Research Methods MCQ Questions Answers

1. A true experiment involves the _____ of the independent variable.

2. Ideally, everything in the experimental situation except the __________ is held constant.

3. A scientific poll uses ________ sampling techniques.

4. Foreign-born _____ have highest levels of education in the hispanic population overall.

5. An experimental study is one that _____.

6. A ____________________ is a relationship between two variables that allows us to make predictions.

7. A major advantage of case studies is ________.

8. The number of main effects that need to be examined is _____ the number of independent variables.

9. Intensive interviewing seeks in-depth information using _____________ questions.

10. All of the following should be considered when designing a study except __________.

11. A sample is always __________ a population.

12. Though numbers are truly powerful, they are not emotional and do not touch us as powerfully as true stories do.

13. Presentations, if done well by students, can allow them to benefit from all of the following EXCEPT ______.

14. One of the best things to do when presenting research findings is to provide as much of the literature review since the audience will really appreciate listening to what previous studies had found.

15. When we present our research findings to an audience, all of the following become possible EXCEPT ______.

16. Who reviews research?

17. The best sources of information for students who wish to attend and present at conferences are their fellow classmates and snap chat feeds.

18. The more words you use when presenting your research findings will typically make your presentation better.

19. Using a story to grab the audience’s attention can only be done at the beginning of a presentation.

20. During the presentation of research findings, all of the following are ethical considerations that must be maintained EXCEPT ______.

21. Using a calm but strong voice during the presentation of research findings will scare the audience.

22. Slouching, hiding behind a podium, or touching your face or hair shows fear and insecurity.

23. Providing background information is pertinent to putting the study and its concepts in context.

24. Regardless of the research topic for which we are presenting findings, it is important to find a story to connect the topic to some real-life example to increase the attention of the audience and attach more relevance to the data presented.

25. Writing is a(n) ______ skill.

26. Diane wanted to do well for her presentation of research finding so she planned to do the following tasks. Which of the following should Diane avoid during a presentation?

27. Diane wanted to do well for her presentation of research finding so she planned to do the following tasks. Which of the following should Diane avoid during a presentation?

28. Visual representations of research findings are projected to enhance presentations of research findings in several ways. Which one of the following is NOT one of the benefits?

29. ______ are used to present theoretical background, hypothesis, or other models.

30. The second thing a research report should provide is information about key variables used in the study.

31. Presenting the results in qualitative research and quantitative research usually follow different formats.

32. The null hypothesis usually states that there exist some differences between the variables of interest to the researcher. To this end, the quantitative researcher tries not to reject the null hypothesis.

33. When writing a report about a qualitative study, researchers often mix data (quotations, etc.) in the results section with their analysis.

34. When we ______, we are sometimes able to identify new relationships between variables or discover other associations we could not have imagined.

35. Height, weight, age, and marital status are all examples of demographic information that may be discussed in the results of a research.

36. Gerald knows that it is often wise to differentiate groups on graphs by using distinct colors. Nonetheless, since he plans to publish his work in black and white, it is impossible for him to do so.

37. While the use of diagrams and figures are important to quantitative reporting, it may be argued that such use is even more important to the qualitative researcher as it reduces the pitfalls of subjective interpretation.

38. Two most widely used types of visual presentation of research findings are ______.

39. The demographics of the sample are always the first thing that must be written by a researcher when he or she sits down to write the research report.

40. Rosnow and Rosnow (1992) suggest that when writing the research report the starting point is always predetermined.

41. ______ is a figure that is used to depict the relationship between variables by using arrows or her types of connectors.

42. For quantitative studies, the researcher is usually more interested in reporting the status of the null hypothesis rather than the alternate or null hypothesis.

43. As James begins to analyze his qualitative data set, he begins to read over each case and makes a series of notes. James is performing transcription.

44. Qualitative coding allows the researcher to establish which of the following?

45. Maintaining confidentiality is of vital importance to researchers working with qualitative data.

46. Qualitative data analysis is simultaneously a science and an art.

47. In vivo coding and preexisting codes are two types of coding available for qualitative data that must be used separately at all times.

48. Qualitative information will ______ be represented by numbers.

49. All of the following measures may be used to evaluate the quality of qualitative research EXCEPT which of the following?

