Quantitative Research Methods
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Course Introduction
Quantitative Research Methods introduces students to the principles and techniques of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting numerical data in social science research. The course covers the formulation of research questions, hypothesis development, sampling techniques, survey design, and data collection methods. Emphasizing statistical analysis, students learn to use software tools to conduct descriptive and inferential statistics, interpret results, and present findings effectively. Practical applications and case studies enable learners to critically evaluate quantitative studies and apply methodological approaches to real-world research problems.
Recommended Textbook Making Sense of the Social World Methods of Investigation 4th Edition by Daniel F. Chambliss
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Chapter 1: Science, Society, and Social Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) The everyday error that involves the reluctance to change ideas even in light of new information is called:
A) Overgeneralization
B) Selective observation
C) Inaccurate observation
D) Illogical reasoning
E) Resistance to change
Answer: E
Q2) When the results of a study hold true for multiple populations, it can be said that the study has:
A) Cross-population generalizability
B) Measurement validity
C) Sample generalizability
D) Internal validity
E) Causal validity
Answer: A
Q3) Evaluation research can be used to describe the impact of social programs.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 2: The Process and Problems of Social Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) Deductive research begins the research process with theory, from which a hypothesis is derived.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Megan's research found that City H had a much higher median income than City L. Can she assume that an individual selected for a survey of the City H will have a higher income than an individual selected from City L?
A) Yes, because of sample generalizability.
B) No, because of cross-population generalizability.
C) Yes, because of reductionism.
D) No, because of an ecological fallacy.
E) Yes, but only if she uses systematic sampling.
Answer: D
Q3) An anomalous pattern in the data does not seem to fit the theory from which a research hypothesis was derived.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Ethics in Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) Briefly describe the historical development of formal procedures for the protection of human subjects in research. Be sure to include some of the notorious human rights cases that led to the creation of the first Ethics Committees.
Answer: Formal procedures for the protection of human subjects in research grew out of some widely publicized abuses of human subjects. A defining event occurred in 1946, when the Nuremberg War Crime Trials exposed horrific medical experiments conducted by Nazi doctors and others in the name of "science." Many Americans were also shocked to learn in the 1970s that researchers funded by the U.S. Public Health Service had infected 600 low-income African American men with syphilis in the 1930s without their knowledge and then studied the "natural" course of the illness. Many participants were not informed of their illness and denied treatment until 1972, even though a cure (penicillin) was developed in the 1950s. Egregious violations of human rights like these resulted, in the United States, in the creation of a National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research. The Commission's 1979 "Belmont Report" (Department of Health, Education, and Welfare 1979) established three basic ethical principles: respect for persons, beneficence, and justice.
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Chapter 4: Conceptualization and Measurement
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which level of measurement is the most mathematically precise?
A) Interval
B) Nominal
C) Ordinal
D) Ratio
E) All levels of measurement are equally precise
Q2) When are open-ended questions more appropriate than closed-ended questions?
Describe scenarios where each would be appropriate for studying one of the following concepts: deviance, romance, educational quality, economic development.
Q3) Concepts have meanings that are understood well by almost all members of a population.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What are the advantages and disadvantages of using single questions rather than multidimensional index scores to measure concepts?
Q5) The ordinal level of measurement has the highest mathematical precision.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 5: Sampling and Generalizability
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Sample Questions
Q1) A researcher gets a list of all 500 members of Social Club Z that she wants to include in her study. She only has the funding and time to survey 50 members. She takes her list of members, randomly selects a starting point, and then selects every tenth name from the list to be included in her sample. In this example, the sampling interval is:
A) The list of all 500 members
B) 500
C) 50
D) 10
E) Cannot be determined
Q2) Which two sampling methods require that the researcher know something about the salient characteristics of the population (such as race, ethnicity, or gender) before selecting samples?
A) Simple random and stratified random
B) Stratified random and quota
C) Quota and multi-stage cluster
D) Multi-stage cluster and purposive
E) Purposive and simple random
Q3) How does a simple random sample differ from an availability sample? Which is better for social research and why?
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Chapter 6: Causation and Experimental Design
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Sample Questions
Q1) Compensatory rivalry exists between comparison groups in an experiment when:
A) The control group expends extra effort to equal the experimental group
B) There is a greater level of attrition in the control group
C) Members of the treatment group compete with one another
D) Members of the treatment group expend greater effort
E) The treatment group is pre-tested, but the control group is not
Q2) In an experiment, the control group receives the experimental treatment.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following are particularly useful for studying the impact of new laws or social programs that affect large numbers of people?
A) Multiple group before-and-after design
B) Time series design
C) Repeated measures panel design
D) Ex post facto design
E) Test design
Q4) Association, time order, and nonspuriousness are required to establish a causal effect.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 7: Survey Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) The popularity of survey research is due to:
A) Control over extraneous influences in the mode
B) Versatility, efficiency, and the generalizability of results
C) The anonymity guaranteed research subject by the investigator
D) Relatively high degree of population turnover
E) Its ability to establish causation convincingly
Q2) An omnibus survey does not need a specific research focus.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Describe five different ways that surveys can be administered. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?
Q4) Describe in detail how response rates can be improved for mailed surveys.
Q5) A phone survey conducted with random digit dialing has all but which of the following features?
A) Designation of telephone exchanges to be called
B) Machine-based calling of random phone numbers
C) Postcard follow-ups to those who don't answer the phone
D) Screening questions to identify appropriate respondents
E) Personnel training
Q6) Outline the procedure for pretesting a survey.
Page 9
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Chapter 8: Elementary Quantitative Data Analysis
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Sample Questions
Q1) The measure of central tendency most appropriate for nominal variables is the mode.
A)True
B)False
Q2) In which of the following can you control for an extraneous variable?
A) Bar chart
B) Frequency distribution
C) Frequency polygon
D) Elaboration analysis
E) Crosstabulation
Q3) When researchers analyze data that they did not collect, such as the General Social Survey, they are conducting what type of research?
A) Primary research
B) Data cleaning
C) Historical research
D) Secondary research
E) Repetition
Q4) A frequency polygon contains solid bars separated by spaces.
A)True
B)False
Page 10
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Chapter 9: Qualitative Methods: Observing, Participating, Listening
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Sample Questions
Q1) Intensive interviewing with key informants should continue until new interviews yield little new information.
A)True
B)False
Q2) When conducting a study of grassroots movements that organized to keep big box stores out of their neighborhood, Wendy agreed to serve as the secretary for that group. What role did she take in the field?
A) Complete observer
B) Participant observer
C) Complete participant
D) Covert participant
E) Investigative observer
Q3) Which role makes it difficult for researchers to get information because they cannot ask questions that will around suspicion about themselves:
A) Complete observer
B) Participant observer
C) Covert participant
D) Intensive interview
E) Focus group leader
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Chapter 10: Qualitative Data Analysis
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Sample Questions
Q1) A participant centered understanding attempts to understand something from which perspective?
A) Researcher's
B) Hermeneutic
C) Participants'
D) Emic
E) Etic
Q2) What is the most important feature of qualitative data analysis?
A) Text
B) Language
C) Photography
D) Numbers
E) Population
Q3) Anthropologists call the intention of representing a setting under study in the participants' own terms:
A) Reflexive focus
B) Emic focus
C) Indigenous focus
D) Holistic focus
E) Interpretivist focus
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Chapter 11: Unobtrusive Measures
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Sample Questions
Q1) Outline the elements of a social program and how they are linked together, using the example of the DARE program detailed in the text.
Q2) Evaluation research that investigates the process of service delivery is known as:
A) Needs assessment
B) Evaluability assessment
C) Process evaluation
D) Impact analysis
E) Efficiency analysis
Q3) Describe the potential problems for stakeholder orientation in evaluation research, in general and using the example of reducing welfare payments in favor of a workfare program.
Q4) The economic value of a social program when compared to the costs of that program is established in a:
A) Cost-benefit analysis
B) Cost-effectiveness analysis
C) Process analysis
D) Summative assessment
E) Needs assessment
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Chapter 12: Evaluation Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) Strengths and weaknesses of research designs
Note: Answers from Group B may be used more than once.
Group A
1. Strongest for testing nomothetic causal hypotheses
2. Strongest for testing ideographic causal explanations
3. Extremely time consuming
4. Most generalizable
5. Strongest for measuring subjective meanings
6. Able to measure characteristics of relatively large samples
7. Low generalizability because of unrepresentative sampling
8. Low generalizability because of artificiality of setting
Group B
a. Experimental designs
b. Surveys
c. Qualitative methods
Q2) Describe the strengths and weaknesses of experimental designs, surveys, and qualitative methods. Provide concrete examples of research questions that are appropriate for each type of research method.
Q3) What is the difference between an abstract and a conclusion in terms of content?
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