Social Research Methods – Qualitative and quantitative approaches MCQs

Lesson 11

1. An example of unobtrusive data collection
is(are)
a. an interview with
college freshmen to determine why they selected a particular school
b. a laboratory experiment designed to determine
whether people really prefer Pepsi or Coke
c. a mailed survey designed to discern students’
attitudes toward a planned change in the school’s calendar

2. Which
of the following modes of observation does NOT require the researcher to
intrude to some degree on whatever he or she is studying?
a.
Experiments
b.
Survey
research
c.
Complete
participant observation
d.
Complete
observer in field research
e.
All
of these choices require the researcher to intrude

3. Unobtrusive
measures can reduce the problem (s) of
a.
the
researcher’s impact on the phenomenon being studied
b.
invalid
operationalization of concepts
c.
unreliable
measurements
d.
corroboration
e.
the
ecological fallacy

4. Which
of the following is (are) illustrative of unobtrusive observations?
a.
examining
the floor tiles at a museum to determine which exhibits are the most popular
b.
examining
the number of beer cans in the university garbage collections to determine beer
consumption patterns
c.
examining
the wear on the tires of squad cars to determine the extent of police
d.
examining
the radio dial settings of cars brought in for oil changes to determine the
popularity of radio stations
e.
all
of these choices illustrate unobtrusive observations

5. If we
wanted to determine whether states that pass clean air legislation (no smoking
in public areas) are more likely to enact laws requiring motorcyclists to wear
helmets than are states that had not passed clean air legislation, the unit of
analysis would be
a.
the
individual states
b.
the
individual act of legislation
c.
passage
or nonpassage of the clean air legislation
d.
the
clean air legislation
e.
states
that passed clean air legislation
6.
You are interested in doing a content analysis on the characteristics people
seek in a partner by examining the personals section of three newspapers. Your
unit of analysis is:
a.
the
three newspapers.
b.
The
characteristics desired in a partner.
c.
The
individual ads
d.
The
personals section of the paper
e.
The
person who wrote the ad

7. Professor
Perlman was interested in comparing two textbooks to determine whether one used
more sexist language than the other. Perlman counted the number of ties a
gender reference (ex: “he”, “she”, “chairman,” etc.) appeared in each book.
Perlman was doing
a.
latent
content coding
b.
manifest
content coding
c.
quota
sampling
d.
the
ecological fallacy
e.
base
counting

8. Which
of the following levels of measurement(s) may be employed in content analysis?
a.
nominal
b.
ratio
c.
interval
d.
ordinal
e.
all
of these choices are correct

9. In
which of the following analyses is content analysis LEAST likely to be useful?
a.
themes
in newspaper editorials
b.
the
wording of this exam
c.
topics
covered in class lectures
d.
the
theme of love as discussed in song
e.
dating
patterns among high school seniors

10. In
comparison to coding the manifest content of communication, coding the latent
content
a.
has
a disadvantage in terms of validity
b.
has
an advantage in terms of reliability
c.
is
better designed for tapping the underlying meaning of communication
d.
has
an advantage in terms of specificity
e.
all
of thee choices are true

11. The
categories used in content analysis should be
a.
Mutually
exclusive
b.
Exhaustive
c.
Nominal
d.
Mutually
exclusive and exhaustive
e.
Mutually
exclusive and nominal

12. Content
analysis can be done on newspaper materials and government documents but NOT on
diaries and letters
a.
True
b.
False

13. As a
mode of observation, content analysis is essentially a coding operation
a.
True
b.
False

14. Coding
in content analysis involves
a.
conceptualization
and operationalization
b.
inductive
methods
c.
selecting
a level of measurement
d.
deductive
methods
e.
all
of these choices are involved in coding in content analysis

15. The
weaknesses of content analysis include:
a.
a
researcher cannot use it to study change over time
b.
its
use influences that which is being studid
c.
if
you make a coding error, you cannot recode your data
d.
it
requires special equipment
e.
none
of these choices is a weakness of content analysis

16. Standard
probability sampling techniques should NOT be used in content analysis
a.
True
b.
False

17. All
content analysis results in counting
a.
True
b.
False

18. Existing
statistics can be used
a.
as
the main data for social scientific inquiry
b.
to
provide a historical context for research
c.
to
provide a conceptual context for research
d.
as
a supplemental source of data for social scientific inquiry
e.
all
of these choices are correct

19. Logical
reasoning and replication are used to handle the problem of validity in the
analysis of existing statistics.
a.
True
b.
False

20 A
friend of yours is doing a term paper to compare the infant mortality rates in
the United States, Japan, Bolivia, and Pakistan. You tell your friend that a
good source to check is
a.
Common
Cause
b.
the
Demographic Yearbook
c.
the
Statistical Abstract of the United States
d.
the
Gallup poll
e.
the
Almanac

21. Many
existing statistics can be found on the internet.
a.
True
b.
False

22. After
examining the FBI Crime Reports for a 30=year period, Professor Hall claimed
that the incidence of rape has increased. After examining the same reports,
Professor Shine claimed that the reporting of rape, not the incidence of rape,
has increased. This illustrates
a.
the
problem of reliability in using existing statistics
b.
the
problem of validity in using existing statistics
c.
the
need to replicate existing statistics
d.
the
ecological fallacy
e.
pretesting

23. Professor
Jenner was interested in using Census Bureau data to examine the trend in
unemployment rates in the United States. However, Jenner’s definition of
unemployment did not match the one used by the Census Bureau. Jenner was
dealing with the issue of
a.
reliability
b.
validity
c.
the
ecological fallacy
d.
ideal
types
e.
verstehen

24. Only
official government documents should be used in historical analyses
a.
True

b.
False

25. According
to Weber, an ideal type indicates the characteristics that the phenomena should
strive to attain.
a.
True
b.
False
26. Unobtrusive
measures reduce the impact of the researcher on the phenomena being studied.
a.
True
b.
False

1.
Below
is a list of measures on the French influence in New Orleans. Which of the
measures is NOT an Unobtrusive Measure?
a. the wear on novels in the New Orleans Public Library written in French
b. walking down a street in New Orleans and noticing that most of the signs in
stores in a neighborhood are in French or French-Cajun
c. a survey using a three-page questionnaire partly written in French that was
distributed to residents of a neighborhood
d. a box of 300 letters written by people living in New Orleans to relatives
living in French speaking areas outside the state (e.g., Quebec. between 1980
and 1985
(Page Ref: 321)

Refer to
the following paragraph to answer the questions below.
Dr.
Simpson conducted a content analysis of the New York Times newspaper between
1980 and 2000. She first identified relevant articles involving government
regulation of business. After finding 2,000 such articles, she systematically
sampled articles with a sampling interval of 5. She then coded each sampled
article based on the subjective meaning it expressed, as pro- or
anti-government regulation using a 1 to 10 scale (1 = very anti-regulation, 10
= very pro-regulation).
2. In
this study, Dr. Simpson used __________ to identify articles as pro- or
anti-government regulation.
a. latent coding
b. manifest coding
c. generic coding
d. intervention strategy coding
(Page Ref: 326)
3. How
many articles did Dr. Simpson code?
a. 200
b. 400
c. 1,000
d. 4,000
(Page Ref: 327-329)