Deck 16: Combining Methods in Social Science Research

Question 1

What are the major advantages and disadvantages common to all quantitative approaches?

Answer 1

-Advantages of quantitative approaches-scientific/positivist:
-Objective facts are collected by value-free researchers.
-The pursuit of truth is achieved through the testing of causal hypotheses.
-Quantitative techniques allow for probability sampling (the issue of representativeness).
-Concepts can be measured in quantifiable terms (standardization).
-The results can often be replicated because the techniques lend themselves to checks of reliability and validity.
-Disadvantages of quantitative approaches-scientific/positivist:
-Topics of social science are not appropriate for purely "scientific" inquiry.
-Understanding the social world requires an in-depth understanding of the meaning that individuals attribute to their interactions and their surroundings-something that cannot be achieved by effectively reducing human behaviour to a series of "laws" and properties to be unearthed.

Question 2

What is one of the major advantages of experimental research compared to other quantitative approaches?

A) It is the only technique that allows for causation to be demonstrated.
B) It is possible to cover very large populations in a relatively simple way and in a straightforward manner.
C) It is often inexpensive.
D) It is nonreactive.
E) Data are often free and fairly easy to access.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

What is one of the major advantages of field research compared to other qualitative approaches?

A) Participants in the study tend to feel empowered.
B) Participants can give accounts in their own words and unexpected responses are encouraged.
C) It's possible to make comparisons across time and space.
D) The researcher is able to gain a deep understanding of a group and its members.
E) Implied meanings in "text" situations can be revealed.

Answer 3

D

Question 4

What is one of the major advantages of survey research compared to other quantitative approaches?

A) It is the only technique that allows for causation to be demonstrated.
B) It is possible to cover very large populations in a relatively simple way and in a straightforward manner.
C) It is often inexpensive.
D) It is nonreactive.
E) Data are often free and fairly easy to access.

Question 5

What happens if,while using a mixed methods research design,a researcher obtains conflicting results in the qualitative and quantitative parts of a mixed methods study? What possibilities exist for a researcher if the results appear to be contradictory or do not agree with each other?

Question 6

What are the major advantages and disadvantages common to all qualitative approaches?

Question 7

Which of the following statements most closely describes the term triangulation?

A) Using two different theoretical approaches in one research project
B) Displaying the final results of the research in a variety of ways, such as graphs, charts, tables, and diagrams
C) Gathering data primarily through the use of qualitative open-ended interviews but then coding the interviews so they can be used for statistical analysis
D) Using more than one qualitative or quantitative technique
E) Employing at least three different concepts in a single research question

Question 8

What are the strengths and limitations of mixed methods research incorporating both quantitative and qualitative approaches? Do you think a researcher should strive to use mixed methods research? Why or why not?

Question 9

Discuss the kinds of decisions a researcher must make in terms of sequential and concurrent data collection and analysis when designing a mixed methods study.What procedures must be followed?

Question 10

Compare and contrast the development of theory in mixed methods research.What determines how theory is generated in sequential mixed methods studies and in concurrent mixed methods studies?

Question 11

Identify two of the four major quantitative approaches treated in your text and discuss their advantages.

Question 12

What is considered to be a principal advantage of using quantitative methods as an approach to doing social research?

A) It allows for the possibility of investigating how members of the social world understand their social experiences.
B) Concepts can be standardized.
C) It allows the researcher to become immersed in the people and situations he or she is studying.
D) The subjective experiences of the research participants can be studied and analyzed.
E) In quantitative research the deeper meanings that individuals attribute to social life can be revealed.

Question 13

Identify two of the four major quantitative approaches treated in your text and discuss their disadvantages.

Question 14

________ approaches assume that facts are objective,that they can be collected by value-free researchers,and that the pursuit of truth can be achieved through the testing of causal hypotheses.

A) Explanatory
B) Positivist
C) Nonreactive
D) Qualitative
E) Survey-based

Question 15

What is one of the major disadvantages of using field research compared to other qualitative forms of data collection?

