RSC2601 Research in Social Sciences (2020 - Semester 1 - Assignment 2)

RSC2601 – Research in Social Sciences 2020 – Semester 1 – Assignment 2 Question 1: Which of the following are characteristics of nonprobability sampling? It … a) ensures an accurate reflection of the population. b) does not require a list of all the members of the population. c) is mostly used in qualitative research. d) is used where the researcher is concerned with understanding the experience of special segments of the population. e) is used where the researcher is not interested in generalising the findings. 1) (a) (b) (c) 2) (a) (d) (e) 3) (b) (c) (d) 4) (b) (c) (d) (e) 5) (a) (b) (c) (d) (e) Question 2: When a researcher knows in advance that there are important subgroups within the population that need to be included in the sample because they may affect the results of the study, the researcher will use ... sampling. a) accidental b) quota c) judgmental d) stratified random Question 3: If a population contains 50% males and 50% females, and a sample has 10% males and 90% females, then this sample is said to be … a) biased. b) too small. c) representative. d) unbiased. Question 4: Various factors will influence the sample size required for every individual study. In one specific hospital 50 babies were still born in the past 18 months. A researcher conducted 15 individual in-depth interviews with 15 of the fathers to describe their experiences. The sample size of this study is… a) too small, because 50 fathers experienced similar loss. b) adequate, because of the heterogeneous small population. c) too small, because in-depth interviews are easy to conduct. d) adequate, because of the design, population and purpose. Question 5: Overt participant observation (in field research) occurs when … a) a researcher makes tape recordings of conversations, but does not get involved in the social interaction. b) the Hawthorne effect takes place. c) a researcher becomes involved with the activities of the group of participants being observed. d) the reason for a researcher’s presence is not known to the group being observed. Question 6: The item below is to be used in a self-administered questionnaire. However, it contains a problem which should be avoided. “Any change in the top executive staff of an organisation involves at least a temporary diminution of efficiency. Do you also agree?” The above item is problematic because it … a) is double-barrelled. b) contains loaded language. c) is a negative statement. d) contains an incomplete question. Question 7: You want to determine the reasons why community health workers are disgruntled in a specific geographic area. The most appropriate way in which you would collect this information, is by using … a) semantic differential scales. b) Likert scales. c) covert observation. d) in-depth interviews. Question 8: An advantage of using focus-group interviews is that … a) diverse opinions can be obtained. b) a sensitive topic can be researched. c) geographic boundaries do not exist. d) it is a covert form of data-collection. Question 9: A table or graph showing how many cases in a data set obtained each possible score on a test is called a … a) score chart. b) data summary chart. c) random sample of scores. d) frequency distribution. Question 10: The midmost value in a sample of scores, or the value which is higher than half of the scores and lower than the other half, is called the … a) central tendency. b) mode. c) median. d) mean. Question 11: Which measure of variability is equal to 13 in the following set of data? 2 4 9 10 15 a) range b) variance c) standard deviation d) spread Question 12: Which best describes the frequency distribution of the age of readers of a financial magazine? a) The total of all ages divided by the number of readers. b) The standard deviation indicating the spread of the age distribution. c) A table of the number of readers aged 18, 19, etc. d) A graph of the ages of readers arranged from young to old. Question 13: See Reading box 9.8 for assistance with the question. Complete the following statement. ... use Boolean logic to conduct searches in data. a) Word processing packages b) Text retriever systems c) Relational database management systems d) Code and retrieve software e) Theory and network builders Question 14: Which of the following statements fit the task description of qualitative researchers? Qualitative researchers … (a) aim to understand and interpret how the various participants in a specific social setting construct and interpret the world around them. (b) aim to give privilege to the perspectives of the research participants. (c) concern themselves with the question whether participants’ perspectives have been authentically represented in the research process and the interpretations made from the information gathered. (d) concern themselves with whether the findings are consistent in the sense that they “fit” the data and the social context from which they were derived. 1) (a) (b) 2) (c) (d) 3) (a) (c) (d) 4) (a) (b) (c) (d) Question 15: What pointers should you as a qualitative researcher keep in mind when reading through the transcription of interviews conducted? (a) If the transcripts are too extensive, do not attempt to read them all at once. (b) When your mind starts to wander or you become impatient or start feeling uninterested, it is time to pause. (c) Refrain from starting to read the transcripts from the beginning of the document. 1) (a) (c) 2) (b) 3) (c) 4) (a) (b) (c) Question 16: Coding and analysis should not be confused with one another as they are not synonyms. Coding is a central activity in qualitative data analysis. Which of the following descriptions provide clarity about what a ‘code’ is? (a) Codes are tags or labels assigned to meaning units. (b) Codes are usually attached to chunks of varying-sized words, phrases, sentences or whole paragraphs. (c) A code is a short-hand method or way of identifying the theme/category in a transcription. (d) Codes typically take the form of strings of letters and/or symbols. 1) (a) 2) (b) (d) 3) (c) 4) (a) (b) (c) (d) Question 17: The type of research report selected to record your research is dependent on … a) the context of that research. b) the need for archiving that research. c) the research being replicable. d) scientific norms and values. Question 18: A literature review for a research report should … a) contain a detailed review of all previously published reports. b) contain a selective review of evidence pertinent to the current research project. c) be at least 5000 words. d) contain as many as possible quotations to make the literature review more clear. Question 19: Which one of the following statements is true? a) The discussion section of the report should relate present findings to previous studies. b) The literature review should be reported in an appendix labeled "references". c) The results section should contain only tables and graphs, and not a description of the data. d) Researchers should not report on the results to prevent misrepresentation of the findings. Question 20: When describing the method you used in a research report, we need to use the … a) present tense. b) present perfect tense. c) past tense. d) present tense, present perfect tense and past tense.