Chapter 5: Secondary Data Analysis

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Secondary data are usually based on ______.

A. content analysis

B. interviews

C. existing statistics

D. survey research

Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe the purpose and characteristics of secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Secondary Data Analysis: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Secondary data analysis is considered research because ______.

A. you analyze the data

B. it is statistical

C. you summarize the original researcher’s findings

D. you do a literature review before you start your study

Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe the purpose and characteristics of secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Secondary Data Analysis: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Raw data are data that ______.

A. don’t yet have any variables that have been collapsed

B. haven’t been cleaned

C. Haven’t been statistically calculated yet

D. didn’t come from a data repository

Answer Location: Introduction

Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe the purpose and characteristics of secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Secondary Data Analysis: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Why is secondary data analysis good for testing theories of middle range?

A. It offers good alternatives if the hypotheses are disproven.

B. It allows you to work inductively and build theory.

C. It can be used to understand people’s experiences in a deep way.

D. It usually uses large samples that are generalizable.

Learning Objective: 5.4: Describe the uses of theory in secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Secondary Data Analysis: Introduction

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Research questions for secondary data analysis are most likely to be ______.

A. descriptive

B. explanatory

C. applied

D. interpretive

Learning Objective: 5.5: Summarize the differences between explanatory and descriptive research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. You should write your hypotheses for secondary data analysis ______.

A. before choosing a data set

B. concurrently with data analysis

C. after choosing a data set

D. when you decide how to collapse the variables

Learning Objective: 5.8: Describe the purpose of hypotheses.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. You are interested in measuring parents’ experiences with children who have mental illness. The GSS, which has data on people’s attitudes generally about mental illness, is the closest data set you have found on the topic. You should ______.

A. use the GSS data

B. conduct your own survey

C. change your topic

D. use some data from the GSS and combine it with another set of data

Learning Objective: 5.10: Identify when to use secondary data and when to conduct their own research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Preparing for Data Collection | Box 5.4. Decision Path for Choosing a Secondary Data Set | Data Analysis

Difficulty Level: Hard

8. Which of the following questions is most appropriate for secondary data research?

A. What nonverbal behavior do people engage in while flirting?

B. How do siblings of people with cancer perceive family dynamics to have changed after the cancer diagnosis?

C. What are students’ attitudes about gun control?

D. How does the domestic violence rate in your county compare to those at a national level?

Learning Objective: 5.6: Identify research questions appropriate for secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Evaluation

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 5.1. Examples of Research Questions Appropriate for Survey (and Thus Secondary Data) Research | Box 5.2. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Research Questions for Secondary Data Analysis

Difficulty Level: Hard

9. Which of the following is a problem with this research question: How much job satisfaction do workers in the service industry report having?

A. It asks about an experience that is too complex to study with surveys.

B. You are unlikely to find relevant variables in available data sets.

C. It is more appropriate for existing statistics.

D. It is a descriptive question.

Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify common errors in writing secondary data analysis research questions.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 5.2. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Research Questions for Secondary Data Analysis

Difficulty Level: Hard

10. Which of the following is a problem with this research question: How do clients in Chicago homeless shelters evaluate the services provided by those shelters?

A. It asks about an experience that is too complex to study with surveys.

B. You are unlikely to find relevant variables in available data sets.

C. It is more appropriate for existing statistics.

D. It is a descriptive question.

Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify common errors in writing secondary data analysis research questions.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 5.2. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Research Questions for Secondary Data Analysis

Difficulty Level: Hard

11. Which of the following is a problem with this research question: How does race affect the likelihood of having medical insurance?

A. The question is too narrow.

B. You are unlikely to find relevant variables in available data sets.

C. It is more appropriate for existing statistics.

D. It is a descriptive question.

Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify common errors in writing secondary data analysis research questions.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 5.2. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Research Questions for Secondary Data Analysis

Difficulty Level: Hard

12. How do economic downturns affect rates of suicide? Which of the following is a problem with this research question?

A. The question is too narrow.

B. You are unlikely to find relevant variables in available data sets.

C. It is more appropriate for existing statistics.

D. It is a descriptive question.

Learning Objective: 5.7: Identify common errors in writing secondary data analysis research questions.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Research Questions | Box 5.2. Avoid These Common Errors in Writing Research Questions for Secondary Data Analysis

Difficulty Level: Hard

13. You are using a secondary data set from the Pew Center to understand people’s attitudes about abortion. Which of the following is true about your approval from the IRB?

