I need help with these questions:
1. Drawing conclusions about a certain unit of analysis, based on evidence from a different unit of analysis results in:
A. a generalizable finding
B. a logical fallacy (either ecological or reductionist)
C. a statistically significant effect
D. an unethical research project
2. Which of the following is not a reason that science is considered a more trustworthy way of knowing things?
A. Empirical evidence
B. Quantitative data
C. Methodical rules
D. Replication of findings
3. Within the framework of modern-day, positivist-oriented research, sociologists only rely upon which way of knowing?
A. Tradition
B. Authority
C. Common sense
D. Scientific
4. When would a researcher choose a probabilistic sampling method instead a non-probabilistic sampling method?
A. The researcher wishes to generalize the results to the entire population.
B. The research demands a larger sample size.
C. Conducting a census would be too costly.
D. The researcher does not wish to gather a random sample.
5. A group of individual measures, which when combined, indicates some more general characteristic (for example: freedom from torture, summary execution, disappearance, and political imprisonment can be combined to indicate “physical integrity rights”), is called:
A. an index
B. a dependent variable
C. an ordinal variable
D. a typology
E. an experiment
6. If an academic sociologist wishes to publish research in a prestigious, scholarly journal, they submit an unidentifiable (i.e. the author’s name is removed) manuscript to the editor. This type of action is done
A. to create the illusion of equal opportunity amongst authors
B. to guarantee anonymous, peer-review of the manuscript
C. to shield the editor from the author’s reputation
D. to waste the author’s time
E. to prevent someone else from improperly citing the author’s work
7. Which of the following is not true? If something is a reliable measure, it
A. is consistent across time
B. is dependable even when applied to different groups of people
C. usually gives equivalent results across similar indicators
D. is truthful and matches reality exactly
8. Which of the following is an example of a nominal variable?
A. Ethnic identity (by group affiliation)
B. Average income (in dollars)
C. Age (in years)
D. Support for the US President (on a scale of 1 [bad] to 10 [good])
9. Nomothetic research
A. is primarily concerned with gathering qualitative data
B. tries to discover general causes to phenomenon
C. tries to explore idiosyncratic situations to understand all the intricate conditions under which something occurs
D. starts with basic observations and tries to work towards building a theoretical understanding of the data collected
10. Doug McAdam studied the American civil rights movement. He looked at records of what the movement did, when it did those things, and how those things worked for the movement. By making lots of these observations, McAdam developed a theoretical understanding of how social movements behave and what sorts of things contribute to their success. Which of the following best characterizes this research?
A. Inductive approach
B. Epistemological
C. Quantitative data collection
D. Deductive approach
E. Qualitative data collection
11. What type of research design would someone use if they wanted to evaluate the effect of pre-teenagers’ beliefs about college upon the college enrollment for those same individuals when they enter middle age?
A. Longitudinal
B. Cross-sectional
C. Non-spuriousness
D. All of the above
12. If a researcher were to analyze how age affected education level, what would be the independent variable?
A. analysis
B. age
C. dependent variable
D. education level
E. the researcher
13. Which is one of the two main qualities that a research question should possess?
A. quantitative in nature
B. explanatory
C. answerable
D. ontological
14. What level of measurement should be chosen for data about subjective class level (i.e., working class, middle class, etc.)?
A. nominal
B. ordinal
C. interval
D. ratio
15. Which of the following conclusions is likely derived from explanatory research (as opposed to exploratory or descriptive research)?
A. Poor people are twice as likely as middle-class people to live in urban areas.
B. Poor people are likely to be found in urban areas and rural areas.
C. Poor people tend to be disproportionately unemployed, unhealthy, under-educated, and at-risk of incarceration.
D. Poor people who live in urban areas are poor due to structural barriers preventing their access to jobs, quality schools, and safe neighborhoods.
16. What is the main difference between ordinal and interval/ratio variables?
A. The ability to rank the data in order
B. The methods used to collect them (e.g. surveys, experiments)
C. The distance between units
D. The research school (e.g. nomothetic vs. ideographic)
17. Deductive research methods
A. are designed to use valid, but not reliable measures
B. begin with gathering data and then develop a theory
C. begin with an independent variable that leads to an dependent variable
D. begin with a theory and then gather data
18. What is the best way to conceptualize “social violence”?
A. “Harm to one’s physical person”
B. “War”
C. Whichever concept is the easiest thing to observe or measure
D. Whatever concept is most appropriate to the theoretical questions the research is interested in answering
E. Through participant observation
19. A latent construct
A. cannot be directly observed
B. consists of multiple manifest measurements
C. is often estimated via structural equation modeling (SEM)
D. all the above
20. With the research question “What is the impact of gender upon annual income?”, what type of variable is income?
A. Constant
B. Dependent variable
C. Independent variable
D. Mediator variable
E. Moderator variable
21. To be able to demonstrate causality, one must guarantee all of the following conditions, except:
A. the independent variable is measured during a time period prior to the dependent variable
B. no other variables could potentially be causing the relationship
C. the independent and dependent variables must be both reliable and valid
D. the independent variable is significantly correlated with the dependent variable
E. all the above are conditions of causality
22. The levels of analyses corresponding with (1) university departments, (2) professor-student meetings during office hours, and (3) higher education are (respectively):
A. micro, meso, macro
B. meso, macro, micro
C. meso, micro, macro
D. macro, meso, micro
E. macro, meso, macro
23. In the Tuskegee Syphilis and Human Radiation experiments, which of the following ethical protections did researchers not insure?
A. Confidentiality
B. Anonymity
C. Informed consent
D. None of the above
24. Good sociological research-that which is useful to the discipline of sociology-helps to
A. overcome the weakness of the scientific method by drawing conclusions based on the personal opinions of researchers
B. extend the incomplete knowledge that has been discovered from previously conducted studies
C. create a perfect, unwavering consensus as to how the world works, so sociologists do not have to do any more research again, ever
D. make other social science disciplines-like economics, political science, anthropology, and history-look foolish in comparison to sociology’s awesomeness
25. What other variables are unlikely to be having a spurious effect upon this potentially causal relationship: the number of hours a student studies affects their exam performance?
A. hours of sleep the night before the exam
B. the number of hallucinogenics consumed eight hours prior to the exam
C. having taken the same exam previously
D. the student’s socio-economic status
E. all of these are potentially spurious
F. none of these
26. The Milgram experiments focused on the willingness of subjects to obey the orders of authority figures. Milgram’s
A.unit of analysis was
B. authority
C. individuals
D. violence through electric shock
E. organizations
27. Websites like RateMyProfessor.com utilize what kind of “sampling” method for their instructor evaluations?
A. Quota
B. Convenience
C. Cluster
D. Random/Stratified
28. “Taller height causes greater income.” This statement violates what assumption of causality?
A. Association
B. Time ordering
C. Non-spuriousness
D. Reasonableness
