The Basics of Social Research 7th Edition by Earl R. Babbie - Test Bank

The Basics of Social Research 7th Edition by Earl R. Babbie – Test Bank

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1. Which of the following is a(n) sign of the presence or absence of the concept that one is studying.?
a. Indicator
b. Concept
c. Direct observable
d. Indirect observable
e. Dependent variable
ANSWER: a
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Modified
2. Which of the following sequences illustrates the progression of measurement steps in a fully structured scientific
study?
a. Conceptualization, nominal definition, operational definition, and measurements in the real world
b. Nominal definition, conceptualization, operational definition, and measurements in the real world
c. Operational definition, conceptualization, nominal definition, and measurements in the real world
d. Nominal definition, operationalization, conceptualization, and real-world measurements
e. Conceptualization, operationalization, nominal definition, and real-world measurements
ANSWER: a
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Pickup
3. Professor Smith gave an exam on Monday. On Wednesday Smith gave the same class the same exam. Professor
Smith was clearly interested in assessing the exam’s:
a. reliability.
b. validity.
c. face validity.
d. conceptualization.
e. precision.
ANSWER: a
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Applied
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4. Reliability is:
a. a matter of whether a particular technique, applied repeatedly to the same object, would yield the same
results each time
b. a matter of ensuring accuracy alone
c. a matter of ensuring that the measure measures what one thinks it should measure
d. a matter of ensuring precision alone
e. a matter of ensuring both accuracy and precision
ANSWER: a
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Modified
5. The specification of concepts in scientific inquiry depends on:
a. nominal, operational, and real definitions.
b. real definitions.
c. nominal and operational definitions.
d. nominal and real definitions.
e. operational and real definitions.
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Pickup
6. Professor Spence decided to define socioeconomic status as a combination of income and education. Spence
then determined the questions to be asked in a survey and the categories of responses. Spence was assigning
socioeconomic status:
a. a nominal definition only.
b. an operational and a real definition.
c. a real definition only.
d. a nominal and a real definition.
e. a nominal and an operational definition.
ANSWER: e
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Applied
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7. A level of measurement describing a variable whose attributes are rank-ordered and have equal distances
between adjacent attributes are _____ measures.
a. ratio
b. interval
c. ordinal
d. nominal
e. theoretical
ANSWER: b
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: New
8. Conceptions are:
a. empirical measurements.
b. variables.
c. mental images.
d. hypotheses.
e. definitions.
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Measuring Anything That Exists
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Pickup
9. Most social scientists would not accept the conceptualization of prejudice as foot size because such a
measurement lacks:
a. precision.
b. reliability.
c. accuracy.
d. validity.
e. all of these choices.
ANSWER: d
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Conceptual
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10. Hudson et al. developed a series of questions to examine sexual attitudes (SAS). The SAS scores of religious
fundamentalists—a group believed to be conservative regarding sexual expression—were compared with the
scores of social work graduate students—a group believed to be liberal regarding sexual expression. The
researchers were examining the instrument’s:
a. split-half reliability.
b. split-half validity.
c. criterion-related validity.
d. criterion reliability.
e. construct validity.
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Modified
11. Dr. Ross is looking to examine if the indicators that make up her measurement of romantic attraction are truly
related to one another and make for an accurate representation of the variable she is researching. What sort of
validity is she examining?
a. Split-half validity
b. Face validity
c. Criterion-related validity
d. Content validity
e. Construct validity
ANSWER: e
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Applied
NOTES: Pickup
12. A measurement of personality that produces observable, correct results, but that are not consistent would be
considered:
a. valid and reliable.
b. valid, but not reliable.
c. not valid, but reliable.
d. neither valid nor reliable.
e. partially valid, fully reliable.
ANSWER: b
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Applied
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13. Professor Myth asked respondents whether or not they had ever been divorced. One year later Professor Myth
asked the same respondents the same question. Myth found that with repeated applications of the measure
different responses were obtained for the same respondent. This means that the measuring instrument was:
a. reliable.
b. invalid.
c. unreliable or the value on the variable had changed.
d. lacking face validity.
e. inaccurate.
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Modified
14. A complete conceptualization involves:
a. specifying dimensions only.
b. specifying indicators only.
c. specifying dimensions and identifying the various indicators of each dimension.
d. specifying indicators and identifying the various dimensions of each indicator.
e. specifying variables and their attributes.
ANSWER: d
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
15. Considering the fact that low marital satisfaction should lead to divorce, Professor Rogers checked his measure of
marital satisfaction by examining whether couples with low marital satisfaction scores got divorced and those with
high levels of marital satisfaction were still married? This illustrates the use of:
a. criterion-related validity.
b. face validity.
c. content validity.
d. construct validity.
e. test-retest validity.
