Social Science Research Methods
Textbook Exam Questions
Course Introduction
Social Science Research Methods introduces students to the foundational techniques and methodologies used in the systematic study of society and human behavior. The course covers both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, emphasizing research design, sampling strategies, data collection, and analysis methods. Students learn the principles of formulating research questions, constructing hypotheses, conducting surveys and interviews, and interpreting statistical results. Ethical considerations in research, including informed consent and data privacy, are also explored. By the end of the course, students gain essential skills to critically evaluate research findings and conduct their own empirical studies in various social science disciplines.
Recommended Textbook
Research Methods in Psychology Evaluating a World of Information 1st Edition by Beth
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Page 2
Morling
Chapter 1: Psychology Is a Way of Thinking
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Q1) Occam's razor states that the simplest solution is the best,all things being equal.This speaks to a theory's:
A) Parsimony
B) Falsifiability
C) Theorizing
D) Empiricism
E) Application
Answer: A
Q2) Refer to Research Study 1.1 above to answer the following question. Susan's hypothesis was not completely supported by her data.What does this mean?
A) Susan must have collected the data incorrectly.
B) Susan must have analyzed the data incorrectly.
C) The theory may need to be amended.
D) The theory is completely wrong.
E) Susan should stick to being a consumer of research.
Answer: C
Q3) What are the three components of a good theory?
Answer: Students should state the three components (falsifiable,supported by data,and parsimonious).
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Sources of Information: Evaluating,Finding,and Reading Information
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Q1) Looking for which of the following in a trade book will give you a hint as to its scientific rigor?
A) Its cost
B) The number of pages
C) The number of references
D) The number of authors
E) Its year of publication
Answer: C
Q2) Which of the following is NOT an example of "thinking what we want"?
A) Cherry-picking of evidence
B) Availability heuristic
C) Confirmatory hypothesis testing
D) Overconfidence
E) All of the above are examples of "thinking what we want"
Answer: B
Q3) Name the six basic sections of an empirical journal article.
Answer: The six basic sections of an empirical journal article are the abstract,the introduction,the Method,the Results,the Discussion,and the references.Although the information is printed in a particular order,it may make more sense to read the sections out of order so that one can understand.
Page 4
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Chapter 3: Three Claims,Four Validities: Interrogation Tools
for Consumers of Research
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Q1) Refer to Research Study 3.1 above to answer the following question. How many variables are mentioned in this study/headline?
A) Two
B) Three
C) Four
D) Five
E) Six
Answer: A
Q2) One problem with reading about psychological studies in the popular press is that the popular press often fails to provide information that allows you to interrogate the study's ______________ validity.
A) Statistical
B) Internal
C) Construct
D) External
E) All of the above
Answer: D
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Page 5
Chapter 4: Ethical Guidelines for Psychology Research
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Q1) Refer to Research Study 4.1 above to answer the following question. Dr.Kline is deciding whether he needs to give participants a reason for waking them up several times during the night.He knows that he cannot tell them the real reason,but he is unsure whether he should deceive them (give them a false reason why he is waking them up)or provide them with no cover story at all.Which of the following issues should be considered most heavily when deciding whether or not to use deception?
A) Whether his IRB will approve the use of deception
B) Whether he can create a convincing story that his participants will believe
C) Whether he can conduct the study just as well without deception
D) Whether his participants will be angry when they find out he used deception
E) All of the above are equally important in making this decision
Q2) What is the primary responsibility of an Institutional Review Board (IRB),where are IRBs found,and who sits on such a board?
Q3) What is an IACUC? Name one way it is similar to an IRB and one way it differs from an IRB.
Q4) Refer to Research Study 4.2 above to answer the following question. What is the Principle of Beneficence? Explain how the Principle of Beneficence needs to be addressed by Dr.Van Ryan as she considers conducting her study.
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Page 6
Chapter 5: Identifying Good Measurement
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Q1) An educational psychologist is testing the discriminant validity of a new measure of numerical learning difficulties.He gives his measure to a group of students along with another measure of verbal learning difficulties,which he predicts should not be strongly related to numerical learning difficulties.Which of the following correlations would the psychologist hope to find in order to establish discriminant validity?
A) r = 1.0
B) r = -1.0
C) r = 0.83
D) r = -0.18
E) Any of the above would be acceptable
Q2) Which of the following is true of operational definitions?
A) There are multiple operational definitions that are possible for any one conceptual definition.
B) The specification of operational definitions is one of the creative aspects of the research process.
C) Operational definitions are created after conceptual definitions are determined.
D) Both a and b are true.
E) All of the above are true.
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Chapter 6: Describing What People Do:
Surveys,Observations,and Sampling
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Q1) Dr.Fletcher is concerned about a fence-sitting response set when he conducts his survey.Which of the following might you recommend to decrease fence sitting?
A) Using reverse-worded questions
B) Using scales with an odd number of response options
C) Providing a "no opinion" option
D) Using a Likert-type response scale
E) None of the above
Q2) Which of the following is true?
A) The confidence people have in their memories is strongly related to the accuracy of their memory.
B) People are very good judges of the reasons for their behavior.
C) People are better able to remember vivid memories.
D) If people are inaccurate in reporting their reasons for behavior, it is because they are deliberately trying to be deceptive.
E) None of the above are true.
Q3) Explain why bigger samples are not always better samples.
