Research and Statistical Methods Exam answers
________ allows a researcher to receive news in an area of special interest and discuss that news with others.
A list server
The recommended order of tasks in preparing a research proposal is:
state the problem and subproblems, note the research questions/hypotheses, note the assumptions, define the terms, note the delimitations.
A common weakness of research problems is that they:
implicitly rest on common assumptions.
“What do underemployed U.S. workers (i.e., those workers who are employed, but not in positions for which they have specialized training or expertise) identify as the primary reason for their inability to find suitable employment?”
The chief weakness of this research problem is that:
The chief weakness of this research problem is that:
it lacks clarity or completeness in the problem statement.
The main purpose of the review of the literature is to:
show how your study is related to, and extends, other work in the area.
If you want to conduct a keyword or author search of research reports published in professional journals, ________ will probably be your best resource.
an online database
Typically, the literature review should:
emphasize how the studies being reviewed are related to the research problem under consideration.
Three of the following are associated with quantitative research methods. Which one is NOT?
Deductive reasoning is applied to data analysis and interpretation.
Professor Harris is constructing a demographic questionnaire for use in a research project. One question asks students to report their highest level of education by choosing from these options: “some high school,” “completed high school,” “some college,” or “completed 4-year college degree.” This is an example of a/an:
ordinal scale.
A good research plan, according to your textbook, includes:
includes specific sampling plan, procedures, data sources, and analysis plan.
When explaining how the data are to be analyzed and interpreted:
it is best to be as detailed as possible so all contingencies related to analysis and interpretation can be anticipated.
Research proposals that ________ are commonly judged to be of higher quality than proposals that do not.
favor straightforward vocabulary
In regard to the style you will use for headings and subheadings in the research proposal:
disciplines often dictate the use of specific formal styles, so you must find out what the expectations are.
Three of the following are techniques that strengthen the objectivity of a qualitative study. Which one is NOT?
The researcher should rely as much as possible on a single well-informed respondent
When conducting observations to be used as data in a qualitative study, it is:
always necessary to obtain informed consent from those being observed.
Carl Compost has been living and working on a communal organic farm for the past six months. He wants to understand the political, environmental, and social perspectives shared by the members of the commune. Dr. Compost is probably employing a/an ________ methodology.
ethnographic
Polly Petunia is Chief Horticulturalist for the Southwest region, encompassing Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas. She wants to survey amateur gardeners in her region to determine what, if any, water conservation practices they employ in their home gardening. Polly sends her survey to 150 randomly selected gardeners in each state. Polly is using:
stratified random sampling.
Correlational research allows the researcher to answer questions such as:
What is the relationship between Variable A and Variable B?
A researcher wishes to study developmental changes in the music people prefer to listen to. The researcher locates 50 people who are about 20 years old. She sends these people a questionnaire every year for the next 10 years asking about the types of music they prefer to listen to. This is an example of a ________ design.
longitudinal
Fran Freedom is trying to determine what the phrase “with liberty and justice for all” from the Pledge of Allegiance meant at the time it was penned. She suspects there were actually some limits on “all.” Dr. Freedom is attempting to establish ________ regarding the validity of the letter.
internal evidence
In regard to bias in historical research, the researcher:
must be vigilant in regard to bias in both primary and secondary data.
Historical researchers can count on authoritative sources such as the Anglo-Saxon Chronology or the Cambridge Ancient History as accurate and complete accounts of history.
False
Experimental research differs from descriptive research in that it:
attempts to determine causality.
Dr. Dow Jones wants to know whether a problem-based approach to teaching economics will result in higher academic performance than his traditional method. Of the six sections of Economics 101 at his university, Dr. Jones randomly assigns three sections to the traditional method and three sections to the problem-based method. At the end of semester all students complete the same final exam. In this design, students studying under the problem-based method constitute the:
treatment group.
“There will be differences in degree of mood elevation seen in depressed clients after receiving either cognitive-behavioral or psychoanalytic therapy.”
In this hypothesis, type of therapy is the:
In this hypothesis, type of therapy is the:
dependent variable.
Which of the following is the major advantage of mixed-methods research?
It incorporates the strengths of both quantitative and qualitative methods
Rodrigo wanted to investigate students’ feeling about reading for pleasure. First, he interviewed students and then he used insights from the interviews to construct a survey to collect quantitative data. Which design has Rodrigo employed?
Exploratory
Zlata explores how engagement in the arts in early age affects the development of problem solving skills of young children. She distributes surveys among parents of children who participate in a local theatre production, and follows up the survey with selected interviews. Which of the following best illustrates Zlata’s study?
QUAN-qual
On the basis of statistical findings, Becky determines that the difference between males and females on a test of abstract mathematical reasoning is merely due to chance. If, in fact, there are gender differences in the population, Becky will have made a:
Type II error.
Here is a set of scores: 5, 3, 7, 3, 6, 2, 5, 3. The mode of this set of scores is ________.
3