Deck 2: Social Sciences and the Scientific Method

Question 1

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

Answer 1

False

Question 2

If people are allowed to volunteer for the experiment, then the experimental and control groups might not be representative of the population as a whole.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

A fact in the social sciences is always considered absolute.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

The scientific method is descriptive, explanatory, and normative.

Question 5

The halo effect is the tendency of respondents to give "good-citizen" responses to pollsters, whether they are truthful or not.

Question 6

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.

Question 7

Causation is a significant relationship wherein the presence of one variable (the dependent variable) causes changes in another variable (the independent variable).

Question 8

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.

Question 9

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

Question 10

Ethnography is the systematic description of a society's customary behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes.

Question 11

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

Question 12

A probabilistic is a fact, just like a universal statement.

Question 13

A correlation is a significant statistical relationship found in data.

Question 14

The scientific method develops and tests theories about how observable facts or events are related in order to explain them.

Question 15

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

Question 16

Salient issues are those that people think about most and about which they hold weak and changeable opinions.

Question 17

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

Question 18

A null hypothesis is the statement that the program or treatment had no effect.

Question 19

Hypotheses are tentative statements about a relationship between facts or events that should be derived from the theory and should be testable.

Question 20

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

Question 21

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) probabilities or generalizations based on what is yet to be learned.
B) probabilities or generalizations based on what is known so far.
C) possibilities based on historical analysis.
D) certainties based on reliable data.

Question 22

A method of explanation that develops and tests theories about how observable facts or events are related is

A) a laboratory experiment
B) the scientific method.
C) field work.
D) case study.

Question 23

Theories are developed at different levels of generality. Theories with low levels of generality will explain only a small or narrow range of behaviors. Which of the following is an example of theory with a low level of generality?

A) Religious differences cause political conflict.
B) Christian voters tend to vote Republican.
C) Voting preferences determine elections.
D) None of these

Question 24

Large samples are not much more accurate than small samples. A sample of a few thousand-even one thousand-is capable of reflecting the opinions of 1 million or 100 million voters fairly accurately. For example, a random sample of one thousand voters across the United States can produce a sampling error (plus or minus) of

A) 95 percent.
B) 85 percent.
C) 3 percent.
D) 6 percent.

Question 25

The classic research design is not without problems. Social scientists must be aware of the more difficult problems in applying this research design to social science research and must be prepared on occasion to

A) defend their designs and move forward.
B) change their procedures accordingly.
C) commit minor ethics violations.
D) consider whether the study is worth dealing with the problems.

Question 26

The scientific method is descriptive and explanatory, but NOT

A) normative.
B) reliable.
C) informative.
D) real science.

Question 27

Theories are typically a set of interrelated concepts that can be considered

A) unique.
B) helpful.
C) facts.
D) generalizable.

Question 28

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?

A) Uninformed opinions
B) Weakly held opinions
C) Random sampling
D) Changing opinions

Question 29

Issues about which people think the most and about which they hold strong and stable opinions are called

A) public issues.
B) social issues.
C) salient issues.
D) aggregate issues.

Question 30

The aggregate of opinions of individuals on topics in survey research is called

A) public opinion.
B) the universe.
C) a sample.
D) the halo effect.

Question 31

A significant relationship is one that is NOT likely to have occurred

A) due to causation.
B) by chance.
C) on purpose.
D) because the timing was right.

Question 32

The scientific method represents all of the following EXCEPT

A) an attitude of doubt or skepticism.
B) an attempt to develop a systematic body of theory.
C) a method that deals with what should be.
D) an attempt to develop statements about how events or behavior might be related and then to carefully test their validity.

Question 33

A relationship that is not likely to have occurred by chance is said to be significant. After observing a significant relationship, social scientist next ask whether there is

A) a causal relationship between the phenomena.
B) an undetermined relationship among the phenomena.
C) an error in the hypothesis.
D) a correlation in the data.

Question 34

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?

A) 90 percent
B) 100 percent
C) 95 percent
D) 98 percent

Question 35

Personal bias is a controversial issue in social science. Researchers are part of what they investigate, and they study what they think is important. Which of the following is an area where the researcher's values might be reflected?

A) Perceptions of the data
B) Statement of the hypothesis
C) Interpretations of the findings
D) All of these

Question 36

Public opinion in democracies is given a great deal of attention. Survey results on hot-button issues command the attention of which of the following?

