Ch. 2 Research Sociology

The 1st step of the scientific method:

• Collect and analyze data

• Summarize the articles

• Ask a question about a topic

• Create a hypothesis

A measurement is considered _______ if it actually measures what it is intended to measure, according to the topic of the study.

• reliable

• sociological

• valid

• quantitative

Sociological studies test relationships in which change in one _______ causes change in another.

• test subject

• behavior

• variable

• operational definition

In a study, a group of ten-year-old boys are fed doughnuts every morning for a week and then weighed to see how much weight they gained. Which factor is the dependent variable?

• The doughnuts

• The boys

• The duration of a week

• The weight gained

Which statement provides the best operational definition of “childhood obesity”?

• body weight at least 20 percent higher than a healthy weight for a child of that height

• A situation where a child eats more than three meals a day.

• A scenario where a child prefers junk food over healthy food.

• A case where a child is taller than average for their age.

Which materials are considered secondary data?

• Photos and letters given to you by another person

• Books and articles written by other authors about their studies

• Information that you have gathered and now have included in your results

• Responses from participants whom you both surveyed and interviewed

Why is choosing a random sample an effective way to select participants?

• Participants do not know they are part of a study

• The researcher has no control over who is in the study

• It is larger than an ordinary sample

• Everyone has the same chance of being part of the study

What research method did John S. Lynd and Helen Merrell Lynd mainly use in their Middletown study?

• Secondary data

• Survey

• Participant observation

• Experiment

Which research approach is best suited to the scientific method?

• Questionnaire

• Case study

• Ethnography

• Secondary data analysis

The main difference between ethnography and other types of participant observation is:

• ethnography isn’t based on hypothesis testing

• ethnography subjects are unaware they’re being studied

• ethnographic studies always involve minority ethnic groups

• ethnography focuses on how subjects view themselves in relationship to the community