Sociology Exam #1

Researchers must be willing to accept that the data they collect might contradict their most passionate convictions. Which idea does this statement reflect?

• validity

• falsifiability

• objectivity

• reliability

Dividing a population into a series of subgroups and taking random samples from within each group is known as what type of sampling?

• simple random

• nonrandom

• snowball

• stratified

The ability to evaluate claims about truth by using reason and evidence is referred to as ___.

• critical thinking

• the sociological imagination

• logical thought

• scientific reasoning

The process of gathering empirical (scientific & specific) data, creating theories, and rigorously testing theories is known as ___.

• the scientific method

• theoretical reasoning

• the sociological method

• data collection

Which of the following would be considered a quantitative variable?

• occupation

• job title

• yearly salary

• employment status

Accepted social behaviors and beliefs are referred to as ___.

• culture

• values

• norms

• social status

Which of the following is NOT one of the social forces that is ignored in blaming the poor for their poverty and suggesting that they work harder and "pull themselves up by their bootstraps"?

• the dire state of public education in distressed rural and urban areas

• racial and ethnic discrimination

• the feminization of poverty

• the outsourcing of manufacturing jobs

The idea that economic, political, and other forms of human behavior are fundamentally shaped by social relationships is referred to as ___.

• social embeddedness

• sociology

• social reciprocity

• relational theory

Which of the following would be considered a violation of a folkway?

• robbing a convenience store

• shouting and swearing at the professor during class

• not offering your seat on the bus to an elderly person

• cheating on an exam

A culture that exists together with a dominant culture but differs from it in some important respects is referred to as a(n) ______.

• subgroup

• ethnicity

• subculture

• counterculture