A) Politicians
B) News media
C) Social scientists
D) all of these

Question 37

There is always the chance that the sample selected will not be representative of the universe. Survey researchers can estimate this sampling error through which of the following methods?

A) the multiplication of likelihood
B) the mathematics of likelihood
C) the mathematics of multiplication
D) the mathematics of probability

Question 38

The social sciences seek to develop theories to explain why human beings

A) think as they do.
B) live as they do.
C) feel as they do.
D) behave as they do.

Question 39

The scientific method strives to develop a systematic body of

A) facts.
B) rules.
C) theory.
D) literature.

Question 40

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

A) illogical to logical.
B) specific to general.
C) general to specific.
D) unreasonable to reasonable.

Question 41

Doubt or skepticism about theories until they have been scientifically tested is known as a __________.

Question 42

The scientific method of explanation develops and tests theories about how __________ facts or events are related.

Question 43

Ethnography is the systematic description of a society's

A) customary behaviors, beliefs, and attitudes.
B) built environment.
C) potential for development.
D) history of social change.

Question 44

A push poll really constitutes more of a campaign tactic than a scientific public opinion survey. Which of the following is a tactic used during push polls to sway opinion for a particular candidate or position?

A) Paying the respondent
B) Educating the respondent
C) Asking leading or loaded questions
D) Making substantiated claims about the other candidate's record

Question 45

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

A) prevent war.
B) promote social change.
C) inform the future.
D) end a social problem.

Question 46

Ethnographic studies are usually produced by social scientists from which discipline?

A) Sociology
B) Anthropology
C) Philosophy
D) Psychology

Question 47

Explain the relationship between the sample and the universe?

Question 48

Explain the scientific method.

Question 49

A case study is an in-depth investigation of a particular event in order to understand it as fully as possible. Which of the following would NOT be the focus of a case study?

A) A single government decision
B) A single town
C) A single society
D) All businesses in a single town

Question 50

Ethnographic studies are usually produced by __________ who have spent time living with, interviewing, and observing the people of a society.

Question 51

Few people are willing to admit that they know nothing about the topic or that they really have "no opinion." They believe they should provide an answer even if they have little interest in the topic itself. The result is that polls often seem to

A) create public opinion.
B) change public opinion.
C) undermine public opinion.
D) have no effect on public opinion.

Question 52

Each person in the universe having an equal chance of being selected in the sample for interviewing occurs in a __________.

Question 53

Careful reports from field research can provide qualitative information that is often missing from experimental and survey research. Field researchers can observe and report on which of the following?

A) attitudes
B) myths
C) symbols
D) all of these

Question 54

Why does the scientific method deal only with empirical facts and events?

Question 55

Field research often involves participant observation, during which the researcher both observes and participates in the society being studied. Which of the following is an ethical issue of the participant researcher?

A) Observing, taking notes, and reporting on the society being studied
B) Living in the society being studied
C) Deciding whether or not to identify himself or herself as a researcher
D) Participating in the society being studied

Question 56

Participant observation in field research most often leads to which of the following?

A) More experimental control than is possible in laboratories
B) Occasional ethical dilemmas
C) Greater reliability in data
D) Less validity and confidence in observations

Question 57

A(n) __________ applies to every circumstance.

Question 58

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

Question 59

What is the difference between a universal statement and a probabilistic statement?

Question 60

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

Question 61

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

Question 62

Analyze the potential differences in attitudes between social scientists and the people whose behaviors they are studying.

Question 63

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

Question 64

Considering the methods used in the process of field research, critically evaluate the potential for researcher bias in the ethnographic study.

Question 65

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.

Question 66

Write an essay that compares the use of the scientific method in the social sciences to the methods used in biology or any other non-social science

Question 67

Describe the obstacle posed to the data collection process because there are so many people who have only cell phones.

Question 68

Describe the methods used by field researchers.

Question 69

Fully explain the classic research design. Describe the conditions under which this design is appropriately used. How might the potential problems associated with the classic research design affect the study's outcome?

Question 70

Compare and contrast the ways that responses from push polls and the result of the halo effect can lead to the creation of public opinion.

Question 71

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

Question 72

How might a case study be part of an historical analysis used to inform the future?