If an experimental group’s mean of 20 indicates fewer undesirable symptoms than the
control group’s mean of 25, and the standard deviation is 10, then the Cohen’s d effect
size should be reported as:
a. + .50
b. – .50
c. +5.0
d. ” 5.0
At what level of measurement is the variable number of future incidents of child
neglect?
a. Nominal
b. Ordinal
c. Ratio
d. Interval
Which of the following procedures for dealing with an unstable baseline might be
appropriate in some situations?
a. Introduce intervention anyway, recognizing that a stable baseline is not feasible.
b. Delay intervention until the baseline becomes stable.
c. all of these.
Alex interviews the same survivors of a hurricane immediately after the hurricane and
then again at 3 month intervals over two years to see how the effects of the hurricane on
them change over time. Alex is conducting a:
a. trend study.
b. cohort study
c. panel study.
d. cross-sectional study.
Which of the following is (are) an advantage of the social indicators approach to needs
assessment?
a. unobtrusiveness.
b. inexpensiveness.
c. Reliable data am readily available.
d. unobtrusiveness and inexpensiveness
Culturally insensitive research can
a. produce misleading results.
b. poison the climate for future research among a particular population.
c. have a harmful financial impact on a minority community.
d. all of these.
The evidence-based practice model
a. has historical precedents as old as social work.
b. emerged as a popular practice model in the mid 20th century.
c. reflects the long standing tendency of the vast majority of social work practitioners to
use research studies to guide their practice.
d. All of these.
If we find that rates of behavioral disorder are lower among children who are more
active in sports, then we have found what type of relationship?
a. positive.
b. negative.
c. curvilinear.
d. causal.
In reading Court decisions, Professor Wofford notices that the decisions typically
discuss the “rational male.” Wofford begins to write notes in which she ruminates about
the notion of the rational male as well as why the concept of the rational female is not
mentioned. Wofford’s memos are
a. Code notes
b. Operational notes
c. Theoretical notes
d. Integrating memos
Which of the following statements is/are true about the qualitative perspective on
operational definitions?
a. We may not know the most salient variables before we implement the study.
b. We may not understand the variables well enough in advance to anticipate the best
way to operationally define them.
c. Specifying variables only in terms of observable indicators is superficial.
d. All of these are true about the qualitative perspective.
e. None of these is true about the qualitative perspective.
A theory is
a. a paradigm
b. a hypothesis
c. a systematic set of interrelated statements intended to explain something
d. All of these
Practitioners engaged in evidence-based practice will:
a. be critical thinkers.
b. track down evidence as an ongoing lifelong part of their practice.
c. question things that are based on tradition or authority.
d. think for themselves as to the logic and evidence supporting what others may convey
as practice wisdom.
e. All of these.
Which of the following statements is true about availability sampling in quantitative
studies?
a. It is too risky to ever yield results that can be of value.
b. It is very risky but can yield useful results in some instances.
c. Its risks are minimal.
d. None of these.
Which of the following statements is NOT true about program evaluation?
a. It differs dramatically from most of the research done by social workers.
b. It refers to the purpose of research more than to any particular research methods.
c. It can apply to many diverse research designs and methods.
d. It can be used not only to assess the impact of human service programs but also to
improve their implementation.
The design diagrammed in question 8
a. treats 0 as the new teaching technique.
b. treats 0 as the old teaching technique.
c. treats X as the scores on the research methods exam.
d. none of these.
Which of the following IS NOT an operational definition of marital satisfaction?
a. a score on a scale measuring marital satisfaction.
b. whether or not identified by a therapist as having marital problems.
c. amount of marital unhappiness.
d. number of derogatory statements made by spouses to each other.
Which of the following statements is true about the data interpretation phase in mixed
methods studies?
a. An appropriate data analysis will always provide only one possible correct
interpretation.
b. Judgments about the meaning of the findings are inappropriate.
c. Some proper data analyses yield findings that could be interpreted by rival
explanations.
d. Good studies never need to have methodological limitations mentioned during the
data interpretation phase.
What ethical guideline(s) is are violated in the following study? A child therapist thinks
the new, untested psychotherapy she recently developed is more effective than
physician-prescribed medications for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. To
research the effectiveness of her therapy, she tells parents that the therapy replaces the
need for the medications and then provides the therapy to half of her clients, without
telling parents about the study or which treatment group their child is in.
a. voluntary participation and informed consent.
b. no harm to the participant.
c. deceiving subjects.
d. all of these.
