Test Bank

Chapter 12: Mixed Methods

Multiple Choice

1. The researchers begin with a quantitative structured survey, which leads them to a series of focus groups, which then develops into 20+ intensive interviews. What type of design is this?

A. embedded design

B. integrated design

C. staged design

D. complex design

Difficulty Level: Hard

2. The use of a mixed methods research design can facilitate achieving the goal of ______.

A. reliability

B. generalizability

C. authenticity

D. all of these

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. The use of multiple methods to study one research question is referred to as ______.

A. triangulation

B. embedded mixed-methods design

C. integrated mixed-methods design

D. complex mixed-methods research design

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. Which of the following is true regarding sociologists and mixed methods?

A. Sociologists just recently began using multiple methods in their research.

B. In recent decades, some have focused attention on how best to combine qualitative and quantitative methods to better achieve research goals.

C. Only applied sociologists use mixed methods in their research.

D. 20% of sociologists report using mixed methods.

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. When a researcher uses qualitative findings to move away from simplistic assumptions gleaned from the quantitative data, they are using mixed methods to strengthen ______.

A. authenticity

B. generalizability

C. reliability

D. casual validity

Difficulty Level: Hard

6. A research design method that would provide greater confidence in the validity of measures when using different methods to measure the same phenomenon involves ______.

A. mixed methods

B. a multitrait-multimethod matrix

C. paradigm wars

D. bivariate analysis

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. An increased interest in the use of mixed methods reflected ______.

A. resolution of a debate between positivists and intepretivists/constructivists

B. the desire for the means to measure different phenomena with the same methodology to produce divergent results

C. the desire for the means to measure different phenomena with the same methodology to produce convergent results

D. a demand for sophisticated, convincing evidence by policy makers

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Part of the reasons for why there has been an increase in the use of mixed methods research designs include ______.

A. a desire for more complicated measures of statistical validity

B. a chance to draw more heavily on increasingly powerful computer technology

C. the ending of the "paradigm wars"

D. a need for more powerful methods of analyzing data

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. What was the core argument underlying the paradigm wars?

A. Water rises to its own level.

B. No punishment without no law means no legal system.

C. There is a reality that can only be perceived versus one that can only be constructed.

D. Too often, researchers lose their perspective on what they are studying.

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. "Try something and learn from what happens" reflects the philosophy of ______.

A. positivism

B. constructivism

C. pragmatism

D. stigmatism

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. QUAN→QUAL means ______.

A. quantitative methods of measurement came before qualitative methods

B. the primary method used in a mixed-methods project was quantitative

C. the secondary method used in a mixed-methods project was qualitative

D. the two methods were used concurrently and had equal priority

Difficulty Level: Hard

12. If a researcher uses a structured survey and in-depth interviews in an integrated mixed-method design that can be written as ______.

A. QUAN→QUAL

B. QUAL→QUAN

C. QUAN+QUAL

D. QUAL+QUAN

Difficulty Level: Hard

13. An in-depth interview that used only open-ended questions but not closed-ended questions is ______.

A. quantitative

B. qualitative

C. both

D. neither

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. If a measurement is written as (QUAN) qual, that means that ______.

A. the qualitative measure is primary

B. the quantitative measure is secondary

C. the quantitative and qualitative measure are concurrent

D. the qualitative measure is secondary

Difficulty Level: Hard

15. Types of mixed methods that rank the method used by priority include ______.

A. integrated

B. embedded

C. staged

D. all of these

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. If research uses one method of analysis and the results raise questions about the same research that used a different research method of analysis, then this is research that used what kind of design?

A. staged mixed-methods

B. integrated mixed-methods

C. embedded mixed-methods

D. mixed methods

Difficulty Level: Easy

17. Prioritized is to equal as staged method is to ______.

A. research program with mixed method

B. embedded method

C. integrated method

D. unified method

Difficulty Level: Hard

18. Sequential is to concurrent as staged method is to ______.

A. mixed method

B. research program

C. embedded method

D. unified method

Difficulty Level: Hard

19. According to basic conventions for naming research methods, a way to indicate that the two methods are used concurrently but that one has priority is to write it as ______.

A. QUAN+QUAL

B. (QUAN)qual

C. qual(QUAL)

D. QUAL+QUAN

Difficulty Level: Hard

20. When comparing research where one used an integrated mixed-methods design with one that used an embedded mixed-methods design, the significant difference that arose involved ______.

A. that in both research projects, the methods were of equal importance

B. that in both research projects, both methods used were concurrent

C. that in one research project, one methodology was given priority

D. that in one research project, one methodology was concurrent

Difficulty Level: Hard

21. With a staged mixed-methods design,

A. qualitative and quantitative methods are used concurrently in the research but one is given priority

B. qualitative and quantitative methods are used in sequence in the research and one is given priority

C. qualitative and quantitative methods are used concurrently in the research and both are given equal importance

D. qualitative and quantitative methods are used in sequence in the research and both are given equal importance

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. A researcher had 500 people complete a survey, and then engaged in interviews with every 50th person, with the researcher giving a higher priority to the interviews, the researcher engaged in what kind of design?

