Some research studies can combine the use of qualitative methods with the use of
quantitative methods.
Which of the following statements is true about culturally competent interviewing?
a. All interviewers must be of the same ethnicity as the respondent.
b. Although matching interviewer and interviewee ethnicity is not a foolproof guarantee
that an interview will be culturally competent, it is a good rule of thumb to follow
whenever possible.
c. Interviewers should NOT be of the same ethnicity as the respondent.
d. Avoiding cultural bias is ensured if interviewer speaks the respondent’s language.
Suppose a new social casework program is offered to students with high levels of
truancy. If those students placed in the program by their families have significantly less
truancy after participating than the students who did not participate in the program, then
we can conclude that
a. the program effectively reduces truancy.
b. a selection bias might explain away the difference.
c. causality cannot be inferred because of the lack of covariation.
d. some clients benefited, so the program has value.
Qualitative methods:
a. Emphasize precise and generalizable statistical findings.
b. Are likely to tap deeper meanings.
c. Cannot be combined with quantitative methods in the same study.
d. Eschew objectivity entirely.
Which of the following is NOT an advantage of the key informants approach to needs
assessment?
a. ease of attaining a sample.
b. representativeness of sample.
c. inexpensiveness of survey.
d. building connections with community resources.
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.
A study that attempts to maximize precision and objectivity in testing whether an
intervention reduces an undesirable behavior is being guided by what paradigm?
a. postmodernism.
b. positivism.
c. interpretivism.
d. critical social science.
To avoid or alleviate practical pitfalls when carrying out experiments in social work
agencies, researchers should:
a. Exclude agency staff members from the research planning phase.
b. Keep research staff members away from program staff during the study.
c. Avoid developing or using treatment manuals for the experimental or control
conditions.
d. Refrain from recruiting clients on an ongoing basis throughout the study.
e. none of these.
Professionals who are conducting survey interviews in very poor neighborhoods
should:
a. Dress down so as to appear as if they live in that neighborhood.
b. Read questionnaire items verbatim.
c. Never probe into unclear responses to see if respondents meant what the interviewers
think they meant.
d. Do all of these.
When asking questionnaire items, the interviewer should
a. ask every question even if the respondent has apparently answered it already.
b. skip questions that the respondent cannot answer and return to them at the end of the
interview.
c. react to a question after the respondent has answered to show interest
d. give help on difficult questions.
e. summarize the respondent’s answers so that they are more meaningful answers.
Believing that there are only multiple subjective realities, and questioning the existence
of an objective external reality, is associated with what view of reality?
a. positivism.
b. modernism.
c. postmodernism.
d. submodernism.
The tendency of people to answer questions through a filter that will convey a favorable
impression is called
a. the acquiescent response set.
b. social desirability bias.
c. cultural bias.
d. random error.
Given the following values, the median is
8, 12, 9, 15, 17, 11, 13, 14, 7
a. 12
b. 17
c. 4.5
d. 5
Which of the following statements is true about the strengths or weaknesses of content
analysis?
a. It is likely to be economical in terms of time and money.
b. It is hard to correct mistakes.
c. It cannot study processes that occur over time.
d. It is obtrusive.
In an evaluation of an intervention that seeks to increase self-esteem scores, if the mean
of the experimental group is 60, the mean of the control group is 50, and the standard
deviation of the control group is 5, the Cohen’s d effect size is:
a. 5
b. 2
c. 10
d. 0.10
e. 60
A study that attempts to gather data as ammunition for advocating for a particular cause
is being guided by what paradigm?
a. positivism.
b. advocacyism.
c. interpretivism.
d. critical social science.
The evidence-based practice process
a. requires practitioners to employ interventions that have the best research support
even if those interventions conflict with client values.
b. can involve decisions about the selection of assessment tools.
c. applies only to clinical decisions, NOT to practice decisions about communities or
social policies.
d. All of these.
Suppose you obtained the following results in an ABAB design assessing the
effectiveness of family therapy in reducing a child’s temper tantrums. Which
interpretation(s) is(are) plausible?
Number of tantrums per day:
a. History could have caused the change.
b. The intervention may have been effective, but with irreversible effects.
c. History could have caused the change or the intervention may have been effective,
but with irreversible effects.
d. none of these.
Which of the following statements is true about quantitative and qualitative methods?
a. Data analysis in quantitative studies is likely to be more time-consuming than in
qualitative studies.
b. The data analysis phase in qualitative studies tends to involve about the same amount
of labor intensiveness and time as in quantitative studies.
c. Data analysis in qualitative studies is likely to be more time-consuming than in
quantitative studies.
d. The data analysis phase in quantitative studies is more likely to involve a search for
patterns and meanings in narratives than in qualitative studies.
.
Which of the following statements best typifies a mixed methods study?
a. A study that ends with a qualitative method but emphasizes a quantitative method.
b. A study that emphasizes a qualitative method and implements it concurrently with a
quantitative method.
c. A study that has an equal emphasis on a qualitative and a quantitative method but
does not implement them both concurrently.
d. All of these are equally likely to be called a mixed methods study.
