Deck 4: Issues in Problem Formulation

Question 1

The text gives as an example of a research problem "the cause of drug addiction." The difficulty with this research problem, as stated, is:

A)it cannot be resolved through observation.
B)it is not sufficiently specific.
C)it is a nonempirical issue.
D)it is a nonconceptual issue.

Answer 1

B

Question 2

Research on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS)was delayed in the early 1980s because:

A)AIDS victims did not seek medical care until they were very ill.
B)the Reagan Administration was cutting social programs.
C)the disease first appeared in groups for whom they powers-that-be felt little sympathy.
D)both the Reagan Administration was cutting social programs, and the disease first appeared in groups for whom they powers-that-be felt little sympathy.

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Prior research is a fruitful source of research problems because:

A)it does not involve the intrusion of values into research.
B)it is not shaped by political considerations.
C)all research projects have limitations and leave some research questions unanswered.
D)it is not based on personal interest or other biasing influences.

Answer 3

C

Question 4

In a literature review, a systematic search is conducted for which kinds of information

A)theoretical and conceptual issues
B)measurement issues and operational definitions
C)sampling strategies
D)all of the answers represent information sought in a literature review.

Question 5

In addition to the behavior or characteristics of clients, human service practice research has also focused on this area as an important source of research problems:

A)the personal experience of clients in getting help.
B)the mode and process of human service practice itself.
C)deviant child management practices.
D)differences between cultures.

Question 6

One social researcher was interested in conducting research on battered women because she had been abused by her husband. This most clearly exemplifies selecting a research problem based on:

A)personal interest.
B)testing theory.
C)program evaluation.
D)human service practice.

Question 7

Which of the following would be LEAST LIKELY to be classified as a research problem selected on the basis of program evaluation

A)a needs assessment conducted for a social agency to determine the number of clients in need of the agency's services
B)a study conducted for a court system to determine which inmates would be the least riskiest to parole
C)a study conducted to determine whether the propositions of exchange theory could predict which marriages would fail
D)a study conducted by a teenage pregnancy prevention program to determine whether counseling sessions are effective

Question 8

Which of the following is NOT one of the factors mentioned in the text that can influence the allocation of research funds

A)the existence of a powerful interest group that can push for research on a particular problem
B)public awareness of and concern about the problem
C)the amount of publicity about the condition
D)the occurrence of an ecological fallacy in relation to a unit of analysis

Question 9

Which of the following would BEST illustrate the use of prior research as a source of a research topic

A)a research project developed to test a theory of inter-group conflict
B)a research project that will assess the availability of counseling services to clients in a mental health agency
C)a research project that will evaluate the effectiveness of various methods of reducing prejudice among children
D)a research project that will use a sample of urban minority children to replicate a study that found abuse prevention training to be effective with suburban white children

Question 10

When a research topic is selected on the basis of personal interest in a particular problem, the main purpose of the research should be to:

A)satisfy the researcher's personal curiosity.
B)advance scientific knowledge.
C)incorporate one's values into the research.
D)conduct applied rather than basic research.

Question 11

When the text refers to the "politics" of research problem selection, it is referring to:

A)research funded by the government.
B)how access to power and resources influences what problems are researched.
C)cases where particular research problems have been promoted by politicians.
D)the debates and controversies among research when they select a particular research design.

Question 12

According to the text, human service professionals can play an important role in the political issues surrounding the selection of research problems by:

A)removing politics as an issue in the funding of research.
B)making sure that only human service practitioners conduct the research that affects their clients.
C)making sure that problem selection in research is based largely or solely on human service practice concerns.
D)serving as advocates for the inclusion on the societal research agenda of problems relevant to their clients.

Question 13

The text states that only concepts that are can be used in the research process.

A)measurable
B)abstract
C)practice-oriented
D)unique

Question 14

Based upon a review of the literature, a researcher should:

A)follow approaches that have failed to show any significant results or strong relationships in the past.
B)learn from other's experiences and avoid pitfalls in earlier research.
C)avoid sampling procedures that have been widely used in previous studies.
D)avoid the replication of previous research.

Question 15

Which of the following is NOT included in the text as a possible source of research problems

A)personal interest
B)testing theory
C)prior research
D)units of analysis

Question 16

Which of the following best illustrates the source of the research problems for researchers at the Office of the Inspector General (OIG)of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)described in Research in Practice 4.1

A)Personal interest.
B)Prior research.
C)Policy implementation.
D)Conceptual development.

Question 17

Identifying and properly defining the concepts that will be the focus of a research study is called:

A)conceptual development.
B)inductive reasoning.
C)theory verification.
D)propositional development.

Question 18

Since 1970, there has been a growing amount of social science research on spouse abuse. Among the reason(s)for this increase is/are that:

A)the amount of spouse abuse has grown substantially.
B)more women have chosen to pursue careers as social science researchers.
C)the women's movement has failed as an important political force for change.
D)all the other answers represent reasons for the increase.

Question 19

The review of the literature in research typically has which of the following goals

A)to learn how others have delineated similar problems.
B)to help narrow the focus of the research project.
C)to ensure that the research project does not unnecessarily duplicate what others have done.
D)all of the answers represent goals of a literature review.

Question 20

In regard to theories, the text states that nearly all research should, at a minimum:

A)include some novel theoretical development.
B)have some implications for verifying existing theory.
C)focus on more than one theory.
D)provide a nomothetic explanation.