A) The sample is often limited to university undergraduates.
B) Subjects' behaviour may change if they know they are being studied.
C) A fairly limited range of research questions can be addressed with this technique.
D) It can take the researcher a considerable amount of time to become acquainted with the data.
E) The conditions under which the research and data gathering take place are often artificial.

Question 16

Identify two of the five major qualitative approaches treated in your text and discuss their advantages.

Question 17

For which type of quantitative social science research is the "interview effect" most likely to be a problem?

A) Survey research
B) Nonreactive research
C) Qualitative interviewing
D) Quantitative content analysis
E) Field studies

Question 18

What is one of the major disadvantages of using existing statistics compared to other quantitative forms of data collection?

A) The sample is often limited to university undergraduates.
B) Interviewer effect can be an issue.
C) A fairly limited range of research questions can be addressed with this technique.
D) It can take the researcher a considerable amount of time to become acquainted with the data.
E) The conditions under which the research and data gathering take place are often artificial.

Question 19

What is one of the major advantages of using focus groups compared to other qualitative forms of data collection?

A) Participants tend to feel empowered.
B) Participants can give accounts in their own words and unexpected responses are encouraged.
C) It's possible to make comparisons across time and space.
D) The researcher is able to gain a deep understanding of a group and its members.
E) Implied meanings in "text" situations can be revealed.

Question 20

Identify two of the five major qualitative approaches treated in your text and discuss their disadvantages.

Question 21

institutional ethnography (IE)

Question 22

What are the two main properties of a mixed methods research (quantitative and qualitative)?

A) Determining the research question and the priority of approaches
B) Determining the priority and sequencing of approaches
C) Determining the research question and the sampling techniques
D) Determining the sampling techniques and the sequencing of approaches
E) Determining the sequencing of approaches and the data collection

Question 23

Despite a general agreement among social scientists that mixed methods research is an ideal way to approach research questions,very few researchers engage in this type of research.Why is this the case?

A) It is very time consuming and labour intensive.
B) It is often the case that social scientists consider themselves predominantly "quantitative" or "qualitative" and that to undertake mixed methods requires them to step outside of their comfort zones and, perhaps, master a new technique.
C) The results of the research are often difficult to publish due to the increased likelihood of obtaining contradictory findings.
D) A and B
E) A and C

Question 24

Professor Klaus von Stoppen obtained conflicting results in the qualitative and quantitative parts of his mixed methods study on illicit drug use among high school students in Saskatoon.What approach should he take to resolve this contradiction?

A) He should get another researcher to re-do the study.
B) He should re-do the study.
C) He does not need to resolve the contradiction.
D) He should make the decision to prioritize one approach over the other.
E) He should reanalyze the data to examine the reasons behind the contradictions.

Question 25

A central concern of ________ is the question of how texts function in particular institutional settings to produce ruling relations that shape the experiences of individuals.

A) multi-method research
B) mixed methods research
C) institutional ethnography research
D) qualitative content analysis
E) quantitative content analysis

Question 26

Professor Bertha Bettina conducted a research project exploring adolescent girl peer group pressure.She used closed-ended questionnaires and focus groups.Of the 221 girls that fit the criteria for inclusion,90 girls agreed to complete the self-administered questionnaire; of those,50 girls agreed to participate in focus groups.During analysis,descriptive statistics about behaviours reported by the girls were joined with major themes that came out of the focus group interviews. Which one of the following types of sampling designs did Professor Bettina use?

A) Simple random sampling
B) Nonprobability purposive sampling
C) Cluster sampling
D) Simple random sampling and cluster sampling
E) Multi-method sampling

Question 27

epistemic prioritization

Question 28

Which of the following is considered a strength of mixed methods research?

A) Generalizability of findings may increase.
B) Conflicting results from quantitative and qualitative components can easily be resolved by resorting to epistemic prioritization.
C) It often takes less time to do mixed methods research than other kinds of social research.
D) It allows for very narrow research questions to be answered.
E) From a philosophical perspective, both qualitative and quantitative approaches are easily combined.