Which of the following is NOT a disadvantage of the community survey or target group
survey approach to needs assessment?
a. It is one of the least direct ways to assess needs.
b. possibly low response rates.
c. measurement biases.
d. time and expense.
The 55-mph speed limit was introduced in the U.S. in 1973. Shortly thereafter the
number of auto accidents declined. We can conclude that
a. the reduced speed limit caused the decline in auto accidents.
b. the reduced speed limit may have caused the decline in the number of auto accidents.
c. the reduced speed limit and the number of auto accidents are causally related.
d. the reduced speed limit had nothing to do with the decline in auto accidents.
Which of the following is LEAST suited to providing clear evidence about a causal
relationship between the independent and dependent variables?
a. classical experimental design.
b. Solomon four-group design.
c. posttest-only control group design.
d. one-shot case study.
Descriptive studies:
a. can employ qualitative, quantitative, and/or mixed methods.
b. always use qualitative methods.
c. always use quantitative methods.
d. none of these
Suppose a study reports that the average number of times that control group participants
got drunk during the year was five. What is appropriate to conclude?
a. The typical control group participant got drunk five times.
b. Most control group participants got drunk five times.
c. It is conceivable that most of the control group participants got drunk less than five
times or more than five times.
d. The typical control group participant got drunk 5 times, and most control group
participants got drunk five times.
Which of the following statements is (are) true regarding practice effectiveness?
a. It is safe to assume that well-trained social workers will be effective regardless of
which interventions they employ.
b. Social work practice consists largely of interventions and procedures that have not
yet received adequate testing.
c. Knowledge of research methods and knowledge of practice are separate and
unrelated.
d. All of these.
e. None of these.
Professor Milne was preparing to do some unstructured qualitative interviewing. Milne
knew that you were a research-methods student and asked for your advice. You told
Milne
a. to try not to alter the specific wording of questions.
b. to try to use the same probes with the same wording for each respondent.
c. to try not to alter the sequence of questions.
d. all of these.
e. none of these.
Which of the following statements is NOT recommended for systematic reviews or
meta-analyses?
a. The criteria for excluding studies should be identified.
b. Unpublished studies should NOT be included.
c. The methodological rigor of the included studies should be appraised.
d. There is no need to contact authors of previous studies.
Contingency questions:
a. Are used to increase the likelihood of responses from those for whom the questions
are relevant.
b. Should not be used because they frustrate respondents.
c. Enable the researcher to ask several questions that have the same set of answer
categories.
d. All of these.
A school social worker administered a self-esteem test to a group of 9th graders in
September. During the school year the students received intensive social work
intervention designed to improve their self-esteem. In May the self-esteem test was
given again and the self-esteem scores improved. A major problem in this research is
that the researcher failed to control for
a. history.
b. maturation.
c. testing.
d. selection biases.
e. all of these.
Which of the following statements is/are true about mailed surveys?
a. Cover letters should be avoided so as to save costs and reduce the amount of material
the respondent must read.
b. Response rates are considered good only if they exceed 80%.
c. Follow-up mailings are essential.
d. All of these are true about mailed surveys.
When we want to verify whether a cause produces an effect in general, we are more
likely to use quantitative methods.
Even if an intervention has been supported by exceptionally strong research evidence,
practitioners need to evaluate whether that intervention has been the best choice for
their particular client.
Concept mapping diagrams relationships in a graphical format.
Case-control designs have more controls for threats to validity than do most other
designs for evaluating programs or practice.
A danger in working exclusively with secondary sources in historical research is that
you may merely repeat the mistakes contained in those sources.
Qualitative research methods are more likely to generate theoretically rich observations
that are not easily reduced to numbers.
The online survey website tool should enable respondents to take a break and then
reenter the survey if they need to.
Once people are told that their participation in a research study is voluntary, there are no
ethical problems.
Every detail in the literature should be covered when writing up the literature review
section of a research report, even if that requires making the write up quite lengthy.
Ideally, baselines should be extended until a stable trend in the data is evident.
A relationship between two variables that are no longer related when a third variable is
controlled is called a spurious relationship.
Quantitative and qualitative methods can be combined in program evaluations.
As soon as you tell subjects that you are doing research, the ethical issue of the
researcher’s identity is no longer a problem.
The literature review should be delayed until a topic and research question are chosen.
The interviewer should be a neutral medium through which questions and answers are
transmitted.
It is sometimes possible to predict something correctly and accurately even if we don”t
yet understand it.
Critical social science researchers view research as a way to marshal ammunition in
support of their social change efforts.
If research participants from two different cultures have the same average score on a
scale measuring caregiver burden, that means that the two groups of participants
subjectively perceive the same degree of caregiver burden.
In deduction we start from observed data and develop a generalization that explains the
relationship between the observed concepts.
Qualitative researchers should NEVER participate as an actor in the events under study.