When writing a survey, researchers must avoid negative questions, which are defined as questions that:

Lili is conducting a sociological research study on the underground music scene. She has just finished collecting data for the study. What is the next step Lili should take in the scientific method?

Sometimes survey researchers reject randomness and instead use weighting techniques to construct a sample. How is a weighted sample different from a random one?

After researchers conduct a series of interviews, they usually transcribe the responses. The transcription process is fairly time-consuming, but it is valuable in part because it allows researchers to:

The anthropologist Ruth Behar traveled to San Luis Potosí to learn more about the everyday lives of Mexican women. Instead, she ended up conducting one very long, intensive interview with a woman named Esperanza and took more than a year to collect her interview data. Which DISADVANTAGE of the interview methodology does her research highlight?

Sociologists who conduct interviews can only gather data from a limited number of people because:

A simple random sample is defined as a sample:

Cecilia is conducting research using public health records to examine flu outbreaks among public school students. Since her research does NOT require her to disturb people in the social context that she is studying, it is considered to be a(n):

Which method of social research might involve shifting between participating in a social situation and being an observer?

If the federal government conducts research on the value of checking batteries in home smoke detectors, what method will produce data that is easiest to transmit to many people?

What is the scientific method?

Ethnographers using participant observation must always be aware of reflexivity, which occurs because:

The sociologist Mitch Duneier wrote his ethnography Sidewalk about street vendors in New York City’s Greenwich Village. While writing the book, Duneier was particularly concerned that the people he was studying would alter their behavior when he was present, especially since his background was very different from theirs, causing him to think critically about his action and role as a researcher. What do sociologists call this?

A social research methods class wants to study smoking. First the professor asks how many people in the class are smokers. Two people say yes. Then she asks how many people have smoked a cigarette in the past week, and ten people say yes. From this the class decides that, for the purposes of its survey, a smoker will be anyone who has had a cigarette in the past week and currently owns a pack of cigarettes. This is a(n):

When engaging in participant observation, researchers can study others as well as themselves. Research that focuses on one’s own thoughts, feelings, and experiences is known as:

A sociologist wants to study popular attitudes and perceptions about astrology among college students in California. She believes that people who have astrological signs identified with fire will have a greater knowledge of astrology because fire signs tend to have more interesting and attractive symbolism. What are the variables in this study?

For many years, researchers struggled to find a biological explanation for sexual orientation. However, the vast majority of studies have focused on gay men and excluded lesbians, which might lead sociologists to question the ________ of such research.

Which of the following is an advantage of using ethnography to study social life?

A professor has been commissioned by a college to do research on its new academic system. The college has moved from a semester system to block scheduling. He asks, “How have teachers and students responded to the new intensive block scheduling system?” This is an example of:

One 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. However, when the researchers examined their data more closely, they discovered that parental bonding was really a predictor for teen religiosity and that high levels of religiosity prevent drug use rather than parental bonding. This means that religiosity was:

Which of the following is a DISADVANTAGE of using ethnography as a method of social research?

What can an institutional review board do if it has reservations about the safety or ethics of a research project?

What is a pilot study?

Why are social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter so exciting to sociologists who study social networks?

Any time a social researcher is going to use sampling, he or she must first identify his or her target population. What is this target population?

In her ethnography Wheeling & Dealing, Patricia Adler investigates the social and professional worlds of midlevel cocaine and marijuana smugglers. Her research started unexpectedly when she discovered that her next-door neighbor and friend was a drug smuggler; this was a huge advantage for her because it meant that she already had ________ with one of her informants.

Maria is worried about the representativeness of her study. She is conducting interviews, but each one seems to last at least five hours. Given that she only has one month to collect her data, what strategy might she use to increase her sample size?

What does it mean if ethnographers are overt about their roles?

If a researcher has obtained informed consent from all his participants, it means that:

A study showed a strong correlation between not smoking and having a high college grade point average. Although some people used this study as evidence that smoking is bad, if you accept that smoking does NOT cause someone to lose brain cells or study less, you would probably conclude that the study: