UCSB COMM 88 MIDTERM EXAM QUESTIONS WITH
SOLUTIONS GRADED A+2025/2026
✔✔Falsifiability - ✔✔A claim that is "falsifiable" is one that CAN be tested, it has a real
chance of being proven false (What can I try to do and try to prove this false?)
Metaphysical claims, for example, are not falsifiable (Can I even try to prove these
false?)
Scientific theories and hypothesis MUST BE FALSIFIABLE, especially true in
quantitative research
✔✔Scientific Theories/Hypotheses should be "falsifiable" - ✔✔This means that
theories/hypotheses must be able to be tested empirically.
There could exist some result that (if you got it) would show that you are wrong.
✔✔Metaphysical claims are not Falsifiable - ✔✔if you cant prove something to be false,
then it is not falsifiable
✔✔Hypotheses can be shown to be true or false - ✔✔We do not talk about "proving a
theory true"
You can only gain support/evidence for your theory to make it more and more "solid"
A
✔✔Hypotheses are not for every type of research - ✔✔Sometimes we may not be
allowed to make predictive claims, some theories cannot be used to make specific
predictions fro your variables
✔✔Research Questions - ✔✔An open ended question, with an unpredicitve nature, that
requires research to formulate an answer.
The choice of word is important, the way the question is worded can tell you a lot about
the type of data being gathered
✔✔Testing Hypothesis/RQ - ✔✔The choice of words are important: when formulating
your hypothesis or rq, when making your analysis, when making your conclusion
✔✔When a Hypothesis claims that X will cause Y, make sure that the results show a
causation and not a correlation (CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION) - ✔✔Proving
that something causes somethign else requires more than a link/association. If your
claiming it you better prove it.
✔✔Making generalized claims - ✔✔for generalized claims, researchers need to
conclude that their findings can only be generalized to the steps they took and the
conditions they measured can only be made about that specific instance
✔✔Associations between variables - ✔✔X is connected to/ related to/ predicts Y
Ex. the more TV violence children watch, the more aggressive the are
, ✔✔Causal relationships between variables - ✔✔X influences/ effects/ changes Y
ex. Violent TV viewing produces aggressive behavior
✔✔Methods for testing different Relationships - ✔✔-Survey or Observational Research
-Experimental Research
✔✔Survey or Observational Research - ✔✔-Tests associations
(relationships/correlations)
-Measure/observe some attitude/behavior & correlate them
-Great for external validity
-Ability to generalize results to other people
-Poor for proving causality
✔✔Experiment Research - ✔✔-Test causality in relationships by manipulating the
variables and control the environment. it establishes a time-order (important for showing
causality). Rules out extraneous variables or causes
-Great for internal validity
-Poor for showing generalizability
✔✔Formulating the Right Hypotheses or Research Question - ✔✔-Don't make your
question too general ("how do students seek help in class")
-Don't ask un-answerable questions ("Are we alone in the universe?")
-Avoid simple of uninteresting yes/no questions ("Do people like using social media to
communicate with others?")
✔✔Formulating the right RQ - ✔✔-Make your question "interesting" (not just to you, but
to an ongoing conversation in some scientific field. Ideally your question will help extend
our knowledge in some way)
-Make you r question focused/ more detailed ("How do students from different social
backgrounds differ in how they seek help in the classroom?")
-Make your quesiton manageable/practical to complete (Don't do a project that would
take 6 months to complete)
✔✔Directional vs Non-Directional Hypotheses and RQs - ✔✔Hypotheses and RQs can
be directional, if they point towards "increases" or "decreased" or use qualifiers like
"more" or "less", they are directional
Ex. Hyp: TV violence viewing will produce more aggressive behavior than will non-
violent TV viewing
Ex RQ: Will children imitate rewarded violence more than punished violence?
✔✔Non-Directional Hyp/RQ examples - ✔✔Hyp ex: There will be gender differences in
imitation of violence (note: it doesn't state whether boys or girls will imitate more & this
styel of non-directional hypothesis is rare.