A. concurrent mixed-methods

B. universal mixed-methods

C. integrated mixed-method

D. staged mixed-methods

Difficulty Level: Hard

23. Staged method is to embedded method as QUAN→Qual is to ______.

A. QUAN+QUAL

B. (QUAN)qual

C. QUAL+QUAN

D. QUAL↔QUAN

Difficulty Level: Hard

24. If a researcher used a sample then interviewed part of that sample, leading to the development of a structure questionnaire and then administered it to a different random sample, the diagram for that research would be written as ______.

A. (QUAL+QUAN)→(QUAL+QUAN)

B. (QUAL→QUAN)→(QUAL→QUAN)

C. (QUAL+QUAN)→(QUAL→QUAN)

D. (QUAL→QUAN)→(QUAL+QUAN)

Difficulty Level: Hard

25. A researcher who diagrams her research as (QUAL→QUAN)+(QUAL+QUAN) has used what type of research design?

A. staged

B. embedded

C. integrated

D. complex

Difficulty Level: Hard

26. Combining qualitative and quantitative methods in a single research project can enhance measurement ______.

A. validity

B. generalizability

C. authenticity

D. all of these

Difficulty Level: Easy

27. If quantitative measures are first enhanced by using qualitative measures, then that could be written as ______.

A. QUAN+QUAL

B. (QUAN)qual

C. QUAL→QUAN

D. QUAL↔QUAN

Difficulty Level: Hard

28. How can mixed-methods increase the likelihood that what is being reported as the findings are what is being reported?

A. They can enhance the reliability.

B. They can help to identify the sequence of the research being conducted.

C. They can suggest alternative research designs.

D. They can increase the validity.

Difficulty Level: Medium

29. Another way of describing how the use of different methods of measurement can result in more valid results is to call it ______.

A. triangulation

B. statistical enhancement

C. mutual attraction

D. generalizability

Difficulty Level: Medium

30. If the use of alternative measures means that the results do not converge, then that ______.

A. means that only quantitative or qualitative measures should be used

B. could provide insights that could have been generated only through the use of mixed methods

C. demonstrates a failure to generate statistically significant results

D. shows that the wrong type of mixed-methods research design was used

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. Mixed methods create extra challenges for researchers ______.

A. because of the incompatibility of the measures

B. because of the difference in methods of measurements

C. due to rarity of use of such methods

D. because of the need for expertise in using mixed methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

32. Believing that using mixed methods would overcome problems that can occur when a research design is limited to one method is ______.

A. naive

B. shrewd

C. pessimistic

D. balanced

Difficulty Level: Easy

33. Ethical challenges that arise because of the use of mixed methods includes ______.

A. the mixing of roles that researchers have working with research participants

B. the inability to identify which role should be used throughout the research

C. that engaging as a researcher who collaborates with the participants being studied contrasts with being a researcher who see themselves as outside experts

D. that the researcher has to choose among too many different roles to be able to conduct the research

Difficulty Level: Medium

34. A way for research that uses mixed-methods can reduce potential ethical concerns ______.

A. is to have researchers who do only the qualitative work and researchers to do only the quantitative work.

B. involves insuring that all research participants have provided informed consent

C. is to properly sequence the different methods for conducting the research

D. involves giving equal weight to the findings generated using the qualitative and the quantitative methods

Difficulty Level: Medium

35. Why might a researcher be inclined to use a mixed-methods design?

A. cost

B. increases opportunities for collaborative research

C. allows for the answering of multiple research questions

D. obscures obvious results to reveal more obscure findings

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. A single method may not represent adequately the social world's complexity that we are trying to understand

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Mixed methods have been used more in academic disciplines than in applied fields.

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. The paradigm wars emerged from linking qualitative methods to a positivist philosophy and quantitative methods to a collectivist philosophy.

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. The secondary method used in a mixed-methods project is written in all caps.

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. QUAN+QUAL means that two methods are used concurrently and have equal priority.

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Qualitative and quantitative research methods that are used in sequence and are given equal priority constitute a research project with mixed methods.

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. With a stage mixed-methods design, qualitative and quantitative methods are used concurrently in the research, but one is given priority.

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. The sequence of conducting research can be considered to be concurrent or sequential.

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. Methods for conducting research where the research is done in a sequence rather than concurrently includes an embedded method and an integrated method.

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. (QUAN) qual means that the secondary method, which is quantitative, is done sequentially.

Difficulty Level: Hard

11. Measurement validity is enhanced when questions to be used in a structured quantitative survey are first refined through qualitative cognitive interviewing or focus groups.

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. A research design which repeats at least one of the basic types of mixed-method designs is known as complex mixed-methods research design.

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. A mixed method approach that reveals inconsistencies in the analysis is called triangulation.

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. Mixed methods research designs can vary by sequence and by priority.

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Measurement validity is enhanced when measures using different methods result in a similar picture.

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

1. What were the "paradigm wars?"

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Diagram at least three methods of research where the sequence of methods is sequential and they are prioritized using a staged mixed method research design.

Difficulty Level: Hard

3. Explain the difference between the sequencing of a research method and a prioritizing of a research method.

Difficulty Level: Hard

4. Define complex mixed-methods research design.

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. Explain one of the ways that a multitrait-multimethod matrix could accomplish its goals.

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. Identify at least two ethical concerns with using mixed method research design, taking care to define each such concern.

Difficulty Level: Medium