Page 1 of 240
2 EXAM LATEST VERSIONS ALL 450 QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
VERIFIED SOLUTIONS
WGU C273 OA INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY EXAM A
Which of the following would NOT be an example of applied sociology?
a. A study to measure how often former prisoners recommit crimes compared to how
many times they are required to check in with their parole officers.
b. Medical researchers recording how often patients bring up partner abuse to a doctor
during a regular check-up based on different scripts the doctors use to ask about the patients'
home situations.
c. A study measuring the effectiveness of two different youth programs in raising
students' grades.
d. A graduate student running a research project to see if including certain words into a
passage volunteers read evokes greater feelings of patriotism in them as measured by a
survey.
A graduate student running a research project to see if including certain words into a passage
volunteers read evokes greater feelings of patriotism in them as measured by a survey
A clinical sociologist would most likely be found in what area?
a) business
b) health care
c) education
d) academia health care; clinical sociologists often work in the medical field
1
,Page 2 of 240
Which of the following perspectives would focus on the social significance of rituals like
handshakes, hugs, or high fives?
a) functionalist perspective
b) conflict perspective
c) symbolic interactionist perspective
d) feminist perspective symbolic interactionists are focused on everyday social interactions
Which of the following perspectives would focus on the social inequalities that exist in
capitalist societies?
a) functionalist perspective
b) conflict perspective
c) symbolic interactionist perspective
d) feminist perspective
conflict perspective, pioneered by Karl Marx, often focuses on the conflicts in a capitalist
society, though it can take up other types of social conflict and inequality
A feminist perspective is closest to which other major sociological perspective? a)
functionalism
b) conflict perspective
c) symbolic interactionalism
d) none of the above
conflict perspective; feminism does not primarily see gender as part of how a society creates
balance but instead as part of how certain social groups oppress or exploit others, a perspective
close to that of conflict theory explanatory research research that explains why a social
phenomenon occurs
2
,Page 3 of 240
A sociologist has a theory that greater social interaction would help older adults retain mental
capacity. What might research do to help her theory?
a. It could further refine the theory by adding an explanation for why adults who interact
more retain greater mental capacity.
b. It could raise issues about her theory by considering other theories that better explain
the phenomenon.
c. It could provide evidence to support her theory by comparing the social interactions of
mentally sharp older adults to the interactions of those who have average mental capacity. d.
It could spread her theory beyond older adults by addressing other social groups.
It could provide evidence to support her theory by comparing the social interactions of mentally
sharp older adults to the interactions of those who have average mental capacity; research
provides information to bolster or undermine a sociological theory
Which of the following is the best example of descriptive research?
a. A project that records the language young Caucasians in a certain metro region use to
describe people of African-American heritage.
b. A project that measures the frequency with which consumers buy a product after seeing
images where a beautiful woman is shown using the product.
c. A study that compares the rates of vaping in different grades.
d. A survey that asks people about their beliefs on hot-button political issues and then asks
about voting behavior.
A project that records the language young Caucasians in a certain metro region use to describe
people of African-American heritage; this project seeks to more fully describe a social situation,
perhaps providing evidence for a theory or suggesting avenues of further research quantitative
3
, Page 4 of 240
a type of research focusing on data that can be measured numerically (typically emphasizing
complex statistical techniques) qualitative
a type of research focusing on observations or descriptions (words) and using these to analyze
underlying meanings, patterns, or themes of social relationships variable a factor that can
vary or chance given changing conditions
Hawthorne effect
The phenomenon in which individuals who are being studied modify their behavior simply
because they are being observed statistically significant
occurs when the differences between the groups being studied are the result of factors other
than chance correlation the extent or degree of statistical association among two or more
variables
Why is creating an operational definition important? a)
It is needed to further refine the theory
b) it is needed to raise methodological issues
c) it is needed to analyze the research results
d) it is needed to allow a hypothesis to be tested
operational definitions allow a concept, such as "success," to be measured and analyzed with
data
What is a disadvantage of using an experiment to gather data in sociological research? a)
it does not generate sufficient data
b) people may not act the way they would in real life
c) it may not be replicable by other social scientists
4
2 EXAM LATEST VERSIONS ALL 450 QUESTIONS AND CORRECT
VERIFIED SOLUTIONS
WGU C273 OA INTRODUCTION TO SOCIOLOGY EXAM A
Which of the following would NOT be an example of applied sociology?
