Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
Chapter 13: Qualitative Understanding of
Communication Behavior: Interviews, Focus Groups,
and Ethnography
Test Bank
Multiple Choice
1. In Dell Hymes’s ethnography of communication, a speech community is
______.
a. a group of people who share common a language
b. the occasion when people talk
c. specific speech activities
d. the styles of speech used in specific situations
2. In Dell Hymes’s ethnography of communication, a communicative act is
a. the occasion when people talk ______.
b. the goals of the communication
c. the specific speech activity that takes place
d. smaller units of speech within a speech event
3. Which one of the following is essentially a qualitative method?
a. survey
b. experiment
c. interview
d. census
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
4. Which of the following is NOT a basic principle of ethnographic research?
a. conduct research primarily in natural settings
b. combine direct observation with interviews
c. operationalize constructs so they can be measured
d. focus on local, subjective knowledge and categories
5. Which of the following is NOT one of the relationships between researcher and
informants described by Gold?
a. complete observer
b. observer as participant
c. incomplete observer
d. participant as observer
6. Which of the following question types ask respondents to explain the
relationships among the terms they use?
a. descriptive
b. structural
c. contrast
d. funnel
7. In a(n) ______ online focus group, members contribute in their own time.
a. asynchronous
b. synchronous
c. postsynchronous
d. unsynchronous
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
8. Which of the following most accurately describes the researcher–researched
relationship in unobtrusive measures research?
a. observer as participant
b. participant as observer
c. complete observer
d. semi-partial observer
9. Which of the following is NOT an interview prompt?
a. what
b. whatever
c. who
d. when
10. Often, focus group members are selected to be ______.
a. demographically dissimilar
b. diverse in their opinions
c. representative of minority demographics
d. similar in their opinions
11. Which of the following is NOT an analytic unit of Hymes’s ethnography of
communication?
a. speech community
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
b. speech situation
c. speech event
d. speech intention
12. Which of the following is NOT a unit of Hymes’s SPEAKING model?
a. situation
b. participants
c. ends
d. intentions
13. In Dell Hymes’s ethnography of communication, a speech event refers to
______.
a. occasions within a speech community when people talk
b. a specific speech activity that takes place in a speech situation
c. the setting where speech activities occur
d. styles of speech used in specific situations
14. In Dell Hymes’s speaking model, key refers to the ______.
a. tone of speech
b. key idea in a speech
c. channels or methods used to communicate
d. rules governing speech and its interpretation
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
15. In a(n) ______ focus group, members interact with one another in “real time.”
a. asynchronous
b. synchronous
c. postsynchronous
d. unsynchronous
16. If quantitative methods are an experimental science in search of law,
qualitative methods are a(n) ______ one in search of meaning.
a. objective
b. interpretive
c. controlled
d. invalid
17. Which of the following is an advantage of qualitative methods?
a. The researcher’s presence may impact results.
b. They are always easier and quicker.
c. They can be easily generalized.
d. They often have higher “real-life” validity.
True/False
1. Typically, focus group discussions are not recorded.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
2. Focus groups are basically the same as interviews.
3. In unobtrusive measures research, people are informed that their behavior is
being documented.
4. The basis of most analyses of qualitative data is categorization.
5. Preconceived categories are essential for the analysis of qualitative data.
6. “Coding” typically means assigning units of information to a category.
7. The concept of “theory as grounded in data” means that a theory is expected
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
to emerge as data analysis proceeds.
8. The concept of “theory as grounded in data” means that a theory must be in
place as a prerequisite to data analysis.
9. The “constant comparative method” basically means testing new statements or
ideas against categories and then reworking the categories as data analysis
proceeds.
10. Qualitative data cannot be analyzed using computer software.
11. Informants are research participants defined as being able to talk about
others as well as about themselves.
12. Respondents are research participants defined as being able to talk about
others as well as about themselves.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
13. Respondents are research participants defined as speaking only for
themselves.
14. Interviews generally consist of a series of questions asked by a researcher in
order to elicit information he or she is interested in.
15. A researcher’s dress, language, body language, vocabulary, status, and
gender might all affect the outcome of the interview.
16. An interviewer’s personal characteristics will not affect how an interviewee
responds to the interview.
17. The variability of human behavior over time puts a question mark over the
reliability of findings from qualitative methods research.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
18. Because the participants in an interview or discussion are typically selected
judgmentally by the researcher, there can be questions about the validity of
sampling.
19. Focus groups cannot be conducted online.
20. The reliability of focus group results can be answered by running a second
focus group and comparing the results with those from the first group.
21. A strength of focus groups is that researchers observe human
communication in its natural settings.
22. Descriptive notes record the specific methods an ethnographer uses to
gather data.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
23. Analytic notes are the notes an ethnographer writes to make sense of or
interpret raw data and observations.
24. Typically, observational studies record and interpret individual and group
behaviors in an experimental setting.
25. Qualitative studies can be observational without being ethnographies.
26. Conversation analysis is a method for analyzing how people negotiate rules
for understanding.
27. Qualitative researchers look for relationships among phenomena.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
28. A disadvantage of qualitative research is that the reliability can be brought
into question.
Essay
1. Explain the similarities and differences between qualitative and quantitative
research.
2. What are the advantages and disadvantages of online focus groups?
3. Identify and discuss at least three important decisions that must precede
research based on ethnographic approaches to human communication research.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
4. Name and describe the four relationships between researcher and informants
identified by Gold.
5. Explain the difference between fixed and flexible coding.
6. Explain the importance of setting and sensitivities to successful interviews.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
7. Explain with examples each of the following question types defined by James
Spradley: descriptive questions, structural questions, and contrast questions.
8. Identify and discuss at least two problems with the focus group method.
9. Identify and discuss at least three recommendations you would make for
running a successful focus group.
10. Explain and discuss the reasons to use unobtrusive measures research.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
11. Explain the differences between unstructured, semi-structured, and
structured interviews.
12. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of interviewing research
participants “on–site” versus in the researcher’s office.
13. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of audio- or video-recording
interviews.
Instructor Resource
Treadwell and Davis, Introducing Communication Research: Paths of Inquiry, 4e
SAGE Publishing, 2020
14. What is a netnography?
15. Explain the difference between informants and respondents.