RQ ex: Will there be gender differenced in children's imitation of violence
SOLUTIONS GRADED A+2025/2026
✔✔Falsifiability - ✔✔A claim that is "falsifiable" is one that CAN be tested, it has a real
chance of being proven false (What can I try to do and try to prove this false?)
Metaphysical claims, for example, are not falsifiable (Can I even try to prove these
false?)
Scientific theories and hypothesis MUST BE FALSIFIABLE, especially true in
quantitative research
✔✔Scientific Theories/Hypotheses should be "falsifiable" - ✔✔This means that
theories/hypotheses must be able to be tested empirically.
There could exist some result that (if you got it) would show that you are wrong.
✔✔Metaphysical claims are not Falsifiable - ✔✔if you cant prove something to be false,
then it is not falsifiable
✔✔Hypotheses can be shown to be true or false - ✔✔We do not talk about "proving a
theory true"
You can only gain support/evidence for your theory to make it more and more "solid"
A
✔✔Hypotheses are not for every type of research - ✔✔Sometimes we may not be
allowed to make predictive claims, some theories cannot be used to make specific
predictions fro your variables
✔✔Research Questions - ✔✔An open ended question, with an unpredicitve nature, that
requires research to formulate an answer.
The choice of word is important, the way the question is worded can tell you a lot about
the type of data being gathered
✔✔Testing Hypothesis/RQ - ✔✔The choice of words are important: when formulating
your hypothesis or rq, when making your analysis, when making your conclusion
✔✔When a Hypothesis claims that X will cause Y, make sure that the results show a
causation and not a correlation (CORRELATION IS NOT CAUSATION) - ✔✔Proving
that something causes somethign else requires more than a link/association. If your
claiming it you better prove it.
✔✔Making generalized claims - ✔✔for generalized claims, researchers need to
conclude that their findings can only be generalized to the steps they took and the
conditions they measured can only be made about that specific instance
✔✔Associations between variables - ✔✔X is connected to/ related to/ predicts Y
Ex. the more TV violence children watch, the more aggressive the are
, ✔✔Causal relationships between variables - ✔✔X influences/ effects/ changes Y
ex. Violent TV viewing produces aggressive behavior
✔✔Methods for testing different Relationships - ✔✔-Survey or Observational Research
-Experimental Research
✔✔Survey or Observational Research - ✔✔-Tests associations
(relationships/correlations)
-Measure/observe some attitude/behavior & correlate them
-Great for external validity
-Ability to generalize results to other people
-Poor for proving causality
✔✔Experiment Research - ✔✔-Test causality in relationships by manipulating the
variables and control the environment. it establishes a time-order (important for showing
causality). Rules out extraneous variables or causes
-Great for internal validity
-Poor for showing generalizability
✔✔Formulating the Right Hypotheses or Research Question - ✔✔-Don't make your
question too general ("how do students seek help in class")
-Don't ask un-answerable questions ("Are we alone in the universe?")
-Avoid simple of uninteresting yes/no questions ("Do people like using social media to
communicate with others?")
✔✔Formulating the right RQ - ✔✔-Make your question "interesting" (not just to you, but
to an ongoing conversation in some scientific field. Ideally your question will help extend
our knowledge in some way)
-Make you r question focused/ more detailed ("How do students from different social
backgrounds differ in how they seek help in the classroom?")
-Make your quesiton manageable/practical to complete (Don't do a project that would
take 6 months to complete)
✔✔Directional vs Non-Directional Hypotheses and RQs - ✔✔Hypotheses and RQs can
be directional, if they point towards "increases" or "decreased" or use qualifiers like
"more" or "less", they are directional
Ex. Hyp: TV violence viewing will produce more aggressive behavior than will non-
violent TV viewing
Ex RQ: Will children imitate rewarded violence more than punished violence?
✔✔Non-Directional Hyp/RQ examples - ✔✔Hyp ex: There will be gender differences in
imitation of violence (note: it doesn't state whether boys or girls will imitate more & this
styel of non-directional hypothesis is rare.
RQ ex: Will there be gender differenced in children's imitation of violence
