Exam Questions Unobtrusive Research Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Unobtrusive Research

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Researchers at a museum were able to determine that the chick-hatching exhibit was the most popular exhibit simply from observing the wear and tear of the floor tiles. This creative research technique is an example of ________.
   1. practical observation
   2. unobtrusive methods
   3. deceptive research
   4. content analysis
2. Unobtrusive measures ________.
   1. are another way of saying “standardized interviews”
   2. are always covert and hidden from respondents
   3. involve a researcher going into a field setting and become a complete observer
   4. are ways of collecting data without interacting with research participants
      
3. The ________ content of a document or artifact is that which is easily observed and immediately evident.
   1. intended
   2. implicit
   3. manifest
   4. latent
4. Shawn is conducting a study of magazine advertisements for junk food. After analyzing thousands of advertisements to uncover the implicit meanings of the images involved, Shawn comes to the conclusion that food ads have become more sexualized over the past decade. He hypothesizes that junk food is now portrayed in this manner to make it seem more forbidden and therefore more appealing. Shawn is studying ________ content to help him reach these conclusions about the deeper meanings in junk food advertisements.
   1. latent
   2. manifest
   3. intended
   4. implicit
5. In Manning and Cullum-Swan’s study of menus at McDonalds’ restaurants, the latent purpose of the menus was to convey messages that ________.
   1. make people feel good about their decision to eat at McDonald’s
   2. increase the likelihood of customers buying more food than needed
   3. attract customers to the most expensive meals
   4. allow for fast customer decisions and increased turnover
      
6. ________ is best known for using pre-existing statistical records.
   1. Norbert Elias
   2. Karl Marx
   3. Max Weber
   4. Émile Durkheim
      
7. An example that demonstrates the usefulness of maps as an unobtrusive measure is ________.
   1. Howard Becker’s example of San Francisco maps, which demonstrates they are made for tourists with cars since they fail to indicate the presence of hills
   2. Max Weber’s example of Berlin maps, which demonstrates they were made for touring patriots to see every possible war memorial
   3. Will C. van den Hoonaard’s example of Icelandic maps, which demonstrates they are “dumbed down” for foreigners who are expected to know nothing about the culture or language
   4. Talcott Parsons’ example of workplace maps, which demonstrates they are implicitly sexist
8. The institutional ethnography (IE) method of research developed by Dorothy Smith recognizes that texts or documents ________.
   1. are limited in their use because the original intention of their creation is often unknown
   2. can reveal standardized practices and relations of ruling
   3. carry only social importance in relation to the group that created it
   4. are usually created by powerful white males, and therefore need to be analyzed critically
9. You turn on the TV to watch the evening news, and watch a report suggesting that crime rates are at an all-time high. As an informed university student, you know this is unlikely but you acknowledge that the media have used certain ________ to influence public perception.
   1. frames
   2. announcers
   3. scare tactics
   4. subliminal images
10. Erving Goffman’s study of gender displays in advertising revealed that ________.
    1. women were often presented in a diminished capacity, objectified, over-feminized, and portrayed in insular terms
    2. men were often depicted as engaging in sexually ambiguous ways
    3. women in sports ads were often depicted in ways emphasizing their physical strength and power
    4. men who were depicted engaging in “feminine” activities (such as cooking and cleaning) were often portrayed as athletes
       
11. Jean Kilbourne’s work on images of females in the mass media found that ________.
    1. women are displayed as most competent while completing tasks linked to business and work roles
    2. overweight women are often displayed as funny and non-serious
    3. women of colour are over-represented in ads featuring work-related settings
    4. many ads are sexist and violent and objectify women
12. Kristen Gilchrist used ________ to explore the differences in how local print media covered stories of missing and murdered Indigenous and white women.
    1. pre-existing statistical data
    2. field research
    3. interpretive content analysis
    4. in-depth interviews with journalists
13. Diana Rose’s work on how mental illness is portrayed on television in the UK revealed that ________.
    1. mental illness is typically depicted as curable and unthreatening
    2. in the last ten years, mental illness has been re-categorized in such a way that those suffering are no longer considered “outsiders” or crazy
    3. mentally ill persons are often portrayed as exploiting the medical system
    4. mental illness is frequently associated with danger and violence
14. Jeff Ferrell’s close ethnography of objects lost and found allowed him to develop a grounded understanding of contemporary consumption patterns. His research involved ________.
    1. thousands of interviews with sanitation workers
    2. an ethnography of men and women who appeared in TV ads
    3. a narrative analysis of homeless youth
    4. dumpster diving, trash picking, and street scavenging
15. Researchers who examined exit rituals on three types of US reality shows carried out ________.
    1. a visual ethnography
    2. an ethnographic content analysis
    3. in-depth interviews with producers of the shows
    4. in-depth interviews with contestants on the shows
       
