Social Research Methods MCQs

Why should you start coding your data as soon as possible?

To sharpen your focus and help with theoretical sampling

Because researchers always run out of time at the end of a project

Because it is the easiest task to do

To make sure that your initial theoretical ideas are imposed on the data

Coding as you go along, and starting at a relatively early stage, can be very helpful for those who want to build a grounded theory. This is because it forces you to interpret your data and focus your ideas from the start, which in turn helps you to choose an appropriate sample of participants for the next stage of data collection. Qualitative data is typically quite voluminous, so the researcher can easily feel overcome by its sheer size. Coding the data from the outset helps to give the researcher some feeling of being on top of things.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 581

Author: rikazzz Comment

Ethics and politics in social research

There is a tendency for debates about ethics in social research to focus on the most extreme cases of ethical transgression. Why might this create a misleading impression?

Because these studies did not actually take place

Because it makes social researchers look like nasty, unscrupulous people

Because this implies that ethical concerns do not pervade all social research

Because most social research is in fact ethically sound and infallible

Writing about ethics in social research has typically centred on some extreme, infamous cases of deception, invasions of privacy and so on. While these examples help to illustrate our points convincingly, they can be misleading in that ethical dilemmas affect all kinds of social research, down to the most mundane and straightforward research designs.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 121

Author: rikazzz Comment

Using IBM SPSS statistics

In SPSS, what is the “Data Viewer”?

A table summarizing the frequencies of data for one variable

A spreadsheet into which data can be entered

A dialog box that allows you to choose a statistical test

A screen in which variables can be defined and labeled

The Data Viewer is one of the two screens that comprise the Data Editor in SPSS, the other being the Variable Viewer. The Data Viewer is a spreadsheet grid into which you can enter your data for analysis. It is actually the first screen you will see when you start up the programme, and you can go to work straightaway by entering the data you have collected; questionnaire by questionnaire, interview by interview etc.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 355 (see plate 16.1)

Author: rikazzz Comment

Breaking down the quantitative/qualitative divide

The natural sciences have often been characterized as being positivist in epistemological orientation. Which of the following has been proposed as an alternative account?

Marxism

Subjectivism

Interpretivism

Realism

Quantitative methods have often been assumed to be linked to a positivistic model of the natural sciences, but realism is an alternative epistemology that has also informed much quantitative research. The central issue concerns the validity of studying the social world with the same methodologies that have been developed for study of the natural world. A point of view must be taken that there is a “real” social world external to us, which can, therefore, be studied objectively. The positivist epistemology restricts knowledge to that which is directly observable, whereas the realist accepts the existence of forces driving phenomena, even though those forces may not be capable of observation. We must conclude that there is no “hard and fast” philosophy for doing quantitative research in the social sciences.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 622

Author: rikazzz Comment

Qualitative data analysis

Why are Coffey & Atkinson critical of the way coding fragments qualitative data?

Because this is incompatible with the principles of feminist research

Because it results in a loss of context and narrative flow

Because they think it should fragment quantitative data instead

Because they invented the life history interview and want to promote it

One of the problems with coding, identified by Coffey & Atkinson (1996), is that it involves extracting segments of data from their original context (e.g. an interview transcript), and so the researcher becomes less sensitive to what the data mean in relation to the narrative as a whole. It’s as if the coding process, itself, destroys the narrative. Coding is not analysis; it is a tool of analysis. It therefore requires great sensitivity to the data as a whole (in the sense of an entire interview, for example), so that it will not degenerate into a way of separating data chunks for easier (but less authentic) mechanical processing.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 583

Author: rikazzz Comment

The nature of quantitative research

The split-half method is used as a test of:

Stability

Internal reliability

Inter-observer consistency

External validity

‘Split-half’ in research means grouping indicators so that the degree of co-relation between the answers can be examined. Typically, ten indicators would be divided into two groups of five each. Now we can see if respondents who scored high on one group also scored high on the other. We have, literally, split the group of indicators in half. Why? To show that the indicators we have used, actually relate to the concept, and thereby guarantee internal reliability.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 157

Author: rikazzz Comment

Mixed methods research: combining quantitative and qualitative research

Whereas quantitative research tends to bring out a static picture of social life, qualitative research depicts it as

Symmetrical

Statistical

Processual

Proverbial

Another of the approaches to multi-strategy research is to combine the static view of events provided by quantitative research with the more processual picture provided by qualitative research. That is, qualitative research tends to focus on the everyday social processes of interaction that occur at a micro-level, which “fills in the gaps” left by quantitative depictions of macro-level patterns of events.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 645

Author: rikazzz Comment

Ethnography and participant observation

Which of the following will not help you to negotiate access to a closed/non-public setting?

Gaining the support of a “sponsor” within the organization

Obtaining clearance from a “gatekeeper” or senior member of the group

Joining in with the group’s activities without introducing yourself

Offering something in return, e.g. a report of the findings

It can be difficult to be accepted into a “closed” social setting, and the ethnographer has to work hard to earn the trust of such group members. It is best to negotiate access gradually, through sponsors, gatekeepers and other contacts, rather than simply appearing on the scene and expecting to be accepted. Since the strategy is ‘open’, clearly answer (c) is inappropriate, in that it is more likely to destroy trust than to build it.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 427-428

Author: rikazzz Comment

Documents as sources of data

Which of the following can be studied as a documentary source from the mass media?

The minutes of a parish council meeting

Personal letters between a mother and her daughter

Newspaper articles about a particular issue or event

The staff newsletter produced by a private company

The mass media provides a wide range of sources of documentary data, from newspaper and magazine articles to films, television programmes and the music press. All of these sources are available in the public domain. Answers (a), (b) and (d) all point to documents that can be used in research but they are not examples of mass media.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 554-555

Author: rikazzz Comment

The nature and process of social research

We review the relevant literature to know:

What is already known about the topic

What concepts and theories have been applied to the topic

An emergency source of finance

All of the above

We will probably not be able to do a complete review of all possible contributions to our field of research because of time constraints. It is crucial, therefore, to identify the key books and articles on the topic, in part by finding out who the most influential contributors are. This is an area where supervisors should be able to help because they are possibly working in that area themselves. It is a waste of time to ‘go over old ground’ and, in any event, we want to show we are up-to-date with the research area. Naturally, we are not interested in just doing a ‘copy and paste’ job on what we read but, rather, reading critically to find out the various points of view on offer and any possible disagreements or controversies that may exist.
Reference: Bryman: Social Research Methods: 5th Edition Page(s) 6

Author: rikazzz Comment