ANSWER: a
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: ModifiedCengage Learning Testing, Powered by Cognero Page 5
16. A nominal definition:
a. is a statement of the essential nature of some entity.
b. is a statement detailing what will be involved in measuring some entity.
c. is a statement that allows us to observe some entity.
d. is a statement that assigns a definition to a concept.
e. none of these choices.
ANSWER: d
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Pickup
17. A survey question asking voters which political party they are affiliated with (Democrat, Republican, Independent)
would be considered:
a. mutually exclusive.
b. exhaustive.
c. interchangeable.
d. a ratio scale.
e. an ordinal scale.
ANSWER: a
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Applied
NOTES: Pickup
18. Which of the following is a nominal variable?
a. Education
b. Age
c. Employment status
d. Occupational prestige
e. One needs to know the attributes to determine the level of measurement
ANSWER: e
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Conceptual
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19. A measure of religiosity that is extremely consistent, but is actually targeting the respondent’s political affiliation
could be considered:
a. partially reliable, completely valid.
b. valid and reliable.
c. not valid, but reliable.
d. neither valid nor reliable.
e. valid, but not reliable.
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Pickup
20. Measuring how people feel about proposed income tax hikes when you really want to know how well informed
they are on the proposal is a problem of operationalization concerning:
a. the use of single or multiple indicators.
b. how observations are going to be made.
c. the specific dimensions of the variable to be studied.
d. the relevant range of variations.
e. the degree of precision needed between extremes.
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Applied
NOTES: Pickup
21. Professor Miller argues that there are three dimensions to the quality of a relationship (belonging/affirmation,
interdependence, and intimacy). Miller designed an instrument to measure quality of a relationship. She notices
that no items in the instrument tap the intimacy dimension. Her measure lacks:
a. reliability.
b. content validity.
c. predictive validity.
d. construct validity.
e. internal consistency.
ANSWER: b
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Applied
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22. Professor Tyler wrote a proposal to study the impact of authoritarianism on child rearing practices. She began her
research by reviewing the meaning of authoritarianism. Based on this review, she formulated her own definition
of authoritarianism. This process illustrates:
a. operationalization.
b. the interchangeability of indicators.
c. conceptualization.
d. validity assessment.
e. reliability assessment.
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Applied
NOTES: Pickup
23. Shipley developed a NEW test to measure IQ. Using his test, someone with an IQ of 180 would be considered
twice as intelligent as someone with an IQ of 90 and someone with an IQ of 90 was three times as intelligent as
someone with an IQ of 30. Shipley’s test treats IQ as a(n):
a. nominal variable.
b. interval variable.
c. ratio variable.
d. ordinal variable.
e. none of these choices.
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
24. Dr. Jones is developing a research study in which he plans to use the length of a participant’s ring finger to
determine mathematical prowess. At the most basic level, his indicator fails which test for validity?
a. Face validity
b. Content validity
c. Predictive validity
d. Criterion-related validity
e. Construct validity
ANSWER: a
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Applied
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25. Classifying someone as employed or not employed treats employment as:
a. a ratio variable.
b. an interval variable.
c. an ordinal variable.
d. a nominal variable.
e. a dependent variable.
ANSWER: d
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Applied
NOTES: Pickup
26. Professor Tilton measured the variable “feelings toward drafting women” with the categories strongly agree, agree,
indifferent, disagree, and strongly disagree. Professor Tilton was using the _____ level of measurement.
a. nominal
b. interval
c. ratio
d. ordinal
e. not enough information to decide
ANSWER: d
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Applied
NOTES: Pickup
27. The variable “educational level” of students was measured as last year in the school was completed (i.e., by using
attributes such as none, 1st, 2nd, 3rd, grades, etc.) This type of measurement falls under _____ measures.
a. nominal
b. interval
c. ratio
d. ordinal
e. not enough information to decide
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Applied
NOTES: ModifiedCengage Learning Testing, Powered by Cognero Page 9
28. What is the lowest level of measurement in which there is an exact difference between attribute values?
a. Nominal
b. Interval
c. Ratio
d. Ordinal
e. All of these choices
ANSWER: b
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Pickup
29. When we fall into the trap of believing that terms have real meanings we are guilty of:
a. reification.
b. measurements that lack reliability.
c. measurements that lack validity.
d. confusing reliability with validity.
e. confusing validity with reliability.
ANSWER: a
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Pickup
30. Professor Salton created the categories of less than 20 hours, 20 hours to 40 hours, 40 hours to 60 hours, and 60
hours or more for the variable “number of hours employed outside the home.” The attributes in Salton’s scheme
represents:
a. a nominal measure.
b. mutually exclusive measure.
c. exhaustive measure.
d. an ordinal measure.
e. mutually exclusive and exhaustive measure.
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Conceptual
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31. Verifying the validity of a measurement using an outside source of information, such as SAT scores or GPA when
examining a measure of academic performance is using:
a. face validity.
b. construct validity.
c. criterion-related validity.
d. content validity.
e. correlational validity.
