Study Guide for Exam #1--SOC 300
Spring, 2001
M. Senter
Reading: Applied Social Research, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
(pp. 98-107), 7
Adventures in Social Research, Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
Homework Practice 1, 2, 3, and 4 from Web
Page;
Exercise 5.1 in Adventures
in Social Research The exam will consist of a series of computer exercises such as:
one exercise that has you creating and printing a SMALL WORD document
one exercise that has you creating and printing a SMALL SPSS data file
one exercise that has you locating a web site with the search engine YAHOO! and then finding something at that site (www.yahoo.com)
one exercise that has you finding something in the Code of Ethics of the American Sociological Association and/or the National Association of Social Workers
one exercise that has you locating a book and/or journal in the CMU Library with CENTRA (http://www.lib.cmich.edu)
one exercise that has you locating journal articles using Sociological Abstracts (http://www.lib.cmich.edu then Research Databases)
one exercise that has you finding the operational definition of one of the variables in the General Social Survey from the GSS home page (http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/gss
SEVERAL questions that have you finding SPSS variable names (mnemonics), variable labels, values (codes), value labels, and missing data in the file DEMO.sav for the entire data set and for particular respondents (or cases)
The exam will also consist of:
a series of about 15-20 multiple choice questions (bring a #2 pencil with you)
a series of short-answer questions (a word to a short essay)
General questions to ask yourself:
(1) What are the ways in which a scientific understanding of the world differs from traditional knowledge, experiential knowledge, or common sense as a means of knowing about the world? (What is distinct about "science?")
(2) What problems do sociologists face as scientists?
(3) What constitutes ethical social research -- both in terms of the treatment of human subjects and in terms of the use of data/findings?
(4) What role does subjectivity play in sociological research? In other words, what is helpful about "personal experience" and "values?" What is problematic about subjectivity (the fact that we are often part of the societies that we study)? What can be done to become more objective in research?
(5) Discuss the stages in the research process. Another way of saying this is to ask how theory and data collection are linked in an on-going process.
(6) Which research designs are used most commonly in sociology? What are their distinguishing "general" characteristics?
(7) What are the advantages/disadvantages of questionnaires, face-to-face interviews, and telephone interviews? What are the advantages of CATI systems?
(8) What kinds of things can you do to increase the response rates for surveys?
(9) What are the characteristics of a good interviewer?
(10) What are the characteristics of "good" survey questions and good response options?
Other terms you want to understand:
personal computer, file server, Internet browser, Internet search
engine, URL (Uniform Resource Locator--the Internet address), www (World Wide Web), "home page,"
Library of Congress call number, General Social Survey (GSS), mnemonic,
description, explanation, survey research, experiments, field (or
observational) studies, observation, empirical, provisional, systematic,
probabilistic, objectivity, subjectivity, replication,
overgeneralization, selective observation, Hawthorne effect, anonymity, confidentiality,
informed consent, human subjects review committee (sometimes called "institutional
review board"), plagiarism, tampering with results (data fraud), scientific
misconduct, lack of full
disclosure of data, American Sociological Association's Code of Ethics, sampling error,
measurement error, coding error, interviewer or observer error, data entry error,
theory, concept, hypothesis, empirical
generalization, deduction, induction, operationalization (operational definitions),
research design, a constant, a variable, independent variable, dependent variable,
temporal order, data preparation stage, data analysis stage, qualitative
research, quantitative research, unit of analysis, the
individual as the unit of analysis, an aggregate as the unit of analysis, informant,
respondent, ecological fallacy, cross-sectional studies, longitudinal studies, trend and
cohort and panel studies, cohort replacement, panel attrition, wave of a panel study, response rate, mail questionnaire, group-administered
questionnaire, face-to-face interview schedule, telephone interview schedule, CAI (or
CAPI) techniques, CATI techniques, mutually exclusive response options, exhaustive
response options, level of precision, level of measurement, nominal measures, ordinal
measures, interval measures, ratio measures, item, index, scale, recall problems, biased stimulus, double
barreled questions, social desirability effects, response bias, acquiescence
bias, Likert scale, semantic differential,
open-ended questions, closed-ended questions, forced-choice questions, matrix questions,
contingency (or filter) questions, focus groups, pretest, probes, interviewer neutrality,
codes, codebook, cover letter, follow-ups