Social Science Research Methods
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Course Introduction
Social Science Research Methods introduces students to the foundational principles and practices involved in conducting systematic inquiry within the social sciences. The course covers both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, exploring techniques such as surveys, interviews, case studies, experiments, and data analysis. Emphasis is placed on research design, ethical considerations, literature review, sampling strategies, and interpretation of results. By engaging with real-world examples and completing hands-on assignments, students develop critical skills necessary to formulate research questions, collect and analyze data, and communicate findings effectively in a variety of social science contexts.
Recommended Textbook
Social Statistics for a Diverse Society 8th Edition by Chava Frankfort Nachmias
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12 Chapters
614 Verified Questions
614 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: The What and the Why of Statistics
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following statements are theories?
A)For every action,there is an equal and opposite reaction.
B)Unconscious and conscious mental activity motivates human behavior.
C)Power is unequally divided and some groups dominate others.
D)Is it bright outside because the sun is probably out?
Answer: B,C
Q2) The dependent variable is
A)exhaustive.
B)always a dichotomous variable.
C)the variable to be explained.
D)mutually exclusive.
Answer: C
Q3) Identify the independent variable,the dependent variable,and the unit of analysis in the following hypothesis: In the United States,fewer blacks than whites own their home as opposed to rent their home.
Answer: Independent variable = race;dependent variable = tenancy;and unit of analysis = individuals
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3
Chapter 2: The Organization and Graphic Presentation of Data
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Sample Questions
Q1) A relative frequency obtained by dividing the frequency in each category by the total number of cases and multiplying by 100 is a A)count.
B)frequency.
C)proportion.
D)percentage.
Answer: D
Q2) In a ______,the bars which represent the categories of a variable are spaced so that one bar is not directly next to another;whereas in a ______,the bars actually touch one another.
A)bar graph;histogram
B)histogram;bar graph
C)frequency polygon;bar graph
D)bar graph;frequency polygon
Answer: A
Q3) Which graphic device would be most appropriate to display information about "Young adults in South Korea generally have more years of schooling than young adults in the United States"?
Answer: Histogram
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Chapter 3: Measures of Central Tendency
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Sample Questions
Q1) If the frequencies at the right and left tails of the distribution are identical,then the distribution is
A)symmetric.
B)positively skewed.
C)negatively skewed.
D)skewed.
Answer: A
Q2) Which of the following measures of central tendency is sensitive to extreme scores in a distribution?
A)Mean
B)Median
C)Mode
D)Percentile
Answer: A
Q3) When the mean is lower than the median (or positioned to the left of the median),the distribution is positively skewed.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Measures of Variability
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Sample Questions
Q1) Suppose you are interested in examining the variability in current marital status by race.Which measure of variability would you use and why?
Q2) Consider the following hypothetical data: Catholic = 32,Protestant = 25,Jewish = 4,Muslim = 8,Other = 29,and None = 2. Which of the following statements are true?
A)IQV = 0.89
B)IQV = 0.11
C)Number of religious difference is 89% of the maximum possible difference
D)Number of religious difference is 11% of the maximum possible difference
Q3) Consider the following hypothetical scores: 21,25,37,38,39,42,44,45.What is the closest value of the mean?
A)1
B)5
C)36
D)24
Q4) The range is based on only one score.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Calculate the range for the following sub-sample: 2,7,4,4,1,2,2,3,1,2,4,5.
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Chapter 5: The Normal Distribution
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Sample Questions
Q1) The number of standard deviations that a given raw score is above or below the mean is referred to as a
A)mean.
B)frequency distribution.
C)variance.
D)standard (Z)score.
Q2) The mean age at first marriage for respondents in a survey is 23.33,with a standard deviation of 6.13.Calculate the observed age at first marriage associated with a Z score of -0.72.
Q3) Rare events,with smaller corresponding probabilities,are towards the middle of the normal curve.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A normal distribution represented in Z scores is referred to as a:
A)normal distribution.
B)normal bell-curve.
C)standard normal distribution.
D)standard normal table.
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Chapter 6: Sampling and Sampling Distributions
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Sample Questions
Q1) Explain the central limit theorem.
Q2) In a simple random sample
A)the population is divided into subgroups based on one or more variables.
B)K = population size/sample size.
C)every member of the population has an equal chance of being chosen.
D)every combination of N members has an equal chance of being chosen.
Q3) According to the central limit theorem what happens to the sampling distribution of sample means as N becomes larger?
Q4) In a simple random sample
A)every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected.
B)the population is approximately normal with the mean,median,and mode being approximately equal.
C)the mean is equal to the mode.
D)the mean of N is always equal to the standard deviation.
Q5) Define systematic random sampling approach.
Q6) Parameter is a measure used to describe the sample distribution.
A)True
B)False
Q7) Will the standard error always be lower than the standard deviation? Why or why not?
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Chapter 7: Estimation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following examples illustrates estimation?
A)The actual percentage of unemployed Americans
B)The varying valid percentages of Republicans and Democrats who closely follow controversial political news
C)The actual average level of education in the United States
D)The percentage of Americans who favor gay and lesbian relations as approximated by the Gallup organization
Q2) If a 95% confidence level is selected,then
A)the corresponding Z score is 2.58.
B)the probability of a selected sample falling in this interval is 0.95.
C)there is a 5% chance of the interval being incorrect.
D)5 chances out of 100 will fall in the interval.
Q3) In a survey sample of 83 respondents,the mean number of hours worked per week is 39.04,with a standard deviation of 11.51.The sample size is 83.Estimate the value of the standard error.
Q4) Provide a substantive interpretation of the following 99% confidence interval: (.25,.41).
Q5) What is the effect on a confidence interval if one decreases both sample size and the level of confidence?
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Chapter 8: Testing Hypotheses
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Sample
Questions
Q1) Which of the following illustrates an important difference between the Z and t statistics?
A)The denominator of the Z statistic is subject to sampling error.
B)The denominator of the t statistic is subject to sampling error.
C)The sampling distribution of the Z statistic is not normal.
D)The numerator of the t statistic is the standard error based on the population standard deviation.
Q2) If variables are measured at the nominal or ordinal levels,then they are described in terms of proportions or percentages.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The null hypothesis is symbolized as
A)H .
B)H .
C)H.
D)X.
Q4) In a simple random sample of 120 women and 150 men from a population of 150,000,25% of the women and 37% of the men are smokers.Suppose you are interested in comparing the proportion of smokers by sex,compute the estimated standard error.
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Chapter 9: Bivariate Tables
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Sample Questions
Q1) A bivariate table is a series of ______ joined together to make one table.
A)samples
B)interval-ratio variables
C)column totals
D)frequency distributions
Q2) When it is not apparent which variable is the independent variable or dependent variable,it is common for researchers to
A)take the average percentage across the rows.
B)average the percentages across the columns.
C)rely exclusively on the column percentages.
D)calculate both the row and column percentages.
Q3) In a bivariate table,
A)it displays the distribution of one variable across the categories of another.
B)it identifies its content in terms of the two variables.
C)the intersection of a row and a column is called a marginal.
D)it has two dimensions,one for the dependent and the other for the independent variable.
Q4) Define an intervening relationship.
Q5) Provide an example of an intervening relationship and describe why it is so.
Q6) Briefly describe the difference between a spurious and intervening relationship.
Page 11
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Chapter 10: The Chi-Square Test and Measures of Association
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Sample Questions
Q1) Why is it sometimes important to condition one's result by another variable?
Q2) The number of degrees of freedom for a chi-square test is calculated as A)n-1.
B)n+1.
C)(rows-1)(columns+1).
D)(rows-1)(columns-1).
Q3) Suppose you obtain a chi-square statistic of 67.81.Are your results statistically significant if the critical value obtained from the distribution of chi-square is 3.84 with an alpha level of .05?
Q4) Those frequencies that are expected in a bivariate table if the two variables were statistically independent are called ______ frequencies.
A)observed
B)ordered
C)statistical
D)expected
Q5) When two variables are not associated,they are said to be statistically dependent.
A)True
B)False
12
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Chapter 11: Analysis of Variance
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is an assumption of ANOVA?
A)The population is not normally distributed.
B)The dependent variable is a nominal level of measurement.
C)The population variances are statistically significant.
D)Independent random samples are used.
Q2) ANOVA is best suited for comparing the means of ______ group(s)at once.
A)identical
B)one
C)at least two
D)deviant
Q3) An analysis of variance with one dependent and one independent variable is referred to as a
A)single correlation.
B)multiple regression.
C)one-way ANOVA.
D)multiple ANOVA.
Q4) The F statistic is the ratio of between-group variance to within-group variance.
A)True
B)False
Q5) List the four assumptions of ANOVA.
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Regression and Correlation
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Sample Questions
Q1) Define Covariance (X,Y).
Q2) Which of the following is the equation for all straight-line graphs?
A)Y = a + b (x)
B)e = Y -
C) ( - )
D) = a (b)
Q3) Consider the following linear regression prediction equation: Y = 12 + -1x.What is the direction of the relationship between these two variables?
A)Positive relationship
B)Negative relationship
C)No relationship
D)Neutral relationship
Q4) What does the quantity r refer to?
A)Pearson's correlation coefficient
B)Coefficient of determination
C)Covariance
D)Residual sum of squares
Q5) Residual sum of squares, \( S S E=\sum(Y-\bar{Y})^{2} \).
A)True
B)False
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