At what level of measurement is the variable ethnicity?
a. Nominal.
b. Ordinal.
c. Ratio.
d. Interval.
The unit about which information is collected and which provides the basis of analysis
is called the
a. universe.
b. sampling unit.
c. unit of analysis.
d. sampling frame.
e. element.
The questionnaire item “Which is not a serious problem in the U.S. today, anomie or the
socialization of the young?” violates which of the following guidelines?
a. Avoid double-barreled questions.
b. Avoid short items.
c. Avoid leading the respondent.
d. Avoid negative items.
Which of the following statements is/are true about comparing quantitative and
qualitative instrument construction?
a. Both approaches should avoid biased wording.
b. Both approaches should avoid questions that are very complex.
c. Quantitative measures are likely to be more highly structured.
d. Quantitative measures are likely to use close-ended questions.
e. Qualitative measures are likely to rely primarily on interviews.
f. All of these.
An instrumentation effect occurs when
a. the instrument employed for the pretest has an effect that shows up on the posttest.
b. the measurement instrument is changed from the pretest to the posttest.
c. there is a change on the dependent variable from the pretest score to the posttest
score.
d. all of these.
Qualitative researchers seek to discover patterns by using:
a. the grounded theory method.
b. semiotics
c. conversation analysis.
d. concept mapping.
e. All of these.
Which of the following statements is (are) TRUE about electronically accessing
Internet professional databases?
a. Using “AND” expands the list of links that come up.
b. Using “OR” narrows the list of links that come up.
c. Using “AND” narrows the list of links that come up
d. Using “NOT” expands the list of links that come up.
Sampling with hidden and oppressed populations:
a. almost always should involve probability sampling methods.
b. should avoid using the researcher’s judgment about finding potential participants.
c. often must utilize the snowball sampling method.
d. never should combine probability and non-probability sampling methods.
Which of the following statements best typifies a mixed methods study?
a. A study that uses more then one type of quantitative method.
b. A study that uses more then one type of qualitative method.
c. A study that combines a qualitative method with a quantitative method.
d. All of these are equally likely to be called a mixed methods study.
.
Ethical obligations regarding analysis and reporting
a. require that technical shortcomings and failures of the study be revealed.
b. allow the researcher to determine whether or not to report negative findings.
c. Encourage the researcher to always describe the findings as the product of a carefully
preplanned analytical strategy.
d. all of these.
Which of the following statements is/are true about carrying out experiments and
quasi-experiments in social agencies
a. The intervention being tested might not be implemented in the intended fashion.
b. The control condition might be contaminated by interaction between clients in the
experimental and control groups.
c. Practitioners might violate the research protocol for case assignment to make sure
that clients receive the intervention being evaluated.
d. Reluctance by outside agencies to refer clients might hinder obtaining a sufficient
sample size.
e. All of these.
Open coding involves selecting codes before examining the data.
If we can establish that variable X comes before variable Q in time, then we can say
a. variable X is a cause of variable Q.
b. variable X is not a cause of variable Q.
c. variable Q is a cause of variable X.
d. variable Q is not a cause of variable X.
Agency administrators and practitioners are likely to encourage maximum scientific
rigor in evaluations of program outcome, irrespective of the funding implications.
Self-monitoring is an example of unobtrusive observation.
Moderating variables influence the strength or direction of relationships between
independent and dependent variables.
Reliability and validity are handled precisely in the same ways in qualitative inquiry as
they are in quantitative inquiry.
It is safe to assume that agency staff members who initially approve of an experiment
will remain in close compliance with its research protocol throughout the study.
If a measure is reliable, it must also be valid.
The qualitative researcher in the role of participant-as-observer participates fully with
the group under study but does not disclose his or her role as researcher.
In qualitative analysis, it is inappropriate to consider possible causal links between
variables.
Using the life-history method, researchers ask open-ended questions to discover how
participants in a study understand the significant events and meanings in their own
lives.
By definition, the self-administered questionnaire is synonymous with the mail survey.
Although AB designs offer the least control for history, they are often worth doing.
A research study must choose between the inductive versus the deductive method; it
cannot use both methods.
The ability to construct a retrospective baseline is one of the advantages of using
available records.
It is often as important to report that variables are not related as to report that they are
related.
The cost savings of secondary analysis enable researchers to study larger and
representative samples.
Although online surveys can obtain large samples inexpensively, the respondents may
NOT be representative of the rest of the population.
Social work practice models, like theories, can influence the research process.