Research Methods in Social Sciences
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Course Introduction
This course provides an in-depth introduction to the principles and techniques of research within the social sciences, encompassing both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Students will explore the research process from formulating questions and hypotheses to data collection, analysis, and interpretation. Key topics include ethical considerations, research design, sampling methods, survey construction, interviews, observational strategies, and data analysis using statistical tools. Through discussion, practical exercises, and critical analysis of published studies, students will develop practical skills in designing and executing research projects, as well as interpreting and presenting findings in the context of social phenomena.
Recommended Textbook
The Art and Science of Social Research 1st Edition by Deborah Carr
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Chapter 1: The Art and Science of Social Research: An Introduction
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Q1) Twila designs a sociology research study about gender-based violence.After she proposes the study,she decides that she really wants it to be applied research.Accordingly,she refines the study to A)make a contribution to theories of human violence. B)be grounded in a mixed-method approach to data collection. C)evaluate a local nonprofit organization devoted to reducing domestic violence. D)be grounded in political science instead of sociology,so it can have a policy outcome.
Answer: C
Q2) In her study of car shows,Dr.Ingram sets triangulation as a research goal because she believes
A)a sample size of three will allow for analysis that is both focused and broad. B)using several methods to collect data will allow for a superior understanding of car shows.
C)car shows have implicit dimensions of intersectionality.
D)her supervising committee should have members from at least three different academic disciplines.
Answer: B
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Chapter 2: Research Foundations: Linking Sociological
Theory to Research
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Q1) Thomas Kuhn's ideas about paradigms and paradigm shifts show that
A)scientists are predisposed to prefer certain theories.
B)inductive approaches are superior to deductive approaches.
C)scientists must choose whether to be objective or biased.
D)science will eventually result in a single view of social reality.
Answer: A
Q2) Which approach to research refers to the translation of general theory into specific empirical analysis?
A)inductive
B)deductive
C)macro
D)meso
Answer: B
Q3) The goal in research involving a hypothesis is to
A)prove the hypothesis.
B)disprove the null hypothesis.
C)infer an empirical hypothesis.
D)test hypotheses without expecting to prove or disprove them.
Answer: B
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Ethical Issues in Social Science Research
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Q1) Which document forms the foundation of the U.S.national system of human subjects' protection?
A)American Sociological Association code of ethics
B)Human Terrain System
C)Belmont Report
D)Nuremberg Code
Answer: C
Q2) Dr.Omani is planning a sociological study of environmental habits among homeowners.His university's IRB requires him to submit a ________,which includes research questions and methods,descriptions of the subjects,and steps he will take to minimize risk.
A)consent form
B)IRB application
C)research protocol
D)human subjects research form
Answer: C
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Chapter 4: From Concepts to Models: Hypotheses, Operationalization,
and Measurement
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Q1) When we consider a concept,such as marital quality,there is not universal agreement about what that concept means.This lack of clear agreement is because of the ________ quality of concepts.
A)abstract
B)aggregate
C)nominal
D)ethical
Q2) When a researcher makes a decision to focus only on certain units or angles of a concept,she is choosing to study only certain A)measures.
B)populations.
C)dimensions. D)variables.
Q3) In scientific research,an idea that can be clearly named,defined,and eventually measured is called a A)measure. B)dimension. C)variable. D)concept.
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Chapter 5: Evaluating Research: Reliability and Validity
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Q1) Critics of the federal poverty line (FPL)point out that it does not take regional variation in cost of living into account and that what constitutes an adequate diet is highly subjective.Because of these and other issues,the FPL leads to which of the following?
A)It looks like there are more poor people in America than there actually are.
B)Many Americans who are poor do not get counted as poor when they should be.
C)It seems like most Americans are middle-class.
D)Wealthy people might look they are actually middle-class.
Q2) In Chapter 5,the authors argue that educational attainment can be measured in many different ways,which makes it difficult to clearly conceptualize and operationalize.Come up with another concept that you think would also be difficult to study,but that might be something interesting for a sociological investigation.In a paragraph,explain the difficulty and how you might go about measuring your topic of interest to make it as reliable as possible.
Q3) For which of the following would it make sense to measure using a composite variable?
A)age
B)gender
C)race
D)happiness
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Chapter 6: Sampling Strategies
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Q1) Compare and contrast cluster sampling and stratified sampling.Offer two points of comparison and two points of contrast.
Q2) Dr.Lopez is interested in studying the recruitment of high-school athletes.In order for him to provide vivid examples of the impact recruiting can have on high-school athletes,what type of cases would you recommend he focus on?