a. A study to measure how often former prisoners recommit crimes compared to how
many times they are required to check in with their parole officers.
b. Medical researchers recording how often patients bring up partner abuse to a doctor
during a regular check-up based on different scripts the doctors use to ask about the patients'
home situations.
c. A study measuring the effectiveness of two different youth programs in raising
students' grades.
d. A graduate student running a research project to see if including certain words into a
passage volunteers read evokes greater feelings of patriotism in them as measured by a
survey.
A graduate student running a research project to see if including certain words into a passage
volunteers read evokes greater feelings of patriotism in them as measured by a survey
A clinical sociologist would most likely be found in what area?
a) business
b) health care
c) education
d) academia health care; clinical sociologists often work in the medical field
1
,Page 2 of 240
Which of the following perspectives would focus on the social significance of rituals like
handshakes, hugs, or high fives?
a) functionalist perspective
b) conflict perspective
c) symbolic interactionist perspective
d) feminist perspective symbolic interactionists are focused on everyday social interactions
Which of the following perspectives would focus on the social inequalities that exist in
capitalist societies?
a) functionalist perspective
b) conflict perspective
c) symbolic interactionist perspective
d) feminist perspective
conflict perspective, pioneered by Karl Marx, often focuses on the conflicts in a capitalist
society, though it can take up other types of social conflict and inequality
A feminist perspective is closest to which other major sociological perspective? a)
functionalism
b) conflict perspective
c) symbolic interactionalism
d) none of the above
conflict perspective; feminism does not primarily see gender as part of how a society creates
balance but instead as part of how certain social groups oppress or exploit others, a perspective
close to that of conflict theory explanatory research research that explains why a social
phenomenon occurs
2
,Page 3 of 240
A sociologist has a theory that greater social interaction would help older adults retain mental
capacity. What might research do to help her theory?
a. It could further refine the theory by adding an explanation for why adults who interact
more retain greater mental capacity.
b. It could raise issues about her theory by considering other theories that better explain
the phenomenon.
c. It could provide evidence to support her theory by comparing the social interactions of
mentally sharp older adults to the interactions of those who have average mental capacity. d.
It could spread her theory beyond older adults by addressing other social groups.
It could provide evidence to support her theory by comparing the social interactions of mentally
sharp older adults to the interactions of those who have average mental capacity; research
provides information to bolster or undermine a sociological theory
Which of the following is the best example of descriptive research?
a. A project that records the language young Caucasians in a certain metro region use to
describe people of African-American heritage.
b. A project that measures the frequency with which consumers buy a product after seeing
images where a beautiful woman is shown using the product.
c. A study that compares the rates of vaping in different grades.
d. A survey that asks people about their beliefs on hot-button political issues and then asks
about voting behavior.
A project that records the language young Caucasians in a certain metro region use to describe
people of African-American heritage; this project seeks to more fully describe a social situation,
perhaps providing evidence for a theory or suggesting avenues of further research quantitative
3
, Page 4 of 240
a type of research focusing on data that can be measured numerically (typically emphasizing
complex statistical techniques) qualitative
a type of research focusing on observations or descriptions (words) and using these to analyze
underlying meanings, patterns, or themes of social relationships variable a factor that can
vary or chance given changing conditions
Hawthorne effect
The phenomenon in which individuals who are being studied modify their behavior simply
because they are being observed statistically significant
occurs when the differences between the groups being studied are the result of factors other
than chance correlation the extent or degree of statistical association among two or more
variables
Why is creating an operational definition important? a)
It is needed to further refine the theory
b) it is needed to raise methodological issues
c) it is needed to analyze the research results
d) it is needed to allow a hypothesis to be tested
operational definitions allow a concept, such as "success," to be measured and analyzed with
data
What is a disadvantage of using an experiment to gather data in sociological research? a)
it does not generate sufficient data
b) people may not act the way they would in real life
c) it may not be replicable by other social scientists
4
