Exam 2: Social Sciences and the Scientific Method

If a survey poll is constructed scientifically and thoughtfully, it can provide accurate information about the opinions of a population. Which of the following is not a problem of survey research?

The control group does not undergo the treatment and is used for comparison.

The scientific method cannot test the validity of values, norms, or feelings.

The scientific method is recognition that any explanation is tentative and may be modified or disproved by careful investigation. Even the scientific theories that constitute the core knowledge in any discipline are not regarded as absolutes. They are regarded as

A relationship that is likely to have occurred by chance is said to be significant.

A case study is a cursory investigation of a particular event in order to gain limited understanding of the event.

A theory is a set of interrelated concepts at a low level of generality.

As part of their World Poll, the Gallup organization continuously polls individuals in more than 150 nations and seeks to represent the opinions of what percent of the worlds' population?

Field research often involves participant observation, during which the researcher both observes and participates in the society being studied.

Explain why the classic scientific research design uses both an experimental group and a control group.

Using the guidelines for survey research, evaluate the obstacles to collecting the data for any two nations listed in the Gallup Worldwide Research Data Collected table o

Under what circumstances might a social science researcher's methods include analysis of secondary source data?

Compare and contrast any three of the methods of data collection used in the social sciences. In your response, include examples of the types of questions that might best be answered by each of the three methods selected for analysis. Discuss both the utility and potential problems associated with these three data collection methods.

Random sampling reduces the likelihood that the responses obtained from the sample would be the same as those obtained from the universe if everyone were questioned.

Deductive and inductive reasoning are parts of the process of using logic and observing the phenomena around us. Inductive reasoning goes from

In the social sciences, case studies sometimes help future researchers analyze similar situations to

What is the role of the hypothesis in the scientific method's search for relationships?

The sample is chosen in a way that ensures that the group is representative of the universe. The universe is the partial group about whom the information is desired.

The scientific method is descriptive and explanatory, but NOT

___________ reflects the range of responses in which a 95 percent chance exists that the sample reflects the universe.