An organized and elaborate conceptual scheme that serves to explain how social attributes and events
are patterned or related is called a ______. - correct answer theory
Procedures that help organize or describe data collected from a sample or a population are called
______. - correct answer descriptive statistics
The levels of social life on which social scientists focus are called ______. - correct answer
units of analysis
Researchers use the term ______ to refer to information that is obtained and verified by direct
experience. - correct answer empirical research
A(n) ______ is a tentative prediction about how empirical events or attributes will be related or
patterned. - correct answer hypothesis
The total set of cases, objects, groups, or events in which the researcher is interested is called the
______ - correct answer population
A subset of cases selected from the total set of cases is referred to as the ______ - correct answer
sample
The variable the researcher wants to explain ("the effect") is called the ______ - correct answer
dependent variable
The first step in most research involves ______ - correct answer selecting an
interesting question
Which of the following terms is considered a level of measurement? - correct answer
ordinal
, The ______ variable is expected to "cause" or account for the dependent variable - correct answer
independent
What is an example of an interval-ratio level of measurement? - correct answer
income
What is an example of a dichotomous variable? - correct answer marital status
A person's age is an example of a ______ variable - correct answer continuous
The extent to which measures indicate what they are intended to measure is referred to as ______ -
correct answer validity
Identify the independent variable, the dependent variable, and the unit of analysis in the following
hypothesis: On average, the annual household income of female-headed households is about 25% less
than the annual household income of married couple households. - correct answer
Independent: household type Dependent: Annual Household Income
Unit of Analysis: Family/Household
Identify the independent variable, the dependent variable, and the unit of analysis in the following
hypothesis: In the United States, fewer Blacks than Whites own their home as opposed to rent their
home. - correct answer Independent: Race
Dependent: Home Ownership
Unit of Analysis: Individual
Imagine that you were interested in whether or not individuals had a high school education. Which level
of measurement would you use? - correct answer Nominal
Why is the average of the sample not equal to the average of the population as a whole? - correct
answer The population includes the entirety of the researcher's subject
matter, but the sample is just a subset of that. Because the sample only include a small subset of the
total observations, the average will not be equal to that of the population.