Chapter 13: Qualitative Understanding of Communication Behavior: Interviews, Focus Groups, and Ethnography

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. In Dell Hymes’s ethnography of communication, a speech community is ______.

a. a group of people who share common a language

b. the occasion when people talk

c. specific speech activities

d. the styles of speech used in specific situations

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethnographic Starting Points

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. In Dell Hymes’s ethnography of communication, a communicative act is

a. the occasion when people talk ______.

b. the goals of the communication

c. the specific speech activity that takes place

d. smaller units of speech within a speech event

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethnographic Starting Points

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Which one of the following is essentially a qualitative method?

a. survey

b. experiment

c. interview

d. census

Learning Objective: 13.2: Compare and contrast qualitative methods with quantitative methods.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Interviews

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Which of the following is NOT a basic principle of ethnographic research?

a. conduct research primarily in natural settings

b. combine direct observation with interviews

c. operationalize constructs so they can be measured

d. focus on local, subjective knowledge and categories

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethnographic Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Which of the following is NOT one of the relationships between researcher and informants described by Gold?

a. complete observer

b. observer as participant

c. incomplete observer

d. participant as observer

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Researcher Participant Relationships

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Which of the following question types ask respondents to explain the relationships among the terms they use?

a. descriptive

b. structural

c. contrast

d. funnel

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Question Types

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. In a(n) ______ online focus group, members contribute in their own time.

a. asynchronous

b. synchronous

c. postsynchronous

d. unsynchronous

Learning Objective: 13.4: Compare and contrast online qualitative methods with traditional qualitative methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Online Focus Groups

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Which of the following most accurately describes the researcher–researched relationship in unobtrusive measures research?

a. observer as participant

b. participant as observer

c. complete observer

d. semi-partial observer

Learning Objective: 13.6: Identify and discuss potential ethical issues related to interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and unobtrusive measures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Researcher Participant Relationships

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Which of the following is NOT an interview prompt?

a. what

b. whatever

c. who

d. when

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Prompts

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Often, focus group members are selected to be ______.

a. demographically dissimilar

b. diverse in their opinions

c. representative of minority demographics

d. similar in their opinions

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Focus Groups

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Which of the following is NOT an analytic unit of Hymes’s ethnography of communication?

a. speech community

b. speech situation

c. speech event

d. speech intention

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethnographic Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Which of the following is NOT a unit of Hymes’s SPEAKING model?

a. situation

b. participants

c. ends

d. intentions

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethnographic Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. In Dell Hymes’s ethnography of communication, a speech event refers to ______.

a. occasions within a speech community when people talk

b. a specific speech activity that takes place in a speech situation

c. the setting where speech activities occur

d. styles of speech used in specific situations

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethnographic Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. In Dell Hymes’s speaking model, key refers to the ______.

a. tone of speech

b. key idea in a speech

c. channels or methods used to communicate

d. rules governing speech and its interpretation

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethnographic Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. In a(n) ______ focus group, members interact with one another in “real time.”

a. asynchronous

b. synchronous

c. postsynchronous

d. unsynchronous

Learning Objective: 13.4: Compare and contrast online qualitative methods with traditional qualitative methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Online Focus Groups

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. If quantitative methods are an experimental science in search of law, qualitative methods are a(n) ______ one in search of meaning.

a. objective

b. interpretive

c. controlled

d. invalid

Learning Objective: 13.2: Compare and contrast qualitative methods with quantitative methods.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Qualitative and Quantitative: Similarities and Differences

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Which of the following is an advantage of qualitative methods?

a. The researcher's presence may impact results.

b. They are always easier and quicker.

c. They can be easily generalized.

d. They often have higher "real-life" validity.

Learning Objective: 13.1: List the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction: Advantages and Disadvantages of Watching and Listening Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. Typically, focus group discussions are not recorded.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Focus Groups

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Focus groups are basically the same as interviews.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Focus Groups

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. In unobtrusive measures research, people are informed that their behavior is being documented.

Learning Objective: 13.6: Identify and discuss potential ethical issues related to interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and unobtrusive measures.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Unobtrusive Measures

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. The basis of most analyses of qualitative data is categorization.

Learning Objective: 13.5: Explain, with examples, the basics of coding qualitative data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Making Sense of Qualitative Data

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Preconceived categories are essential for the analysis of qualitative data.

Learning Objective: 13.5: Explain, with examples, the basics of coding qualitative data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Making Sense of Qualitative Data

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. “Coding” typically means assigning units of information to a category.

Learning Objective: 13.5: Explain, with examples, the basics of coding qualitative data.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Fixed Coding

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. The concept of “theory as grounded in data” means that a theory is expected to emerge as data analysis proceeds.

Learning Objective: 13.5: Explain, with examples, the basics of coding qualitative data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Flexible Coding

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. The concept of “theory as grounded in data” means that a theory must be in place as a prerequisite to data analysis.

Learning Objective: 13.5: Explain, with examples, the basics of coding qualitative data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Flexible Coding

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. The “constant comparative method” basically means testing new statements or ideas against categories and then reworking the categories as data analysis proceeds.

Learning Objective: 13.5: Explain, with examples, the basics of coding qualitative data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Flexible Coding

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Qualitative data cannot be analyzed using computer software.

