- According to the text’s discussion of the basic approaches to social research,
a. some approaches are more scientific than others.
b. experimentation is the only truly scientific approach to social research.
c. quantitative approaches are superior to qualitative approaches.
d. there are more than two dozen distinctive approaches.
e. each approach has its own strengths and weaknesses.
- The ultimate goal of scientific inquiry is to produce knowledge in the form of
a. factual data.
b. theory.
c. technological advances.
d. new discoveries.
- Which of the following sequences best describes the inductive logic of inquiry?
a. theory data hypothesis
b. data theory hypothesis
c. data empirical pattern theory
d. theory hypothesis data
e. empirical pattern hypothesis theory
- Scientists apply the deductive logic of inquiry when they
a. show how a hypothesis follows from a theory.
b. infer empirical patterns from data.
c. formulate a theory to account for empirical patterns.
d. infer the validity of a theory from a set of data.
- Which statement most accurately describes scientific knowledge or theory?
a. It is the best understanding that we have been able to produce thus far.
b. When perfected, it is a statement of what is ultimately real.
c. A theory is accepted as “scientific” when objective tests confirm its predictions.
d. Theory in a scientific discipline is essentially an inventory of the currently most accurate predictions.
- According to current ethical standards, such as those of the APA and ASA, deception is disallowed under which of the
following conditions?
a. The study involves substantial risk of harm or distress.
b. There is no guarantee of obtaining statistically significant results.
c. Divulging the use of deception might offend participants.
d. The topic of the study involves illegal or dishonest behavior.
- In studies in which research participants’ identities are known to the researcher, the principal way to protect their
privacy is to
a. ensure anonymity.
b. ensure confidentiality.
c. ensure informed consent.
d. back up the data.
- A professor doing research on deviant behavior asks the students in her classes to fill out an anonymous self-report
questionnaire dealing with their use of alcohol and nonprescription drugs. In what way is this study ethically problematic?
a. Studies of immoral behavior are inherently unethical.
b. Anonymity may not be sufficient to protect privacy.
c. Authorities may find out the names of the drug users and report them to the police.
d. Participation is not voluntary.
- Consider the following hypothesis: Members of the Congress who belong to the same political party as the president
are more likely to vote for legislation supported by the president than congressional members who belong to a different
party. The unit of analysis implied by this hypothesis is
a. Congress.
b. legislative vote.
c. the political party.
d. the individual member of Congress.
- Suppose you hypothesize that among college students women consume alcoholic beverages less often than men.
The independent variable is
a. women students.
b. college students.
c. gender.
d. frequency of alcohol consumption.
- A study of gender differences in the values of U.S. adolescents found that females were more likely than males to
express concern for the well-being of others. This difference was the same across all social class groupings. In this study,
the dependent variable is _, and a control variable is _.
a. gender; social class
b. concern for others; social class
c. concern for others; gender
d. social class; gender