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Applied
NOTES: Pickup
32. Which of the following is NOT a means of assessing the reliability of measuring devices?
a. Test-retest
b. Split-half
c. Construct-correlation
d. Using established measures
e. Using reliable research workers
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Pickup
33. Jeremy can’t decide whether he should ask people whether they “very strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree,” “very
strongly disagree” or whether they simply “agree” or “disagree” with statements about the war in Iraq. Jeremy is
dealing with the problem of:
a. whether to use single or multiple indicators of a concept.
b. the range of variation.
c. whether to use a ratio or ordinal measurement.
d. whether to use a ratio or interval measurement.
e. whether to use single or multiple dimensions.
ANSWER: b
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Conceptual
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34. A researcher entering gender data collected from a mailed survey is working with:
a. constructs.
b. direct observables.
c. indirect observables.
d. reification.
e. a conceptualization.
ANSWER: c
REFERENCES: Measuring Anything That Exists
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
35. Sarah has compiled a list of 40 indicators of prejudice and its dimensions. She finds that women are more
prejudiced than men on some of the indicators but not on others. Sarah should:
a. check to see if the two sets of indicators represent different dimensions of prejudice.
b. conclude the women are more prejudiced than men.
c. throw out the 40 indicators and start over.
d. conclude that there was an error in her analysis.
e. get a new sample.
ANSWER: a
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Modified
36. If a measure is reliable, it must also be valid.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
37. Conceptualization is the development of research procedures that will result in empirical observations representing
those concepts in the real world.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Factual
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38. Validity refers to the extent to which an empirical measure adequately reflects the real meaning of the concept
under consideration.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Modified
39. Precision and accuracy are synonyms.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Pickup
40. Even if a pre-existing measure of a construct of interest exists, it is a better idea to create your own so you
understand it better.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Pickup
41. A split-half reliability test taps the idea of the general stability of the instrument over time.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
42. Predictive validity is often used as another term for criterion-related validity.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Factual
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43. It is impossible to have several indicators of only one concept.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
44. Changing definitions almost inevitably results in different descriptive conclusions.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
45. Precise measurement is more important than accurate measurement.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
46. Number of arrests would be an example of an interval measurement
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Applied
NOTES: Pickup
47. A nominal measure can have only two categories.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Conceptual
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48. Definitions are more problematic for descriptive research than for explanatory research.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Factual
NOTES: Pickup
49. The split-half technique for assessing reliability is closely linked to concept of the interchangeability of indicators
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
REFERENCES: 154
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
50. If unsure as a researcher how specific a measurement needs to be, it is best to be more general to simplify data
collection.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
51. Numbers assigned to ranks on an ordinal scale can legitimately be added, multiplied, subtracted, and divided.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
52. One only need a nominal definition of a concept before beginning the process of data collection
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: False
REFERENCES: Conceptualization
TOPICS: Factual
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53. The test-retest method assumes that the phenomena under study does not change.
a. True
b. False
ANSWER: True
REFERENCES: 153
TOPICS: Conceptual
NOTES: Pickup
54. Please conceptualize child abuse (or another abstract concept of your choice). What indicators would you use to
measure the concept? Are there dimensions to the concept?
ANSWER: Student answers will vary. One possible answer is that child abuse refers to the mistreatment of a
minor by his/her parent or guardian. Dimensions of child abuse might include physical abuse,
emotional abuse, and psychological abuse. Indicators might include: 1) Have you ever been
slapped by a parent? (Yes, No), 2) Have you ever been beaten up by a parent with a whip or
belt? (Yes, No), 3) Have you ever been told that you were stupid by your mother/father? (Yes,
No), and so on.
REFERENCES: Entire chapter
NOTES: Modified
55. As an extension of the previous question ask the students to evaluate their measurement in terms of validity. What
do they think might be some potential shortcomings, or how does their measurement meet the requirements for
validity?
ANSWER: Student answers will vary, but the answer should focus on issues of face validity, construct
validity, content validity, as well as possible items of use to establish criterion-related validity.
REFERENCES: Criteria of Measurement Quality
NOTES: Modified
56. How would you measure family size at the nominal, ordinal, and ratio levels?
ANSWER: Ratio level: How many people (excluding yourself) are in your immediate (nuclear, family of
orientation)? (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, …….)
Ordinal level: Use the same question with attributes of (less than 3) (3 – 6) (more than 6) or
small, medium, and large.
Nominal level: Are there other people (besides you) in your immediate family? (Yes, No) or Do
you have any brothers? (Yes, No)
NOTE: Students sometimes claim the ordinal classification of (0-3) (3-5) (6 or more) is ratio
because they “see” the 0 in the first category (0-3).
REFERENCES: Operationalization Choices
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