Question 21

Inferring something about groups, or other higher levels of analysis, based on data collected from individuals is referred to as:

A)the ecological fallacy.
B)the macro-level fallacy.
C)the inductive fallacy.
D)the reductionist fallacy.

Question 22

Which of the following is true of reactivity

A)It can be avoided in most social research.
B)It is a problem for virtually all sciences.
C)It is a problem in the social sciences but not the natural sciences.
D)It can usually be alleviated through good sampling procedures.

Question 23

As a general rule, the _______________ are the data in a research project, the _______________ will be needed to analyze them.

A)more structured...more time.
B)less structured...more time.
C)more quantitative… more time.
D)less quantitative...less time.

Question 24

We conduct a research project in which we collect data from individual teenagers about their drug use and then draw conclusions about rates of drug use in the communities the teenagers are from. This research may well be subject to:

A)the reductionist fallacy.
B)the ecological fallacy.
C)the inductive fallacy.
D)the deductive fallacy.

Question 25

The "ecological fallacy" would be best defined as:

A)the use of artifacts in human service research.
B)the use of a cross sectional research design when longitudinal research is called for.
C)inferring something about individuals based on data collected about groups.
D)collecting data from people in their natural setting (their "ecology")rather than in a more neutral setting.

Question 26

Which of the following types of research would generally be cheaper and faster to conduct

A)longitudinal research
B)cross sectional research
C)panel studies
D)trend studies

Question 27

One of the major weaknesses of cross sectional research is that:

A)you cannot observe changes in the same people over time.
B)you have data from too many points in time.
C)people who participate in the early part of the research may not be available for the later data gathering efforts.
D)people's responses can be influenced by the fact that they have been observed earlier.

Question 28

Which of the following would best illustrate the "program" as the unit of analysis in research

A)a study of community mental health agencies in terms of the impact of heavy caseloads on client satisfaction
B)a needs assessment survey in which the ability of families to cope with disability is assessed
C)a survey of people's attitudes toward those who receive public assistance
D)an evaluation of the effectiveness of boot camps in comparison with other sentencing options such as traditional incarceration or probation

Question 29

Which of the following is the unit of analysis that is LEAST LIKELY to be used in human service research

A)groups
B)organizations
C)programs
D)artifacts

Question 30

If you wanted to study changes in the ways in which children who were born deaf adapt to their handicap at different ages, the preferred research method to use would be:

A)cross sectional research.
B)ecological research.
C)longitudinal research.
D)reactive research.

Question 31

According to the text, the best kind of research to achieve the goals of longitudinal research is:

A)a panel study.
B)a trend study.
C)a pilot study.
D)an experimental study.

Question 32

The elements whose characteristics we wish to describe or explain and about which data will be collected are called:

A)conceptual developments.
B)operational definitions.
C)Ecological factors.
D)units of analysis.

Question 33

Which of the following are likely to be cost factors in a research project

A)expenditures for office supplies and equipment
B)payment to ensure that people will cooperate in the study
C)expenses for software packages and Internet access
D)all of the other answers represent cost factors

Question 34

The notion of "indirect costs" has to do with:

A)the disadvantages of using qualitative research.
B)the psychological impact of research on the research participants.
C)the impact of research on the personal lives of the researchers.
D)the financial costs of conducting a research project.

Question 35

A small scale "trial run" of all of the procedures planned for use in a research project is called a:

A)pretest.
B)trend study.
C)panel study.
D)pilot study.

Question 36

If a research project collected data from heads of households about the characteristics of the household, the unit of analysis would be:

A)the individual.
B)the organization.
C)the group.
D)the program.

Question 37

Qualitative research would probably be chosen over quantitative when:

A)there is a great deal of previous research on a topic.
B)there is much theoretical development already done on a topic.
C)our knowledge of a topic is sketchy and the research exploratory.
D)the research hypotheses deal with "quality of life" issues.

Question 38

What is the significance of the acronym "PICO" for problem formulation

A)It stands for an organization that was influential in obtaining resources for AIDS research.
B)It refers to a library classification system.
C)It refers to an evidence-based practice principle for framing search questions.
D)It stands for a United Nations organization that monitors research ethics.

Question 39

Qualitative research would probably be chosen over quantitative research when:

A)a researcher believed that the aspects of the human experience being studied cannot be meaningfully reduced to numbers and measures.
B)a researcher adopted the positivist position.
C)a researcher was concerned about the reductionist fallacy.
D)a researcher believed that the aspects of the human experience being studied cannot be meaningfully reduced to numbers and measures, and a researcher was concerned about the reductionist fallacy

Question 40

The type of research that is intended to provide a single "snapshot" in time of some phenomenon is:

A)cross sectional research.
B)panel studies.
C)longitudinal research.
D)pilot studies.

Question 41

Discuss the specifics of time and money as related to the feasibility of a research project.

Question 42

Discuss the role of conceptual development in shaping and refining a research problem.

Question 43

Discuss the role of the literature review in shaping and refining the research problem.

Question 44

Describe the "ecological fallacy" and the "reductionist fallacy." Give an example of each.

Question 45

Identify and describe the six common sources of research problems outlined in the text.Give an example of each.

Question 46

Discuss how politics can influence the selection of research problems, especially as this relates to minority populations.

Question 47

Identify and describe the five common units of analysis. Give an example of each.

Question 48

Compare and contrast male and female voices in research. What are the implications of this difference for problem formulation and the development of research designs

Question 49

Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of longitudinal versus cross sectional research.

Question 50

Describe the three things discussed in the text that can be done to anticipate and avoid problems that could threaten the feasibility of a research project.