Strategies For Designing Research Test Bank Ch.3

Chapter 3

Strategies for Designing Research

Multiple Choice Questions

1. C. Wright Mills argued that a “sociological imagination” can help recognize the connection between ________.
   1. implicit and explicit societal processes
   2. collective “group think” and mob mentalities
   3. private problems and public issues
   4. intended and unintended social outcomes
2. The notion of a “hierarchy of credibility” refers to ________.
   1. a tendency to consider sources closest to the research topic as least trustworthy
   2. a method whereby a researcher sifts through potential sources and ranks them according to their perceived usefulness
   3. a tendency for those with the most social status to be treated as most knowledgeable, accurate, or unbiased
   4. a “top down” method whereby researchers first interview experts and eventually make their way down to “lay persons”
3. The damaging legacy of research involving Indigenous peoples ________.
   1. nullifies the hierarchy of credibility
   2. exposes the shortcomings of the hierarchy of credibility
   3. exposes the strengths of the hierarchy of credibility
   4. revises the origins of the hierarchy of credibility
4. One of the main goals of participatory action research is to ________.
   1. challenge critically the usefulness of research and the hierarchy of credibility that is embedded within it
   2. influence social policy to develop interventions that improve the circumstances of the group
   3. allow the researcher an opportunity to see at ground level how participants think and operate
   4. facilitate research that includes payments from researchers to respondents
5. Norman Denzin’s main explanation for his interest in studying alcoholism was ________.
   1. the clear gap in the literature with respect to recreational drugs in society
   2. witnessing a devastating impaired driver accident when he was a child
   3. receiving a large grant providing opportunities for publication
   4. he had family members who were alcoholics
6. Clinton Sanders’ research on body modification is an example of serendipity because he discovered the topic ________.
   1. after spending a night in the “drunk tank” where he befriended a heavily tattooed man
   2. while dating a woman who got a tattoo as a memorial after her father’s unexpected death
   3. after a happenstance trip to a tattooing museum, which led him to get a tattoo later at a nearby shop
   4. after receiving a complimentary copy of Michael Atkinson’s book on tattooing in the mail
7. “Hanging around” or “mucking around” is ________.
   1. a way of identifying a topic whereby a researcher spends time in a setting that looks like it might be a fruitful site of research
   2. what happens when you fail to develop a concrete plan prior to engaging in ethnographic work
   3. a method of discovering a topic whereby a researcher “mucks around” with old journal articles looking for weaknesses in the research to improve upon
   4. what happens when a researcher loses focus and gets “writer’s block”
8. Peter and Patricia Adler studied their own children because ________.
   1. both children suffered from degenerative diseases and were unable to leave the home
   2. they could write off family vacations as a business expense on their taxes
   3. it was convenient
   4. their children had already participated in another research project and were used to being observed
      
9. The textbook states that a good example of how a researcher can begin with a theoretical challenge and then locate her or his particular study in personal experience is ________.
   1. Michael Atkinson’s work on tattooing
   2. Leslie Bella’s critique of the androcentric bias in leisure theory
   3. Howard Becker’s study of medical school identity
   4. Erving Goffman’s examination of social stigma
10. Lofland and Lofland suggest that research topic selection should be predicated on something with which the researcher is familiar, or in which she or he is already interested. They call this process ________.
    1. facilitating familiarity
    2. convenient conception
    3. scientific opportunism
    4. starting where you are
11. To cushion the potential fall-out of not being able to tackle a particular subject, Joseph Alex Maxwell suggests that researchers compose a “research identity memo” that includes their ________.
    1. professional obligations and job contract information
    2. expectations, prejudices, and potential biases
    3. goals, experiences, assumptions, feelings, and values
    4. views on the ethical parameters of the research
12. According to the textbook, if you have chosen a topic responsibly and taken all precautionary steps, at the end you should ________.
    1. be at a place that is beyond the point of view with which you started
    2. have answered all the questions you set out to answer in your pre-research outline
    3. have enough understanding of the topic you studied to move on to a different topic
    4. have an answer that fits neatly into the theoretical framework you developed at the outset
13. In developing questions for a qualitative study, the general aim is to produce results that are descriptive and analytical rather than ________.
    1. logical
    2. methodical
    3. scientific
    4. prescriptive
14. ________ is used in the textbook as an example of how researchers combine elements from multiple perspectives in order to establish their theoretical approach.
    1. Meg Luxton’s work on women’s unpaid labour in the home
    2. Émile Durkheim’s work on suicide
    3. Max Weber’s work on the protestant work ethic
    4. Michael Atkinson’s work on body modification
15. According to the textbook, ________ would be most appropriate for a researcher wanting to study a specific geographic location.
    1. content analysis
    2. qualitative interviews
    3. observational techniques
    4. secondary data analysis
       
