Deck 18: Critical Thinking in the Social Sciences

Question 1

A social science research team presented arguments explaining which factors it regards as relevant and exactly why each of the factors is potentially relevant to the hypothesis being investigated. This explanation represents which step in the scientific investigation?
(a) Design a procedure to ensure that the data gathered will reveal the full range of possible observations.
(b) Conduct the study or the experiment and gather the data.
(c) Critique the findings.
(d) Identify all the factors related to the hypothesis and the phenomenon of interest that it will be important to measure, control, or monitor.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

A social science research team presented an explanation of the design of its study. The team plans to divide participants into two groups, one will be the experimental group and the other the control group. The team demonstrates, using a power analysis as explained in the chapter on Empirical Reasoning, that it has enough subjects to permit the proper statistical analyses to be run. This explanation represents which step in the scientific investigation?
(a) Design a procedure to ensure that the data gathered will reveal the full range of possible observations.
(b) Conduct the study or the experiment and gather the data.
(c) Critique the findings.
(d) Identify all the factors related to the hypothesis and the phenomenon of interest that it will be important to measure, control, or monitor.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

Which factor are social scientists focusing on when they record, ask about, or analyze demographic data, such as age, place of birth, education, and income?
(a) Participants
(b) Situation
(c) Actions
(d) Motivation

Answer 3

A

Question 4

What name do we give to the systematic empirical inquiry into the patterns, structures, and functions of human behavior, individually or in groups, within society?
(a) Philosophy
(b) Communication
(c) Management Information Systems
(d) Natural Science
(e) Social Science

Question 5

In the social sciences, the threshold for statistical significance is generally that the chances of the observed finding having happened by random chance are ________________.
(a) zero
(b) 1 in 1,0000
(c) 1 in 1,000
(d) 1 in 20
(e) 1 in 5

Question 6

Social science research is best described as the scientific study of ______________.
(a) all natural phenomena and their causes
(b) ideals and principles that guide human behavior
(c) semantic structure of language that supports valid inference
(d) divinely inspired spiritual teachings and moral guidance of sages
(e) human society and interpersonal relationships

Question 7

A social scientist asks, "What are the costs, benefits, risks, and opportunities of closing the homeless shelter in this community?" Which critical thinking skill does this question manifest, and what aspect of the phenomena under investigation does this question consider?
(a) Interpretation - Participants
(b) Analysis - Actions
(c) Evaluation - Situation
(d) Explanation - Motivation

Question 8

Social science is self-corrective and open to independent replication and evaluation. Nevertheless, the critical thinking skill of self-regulation cannot help self-monitor and self-correct for which of the following?
(a) Biased thinking, erroneous snap judgments, and misapplication of cognitive heuristics.
(b) Initially interpreting an observed phenomenon or test result with an insufficient attention to detail.
(c) False positives (finding what is not there) and false negatives (not finding what is there) in the results.
(d) Failure to take into account all of the factors which influence the phenomenon under investigation.
(e) Social media reactions by people who may be offended, upset, or angry with the findings.

Question 9

A social scientist asks, "What additional information about the security personnel and their objectives do we need to know?" Which critical thinking skill does this question manifest, and what aspect of the phenomena under investigation does this question consider?
(a) Inference - Participants
(b) Analysis - Actions
(c) Evaluation - Situation
(d) Self-Regulation - Motivation

Question 10

Which factor are social scientists focusing on when they record, ask about, or analyze the physical, social, and cultural circumstances or surroundings that define the phenomena being investigated?
(a) Participants
(b) Situation
(c) Actions
(d) Motivation

Question 11

Social science inquiry is characterized by which kind of reasoning?
(a) Heuristic
(b) Comparative
(c) Empirical
(d) Valid
(e) Ideological

Question 12

A social scientist asks, "In the minds of the students, does getting a good grade justify cheating?" Which critical thinking skill does this question manifest, and what aspect of the phenomena under investigation does this question consider?
(a) Interpretation - Participants
(b) Self-Regulation - Actions
(c) Analysis - Situation
(d) Explanation - Motivation

Question 13

If the arguments presented are sound, then the conclusions reached by social scientists using narrative analyses or using statistical analyses can be evaluated as ________________.
(a) tautological
(b) valid
(c) warranted
(d) questionable
(e) absurd

Question 14

A social science research team identifies and describes the limitations of the completed study. Identify and describe any limitations of the completed study. The team goes on to describe how these might be handled in a future study and why the additional research would be valuable in its own right. This represents which step in the scientific investigation?
(a) Design a procedure to ensure that the data gathered will reveal the full range of possible observations.
(b) Conduct the study or the experiment and gather the data.
(c) Critique the findings.
(d) Identify all the factors related to the hypothesis and the phenomenon of interest that it will be important to measure, control, or monitor.

Question 15

Which of the following is a social science question?
(a) Should our state decriminalize casino gambling and off-track betting?
(b) Ought parents to permit their teenage children to gamble online?
(c) Is it morally acceptable for a low-income family to buy lottery tickets instead of milk for the children?
(d) What motivates people to engage in these different forms of gambling: lottery, casino, and online?
(e) If lottery revenues are intended to enhance education funding, is it legal to reallocate these funds for highway and bridge improvements?

Question 16

With ever more powerful explanatory theories, social scientists are seeking explanations that fulfill the standards that all scientific theories strive to meet. Specifically large explanatory social science theories strive to be: Consistent, Testable, Comprehensive, Parsimonious, and ________________.
(a) Affordable
(b) Balanced
(c) Heuristic
(d) Productive
(e) Idealistic

Question 17

Which factor are social scientists focusing on when they record, ask about, or analyze the behavior people display in the situation under investigation?
(a) Participants
(b) Situation
(c) Actions
(d) Motivation

Question 18

Good investigators always start with a _______________. They use their critical thinking skills to decide what kinds of evidence in a fair-minded, systematic, and accurate way.
(a) budget
(b) data gathering techniques
(c) question
(d) statistical test
(e) research method

Question 19

Social scientists are critical thinkers engaged in social science inquiry generating ________________ that, in turn, can be applied to real-world problems and can support professionals in many fields.
(a) new knowledge
(b) historical records
(c) spiritual insights
(d) budget deficits
(e) comparative arguments

Question 20

Which factor are social scientists focusing on when they record, ask about, or analyze the desires, goals, or intentions that impelled people to behave as they did?
(a) Participants
(b) Situation
(c) Actions
(d) Motivation

Question 21

Organizations with particular economic or political interests often fund social science research. Is it reasonable, therefore, to say that the research cannot be trusted because the organization that funded the research had a vested interest in X, whatever policy, economic result, or interest X might be?

Question 22

What is the scientific standard called "comprehensiveness" that is applied to the evaluation of scientific theories?

Question 23

Why do social scientists ask questions about actions?

Question 24

From the perspective of social scientists, not buying health insurance, not taking a job, not getting married, not having children, and not heeding legal advice are examples of actions. Why?

Question 25

Explain what it means to say that social scientists constitute a large, varied, and complex language community.

Question 26

Social scientists gather empirical data and use critical thinking to analyze, explain, and predict human behavior.

Question 27

The term used to represent the internal and external forces that stimulate, maintain, and regulate human behavior and influence our decision for action or reaction in social situations is _____________.

Question 28

Scientific theories which suggest new directions and new hypotheses for research that go beyond a restatement of initial findings and theories that potentially enable investigators to strengthen explanations and make well-founded predictions about human behavior are valued as ___________________.

Question 29

As interesting as social science research may be in its own right, it offers little of practical value in terms of real-world applications.

Question 30

What is the common theme running through all the social science fields, disciplines, and professions?

Question 31

One of the greatest aids to objectivity which social scientists have as they ask questions, make inferences, and explain human behavior is that the scientists are part of the phenomena they are studying.

Question 32

What is a Type I error and what is a Type II error? Give an example using a counseling psychologist and a client who comes to talk to the psychologist.

Question 33

What is the scientific standard called "testability" that is applied to the evaluation of scientific theories?

Question 34

What do social scientists hope to learn by gathering demographic or other data on the characteristics of the people or subjects who are participants in the phenomenon under investigation?

Question 35

Scientific theories which are not needlessly complex, but instead provide the simplest, most concise representation possible of the admittedly complex phenomena under investigation are valued as ___________________.

Question 36

What is the "situation" that social scientists think about, and why is it relevant to their investigations?

Question 37

What is the "Hawthorne Effect" and how can social scientists address it?

Question 38

Social scientists think about the individuals who perform, share, or engage in something, the social scientists are thinking about the ___________________, also sometimes referred to as subjects, informants, or actors.

Question 39

Why does it pose a risk for social science research that "we are what we study"?

Question 40

Scientific theories which integrate all of the accepted facts and findings about human behavior from different scientific disciplines and across a wide breadth of participants, situations, actions, and motives are valued as ___________________.