Test Bank for Sociology, 17th Edition

Macionis: Sociology, 17e Chapter 2: Sociological Investigation In this revision of the test bank, I have updated all of the questions to reflect changes in Sociology, 17th edition. The questions are tagged to indicate one of four levels of learning that move from lower-level to higher-level cognitive reasoning. The four levels are: Remember the Facts: a question involving recall of key terms or factual material Understand the Concepts: a question testing comprehension of more complex ideas Apply What You Know: a question applying sociological knowledge to some new situation Analyze It: a question requiring identifying elements of an argument and their interrelationship The 123 questions in this chapter’s test bank are divided into four types. True/False questions are the least demanding. As the table below shows, half of these are “Remember the Facts” questions, and all of them fall within the lowest three levels of cognitive reasoning (“Remember the Facts,” “Understand the Concepts,” and “Apply What You Know”). Multiple-choice questions span a broader range of skills (most are “Remember the Facts” questions and the remainder are divided among the three higher levels). Short answer questions are spread across the highest three levels of reasoning. Finally, essay questions are the most demanding because they include the highest levels of cognitive reasoning. Types of Questions Remember the Facts Understand the Concepts Apply What You Know Analyze It True/False Mult Choice Essay Total Qs 28 (44%) Short Answer 0 21 (54%) 0 49 15 (38%) 10 (16%) 3 (30%) 1 (10%) 29 3 (8%) 11 (17%) 1 (10%) 1 (10%) 16 0 39 15 (23%) 64 6 (60%) 10 8 (80%) 10 29 123 Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Chapter 2: Sociological Investigation TRUE/FALSE QUESTIONS 1. Two simple requirements that underlie the process of sociological investigation are (1) looking at the world using the sociological perspective, and (2) becoming curious and asking questions. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.1: Explain how scientific evidence often challenges common sense. Topic: Basics of Sociological Investigation Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 2. The sociologist recognizes that there are various kinds of “truth.” Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.1: Explain how scientific evidence often challenges common sense. Topic: Basics of Sociological Investigation Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 3. Science is a logical system that is based on intuition and insight. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.1: Explain how scientific evidence often challenges common sense. Topic: Basics of Sociological Investigation Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 4. “Empirical evidence” refers to what people in a society agree is true. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.1: Explain how scientific evidence often challenges common sense. Topic: Basics of Sociological Investigation Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 5. “Empirical evidence” refers to what we can verify with our senses. Answer: True Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Learning Objective: LO 2.1: Explain how scientific evidence often challenges common sense. Topic: Basics of Sociological Investigation Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 6. A positivist approach assumes that an objective reality exists “out there.” Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 7. In every situation, the mean is a better statistical measure than the mode or the median. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 8. Reliability is a concept that refers to the quality of consistency in measurement. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 9. Validity is a concept that refers to actually measuring what you want to measure. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 10. A variable that is changed by another variable is called the “independent variable.” Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e 11. A variable that causes change in another variable is called the “dependent variable.” Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 12. Whenever two variables are statistically related, a cause-and-effect relationship always exists. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 13. A false correlation between two variables caused by a third variable is described as a “spurious” correlation. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 14. Natural scientists often have an easier time than social scientists when identifying cause-and-effect relationships. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 15. In real life, sociologists always achieve complete personal objectivity in their work. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 16. Max Weber urged sociologists to strive toward the goal of being value-free. Answer: True Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 17. Replication is one way to assess the accuracy of existing research. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 18. The logic and methodology of science guarantee that sociological research will result in objective, absolute truth. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 19. Interpretive sociology focuses less on action itself and more on the meaning people attach to their actions. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 20. Scientific sociologists focus on what Max Weber called “verstehen” in order to make sense of their surroundings. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 21. Interpretive sociology defines a person’s subjective feelings as a source of bias. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 22. Critical sociology studies society and tries to bring about social change. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 23. Karl Marx is a key founder of the critical orientation in sociology. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 24. Gender blindness is the problem of failing to consider the importance of gender in sociological research. