Deck 4: Theory and Hypotheses

Question 1

What word is often useful in the writing of theory?

A) Because
B) Prove
C) Null
D) Always

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following is not a requirement to establish causality?

A) The observed caused and the observed effect must be empirically correlated
B) The observed cause must precede the effect
C) The correlation between the two variables cannot be explained away by a third variable
D) The relationship between the two variables must be spurious

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Where do research hypotheses come from?

A) From a theory about the relationship between two variables
B) From spurious relationships among variables
C) From observed correlations
D) From the null hypothesis

Answer 3

A

Question 4

Because we accept we cannot correctly predict all social behavior, theories in political science are:

A) deterministic
B) generalizable
C) probabilistic
D) testable

Question 5

An individualistic fallacy is inferring a characteristic about:

A) a group based on observations from only one case
B) a group based on observations from multiple cases
C) one case based on trends from multiple cases
D) one case based on trends from only one case

Question 6

Which of the following is not a source of theory?

A) Inductive reasoning
B) Deductive reasoning
C) Other scholars' literature
D) Hypothesis

Question 7

A generalized explanation for an observable outcome is known as a/an:

A) hypothesis
B) individualistic fallacy
C) theory
D) ecological fallacy

Question 8

What is a deterministic theory?

A) One that posits that an outcome is the only possible result associated with a particular cause
B) One that posits that an outcome is more or less likely given a particular cause
C) One that posits that outcomes are not predictable
D) One that posits that outcomes are usually spurious

Question 9

Which of the following is an example of a null hypothesis?

A) There is no relationship between political corruption and violence.
B) People who have less information about the political process are less likely to be interested in politics than people who have more information about the political process.
C) People who were not politically socialized as children will exhibit a lower interest in politics as adults than people who were politically socialized as children.
D) People who are intimidated by the political process are less likely to be interested in politics than people who are not intimidated by the political process.

Question 10

When a relationship is spurious:

A) the two variables under investigation are not empirically correlated
B) the relationship is deterministic
C) the two variables cannot be included as independent variables
D) the correlation between two variables is not a causal one

Question 11

Probabilistic theories suggest:

A) that an outcome is by definition the only possible result associated with a particular cause
B) that the likelihood of an event occurring is either higher or lower for a particular reason
C) the absence of a certain value of one or more independent variables
D) that a theory should be applicable to as many contexts as possible and not only to the set of observations that were included in the original study

Question 12

Causal explanations establish:

A) cause and effect
B) correlation
C) generalizability
D) inductive observations

Question 13

Inductive observations involve:

A) a general premise that is used to generate expectations about how variables are related to one another
B) inferring a characteristic about a group based on observations from only one individual or case
C) information you have at your immediate disposal
D) devising a number of plausible explanations that might have some power in explaining why there is variation in the dependent variable

Question 14

Insights from the literature:

A) are not helpful in developing theory
B) should not be used in developing theory since an original theory must come from the researcher
C) should only be in the literature review
D) can help a researcher shape the theory about the relationship between the variables in an analysis

Question 15

What is explanatory power?

A) The power of a theory to explain as much of an outcome as possible
B) The actual theory itself
C) A series of research hypotheses derived from a theory
D) The comparison of the null hypothesis to the research hypothesis

Question 16

A testable hypothesis is one that can be:

A) evaluated based on empirical data
B) applied to as many contexts as possible
C) free of ecological fallacies
D) free of individualistic fallacies

Question 17

What is the difference between a null hypothesis and a research hypothesis?

A) The former only applies to antecedent variables and the latter to intervening variables
B) The null hypothesis establishes that there is no relationship between the independent and dependent variables and the research hypothesis is the expectation of how two or more variables are related
C) The research hypothesis establishes that there is no relationship between the independent and dependent variables and the null hypothesis is the expectation of how two or more variables are related
D) The null hypothesis and the research hypothesis are the same

Question 18

What is the difference between a theory and a hypothesis?

A) A theory is a testable mechanism for determining causation, whereas a hypothesis is an explanation for a theory
B) A theory consists of variables whereas a hypothesis consists of ideas
C) A theory is a generalized explanation for an observable outcome, and a hypothesis is an expectation of how two or more variables are related
D) A theory is an expectation, whereas a hypothesis is a generalized expectation

Question 19

What is the abbreviation for a null hypothesis?

A) H1
B) N1
C) H0
D) N0

Question 20

Observational studies attempt to:

A) establish causality among variables after events have already occurred
B) establish causality by using an experimental design
C) support null hypotheses
D) create spurious results