16. All of the following are examples of unobtrusive methods of research except ________.
    1. analyzing the content of newspapers
    2. going into a local pub to watch and talk to local patrons
    3. watching YouTube
    4. listening to the radio
17. Dina is in the early stages of designing an observational study of Catholic nuns. As an atheist, Dina is unsure of how to recruit and approach her intended population of research participants without having any contacts within the church community or the charity groups the nuns organize. The type of research design issue that Dina is concerned about is ________.
    1. settings that might make participants vulnerable
    2. confidentiality
    3. gaining access to participants
    4. informed consent
18. Aside from making sure that the study is conducted ethically, researchers should take all of the following into consideration except ________.
    1. potential popularity of the findings
    2. time constraints
    3. money limitations
    4. gaining access to participants
19. According to the textbook, participatory action research ________.
    1. intends to point to inequities without attempting to change anything
    2. is a form of community-based research
    3. pretends to involve research participants in all stages
    4. means that the researcher gives all control over the research process to the participants
20. Hans wants to study a local environmental activist group that holds e-waste recycling events at city hall every month. Hans believes that the participants have a unique perspective to contribute and designs a project that takes a collaborative approach. The activists explain to Hans the complexity of scheduling the e-waste clinics and the political relationships involved. They suggest that Hans not just observe the interactions at the clinics but also participate in the planning process to observe these dynamics. He takes account of these suggestions and adjusts his research design to include observation of the additional planning activities. By designing his project in this manner, Hans is sharing control of the study with the environmental activists he is studying. The term used to describe Hans’ approach is ________.
    1. community-based research
    2. ethnography
    3. hierarchy of credibility
    4. interviewer bias
21. In a study that combined personal and theoretical interests, the researcher Andrea Doucet ________.
    1. examined leisure, family, and women’s work
    2. studied her own children’s daily experiences
    3. asked “Do men mother?”
    4. studied body modifications
22. If a researcher is interested in facets of everyday life that are unique to certain individuals, it would be a good idea if she or he ________.
    1. examined all available news coverage
    2. conducted a survey to collect data
    3. gathered data through unobtrusive methods
    4. conducted interviews to collect data

True or False Questions

C. Wright Mills called the sociological imagination “the promise of sociology” because it allows us to identify social issues and determine the questions that need to be asked in order to understand those issues.

Researchers support the hierarchy of credibility by giving individuals in less influential positions the opportunity to explain how they understand their own everyday lives.

To avoid being accused of bias, sociologists who studied the Occupy Wall Street movement purposefully did not interview any activists and instead focused on politicians and corporate leaders.

In participatory action research, the researcher ensures the validity of the results by limiting the amount of influence the participants have on the data collection process.

Because serendipitous discoveries are accidental, meaningful data rarely emerge from them.

Jaber F. Gubrium’s work on Murray Manor is an excellent example of selecting a topic because it is convenient.

Deborah van den Hoonaard chose to write extensively on widowhood after she borrowed a book from one of her students.

A research topic should be chosen based on something that “grabs you” and you should have a powerful compelling curiosity about it.

There is overwhelming evidence to suggest it is a very bad idea to pick a research topic that one has a personal connection to.

Daniel Wolf’s study of an outlaw motorcycle gang shows that certain characteristics associated with the researcher may make it possible and easier to study a certain topic than it would be for someone without these characteristics.

When thinking about carrying out a qualitative study, you will need to take into account ethical issues, such as your participants’ voluntary participation in your research, confidentiality, and how research settings might make your participants vulnerable.

When determining a theoretical stance for your research study, it is a bad idea to combine two theoretical perspectives like feminism and Marxism.

Short Answer Questions

1. Briefly sketch the hierarchy of credibility that Deborah van den Hoonaard outlines in her work on older women.
2. Explain Geraldine Dickson’s project involving Indigenous “grandmothers” and what main strategy for designing research her study demonstrates.
3. Briefly outline how Daniel Wolf’s personal characteristics either contributed to or limited his ability to approach the motorcycle gang he wished to study.
4. Describe which situations would be best-suited for using qualitative interviews, and what considerations need to be taken when using this approach.
5. Familiarize yourself with Wolf’s study in The Rebels, then identify and discuss several ethical issues he encountered, or might have encountered.
6. Define focus group. Outline the circumstances under which it would be appropriate to use a focus group as a research method.

Essay Questions

1. The author suggests that ideas for research topics can come from personal experience. Provide some examples from the chapter that best support this argument.
2. The author highlights five key ways in which ideas for research topics can be identified. Excluding personal experience, list and explain these ways and provide examples.
3. Using the generic social processes outlined in Chapter 2, explain how one might “brainstorm” a research question.
4. Explain why it is important to be aware of cultural differences between you and your research participants when conducting research with Indigenous communities.