50. Qualitative data analysis requires the researcher to transform social research data into numbers.

51. In qualitative research, how many basic types of coding are there for organizing written material?

52. How many types of memos are there?

53. Data collection, analysis, and theory are more intimately related in qualitative analysis than in quantitative analysis.

54. Individuals in the world remember better when they ______.

55. The process of thinking critically is usually done in a(n) ______manner.

56. The ability to think critically is a skill that ______.

57. For some researchers, thinking critically can lead to ______.

58. Trace communication left behind in the form of words or images and used for research is called content analysis.

59. “A researcher may be interested in capturing college students’ perceptions of sexual assault. The researcher may think that males will have a different view of the topic compared to females.” ______ interviewing may be used in this study.

60. The only way to collect qualitative data is through ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interviewing.

61. The persons who provide researchers with required information needed for making connections with other group members are called informants.

62. Qualitative researchers write down everything they observe and experience while out in the field in a field journal.

63. As an exercise of cultural preservation, anthropologists would do which of the following?

64. Grounded theory involves the development of theory done at the beginning of a study during which abstract ideas are developed.

65. Using mixed methods research allows the researcher to use and apply both qualitative and quantitative data analysis.

66. The extended case method uses the researcher’s own field site to test the limitations of existing theory and see how the theory may be further refined and extended.

67. All of the following are forms of qualitative data EXCEPT ______.

68. Which of the following statements is false about qualitative research?

69. Researchers who spend time living among a group of people learning their culture and customs are engaged in participant observation.

70. Qualitative research like quantitative research uses mainly close-ended structured questions to probe a topic to get great detail.

71. Dr. Baxter is studying the lifestyle of the Ashanti people in Kumasi Ghana. During his study, he engages in their festivals, celebrations, and other events. Dr. Baxter may best be described as a(n) ______ observer.

72. Physical objects, images, sounds, moving images, videos, and texts are all types of qualitative data.

73. The most common measures of variability are the variance and standard deviation.

74. In either grouped or ungrouped data, the most frequent attribute is the ______.

75. The College of Liberal Arts and Social Science at Wayne State University has nine departments. The number of faculty in each department is shown here: 8, 12, 9, 15, 17, 11, 13, 14, 7. What is the median number of faculty in departments in the College of Liberal Arts and Social Science?

76. The most frequently used number in a database is the ______.

77. The ______ is known to visually depict relationships and patterns among variables.

78. The ______ is the difference between the largest and the smallest numbers in the set.

79. Creating a ______ will help a researcher observe the key characteristics of participants in the sample.

80. The degree to which data in a data set spread out or deviate from the center is called variability.

81. If a researcher wishes to show multiple distributions in the same category simultaneously, which of the following is best suited for this?

82. When distributions lack the perfect symmetry of having the mean, median, and mode in the center, and are symmetric in their shape when viewed as a histogram, what are they termed?

83. A researcher wants to express the middle of a distribution of numbers, such that half the cases are higher than and half lower than a certain number. The correct statistical measure to use would be the ______.

84. The mean, median, and mode are all measures of central tendency used by researchers.

85. To measure how spread out a distribution is from the mean, a researcher would usually use the standard deviation and the variance.

86. Statistical analysis that allows scientists to confidently make accurate statements about a population is called ______.

87. Which of the following is one advantage of using the cumulative percent?

88. It is not necessary to properly identify variables. Variables are not easily confused with each other.

89. A “codebook” is ______.

90. The first step after data collection that must be completed before data analysis can begin is ______.

91. A(n) ______ variable is the third type of variable that is expressed with numerical values in the original data itself, such as age, income, or height.

92. A categorical variable is one that has a numeric value and is also called a quantitative variable.

93. The software used for data analysis and data entry are always the same.

94. If you utilize an online data collection system such as SurveyMonkey, Qualtrics, or Esurvey Creator, you do not need to worry about entering your data.

95. All of the following can be used to learn how to use software EXCEPT which of the following?

96. John asked his respondents to state their age, height, weight, and number of minutes they exercise daily as numbers. The answers provided are examples of a numerical variable.

97. When a researcher is coding data for entry, some variables may be difficult to code. In those instances, these variables may be left without codes and entered as they are.

98. Why is keeping the codebook secure important?

99. When you enter data into a spreadsheet, you should remember to ______.

100. What is another name for a nominal variable?