Exam 1: What Is Social Research a Particular Way of Knowing

Early sociologists, like Durkheim and Weber, saw objectivity as an ideal when conducting research. Do you think it is possible to be truly objective? Why or why not?

The literature search, study design, data analysis, and even presentation of findings are all guided by what?

Research questions can shift in the course of a study for all of the following reasons EXCEPT

Research conducted to generate questions and hypotheses about emerging or not-yet-defined phenomena is called

Critical theory is an example of a grand theory.

Which of the following is an example of a good sociological hypothesis?

Basic research does not have a practical application beyond contributing to our knowledge about a topic

Which of the following statements are true about how qualitative and quantitative research relate to the scientific method.

Dr. Myers discovers a set of diaries in his university library archival section that has not been previously analyzed. He starts combing through the data and discovers a pattern in how friendship dynamics are described. Based on this, he starts to develop a theory of male friendship. What type of research best describes this process?

Which types of research methodology did Olsen (1997) use in her study of immigrant students in high schools?

Mixed-method research draws on multiple tools and procedures to collect data about the social world.

Ontology is concerned with

Describe the characteristics of a good research question. Why is the construction of the research question so important to the research process?

Dr. Glimore formulates a hypothesis that students who are exposed to anti-racist curricula in high school are more likely to have interracial friendships. She tests the hypothesis by collecting data using a survey of college students. Her analysis of the data supports her hypothesis. Which type of research best describes this process?

Research studies typically fall into one research type

Which of the following is the best example of using the sociological imagination to understand unemployment

A sociologist utilizing the sociological imagination to understand unemployment would argue that improving individual applicant's training would be the most effective solution.

How do epistemological and ontological considerations relate to the research process?

In your own words, explain the sociological imagination. Why is this approach to understanding the world important or value?

The primary goal of the sociological imagination is examining individual experiences.