Sociology 101 - Introduction to Sociology » Spring 2021 » Quiz 1 Chapters 1 and 2

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Question #1
You have just begun studying unemployment rates in a city with fifty million people, of which fifteen million are unemployed. If you are using your sociological imagination, what is your first consideration?
A.   the work ethic of the average citizen
B.   the intelligence level of the workers who have lost their jobs
C.   how much the people who are unemployed want to work
D.   the economic and political structures of the society
Question #2
A pilot study is
A.   a study that definitively answers a question that has confused sociologists.
B.   a study that concerns itself with media use and popular culture.
C.   a study designed to improve the target population of a larger study.
D.   a smaller study used to investigate the feasibility of a larger one.
Question #3
Researcher Pam Fishman studied the conversations of heterosexual couples to determine how power is created and maintained through everyday, face-to-face interactions. How would you describe her approach?
A.   historical
B.   microsociological
C.   comparative
D.   macrosociological
Question #4
Metaphorically, what part of sociology is most like a zoom lens on a camera?
A.   qualitative research
B.   macrosociology
C.   quantitative research
D.   microsociology
Question #5
Why is it beneficial for sociologists to experience culture shock?
A.   It shows us that people in foreign cultures have a way of life that seems strange to us.
B.   It makes us realize we lack an understanding of our surroundings so we can perceive what is right in front of us.
C.   It requires us to travel, which helps us grow as human beings.
D.   It makes us unable to function even in simple, everyday ways.
Question #6
Karl Marx believed the lower classes, in order to end their oppression, needed to develop
A.   false consciousness.
B.   a critical theory of gender.
C.   class consciousness.
D.   a stronger sense of verstehen.
Question #7
A graduate student is almost done with his dissertation when he is informed that twenty years ago someone did a similar project and already demonstrated what he had hoped to be the first to discover. What basic step of the scientific method should have saved him from this problem?
A.   analyzing data
B.   selecting a research method
C.   reviewing the literature
D.   developing an operational definition
Question #8
What are researchers doing when they use a social networking site like Facebook to obtain data?
A.   using existing sources
B.   using interview data
C.   doing qualitative research
D.   being ethically questionable
Question #9
According to C. Wright Mills, what is one quality of mind that all great sociologists possess?
A.   attention to detail
B.   praxis
C.   sociological imagination
D.   open-mindedness
Question #10
A researcher studying sororities pretends to be a college student and attempts to join a sorority. The researcher is operating with a high level of
A.   deception.
B.   bias.
C.   objectivity.
D.   reactivity.
Question #11
A paradigm is
A.   the application of the theory of evolution and the notion of “survival of the fittest” to the study of society.
B.   an abstract proposition that explains the social world and makes predictions about the future.
C.   a set of assumptions, theories, and perspectives that makes up a way of understanding social reality.
D.   the theory that sense perceptions are the only valid source of knowledge.
Question #12
The scientific method involves
A.   the appearance of causation.
B.   the use of statistics to analyze numerical data.
C.   the procedure for acquiring and collecting scientific data.
D.   research that translates the social world into numbers.
Question #13
What does it mean for a sociologist to control for a variable?
A.   Research participants are divided into two groups.
B.   Change over time is measured by a dependent variable.
C.   One group is allowed to understand the nature of the experiment, while the other group is kept in the dark.
D.   All factors except the independent variable are taken into account.
Question #14
A sociologist wants to examine how black men have been portrayed in television shows in the past year. Which type of study is most appropriate to examine this research topic and compare the portrayal of black men across different television shows?
A.   experiment
B.   focus group
C.   comparative historical
D.   content analysis
Question #15
What is a simple random sample?
A.   a sample that weights one variable more than another
B.   a sample that provides the same chance of being included to every member of the population
C.   a sample with only one variable
D.   a sample that takes into account other demographic variables
Question #16
Critical race theory is associated with which of the major theoretical perspectives or schools of thought in sociology?
A.   functional theory
B.   conflict theory
C.   symbolic interactionism
D.   structural functionalism
Question #17
Symbolic interactionism argues that people act toward things on the basis of their meaning. According to this perspective, how does meaning arise?
A.   Meaning is learned through the study of science and nature.
B.   Meaning is negotiated through interaction with others.
C.   Meaning is inherent in objects and actions.
D.   Meaning is learned through the study of philosophy and history.
Question #18
A study found a strong correlation between parental bonding and adolescent drug use. Children with stronger bonds to their parents were far less likely to try drugs or alcohol. After examining their data more closely, the researchers discovered that parental bonding was really a predictor for teen religiosity. Consequently, high levels of religiosity, rather than parental bonding, actually prevent drug use. This means that religiosity was a(n)
A.   paradigm shift.
B.   intervening variable.
C.   spurious variable.
D.   issue of reflexivity.
Question #19
Max Weber believed that modern industrialized societies were characterized by which of the following institutions?
A.   central governments
B.   churches
C.   prisons
D.   bureaucracies
Question #20
A social research methods class wants to study smoking. First, the professor asks how many people in the class are smokers. Two people indicate that they are. She then asks how many people have smoked a cigarette in the past week and ten people indicate that they have. The class decides, for the purposes of the survey, that a smoker will be defined as anyone who has smoked a cigarette in the past week and currently owns a pack of cigarettes. This is a(n)
A.   ethical challenge.
B.   hypothesis.
C.   spurious correlation.
D.   operational definition.
Question #21
Which of the following theories focuses on how our behaviors are dependent on the ways we interpret, make sense of, and define ourselves, others, and social situations?
A.   pragmatism
B.   structural functionalism
C.   symbolic interactionism
D.   conflict theory
Question #22
Which social theory focuses on micro-level interactions?
A.   pragmatism
B.   conflict theory
C.   symbolic interactionism
D.   structural functionalism
Question #23
The analysis of documents such as medical records, photographs, diaries, letters, newspapers, and song lyrics uses which of the following types of data?
A.   existing sources
B.   ethnographic field notes
C.   interview transcripts
D.   experimental data
Question #24
What is a closed-ended question?
A.   one that allows for a wide variety of responses
B.   one that limits the possible responses
C.   one that can only be answered orally
D.   one that encourages respondents to answer creatively
Question #25
A sociologist uses a survey to study the attitudes of adults in the United States concerning premarital sex among teenagers. In this study, the target population consists of all ________, and the group that is asked the survey questions is called the ________.
A.   adults in the United States; sample
B.   adults in the United States who have teenage children; units of analysis
C.   teenagers in the United States; reference group
D.   teenagers in the United States who have engaged in premarital sex; experimental group

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