Chapter 3: Getting Specific: What’s the Plan?

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. Which of the following is NOT a way to justify research and explain its potential contribution.

A. addressing gaps in the literature

B. hypotheses as instruments of theory

C. contributing to theory development

D. implications for policy or programme development

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Nominal (or Constitutive) Definitions

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Which of the following is NOT a researchable question?

A. How does free access to medical care affect the physical health of a population?

B. Have legislative changes regarding prostitution affected the street trade?

C. Why do people buy lottery tickets?

D. Are quota systems fair?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Which of the following is a researchable question?

A. What teaching style is best?

B. Is capitalism or socialism the better economic system?

C. How does extended exposure to a minority group affect attitudes toward that group?

D. How should we respond to domestic terrorism?

Cognitive Domain: Comprehsion

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Questions that are hard to research are:

A. too limited in scope

B. have no empirical answer

C. situational

D. not important to the research community

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. ______ questions are specific, limited in scope, related to some empirical reality, and should have specific evaluation criteria.

A. Real-world

B. Researchable

C. Situational

D. Focused

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Research that is colloborative in nature should include consultation with relevant ______ to ensure your results speak to their interests, perspectives, and concerns.

A. stakeholders

B. participants

C. epistemic Guides

D. people

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Research Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. The ______ involves articulating what you mean by the concept under scrutiny.

A. operational definition

B. nominal definition

C. normal defininition

D. epistemical definition

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Nominal (or Constitutive) Definitions

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. A(n) ______ definition is often linked to your theoretical stance and involves articulating what a concept means to the researcher.

A. operational

B. nominal

C. epistemic

D. dictionary

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Nominal (or Constitutive) Definitions

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. A(n) ______ definition is the way the researcher defines the variables of interest within the confines of the research study.

A. operational

B. nominal

C. epistemic

D. dictionary

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Operational Definitions

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. The link between the theoretical and the indicator or measure chosen to represent it is referred to as the______ relationship.

A. operational

B. nominal

C. epistemic

D. dictionary

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Operational Definitions

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. ______ researchers are more likely to begin with a variable of interest (e.g., liking), while ______ researchers are more likely to begin with a behavior they want to focus on and record specific instances of it occuring.

A. Deductive; inductive

B. Inductive; deductive

C. Deductive; epistemic

D. Abductive; deductive

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Operational Definitions

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. The ______ definition of anxiety is “feeling uneasy, apprehensive, and worried”, and the______ definition of anxiety includes elevated heart rate and sweating palms.

A. operational; nominal

B. nominal; dictionary

C. epistemic; operational

D. nominal; operational

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Nominal (or Constitutive) Definitions | Operational Definitions

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. A researcher wants to make sure that their measures of an attribute are reliable, they administer the measure to the same group of people on two successive occassions. What reliability strategy are they using?

A. test–retest reliability

B. divergent reliability

C. convergent reliability

D. inter-rater reliability

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Reliability

Difficulty Level: Hard

14. A researcher wants to make sure that their procedures are reliable, they train another researcher on their classification system and have them make judgments on the same data. What reliability strategy are they using?

A. test–retest reliability

B. divergent reliability

C. convergent reliability

D. inter-rater reliability

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Reliability

Difficulty Level: Hard

15. Which of the following is NOT a form of validity mentioned in your text?

A. predictive validity

B. divergent validity

C. convergent validity

D. inter-rater validity

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Validity

Difficulty Level: Easy

16. To demonstrate validity you should pick a relevent criterion which emodies the construct and show ______, meaning that the operationalizeation is related to the criterion.

A. test–retest validity

B. divergent validity

C. convergent validity

D. inter-rater validity

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. To demonstrate validity you should pick a relevent criterion which emodies the construct and show ______, meaning that the operationalizeation is not related to other constructs you do not want to measure.

A. predictive validity

B. divergent validity

C. convergent validity

D. concurrent validity

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. ______ is when the operationalization and the independent criterion are obtained at the same time.

A. Predictive validity

B. Divergent validity

C. Convergent validity

D. Concurrent validity

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Validity

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Standardized tests that administer the operational measure and observe the criterion at different times use what type of validity?

A. predictive validity

B. divergent validity

C. convergent validity

D. concurrent validity

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Validity

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. The Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) and the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) are commonly used to measure potential academic success in college and graduate school admissions what type of validity measure is this?

A. predictive validity

B. divergent validity

C. convergent validity

D. concurrent validity

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. Lily proposes a research study in her Research Methods course. The instructor tells her that she needs to revise her study because it currently has mono-operation bias. What does this mean?

A. She is utilizing the operational definition of the construct as the definitive of the construct.

B. She is using only one operational definition of a variable and needs more.

C. She is relying on only one method and needs more.

D. She needs to do mixed methods research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Mono-Operation Bias

Difficulty Level: Hard

22. What does it mean to have mono-method bias.

A. too many operational definitions of a variable and needs less

B. only one operational definition of a variable and needs more

C. relying on only one method and needs more

D. conducting mixed methods research

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Mono-Operation Bias

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. Miguel proposes a research study in his Research Methods course. The instructor tells him that he needs to revise his study because it currently displays definitional operationism. What does this mean?

A. His operational definition is poorly defined.

B. He is using only one operational definition of a variable and needs more.

C. He is relying on only one method and needs more.

D. He is utilizing the operational definition of the construct as the definitive of the construct.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Definitional Operationism

Difficulty Level: Hard

24. Research proposals are likely to have methodological and practical constraints. How should researchers address these issues?

A. in the introduction section

B. in the methods section

C. in the results section

D. in the limitations section

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Acknowledging Potential Limitations

Difficulty Level: Hard

25. The notion of operationalization reflects science’s dual commitment to ______ and ______.

A. deduction; induction

B. research; methods

C. theory; data

D. qualitative; quantitative

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Summing Up and Looking Ahead

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. Hypotheses are private.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Hypotheses Make Us Place Our Bets

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Hypotheses should mention at least three variables.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Hypotheses

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. A nominal definition is sometimes called the constitutive definition.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Nominal (or Constitutive) Definitions

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Researchers have fairly standard ways of asking about demographic variables.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: By Citing Tradition

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Test–retest reliability and inter-rater reliability are the same thing.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Reliability

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Relibility is not synonymous with validity.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Validity

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. The demonstration of validity is considered a prerequesite to reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Validity

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Researchers should avoid multiple operationalizations.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Mono-Operation Bias

Difficulty Level: Easy

Short Answer

1. Identify the key differences between nominal and operational definitions and discuss how they relate to hypotheses.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Nominal (or Constitutive) Definitions | Operational Definitions

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. Compare and contrast at least four different types of validity.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Compare and contrast inter-rater reliability and test–retest reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Reliability

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Identify the key differences between reliability and validity. Discuss why they are important in relation to research.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Reliability | Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Summarize the idea of mono-operation bias. Discuss why this is important to be aware of in research.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Mono-Operation Bias

Difficulty Level: Medium

Essay

1. Identify a research topic or question that interests you and provide justification for why this topic or question is important and researchable. Include a research question, hypothesis, operational definitions, potential methods and acknowledge potential limitations.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Justifying Your Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. The local school district has encountered significant budget cuts. You have been hired to conduct research to identify strategies to improve the educational outcomes of students despite these cuts. Identify the nominal and operational definitions you would use for “educational outcomes” and explain why you chose those definitions.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Nominal (or Constitutive) Definitions | Operational Definitions

Difficulty Level: Hard