Exam 2: Studying Social Life: Sociology Research Methods

You are tasked with conducting a research project that investigates the relationship between smoking and gender in blockbuster films. What methodology would you use to conduct your research?

Sociologists try to follow the steps of the scientific method or approach to gather new empirical data that can change and deepen our understanding of human social life.

Why must ethnographers using participant observation always be aware of reflexivity?

Researchers should avoid using double-barreled questions when designing a survey. What are double-barreled questions?

The sociologist Mitch Duneier wrote his ethnography Sidewalk about street vendors in New York City's Greenwich Village. While writing the book, Duneier was particularly concerned that the people he was studying would alter their behavior when he was present, especially since his background was different from their own. This caused him to think critically about his activities and role as a researcher. What do sociologists call this?

Some "facts" that sociologists once believed to be unambiguously true are now treated as opinions, biases, or speculation.

A sociologist wants to study how educational credential requirements for employment have changed in the last fifty years in the United States, Sweden, and Germany by using newspaper classified ads. What research concept best describes this study?

In everyday life, it is assumed that science provides access to objective truths that will never change. However, the philosopher Thomas Kuhn argues that truth is relative and dependent upon the paradigm through which one sees the world. Explain what a paradigm is and how the scientific method can lead to paradigm shifts.

Why would mentioning a sensitive issue, such as divorce or infidelity, in a survey question influence how respondents answer later questions?

A sociologist uses a survey to study the attitudes of adults in the United States concerning premarital sex among teenagers. In this study, the target population consists of all ________, and the group that is asked the survey questions is called the ________.

Both interviews and surveys require a researcher to write clear, unambiguous questions in order to generate good data. What are the pitfalls and benefits of crafting specific types of questions?

You want to conduct some sociological research on whether people on social networking sites are less likely to meet in person as a result of their online community participation. What is the next step in the scientific method?

Peter Stearns (2004) consulted various existing sources for his book Anxious Parents: A History of Modern Childrearing in America. What did he find?

Why is action research controversial among more traditional social scientists despite the methodological approach gaining popularity among students?

Many kitchen tools today are made with easy-to-grip silicone handles, which are a vast improvement over old wire tools that were often painful to use. Although the advantages of silicone over wire might seem obvious, kitchenware makers were unaware of the problems with wire tools until they hired ethnographers. Ethnographers visited people at home, observed how they worked in the kitchen, and were able to determine what sorts of things could be sold to them. This ethnography is an example of

Given what you learned in Chapter 2, why would an interviewer's appearance, including clothing and hairstyle, make a difference in determining what they learn?

You are conducting research on violence in the media. In what part of the research process are you engaged in if you are trying to decide whether "violence" includes words as well as actions?

What is the primary reason to include a control group in an experiment?

What does it mean for a sociologist to control for a variable?

What must there be for a survey to be considered valid?