Q4) State three ways that a researcher could reduce observer effects/reactivity in a study and why each one is effective.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Bivariate Correlational Research
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Q1) Refer to Research Study 7.2 above to answer the following question. Imagine that Dr.Moynihan finds two outliers.These two people report a very high number of nightmares in the past month and have very high scores on neuroticism.Why should Dr.Moynihan be worried about the presence of these two outliers?
Q2) Refer to Research Study 7.1 above to answer the following question. Dr.Oswald realizes that the women in her study have more friends than the men in her study.This might result in which of the following?
A) Outliers due to subgroups
B) Larger effect sizes
C) More measured variables
D) Spurious associations due to subgroups
E) None of the above
Q3) Why are curvilinear relationships hard to detect with correlation coefficients (r)?
A) Because curvilinear relationships require a large amount of scores
B) Because curvilinear relationships have small effect sizes
C) Because r looks for the best straight line to fit the data
D) Because r assumes a zero association
E) Because r assumes a negative relationship
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Chapter 8: Multivariate Correlational Research
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Q1) Refer to Research Study 8.1 above to answer the following question. Correlation C is an example of which of the following types of correlations?
A) Autocorrelation
B) Multivariate correlation
C) Sequential correlation
D) Cross-sectional correlation
E) Cross-lag correlation
Q2) Refer to Research Study 8.1 above to answer the following question. Correlation B is an example of which of the following types of correlations?
A) Autocorrelation
B) Multivariate correlation
C) Sequential correlation
D) Cross-sectional correlation
E) Cross-lag correlation
Q3) Refer to Research Study 8.4 above to answer the following question. Describe what makes Dr.O'Toole's study (1)a longitudinal study and (2)a multivariate correlational study.
Q4) Refer to Research Study 8.5 above to answer the following question. List the predictor and dependent/criterion variables in Dr.Nguyen's study.
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Chapter 9: Introduction to Simple Experiments
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Q1) Refer to Research Study 9.1 above to answer the following question. Which of the following is a control variable in Dr.Lonsbary's study?
A) The number of words on the word list
B) The amount of time allowed for remembering/writing the words
C) The amount of time allowed for memorizing the words
D) All of the above
E) None of the above
Q2) Refer to Research Study 9.1 above to answer the following question. Which of the following allows Dr.Lonsbary to conclude that she met the covariance rule for causality?
A) Noting that there is a difference between the number of words recalled by the happy and neutral people
B) Having people listen to music or silence before they wrote down the list of words they remembered
C) Making sure that all participants were asked to remember the same list of words
D) Both a and b
E) Both b and c
Q3) Name three advantages of within-groups designs.
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Chapter 10: More on Experiments: Confounding and Obscuring Variables
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Q1) Which of the following threats to internal validity can occur in any study?
A) Observer bias
B) Demand characteristics
C) Placebo effects
D) Both a and b
E) All of the above
Q2) Refer to Research Study 10.1 above to answer the following question. Imagine that in Dr.Schulenberg's study,he notes that all of the students do extremely well on the midterm exam.When he looks at the results of the final exam,he notices that all the students' exam scores went down.Which of the following pattern of results would suggest that there is a threat to internal validity?
A) The final exam scores were lower in the preparation group than the meaning group.
B) The final exam scores were equally low in both groups.
C) The final exam scores were lower than those of students in his fall semester class.
D) The final exam scores were lower than the final exam scores of students of his colleague, Dr. Fao.
E) None of the above would suggest a threat to internal validity.
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Page 12
Chapter 11: Experiments With More Than One Independent
Variable
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Q1) The number of main effects that need to be examined is __________ the number of independent variables.
A) More important than B) Equal to C) Similar to D) Unrelated to E) Independent of
Q2) Dr.Gavin is conducting a 2 x 4 independent-groups factorial design.How many cells are in his design?
A) 2
B) 4
C) 6
D) 8
E) 10
Q3) Refer to Research Study 11.3 above to answer the following question. Using the marginal means,state whether it appears that the main effects in Dr.Lopez's study are important.(You do not need to say whether the main effects are statistically significant,but simply whether a difference appears to exist.)
Q4) State the three types of factorial designs.
Page 13
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Chapter 12: Quasi-Experiments and Small-N Designs
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Q1) Lara is conducting a study for her research methods class.She is curious if participating in a collegiate study-abroad program causes people to become more accepting of other cultures.Provide an example of an independent-groups quasi-experimental design and an example of a within-groups quasi-experimental design using Lara's research question.
Q2) Refer to Research Study 12.1 above to answer the following question. In addition to measuring the body concern of the participants who joined a fraternity/sorority both immediately before and immediately after they join,Dr.Fletcher measures them for the three weeks before and the three weeks after.This type of design would be able to better address which of the following threats to internal validity?
A) Placebo effect
B) History
C) Selection-history
D) Experimenter bias
E) None of the above
Q3) List three small-N designs and explain how these designs address maturation.
Q4) Explain why quasi-experiments offer a trade-off between internal validity and external validity.
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Page 14
Chapter 13: Replicability,Generalization,and the Real World
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Q1) Name the subdiscipline of psychology that works exclusively in generalization mode and explain why it works exclusively in this mode.
Q2) Which of the following claims is always researched in generalization mode?
A) Association claims
B) Causal claims
C) Frequency claims
D) Both a and b
E) Both a and c
Q3) Explain why using WEIRD samples tends not to be a problem for researchers operating in the theory-testing mode and why cultural psychologists question this practice.
Q4) The text states that the first step in establishing a study's importance is to establish its _______.
A) Replicability
B) External validity
C) Internal validity
D) Funding
E) Acceptance by scientists
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