16. According to van den Scott et al., reality show contestants practise ________ as a transition from life on the show to life in the real world to frame their symbolic death as a “good death.”
    1. mercy killing
    2. death march
    3. eulogy work
    4. dying with dignity
       
17. Most often, unobtrusive research methods ________.
    1. are used in conjunction with other more interactive methods
    2. are the only data collection method chosen as they yield so much rich data
    3. are the only data collection method chosen as they are very time-consuming
    4. are only used in quantitative research
       
18. To trace changes in pediatricians’ self-perceptions and understanding of their profession, Dorothy Pawluch ________.
    1. conducted in-depth interviews with them
    2. examined the content in their professional journals
    3. conducted an ethnography of a children’s hospital
    4. asked 30 of them to keep journals and then analyzed their content
       
19. Timothy Diamond’s study of life in nursing homes is an example of ________.
    1. analyzing statistical records
    2. analyzing diaries
    3. institutional ethnography
    4. institutional content analysis
20. After completing his study of what people have thrown out, Jeff Ferrell concluded that ________.
    1. collecting data in dumpsters is an unreliable data collection method
    2. households with young couples recycle more than those with older residents
    3. people produce less garbage now than they did 50 years ago
    4. wastefulness and extreme consumerism are characteristic of our culture
       
21. When ________, the researcher focuses on uncovering implicit meanings of a cultural artifact.
    1. pursuing interpretive content analysis
    2. analyzing latent content
    3. analyzing manifest content
    4. doing a cultural ethnography
22. Beatrice is a visual sociologist who wants to design a study of technologies that are so ubiquitous they are often overlooked because of their banality. In doing so, Beatrice wants to gain a deeper understanding of the consequences and complex meanings that technologies have in our everyday lives. Beatrice wants to study ________ technology.
    1. profane
    2. mundane
    3. digital
    4. analog

True or False Questions

In highly literate societies, written texts provide particularly telling windows into social worlds.

One of the reasons that analyzing pre-existing documents is so effective as a research method is that groups represent themselves through the documents they produce.

Through the use of letters and autobiographies, W.I. Thomas and Florian Znaniecki of the Chicago School conducted research on Polish immigrants, which contributed to the identification of the concept of social disorganization.

Maps are one example of pre-existing documents that cannot be analyzed unobtrusively.

When searching materials for content analysis, you are bound only by the limits of your own imagination.

As Jeff Ferrell would argue, trash such as bronzed baby shoes, diplomas, and wedding photos represent the residue of significant life changes.

When researchers use a social institution’s documents as sources of data, it is called doing institutionally unobtrusive research.

Most researchers who examined the representation of women in advertising have found no evidence of sexism and women being objectified.

Fictional writings can be useful sources of data for unobtrusive research.

The wear and tear of floor tiles provides little information regarding the use of public spaces.

For various reasons, garbage is unsuited for any qualitative research.

Despite the tremendous growth in the presence of blogs and social media on the Internet, researchers have been reluctant to use them as sources of data.

Short Answer Questions

Using examples from the American and Canadian census process, briefly explain how the design of forms used to collect statistical data can help us to gain insight into social ideologies.

Define identity foreclosure, and then contextualize this concept within relevant examples from this chapter.

Describe and explain what Timothy Diamond’s study of life in nursing homes and Rose McCloskey’s study of the transfers of nursing home residents to ERs via ambulances have in common.

Review Calasanti and King’s study of masculinity in Internet ads and succinctly discuss their findings.

Provide arguments for the claim that studying people’s trash is not unobtrusive research and violates some principles of ethical research.

Briefly explain two innovations in unobtrusive research that researchers have developed to find new ways to study things that already exist.

Essay Questions

Of the four studies presented in the section of the textbook that deals with analyzing news media, pick three and discuss how these studies demonstrate the usefulness of news media sources in sociological research.

Explain Will C. and D.V. van den Hoonaard’s work on the portrayals of airports in children’s picture books and fictional films for adults, and what sociological concept this illustrates.

Explain why some people might think that no ethical challenges arise when conducting unobtrusive research. Why might they be incorrect in their assumption?