A)deviant
B)extreme
C)random
D)typical
Q3) Julio needs to collect data for his senior honors thesis and has decided to administer surveys to 500 students who are currently enrolled in an Introductory Sociology course at his college.Julio's sample is a good example of a ________ sample.
A)stratified
B)simple random
C)convenience
D)cluster
Q4) Use an example to illustrate the difference between a typical case and a deviant case.
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Chapter 8: Experimental Research
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Q1) What is the defining feature of an experiment?
A)observation of natural variation of the independent variable
B)observation of natural variation of the dependent variable
C)intentional manipulation of the independent variable
D)intentional control for other factors that might affect the relationship between the independent and dependent variables
Q2) Biological responses to stimuli are known as ________ measures.
A)behavioral
B)attitudinal
C)physiological
D)longitudinal
Q3) Compared to behavioral measures,what is a characteristic of an attitudinal measure?
A)It is less susceptible to social desirability bias.
B)Researchers generally prefer attitudinal measures to behavioral measures.
C)Researchers prefer attitudinal measures when they want to understand how people actually treat one another and respond to the social world.
D)Researchers prefer attitudinal measures when they are interested in understanding why an outcome occurs.
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Chapter 9: Evaluation Research
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Q1) Which of the following projects best illustrates the logistical challenges of evaluation research?
A)Researchers may want to apply the findings of their study on Uber driving in New York City to five additional cities across the United States.
B)A study of reduced-cost remedial college classes measures student progress by sorting program applicants into a treatment group,which would receive reduced-cost remedial college classes,and a control group,which would be enrolled in full-priced traditional college courses.
C)In an intervention in factory labor,researchers found 60% of jobs could be downsized or replaced by robots to save corporate profits.Local labor unions might challenge and object to the study's results.
D)To study an intervention in Uber driving,researchers must be able to locate large numbers of Uber drivers,who are often spread out throughout a city,and involve them in research.
Q2) If you were to help plan an intervention study measuring the effects of parents' reading to their children before bedtime on students' test scores,propose and explain in 1-3 sentences one step you might take to avoid biased results.
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Chapter 10: Ethnography
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Q1) Which statement is most often true? Ethnographers begin their research
A)with a topic,and then choose a site that fits the topic.
B)sometimes with a topic or sometimes with a site.
C)with a field site,and then generate a topic that fits the site.
D)with both site and topic firmly established.
Q2) Max Weber's idea of verstehen continues to be an important ideal for ethnographers today because it is important to
A)conduct research in an ethical manner.
B)develop a deep,empathetic understanding.
C)choose a researcher role that allows for good data collection.
D)link contemporary fieldwork to classical theory.
Q3) W.E.B.DuBois's The Philadelphia Negro is best classified as a
A)community study,because it is similar to most ethnographies about whole villages or tribes.
B)community study,because the African American subculture is similar to a community within a society.
C)neighborhood study,because it is about a neighborhood within a big city.
D)neighborhood study,because at the time,African Americans lived within one neighborhood of Philadelphia.
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Chapter 11: In-Depth Interviewing
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Q1) Dr.Ellin conducts a cognitive interview regarding retirees and gardening.Dr.Ellin asks the interviewee to
A)garden in the morning,and come to a focus group in the afternoon.
B)garden in a controlled setting where Dr.Ellin can observe.
C)discuss survey questions while taking a survey about gardening.
D)take a computerized response test that measures cognitive capacity.
Q2) What is case study logic,and how does it differ from the logic of probability sampling? Propose one study for which case study logic would be superior,and explain why.
Q3) Why would interviewers present themselves as ignorant or naïve?
A)because they truly are
B)to show that they will be good listeners
C)to encourage interviewees to speak as experts on their own experience
D)because this helps a covert research role remain covert
Q4) Compare and contrast informant and respondent.Describe one way that they are similar and one way they are different.Offer one example of an informant and one example of a respondent.
Q5) Describe two significant threats to the validity of in-depth interviewing and how they can be reduced.
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Chapter 12: Materials-Based Methods
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Q1) A researcher wants to know whether stress influences time spent exercising.She wants to strengthen the validity of her measure,so she
A)increases the sample size.
B)uses both qualitative and quantitative measures.
C)relies on secondary data,because its validity has been proven by others.
D)collects primary data,so she can control the accuracy of her measure.
Q2) In the context of materials-based methods,the word materials refers to A)preexisting information that can be used as data in a study.
B)written materials produced by a subject at the researcher's request.
C)the physical devices and resources needed by the researcher.
D)physical data,as opposed to verbal or observational data.
Q3) Increasingly,businesses and governments use big data derived from ________ to interpret people's lives and behaviors.
A)compilations of previous studies
B)professional associations,such as the American Sociological Association,
C)electronic traces,such as websites visited or cell phone usage,
D)major nonprofit and for-profit research corporations
Q4) Give an example of primary information and an example of secondary information.What is the key difference between the two types of information?
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Chapter 13: Social Network Analysis
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Questions
Q1) When conducting social network analysis,most researchers choose sociocentric network designs.Why would a researcher choose an egocentric network approach?
Q2) Which of the following is a name interpreter?
A)a researcher trained to interpret lists of names given by respondents
B)a computer program that diagrams social networks
C)the question,"Who are your closest friends?"
D)the question,"Does [NAME] live in your neighborhood?"
Q3) A researcher writes a survey question that asks,"Who are you close to?" Emily,a respondent,lists the neighbors who live on her street.The researcher meant to ask about relational closeness,but Emily interpreted the word close geographically.This is an example of ________ bias.
A)instrument
B)recall
C)projection
D)selection
Q4) You are conducting a study of college student friend networks.How would you use ecological momentary assessment in your study? First,define ecological momentary assessment.Then,explain how you would use it.
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Chapter 14: Univariate and Bivariate Analysis of Quantitative Data
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Q1) Dr.Raza wants to present data on how college hookups vary by social class.What would you recommend as the simplest way to present the comparison between the groups?
A)pie chart
B)line graph
C)frequency distribution
D)cross-tabulation
Q2) Nadia has collected data on whether students study abroad and whether their major is a foreign language.She has created a cross-tabulation with foreign language as the column and studying abroad as the row.She wants to compare foreign language majors to nonmajors.Which percentage should she use?
A)cell
B)column
C)marginal
D)row
Q3) The ________ is the value of the 50th percentile.
A)mode
B)mean
C)median
D)standard deviation
Page 15
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Chapter 15: Multivariate and Advanced Quantitative Methods
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Q1) Reverse causality is an issue that comes up when A)the independent variable occurs at the same time as the dependent variable. B)we have our independent and dependent variables switched around. C)the dependent variable is inversely related to the independent variable. D)the dependent variable is actually measured at multiple time points.
Q2) Consider the relationship between impulsivity,social isolation,and mental health,and consider the three following potential ways to study these associations.In one hypothetical study,a researcher considers whether impulsivity predicts poorer mental health,but only at high levels of social isolation.In a second study,a researcher tests whether social isolation explains why impulsivity predicts poorer mental health.In a third study,a researcher tests whether social isolation predicts both impulsivity and poorer mental health.Consider how social isolation is being modeled in each of these studies,and choose the correct description from the options below.The first study models social isolation as a ________;the second study models social isolation as a ________;and the third models social isolation as a ________.
A)moderator;mediator;confounding
B)suppressor;mediator;moderator
C)moderator;confounding;suppressor
D)confounding;mediator;moderator
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Chapter 16: Analysis of Qualitative Data
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Q1) Sociologists Barney Glaser and Anselm Strauss promoted a systemic,inductive approach to qualitative research that advocates the extrapolation of conceptual relationships from data,rather than the formulation of hypotheses from existing theory.Their approach is called
A)qualitative comparative analysis.
B)grounded theory.
C)purposive sampling.
D)abductive research.
Q2) When researchers use a coding approach informed by grounded theory,their approach is
A)abductive.
B)deductive.
C)inductive.
D)intuitive.
Q3) Define grounded theory.Do you think grounded theory is a worthy approach to qualitative research or not? Why?
Q4) You are conducting a study of the Waorani,a forest-dwelling group of people in the Ecuadorian Amazon.Would you prefer to do research with an emic focus or an etic focus? Why? Your answer should reflect an accurate understanding of both.
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Chapter 17: Communicating Social Science Research
Findings
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Q1) When scholars present their work orally at professional conferences,they typically
A)give time to each section of the paper,proportionate to its written form.
B)give handouts to their audience in anticipation of common questions.
C)focus more on methods and results,because this is what the audience has the most Interest in.
D)focus more on the literature review at great length,to encourage the audience to read key sources.
Q2) In the case of ________,the peer-review process is typically double-blind.
A)academic press books
B)popular press books
C)journal articles
D)magazine articles
Q3) How is an editorial different than a research report?
Q4) Which question would MOST likely be used as the basis for evaluation research?
A)Should this research report be published in a refereed journal?
B)Do housing subsidies reduce overcrowded housing?
C)What previous research has been done on this topic?
D)How do people describe the experience of being loved?
Page 18
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