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.3: Identify the importance of gender and ethics in sociological research. Topic: Issues Affecting Sociological Research Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 25. Sociological research can never be harmful to subjects. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.3: Identify the importance of gender and ethics in sociological research. Topic: Issues Affecting Sociological Research Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 26. Carrying out research on Hispanic people, Asian people, or people of any distinctive ethnicity or category requires that researchers be sensitive to how these subjects will interpret a researcher’s words and actions. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.3: Identify the importance of gender and ethics in sociological research. Topic: Issues Affecting Sociological Research Difficulty Level: Moderate Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Skill Level: Apply What You Know 27. To identify cause-and-effect relationships, it is usually necessary to exercise experimental control of variables. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 28. The very act of observing people may affect their behavior. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 29. A survey is a research method in which subjects respond to a series of statements or questions. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 30. A random sample is likely to represent the population from which it is drawn. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 31. Just walking up to people on the street is a convenient and correct way to generate a random sample. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Apply What You Know 32. A closed-ended questionnaire format generally makes it easier to analyze research data compared to an open-ended questionnaire format. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 33. Conducting interviews with 100 college students in a course would take no more time than having them all complete a questionnaire when they come to class. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Apply What You Know 34. Participant observation is a research method by which researchers stand back from a setting, watch from a distance, and then carefully record the behavior of others. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 35. Participant observation research is usually explanatory, which means that it identifies cause and effect relationships. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 36. The use of existing data and documents makes most historical research possible. Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 37. The sociologist E. Digby Baltzell found that a surprisingly large number of highachieving people in our country’s history came from the Boston area. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 38. Inductive logical thought turns theory into testable hypotheses. Answer: False Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 39. “Statistical evidence” may or may not be the same as truth. Answer: True Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts MULTIPLE-CHOICE QUESTIONS 40. Lois Benjamin’s research on the life experiences of high-achieving African Americans suggests that ________ a. race has little to do with the life experiences of successful people. b. racism remains a burden even among privileged African Americans. c. race is now more of a barrier to African Americans than ever before in U.S. history. d. racism mainly affects lower-class African Americans. Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.1: Explain how scientific evidence often challenges common sense. Topic: Basics of Sociological Investigation Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 41. Science can be defined as a ________ a. logical system that bases knowledge on direct, systematic observation. b. belief based on faith in ultimate truth. c. belief based on a society’s traditions. d. logical system that bases truth on political goals. Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.1: Explain how scientific evidence often challenges common sense. Topic: Basics of Sociological Investigation Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 42. Sociologists use the term “empirical evidence” to refer to ________ a. information that is based on a society’s traditions. b. information that squares with common sense. c. information we can verify with our senses. d. information that most people agree is true. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.1: Explain how scientific evidence often challenges common sense. Topic: Basics of Sociological Investigation Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 43. The sociological perspective coupled to research reveals that ________ a. “common sense” is usually pretty close to the truth. b. much of what passes for “common sense” in the United States turns out to be at least partly wrong. c. most people in the United States readily see how society shapes our lives. d. “common sense” is not very popular in the United States. Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.1: Explain how scientific evidence often challenges common sense. Topic: Basics of Sociological Investigation Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e 44. “A mental construct that represents some aspect of the world in a somewhat simplified form” is the definition of a ________ a. variable. b. theory. c. measurement. d. concept. Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 45. Imagine that you were going to measure the age of a number of respondents taking part in a survey. As you record the data, you are using the concept “age” as ________ a. a theory. b. a hypothesis. c. a variable. d. an axiom. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Apply What You Know 46. If you were trying to measure the “social class” of various people, you would have to keep in mind that ________ a. it is necessary to specify exactly what variable you are measuring. b. you must measure “social class” in every way possible. c. there is no way to measure “social class.” d. everyone agrees on what “social class” means. Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Apply What You Know 47. Which of the following concepts refers to deciding exactly what is to be measured when assigning value to a variable? a. Operationalizing b. Reliability c. Conceptualizing d. Validity Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 48. Which of the following is the term for the value that occurs most often in a series of numbers? a. Mean b. Mode c. Median d. Standard deviation Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 49. Which of the following concepts refers to the arithmetic average of a series of numbers? a. The mean b. The mode c. The median d. The correlation Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 50. Which of the following concepts refers to the value that occurs midway in a series of numbers arranged from smallest to largest (that is, the middle case)? a. Mean b. Mode c. Median d. Correlation Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e 51. Consider the following series of numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10. What is the median value? a. 1 b. 2 c. 3 d. 4 Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 52. In the process of measurement, reliability refers to ________ a. whether you are really measuring what you want to measure. b. how dependable the researcher is. c. whether or not everyone agrees with the study’s results. d. whether repeating the measurement yields consistent results. Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 53. _________ refers to measuring exactly what one intends to measure. a. Congruence b. Validity c. Repeatability d. Reliability Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 54. With regard to the process of measurement, ________ a. for measurement to be reliable, it must be valid. b. for measurement to be valid, it must be reliable. c. all measurement is both reliable and valid. d. measurement cannot be both reliable and valid. Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Difficult Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Skill Level: Analyze It 55. A theory states that increasing a person’s formal higher education results in increased earnings over the individual’s lifetime. In this theory, “higher education” is the ________ a. independent variable. b. dependent variable. c. correlation. d. effect. Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 56. Two variables are said to display correlation if ________ a. they are caused by the same factor. b. one occurs before the other. c. both measure the same thing. d. they vary together. Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 57. An apparent, although false, association between two variables that is caused by a third variable is called ________ a. a spurious correlation. b. an unproven correlation. c. an unreliable correlation. d. an invalid correlation. Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 58. The ability to neutralize the effect of one variable in order to assess the relationship between two other variables is called ________ a. making the correlation spurious. b. making the correlation reliable. c. control. d. causing the correlation. Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 59. In a cause-and-effect relationship a. both variables must be shown to be independent. b. the independent variable must come before the dependent variable in time. c. the two variables must never display correlation. d. there must be evidence that the correlation is spurious. Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 60. It is difficult to establish all the cause-and-effect relationships in a social situation because ________ a. most patterns of behavior have a single cause. b. most patterns of behavior are random and have no cause at all. c. most patterns of behavior are caused by many factors. d. sociologists are not able to reach conclusions about cause and effect. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Analyze It 61. The ideal of objectivity means that a researcher must ________ a. not personally care about the topic being studied. b. try to adopt a stance of personal neutrality toward the outcome of the research. c. study issues that have no value to society as a whole. d. carry out research that will encourage desirable social change. Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 62. The sociologist who called on his colleagues to be “value-free” in the conduct of their research was ________ Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e a. b. c. d. Karl Marx. Emile Durkheim. Herbert Spencer. Max Weber. Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 63. Imagine that you are repeating research done by someone else in order to assess the accuracy of that research. You are doing which of the following? a. Replication b. Objectification c. Reliability d. Scientific control Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Apply What You Know 64. Sociologists cannot precisely predict any person’s behavior because ________ a. human behavior is highly complex and has many causes. b. the discipline of sociology is too new. c. there are too many competing sociological approaches. d. sociology is not scientific. Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 65. Scientific sociology ________ a. focuses on the meaning people attach to behavior. b. seeks to bring about desirable social change. c. favors qualitative data. d. favors quantitative data. Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Skill Level: Remember the Facts 66. Interpretive sociology refers to sociology that ________ a. focuses on action. b. sees an objective reality “out there.” c. focuses on the meaning people attach to behavior. d. seeks to bring about change. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 67. Which German word meaning “understanding” was used by Max Weber to describe his approach to sociological research? a. Gemeinschaft b. Gesellschaft c. Verstehen d. Verboten Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 68. Critical sociology ________ a. focuses on the meaning people attach to behavior. b. seeks to bring about desirable social change. c. endorses the principle of being value-free. d. is based on Weber’s principle of verstehen. Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 69. Critical sociology can best be described as a(n) ________ approach. a. activist b. scientific c. qualitative d. value-free Answer: a Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Analyze It 70. In making judgments about how society should be improved, the ________ approach in sociology rejects Max Weber’s goal that researchers should be value-free. a. interpretive b. critical c. scientific d. positivist Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Analyze It 71. Scientific methodology is most closely linked to ________ a. structural-functional theory. b. social-conflict theory. c. symbolic-interaction theory. d. gender-conflict theory. Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 72. Qualitative research has special appeal to investigators who favor ________ a. the structural-functional approach. b. the symbolic-interaction approach. c. the social-conflict approach. d. the social-exchange approach. Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 73. If you have been criticized for “androcentricity” in your research, you are being criticized for ________ a. overgeneralizing your results. b. ignoring gender entirely. Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e c. d. doing the research from a male perspective. using double standards in your research. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.3: Identify the importance of gender and ethics in sociological research. Topic: Issues Affecting Sociological Research Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Apply What You Know 74. If you read a study that draws conclusions about all of humanity based on research using only females as subjects, you would correctly point to the problem called ________ a. androcentricity. b. overgeneralization. c. gender blindness. d. using double standards. Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.3: Identify the importance of gender and ethics in sociological research. Topic: Issues Affecting Sociological Research Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Apply What You Know 75. You are doing research and you never stop to think about the possible importance of gender. Your work could be criticized for the problem called ________ a. androcentricity. b. overgeneralization. c. gender blindness. d. employing double standards. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.3: Identify the importance of gender and ethics in sociological research. Topic: Issues Affecting Sociological Research Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Apply What You Know 76. Regarding ethical research guidelines, the American Sociological Association states that researchers ________ a. must always perform their research several times in order to ensure its accuracy. b. need not disclose their sources of funding for the research. c. must protect the privacy of subjects taking part in a research project. d. are not responsible for the safety of subjects taking part in a research project. Answer: c Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Learning Objective: LO 2.3: Identify the importance of gender and ethics in sociological research. Topic: Issues Affecting Sociological Research Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 77. If you were to conduct sociological research that closely follows the logic of science, which research method would you most likely use? a. Interviews b. The experiment c. Questionnaires d. Participant observation Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Apply What You Know 78. “A statement of a possible relationship between two or more variables” is the definition of which concept? a. Measurement b. Correlation c. Spurious correlation d. Hypothesis Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 79. Three researchers wish to test the effects of playing soft music during an exam on the test performance of their sociology students. They conduct an experiment in which one test-taking class hears music and another does not. In experimental terms, the class hearing the music is called ________ a. the placebo. b. the control group. c. the experimental group. d. the dependent variable. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Apply What You Know 80. What concept refers to any change in a subject’s behavior that is caused by the awareness of being studied? a. Invalid response b. Unreliable response c. The Stanford effect d. The Hawthorne effect Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 81. What research method was used in Philip Zimbardo’s study, the “Stanford County Prison”? a. An experiment b. A survey c. Participant observation d. Secondary analysis Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 82. Which research method asks subjects to respond to a series of items in a questionnaire or an interview? a. Secondary research b. Participant observation c. An experiment d. A survey Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e 83. A small number of people that are used to represent a much larger population is called a ________ a. target group. b. sample. c. closed-format group. d. sampling frame. Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 84. In a questionnaire, asking respondents to identify their income level from a number of possible categories represents ________ a. a closed-ended question format. b. an open-ended question format. c. an interview question format. d. a qualitative question format. Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 85. In a questionnaire, the question “Please state your opinions about the extent of economic inequality” is an example of ________ a. a closed-ended format. b. an open-ended format. c. experimental design. d. a dependent variable. Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Apply What You Know 86. One disadvantage of conducting interviews is that this research method ________ a. does not permit follow-up questions. b. does not allow subjects’ answers to be detailed. c. results in a very low response rate. Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e d. may easily allow the researcher to influence subjects’ responses. Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Analyze It 87. From a research point of view, what is the problem with the question, “Do you think that the government should spend less on defense and spend more on health care?” a. Most people will have no opinion on these issues. b. The question may spark an emotional response. c. Two different questions are being asked, so that a simple “yes” or “no” may distort the subject’s actual opinion. d. The question asks for a personal opinion, which involves a value judgment. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 88. Lois Benjamin’s investigation of racism may be criticized because ________ a. her sample included as many white people as African Americans. b. she conducted her interviews over the telephone. c. her sample may not be representative of all African Americans. d. people cannot respond to questions they find painful. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 89. Lois Benjamin’s research shows that interviews ________ a. take a lot of time to complete. b. must always be conducted in a laboratory. c. do not allow the researcher to ask follow-up questions. d. do not require face-to-face contact with subjects. Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 90. Joseph Ewoodzie’s research to learn about homeless people in Jackson, Mississippi is an example of ________ a. an experiment. b. a survey. c. participant observation. d. secondary analysis. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 91. Ewoodzie discovered that homeless people in Jackson, Mississippi, ________ a. ate more nutritious food than better-off people. b. could easily find jobs and housing if they just wanted to. c. made use of available social services so that they rarely went for a day without food. d. were unwilling to speak with any researcher about their lives. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 92. You wish to conduct an exploratory and descriptive study of people in a particular neighborhood. You have plenty of time, but you have little money or other resources. What research method should you use? a. Experiment b. Survey c. Participant observation d. Secondary analysis Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Apply What You Know Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e 93. A researcher doing participant observation may often “break in” to a setting more easily with the help of a ________ a. key informant. b. research assistant. c. bigger budget. d. longer questionnaire. Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 94. E. Digby Baltzell’s historical study, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, illustrates which research method? a. The experiment b. The survey c. Participant observation d. Secondary analysis Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 95. E. Digby Baltzell’s study, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, showed that a very high number of “top achievers” listed in the Dictionary of American Biography came from ________ a. the South. b. Pennsylvania. c. Massachusetts. d. Philadelphia. Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 96. Which sociological research method is most likely to produce quantitative data that will identify cause-and-effect relationships? Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e a. b. c. d. The experiment The survey Participant observation Secondary analysis Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Apply What You Know 97. Which sociological research method is best used to study what cannot be directly observed, such as attitudes and values, among large numbers of people? a. The experiment b. The survey c. Participant observation d. Secondary analysis Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Analyze It 98. Which sociological research method provides the best chance to understand social behavior in a natural setting? a. The experiment b. The survey c. Participant observation d. Secondary analysis Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Analyze It 99. Which sociological research method is likely to be the most difficult to replicate (repeat)? a. The experiment b. The survey c. Participant observation d. Secondary analysis Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Answer: c Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Analyze It 100. Which sociological research method saves the time and expense of data gathering, but the researcher has no control over possible data bias? a. The experiment b. The survey c. Participant observation d. Secondary analysis of existing sources Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Analyze It 101. Inductive logical thought involves ________ a. turning theories into hypotheses suitable for testing. b. selecting a research method based on available resources. c. doing research about the past. d. transforming specific observations into general theory. Answer: d Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Skill Level: Remember the Facts 102. Deductive logical thought involves ________ a. turning theories into hypotheses suitable for testing. b. selecting a research method based on available resources. c. doing research about the past. d. transforming specific observations into general theory. Answer: a Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Easy Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Skill Level: Remember the Facts 103. People can mislead others with statistics by ________ a. using deductive reasoning. b. interpreting the data to lead their readers to a desired conclusion. c. using inductive reasoning. d. identifying a testable hypothesis. Answer: b Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS 104. How does a researcher transform a concept into a variable? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Apply What You Know 105. When it comes to measuring a variable, how is reliability different from validity? Which of the two concepts implies the other? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 106. List the three conditions that are required to establish cause and effect in social scientific research. Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 107. What is a spurious correlation? Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 108. What did Max Weber mean by “value-free” research? Do you think researchers can be value-free? Should they try? Explain. Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 109. How do positivist sociology, interpretive sociology, and critical sociology deal with the issue of subjectivity in a different way? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Analyze It 110. What are the essential differences between scientific sociology, interpretive sociology, and critical sociology? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Analyze It 111. Provide one strength and one limitation of each of the major research methods described in this chapter: experiment, survey, participant observation, and secondary analysis. Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Moderate Skill Level: Analyze It Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e 112. If you were doing a research project for your sociology class in which you were trying to discover how students assess the benefits of taking a sociology class, which research method might you use? Why? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 113. Define both inductive logical thought and deductive logical thought. How does sociological research make use of both types of thought? Provide an example of each. Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It ESSAY QUESTIONS/TOPICS FOR SHORT PAPERS 114. What makes science a special “way of knowing”? What are important traits of scientific sociology? How does interpretive sociology differ from scientific sociology? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.1: Explain how scientific evidence often challenges common sense. Topic: Basics of Sociological Investigation Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 115. Should sociologists try to be objective? Develop a positivist sociological response to this question and also a critical sociological response. Which of the two responses comes closer to your own personal views? Why? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e 116. How does interpretive sociology differ from scientific sociology? What are the differences in terms of the basic image of society? How do the two approaches differ in the types of data they generate? Do you favor one approach over the other? If so, why? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.2: Describe sociology’s three research orientations. Topic: Three Ways to Do Sociology Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 117. How and why is gender important in research? What are some of the problems in research that involve gender? How about race and ethnicity? Why might a researcher need to take race and ethnicity into account when planning research with a specific category of people? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.3: Identify the importance of gender and ethics in sociological research. Topic: Issues Affecting Sociological Research Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 118. What are some of the dangers of sociological research to subjects? Explain why the discipline has developed ethical guidelines to guide research. What are three specific problems with research that ethical guidelines address? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.3: Identify the importance of gender and ethics in sociological research. Topic: Issues Affecting Sociological Research Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 119. Why is it necessary for researchers to understand the social characteristics of the people they are studying? What problems could arise if a researcher started to study the Amish, Korean Americans, or some other distinctive category of people and had no understanding of their way of life? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.3: Identify the importance of gender and ethics in sociological research. Topic: Issues Affecting Sociological Research Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Apply What You Know Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved. Macionis: Sociology, 17e 120. None of the major methods of sociological research—experiment, survey, participant observation, and secondary research—is better than any other in an absolute sense, but each is suitable for addressing a certain type of question or situation. Explain why this is true and develop brief illustrations of the type of questions that would lead a researcher to select one method over the others. Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 121. How does inductive logical thought differ from deductive logical thought? How can a researcher benefit from using both kinds of thinking? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It 122. Outline the ten steps in the process of carrying out sociological investigation. You may use the format presented in the text; that is, what specific questions must be answered as a researcher moves along? Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Understand the Concepts 123. Based on your own interests, identify a research question that you would like to investigate. State the question, identify an appropriate research method, and point to any challenges or issues that you would have to resolve in order to complete such a project. Answer: Learning Objective: LO 2.4: Explain why a researcher might choose each of sociology’s research methods. Topic: Research Methods Difficulty Level: Difficult Skill Level: Analyze It Copyright © 2019, 2017, 2014 Pearson Education, Inc. All rights reserved.