Exam 20: Research Methods

As an honours sociology student, you spend considerable time preparing a survey questionnaire on the use of Internet porn sites. What is your biggest concern about conducting survey research?

What is a self-administered questionnaire and when would a researcher opt to use one?

Raoul had returned home after a semester at university and was excitedly talking about the experiential learning component in one class, and the small group discussions and projects of another. His grandfather interjected, "Back in my day, the professor lectured, and we took notes and then studied like crazy to memorize the right answers for the tests." Which of the following concepts explains the difference between Raoul's and his grandfather's experience?

A researcher conducts a very carefully designed experiment on the relationship between time spent viewing violent video games and the incidence of violent behaviour. The researcher then generalizes these results to the broader gaming community. If the research accurately reflects behaviours in the broader gaming community, then what can be said about this experiment?

A natural scientist can study fossil remains of long-dead animals, or examine the botanical composition of plants. How is social science significantly different from natural science?

A social scientist conducts research on expectations and performance. He sets up two scenarios: one where a group does a task without any intervention and a second one where a different group is given the same task, but told to expect that the task will be difficult. The results are then measured. What kind of research has been conducted?

Many organizations are now using the Internet and creating pools of respondents who are willing to answer polls and surveys online. Quite often, these people are rewarded with cash or gifts for their participation. Does this make you wonder about bias in polling and survey research? Why and/or why not? Have you ever participated in an online survey? If so, please elaborate.

The professor was curious if a 5 percent bonus mark would influence students to submit their term essays on time. Half the students were offered the bonus mark for on-time submission, the other half were not offered any bonus marks. What kind of variable is the bonus mark incentive?

Over time, scientists made systematic observations of the heavens and concluded the earth was not at the centre of the solar system. Eventually, even the Catholic Church could no longer support the belief that the Earth was at the centre of everything. Which term best describes this process?

Which research method places the most emphasis on understanding the members of a group from their own point of view?

Define and provide examples of spurious relationships.

According to the text, what is science?

In studying how ethnicity influences social interaction, Foschi and Buchan were careful to assign their subjects to each of the experimental conditions. Which process did they use?

According to Weber, the aim of participant observation research is to investigate the world view of those being studied.

Elisa has 1000 participants over the age of 21 for a research project on urban lifestyles, providing people in one group with a car, and another group with public transit passes. What procedure is best for selecting who will be in the group given a car?

When scientists can conclusively declare that solar flares and the resulting radiation knocks out satellite transmissions, then what can ultimately be said about these two events?

Which form of sociological research is exemplified in Max Weber's work linking capitalism and Protestantism?

In a study of the health of 16-year-old runaways in Toronto, the researcher examined housing, employment, and education. In this research, which of the following is an independent variable?

A survey of 1000 people was done, asking opinions about today's education system. In his report, the researcher talked about the percentage of respondents who felt strongly about each topic. What was the researcher trying to do by using the percentages?

After reading the newspaper article reporting the standardized testing scores of various schools throughout the city, Sam asserted that the teachers in school A should all be fired because of the low results. Darlene asked Sam if he ever considered that school A was located in the poorest section of the city with one of the highest proportions of English as Second Language students. What was Darlene arguing?