Exam 2: Sociological Investigation

None of the major methods of sociological research-experiment, survey, participant observation, and secondary research-is better than any other in an absolute sense, but each is suitable for addressing a certain type of question or situation. Explain why this is True, and provide illustrations along with your arguments.

E. Digby Baltzell's study, Puritan Boston and Quaker Philadelphia, showed that a very high number of "top achievers" listed in the Dictionary of American Biography came from:

Any time two variables are statistically related, a cause-and-effect relationship exists.

What term refers to the arithmetic average of a series of numbers?

The sociologist who called on his colleagues to be value free was:

Participant observation is a research method by which researchers stand back, watch, and carefully record the behavior of others.

If you have been criticized for "androcentricity" in your research, you are being criticized for:

From a research point of view, what is the problem with the question, "Do you think that the government should spend less for defense and more for health care?"

Baltzell found that a surprisingly large share of high-achieving people in our country's history came from the Boston area.

The sociologist recognizes that there are various kinds of "truth."

Which German word meaning "understanding" was used by Max Weber in describing his approach to sociological research?

A False correlation between two variables, caused by some third variable, is described as a "spurious" correlation.

The logic and methodology of science guarantee that sociological research will result in objective, absolute truth.

A positivist approach assumes that reality exists "out there."

Examine the following series of numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, 10. What is the median value?

Inductive logical thought turns theory into testable hypotheses.

The mean is always a better statistical measure than the mode or median.

You are doing research and you never stop to think about the possible importance of gender at all. Your work could be criticized for the problem called:

What is a spurious correlation?

Sociologists always achieve complete personal objectivity in their work.