experiencing high levels of family stress. In this
study, what type of variable is "level of family stress"?
a. independent variable.
b. dependent variable.
c. moderating variable.
d. mediating variable. - ✔✔c. moderating variable.
✔✔In social work studies testing hypotheses involving the variable "level of social
functioning" that variable is:
a. always the dependent variable.
b. always either the dependent or control variable.
c. always the independent variable.
d. an independent, dependent, or control variable, depending on what is being
conceptualized and postulated in any given study. - ✔✔d. an independent, dependent,
or control variable, depending on what is being conceptualized and postulated in any
given study.
✔✔If we find that test performance improves as level of anxiety increases from low to
moderate amounts and then worsens as level of anxiety increases beyond moderate
amounts, then we have found what type of relationship?
a. positive.
b. negative.
c. curvilinear.
d. causal. - ✔✔b. negative.
✔✔Which of the following IS NOT an operational definition of marital satisfaction?
a. a score on a scale measuring marital satisfaction.
b. whether or not identified by a therapist as having marital problems.
c. amount of marital unhappiness.
d. number of derogatory statements made by spouses to each other. - ✔✔c. amount of
marital unhappiness.
✔✔If we find that rates of behavioral disorder are lower among children who are more
active in sports, then we have found what type of relationship?
a. positive.
ANSWERS GRADED A+
✔✔Explanatory studies are designed to find answers to which of the following
questions?
a. Are people's attitudes toward public welfare changing?
b. Why are people's attitudes toward public welfare changing?
c. Who watches soap operas?
d. All of the above. - ✔✔b. Why are people's attitudes toward public welfare changing?
✔✔Exploratory studies:
a. can employ qualitative, quantitative, and/or mixed methods.
b. always use qualitative methods.
c. always use quantitative methods.
d. usually use quantitative methods. - ✔✔a. can employ qualitative, quantitative, and/or
mixed methods.
✔✔Evaluation studies:
a. are done for exploration purposes.
b. are done for description purposes.
c. all are done for explanation purposes.
d. can be done for exploration, description or explanatory purposes. - ✔✔d. can be
done for exploration, description or explanatory purposes.
✔✔Which of the following statements is true regarding the influence of ethical
considerations on social work research?
a. If a study violates any ethical guidelines, regardless of how subtle the violation is and
regardless of the study's expected benefits, it will not be approved by an IRB.
b. It is sometimes difficult to judge whether the expected benefits of a study outweigh
subtle and arguable ethical concerns.
c. Most agency studies that involve their clients as research participants do NOT
require obtaining IRB approval.
d. If a study is being done on clients who are court ordered for treatment, voluntary
participation and informed consent are no longer relevant as an ethical issue. - ✔✔b. It
is sometimes difficult to judge whether the expected benefits of a study outweigh subtle
and arguable ethical concerns.
✔✔Sampling with hidden and oppressed populations:
a. almost always should involve probability sampling methods.
b. should avoid using the researcher's judgment about finding potential participants.
c. often must utilize the snowball sampling method.
d. never should combine probability and non-probability sampling methods. - ✔✔c.
often must utilize the snowball sampling method.
✔✔Which of the following statements is true about culturally competent interviewing?
, a. All interviewers must be of the same ethnicity as the respondent.
b. Although matching interviewer and interviewee ethnicity is not a foolproof guarantee
that an interview will be culturally competent, it is a good rule of thumb to follow
whenever possible.
c. Interviewers should NOT be of the same ethnicity as the respondent.
d. Avoiding cultural bias is ensured if interviewer speaks the respondent's language. -
✔✔
✔✔A study tests the hypothesis that the provision of social work intervention will reduce
the school dropout rate. It finds that social work intervention reduces the dropout rate
only of children whose families are experiencing high levels of family stress. In this
study, what type of variable is "level of family stress"?
a. independent variable.
b. dependent variable.
c. moderating variable.
d. mediating variable. - ✔✔c. moderating variable.
✔✔In social work studies testing hypotheses involving the variable "level of social
functioning" that variable is:
a. always the dependent variable.
b. always either the dependent or control variable.
c. always the independent variable.
d. an independent, dependent, or control variable, depending on what is being
conceptualized and postulated in any given study. - ✔✔d. an independent, dependent,
or control variable, depending on what is being conceptualized and postulated in any
given study.
✔✔If we find that test performance improves as level of anxiety increases from low to
moderate amounts and then worsens as level of anxiety increases beyond moderate
amounts, then we have found what type of relationship?
a. positive.
b. negative.
c. curvilinear.
d. causal. - ✔✔b. negative.
✔✔Which of the following IS NOT an operational definition of marital satisfaction?
a. a score on a scale measuring marital satisfaction.
b. whether or not identified by a therapist as having marital problems.
c. amount of marital unhappiness.
d. number of derogatory statements made by spouses to each other. - ✔✔c. amount of
marital unhappiness.
✔✔If we find that rates of behavioral disorder are lower among children who are more
active in sports, then we have found what type of relationship?
a. positive.