A. You need approval for secondary data analysis research because you will be getting the raw data.

B. You do not need to get IRB approval because the original researchers already did that.

C. You will need to get informed consent again from everyone who participated to use their data.

D. Your IRB application will take extra long because you will need approval from both the IRB used by the original researchers and the one at your university.

Learning Objective: 5.11: Describe the reasons IRB approval is needed for secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. You are using a secondary data set about addiction. Your primary responsibility to protect the research participants is to ______.

A. have them sign informed consent statements

B. report only in the aggregate

C. delete their names from the files

D. find out their names and e-mail addresses to make sure the data originally collected were correct

Learning Objective: 5.13: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. If you wish to do applied research, you should ______.

A. conduct your own survey

B. find a data set that has most or all of your variables

C. recode variables to make the data you choose work better for your research

D. analyze the data using crosstabs rather than frequencies

Learning Objective: 5.14: Summarize why applied research is not appropriate for secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Preparing for Data Collection | Box 5.4. Decision Path for Choosing a Secondary Data Set

Difficulty Level: Easy

16. You want to study voting behaviors among millennials. Specifically, you are interested in how the 2016 presidential election affected the likelihood that they will vote in future elections. Which of the following is a necessary criterion for choosing to use this data set?

A. The sample contains voters born between the 1940s and early 2000s.

B. It contains variables including candidate voted for in 2016 national election, reaction to 2016 national election results, and belief that their vote matters.

C. The variables on race, political ideology, education, and age have already been collapsed for you.

D. The data repository contains multiple surveys that each have different variables you can use.

Learning Objective: 5.15: Explain the criteria for choosing data sets that best can test the research hypotheses.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Preparing for Data Collection | Box 5.4. Decision Path for Choosing a Secondary Data Set | Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Hard

17. You would like to study how demographic characteristics affect likelihood of owning a home. You find data sets at both nationwide data and community data. You should ______.

A. use both sets to get the exact information you are looking for

B. conduct your own survey

C. change your topic

D. choose only one of the data sets to use

Learning Objective: 5.15: Explain the criteria for choosing data sets that best can test the research hypotheses.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Preparing for Data Collection | Data Analysis

Difficulty Level: Hard

18. You are interested in doing a study regarding views on immigration. Specifically, you would like to know how a person’s income level affects the likelihood that they support open immigration into the United States. Which of the following is a necessary criterion for choosing a data set?

A. The sample is of people in the upper and upper-middle class.

B. It contains variables including support for a range of different immigration laws.

C. The variables race, social class, education, and age have already been collapsed for you.

D. The data repository contains multiple surveys that each have different variables you can use.

Learning Objective: 5.15: Explain the criteria for choosing data sets that best can test the research hypotheses.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Preparing for Data Collection | Box 5.4. Decision Path for Choosing a Secondary Data Set | Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Hard

19. Recoding a variable is part of the process of ______ in secondary data analysis.

A. sampling

B. operationalizing

C. increasing reliability

D. data collection

Learning Objective: 5.16: Define recoding a variable, collapsing a variable, and missing data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. Which of the following is an example of collapsing a variable?

A. reassigning an answer to a different response category by hand

B. you decide to put those who said their race was “the human race” as missing values

C. you put someone who says they are “Polish” into the “White” category

D. you collapse six categories of race into two: Whites and people of color

Learning Objective: 5.16: Define recoding a variable, collapsing a variable, and missing data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. You can recode a variable to change it from the ______ to the ______ level of measurement.

A. nominal; ratio

B. ordinal; nominal

C. interval; ordinal

D. ratio; interval

Learning Objective: 5.17: Classify data items at the nominal, ordinal, interval, and ratio level of measurements.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. For secondary data analysis, your research should be judged primarily on ______.

A. how well the variables in your hypotheses fit the variables that were actually measured

B. how well you critique the data collection of the original researchers

C. whether your chosen data set has tests of reliability for the survey items

D. how much you agreed with the original sampling

Learning Objective: 5.19: Explain reliability and validity for secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Evaluating the Quality of Data and Analysis

Difficulty Level: Easy

23. For secondary data analysis, you have some control over its ______ but not over its ______.

A. reliability; validity

B. dependability; validity

C. reliability; generalizability

D. validity; reliability

Learning Objective: 5.19: Explain reliability and validity for secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Evaluating the Quality of Data and Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

Short Answer/Essay

1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of doing secondary data analysis over survey research?