Learning Objective: 13.5: Explain, with examples, the basics of coding qualitative data.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Qualitative Analysis Software

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Informants are research participants defined as being able to talk about others as well as about themselves.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Interviews

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. Respondents are research participants defined as being able to talk about others as well as about themselves.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Interviews

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. Respondents are research participants defined as speaking only for themselves.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Interviews

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. Interviews generally consist of a series of questions asked by a researcher in order to elicit information he or she is interested in.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Interviews

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. A researcher’s dress, language, body language, vocabulary, status, and gender might all affect the outcome of the interview.

Learning Objective: 13.6: Identify and discuss potential ethical issues related to interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and unobtrusive measures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Interviewee Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. An interviewer’s personal characteristics will not affect how an interviewee responds to the interview.

Learning Objective: 13.6: Identify and discuss potential ethical issues related to interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and unobtrusive measures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Interviewee Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. The variability of human behavior over time puts a question mark over the reliability of findings from qualitative methods research.

Learning Objective: 13.1: List the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction: Advantages and Disadvantages of Watching and Listening Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Because the participants in an interview or discussion are typically selected judgmentally by the researcher, there can be questions about the validity of sampling.

Learning Objective: 13.2: Compare and contrast qualitative methods with quantitative methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction: Advantages and Disadvantages of Watching and Listening Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

19. Focus groups cannot be conducted online.

Learning Objective: 13.4: Compare and contrast online qualitative methods with traditional qualitative methods.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Online Focus Groups

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. The reliability of focus group results can be answered by running a second focus group and comparing the results with those from the first group.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Focus Groups

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. A strength of focus groups is that researchers observe human communication in its natural settings.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Focus Groups

Difficulty Level: Easy

22. Descriptive notes record the specific methods an ethnographer uses to gather data.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethnographic Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

23. Analytic notes are the notes an ethnographer writes to make sense of or interpret raw data and observations.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethnographic Methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

24. Typically, observational studies record and interpret individual and group behaviors in an experimental setting.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Observational Studies

Difficulty Level: Easy

25. Qualitative studies can be observational without being ethnographies.

Learning Objective: 13.2: Compare and contrast qualitative methods with quantitative methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Observational Studies

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. Conversation analysis is a method for analyzing how people negotiate rules for understanding.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Conversation Analysis

Difficulty Level: Easy

27. Qualitative researchers look for relationships among phenomena.

Learning Objective: 13.2: Compare and contrast qualitative methods with quantitative methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Qualitative and Quantitative: Similarities and Differences

Difficulty Level: Medium

28. A disadvantage of qualitative research is that the reliability can be brought into question.

Learning Objective: 13.1: List the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction: Advantages and Disadvantages of Watching and Listening Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. Explain the similarities and differences between qualitative and quantitative research.

Learning Objective: 13.2: Compare and contrast qualitative methods with quantitative methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Qualitative and Quantitative: Similarities and Differences

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of online focus groups?

Learning Objective: 13.4: Compare and contrast online qualitative methods with traditional qualitative methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Online Focus Groups

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Identify and discuss at least three important decisions that must precede research based on ethnographic approaches to human communication research.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ethnographic Methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Name and describe the four relationships between researcher and informants identified by Gold.

Learning Objective: 13.6: Identify and discuss potential ethical issues related to interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and unobtrusive measures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Researcher-Participant Relationships

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Explain the difference between fixed and flexible coding.

Learning Objective: 13.5: Explain, with examples, the basics of coding qualitative data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Making Sense of Qualitative Data

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Explain the importance of setting and sensitivities to successful interviews.

Learning Objective: 13.6: Identify and discuss potential ethical issues related to interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and unobtrusive measures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Interviewee Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Explain with examples each of the following question types defined by James Spradley: descriptive questions, structural questions, and contrast questions.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Question Types

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Identify and discuss at least two problems with the focus group method.

Learning Objective: 13.1: List the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research methods.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Focus Groups

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Identify and discuss at least three recommendations you would make for running a successful focus group.

Learning Objective: 13.6: Identify and discuss potential ethical issues related to interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and unobtrusive measures.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Focus Groups

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Explain and discuss the reasons to use unobtrusive measures research.

Learning Objective: 13.6: Identify and discuss potential ethical issues related to interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and unobtrusive measures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Explain the differences between unstructured, semi-structured, and structured interviews.

Learning Objective: 13.6: Identify and discuss potential ethical issues related to interviews, focus groups, ethnography, and unobtrusive measures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Structure

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of interviewing research participants “on-site” versus in the researcher’s office.

Learning Objective: 13.1: List the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Interviewee Considerations

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of audio- or video-recording interviews.

As a disadvantage, people may “clam up” in front of a camera, may be nervous about what will happen to the recorded interview, or may decide to talk “for the record.”

Learning Objective: 13.1: List the advantages and disadvantages of qualitative research methods.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Recording

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. What is a netnography?

Learning Objective: 13.4: Compare and contrast online qualitative methods with traditional qualitative methods.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Online Ethnography

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Explain the difference between informants and respondents.

Learning Objective: 13.3: Explain, with examples, how to conduct the major methods of qualitative research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Interviews

Difficulty Level: Medium