Question 29

concurrent data collection

Question 30

What is one of the major disadvantages of using quantitative content analysis over other quantitative forms of data collection?

A) They make studying hidden or deviant groups possible.
B) The range of research questions that can be addressed is fairly limited.
C) It is nonreactive.
D) Coding techniques are subject to interpretation.
E) It is unlikely that all the concepts the researcher is interested in will be included in the data.

Question 31

What is one of the major advantages of using qualitative historical research methods compared to other qualitative forms of data collection?

A) It is nonreactive.
B) Data collection allows the researcher to formulate a deep understanding of a group and its members.
C) It is limited by the availability and quality of documents and data.
D) Using existing sources frees up the immense amount of time that the data collection procedure can take.
E) It does not involve a sampling phase.

Question 32

What is considered to be the principal advantage of using qualitative methods as an approach to doing social research?

A) Qualitative methods give "voice" to research participants.
B) Qualitative methods are relatively inexpensive.
C) Qualitative methods allow for causality to be established.
D) Qualitative methods involve the collection of data from large samples.
E) Qualitative methods require the researcher to spend a lot of time getting to know the research participants in a study.

Question 33

Professor Xavier Zaniff wants to conduct research on the experiences of newly arriving immigrants in Toronto,Montreal,and Vancouver from 2008-2011.His research design includes two data collection techniques: focus groups and in-depth interviews.Which research approach is he using?

A) Monostrand design
B) Quantitative research design
C) Historical-comparative research
D) Multi-method research
E) Mixed methods

Question 34

What is one of the major disadvantages of using focus groups compared to other qualitative forms of data collection?

A) There is always the problem of the "interviewer effect."
B) There is always the problem of the "polarization effect."
C) Accessing some individuals or groups may prove to very difficult.
D) The sources may be biased.
E) A fairly limited range of research questions can be addressed with this technique.

Question 35

Professors Bertha Bettina conducted a research project exploring adolescent girl peer group pressure.She used closed-ended questionnaires and focus groups.Of the 221 girls that fit the criteria for inclusion,90 girls agreed to complete the self-administered questionnaire; of those,50 girls agreed to participate in focus groups.During analysis,descriptive statistics about behaviours reported by the girls were joined with major themes that came out of the focus group interviews. Which one of the following types of data analysis did Bettina use?

A) Sequential data analysis
B) Monostrand data analysis
C) Multi-method data analysis
D) Triangulation
E) Concurrent data analysis

Question 36

concurrent data analysis

Question 37

What is one of the major disadvantages of using qualitative interviews compared to other qualitative forms of data collection?

A) There is always the problem of the "interviewer effect."
B) There is always the problem of the "polarization effect."
C) Accessing some individuals or groups may prove to very difficult.
D) The sources may be biased.
E) A fairly limited range of research questions can be addressed with this technique.

Question 38

What is one of the major advantages of using qualitative interviews compared to other qualitative forms of data collection?

A) They make studying hidden or deviant groups possible.
B) They are inexpensive.
C) They are nonreactive.
D) Participants tend to feel empowered.
E) They allow for unexpected answers.

Question 39

What is one of the major disadvantages of using experimental research compared to other quantitative forms of data collection?

A) It is not suitable for researching sensitive issues.
B) It relies on latent coding which is susceptible to interpretation issues.
C) The moderator may affect experiment outcomes.
D) Many of the questions social scientists are interested in cannot be tested.
E) It is possible to explore "meaning" of events, experiences, etc., in much detail.

Question 40

What two methodological approaches were used in Kidd's (2004,2006)sequential study of suicide among street youth in Canada?

A) Qualitative interviews and survey research
B) Focus groups and survey research
C) Content analysis and field research
D) Historical-comparative research and survey research
E) Survey research and field research

Question 41

interviewer effect

Question 42

mixed methods sampling

Question 43

triangulation

Question 44

sequential data collection

Question 45

priority

Question 46

transferability

Question 47

sequential data analysis

Question 48

institutional ethnography

Question 49

mixed methods

Question 50

sequence

Question 51

monostrand design

Question 52

multi-method research