Learning Objective: 5.1: Describe the purpose and characteristics of secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Evaluation

Answer Location: Secondary Data Analysis: Introduction | Research Questions | Applied Research | Box 5.4. Decision Path for Choosing a Secondary Data Set

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Write a research question appropriate for secondary data analysis related to teen pregnancy.

• Be explanatory
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or in a few words
• Involve demographic characteristics, social trends, attitudes, self-reports of simple behaviors, levels of knowledge, and causal relationships
• Not ask about complex experiences or meaning
• Use individuals as the unit of analysis
• Be for basic, not applied, research

Learning Objective: 5.20: Write research questions suitable for secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on your research question, describe a variable you would be looking for in choosing a secondary data set, and describe how it would ideally be operationalized.

Learning Objective: 5.21: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables related to a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Hard

Where would you search data sets to use for this research?

Learning Objective: 5.23: Defend the choice of data set for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Preparing for Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. Write a research question appropriate for secondary data analysis related to attitudes toward military spending.

• Be explanatory
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or in a few words
• Involve demographic characteristics, social trends, attitudes, self-reports of simple behaviors, levels of knowledge, and causal relationships
• Not ask about complex experiences or meaning
• Use individuals as the unit of analysis
• Be for basic, not applied, research

Learning Objective: 5.20: Write research questions suitable for secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on your research question, describe a variable you would be looking for in choosing a secondary data set, and describe how it would ideally be operationalized.

Learning Objective: 5.21: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables related to a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Hard

Where would you search data sets to use for this research?

Learning Objective: 5.23: Defend the choice of data set for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Preparing for Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Write a research question appropriate for secondary data analysis related to job satisfaction.

• Be explanatory
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or in a few words
• Involve demographic characteristics, social trends, attitudes, self-reports of simple behaviors, levels of knowledge, and causal relationships
• Not ask about complex experiences or meaning
• Use individuals as the unit of analysis
• Be for basic, not applied, research

Learning Objective: 5.20: Write research questions suitable for secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on your research question, describe a variable you would be looking for in choosing a secondary data set, and describe how it would ideally be operationalized.

Learning Objective: 5.21: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables related to a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Hard

Where would you search data sets to use for this research?

Learning Objective: 5.23: Defend the choice of data set for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Preparing for Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Write a research question appropriate for secondary data analysis about attitudes toward social media.

• Be explanatory
• Not be answerable with a yes/no or in a few words
• Involve demographic characteristics, social trends, attitudes, self-reports of simple behaviors, levels of knowledge, and causal relationships
• Not ask about complex experiences or meaning
• Use individuals as the unit of analysis
• Be for basic, not applied, research

Learning Objective: 5.20: Write research questions suitable for secondary data analysis.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Hard

Based on your research question, describe a variable you would be looking for in choosing a secondary data set, and describe how it would ideally be operationalized.

Learning Objective: 5.21: Develop hypotheses with independent and dependent variables related to a research question.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Hard

Where would you search data sets to use for this research?

Learning Objective: 5.23: Defend the choice of data set for a particular research question.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Preparing for Data Collection

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. What do you have to do to protect your research participants if you are using secondary data?

Learning Objective: 5.13: Identify needed protections for survey respondents.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ethics

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Explain when you should use secondary data and when you should conduct your own survey.

Learning Objective: 5.10: Identify when to use secondary data and when to conduct their own research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Preparing for Data Collection | Box 5.4. Decision Path for Choosing a Secondary Data Set

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. What does it mean to recode a variable? What are the three ways you might do that?

Learning Objective: 5.16: Define recoding a variable, collapsing a variable, and missing data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Why will you likely have to recode in secondary data analysis?

Learning Objective: 5.16: Define recoding a variable, collapsing a variable, and missing data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Give your own example of how you might recode a variable for secondary data analysis.

Learning Objective: 5.25: Recode variables and defend the choice to do so in this way.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Medium

114. What is the difference between collapsing variables and reassigning an answer to a different response category?

Learning Objective: 5.16: Define recoding a variable, collapsing a variable, and missing data.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Conceptualizing and Operationalizing

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. Why is it important to make sure that the same participants answered the survey items for each of the variables in a hypothesis?

Learning Objective: 5.18: Explain the need for the same respondents to have answered both variable items in order to test a hypothesis.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Data Analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium