Which of the following statements is true about the emic and etic perspectives in
qualitative research?
a. Although the two perspectives seem contradictory, the participant observer should try
to blend them.
b. They both pertain primarily to ethics.
c. They are more relevant to the complete observer than to the participant-as-observer.
d. Neither allows researchers to question the views of the people being observed.
Which of the following statements is/are true about the history of program evaluation?
a. It has been widespread throughout the history of social welfare.
b. It became widespread during the late 1950s.
c. Interest in it waned during the 1960s.
d. It has been opposed by political conservatives throughout its history.
The classic experiment with random assignment of participants controls for:
a. research reactivity
b. measurement bias
c. diffusion or imitation of treatments
d. compensatory equalization and rivalry
e. resentful demoralization
f. all of these
g. none of these
A measure of dispersion describes
a. where the data are clustered.
b. which data are the most important.
c. how spread out the data are.
d. all of the above.
Explanatory studies are designed to find answers to which of the following questions?
a. Are people’s attitudes toward public welfare changing?
b. Why are people’s attitudes toward public welfare changing?
c. Who watches soap operas?
d. All of the above.
Interview surveys have a number of advantages over mail surveys. Which of the
following is NOT one of those advantages?
a. Higher response rates.
b. There is generally a smaller number of “don”t knows” and “no answers.”
c. There are a smaller number of relevant responses given.
d. Observations can be made.
Which of the following statements is true about quantitative and qualitative methods?
a. Quantitative studies are more likely than qualitative studies to use open-ended items.
b. Qualitative studies are more likely than quantitative studies to use open-ended items.
c. Quantitative studies are more likely than qualitative studies to use interviews with
probes.
d. Quantitative studies are more likely than qualitative studies to be labor intensive and
more time-consuming in data collection.
Which of the following statements is true about focus groups?
a. The larger the number of participants, the better.
b. The group dynamics may bring out information that may not have emerged in
individual interviews..
c. Representativeness is a common strength of this method.
d. The data that emerge are likely to be less voluminous and more systematic than
structured survey data.
Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a cross-sectional study?
a. It is conducted at only one point in time.
b. It can be exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory.
c. It concentrates on the changes that take place within a specific sample over a period
of time.
d. It provides a means for studying a large variation in the population at the same point
in time.
Which of the following statements is (are) true about the scientific method?
a. Some things are NOT open to question.
b. Good studies need NOT be replicated.
c. All knowledge is considered provisional.
d. All of these.
e. None of these.
According to the scientific method, all knowledge should be
a. provisional.
b. subject to refutation.
c. based on evidence supported by objective observations.
d. All of these
Recruitment of minority and oppressed populations in research studies can be enhanced
by:
a. obtaining endorsement from community leaders.
b. avoiding the use of local community members as research staff.
c. using probability sampling techniques instead of nonprobability techniques
d. refusing to use anchor points.
In-house evaluators, as compared to external evaluators, are likely to have
a. greater access to program information and personnel.
b. more knowledge about program processes.
c. less independence from agency administrators.
d. all of these.
When names are removed from questionnaires and are replaced with identification
numbers so that only the researcher can later link a response to a name, the researcher
should tell the respondent that the information is
a. anonymous.
b. confidential.
c. anonymous and confidential.
d. harmless.
Which of the following statements is true about research utilization and social work
practice:
a. Whether or not social work practitioners bother to keep abreast of research findings
on which interventions are the most effective for their clients has no bearing on how
professionally ethical those social workers are.
b. Whether or not social work practitioners bother to keep abreast of research findings
on which interventions are the most effective for their clients has no bearing on how
compassionate those social workers are.
c. Whether or not social work practitioners bother to keep abreast of research findings
on which interventions are the most effective for their clients has no bearing on social
work values.
d. All of these.
e. None of these.
What is the most appropriate inference for future interventions with similar clients?
a. Just provide the family education.
b. Provide all three interventions in the same order.
c. Replicate the study to assess possible order effects.
d. none of these.
Target problems can be quantified in terms of their
a. frequency.
b. duration.
c. magnitude.
d. all of these.
Assume that the following would be reasonable conversational questions/statements
based on a subject’s previous statement. Which is the best probe?
a. “In what ways is that a better job?”
b. “How is that a better job?”
c. “Tell me more about why that’s a better job.”
d. “How do you mean that’s a better job?”
e. All of these are equally good probes.
The questionnaire item “Did you file federal and state income tax reports last year?”
with a response set of yes, no, can”t remember, other, is an example of
a. an open-ended question.
b. an ordinal variable.
c. a double-barreled question.
d. a negative item.
In order to avoid measurement error in a questionnaire, it is a good idea to
a. use unbiased wording.
b. use terms that subjects will understand.
c. test out the instrument in a dry run with a few people in the target population
d. all of these.
Which of the following illustrates a grouped data frequency distribution?
a. Thirty-six students are enrolled in introductory statistics, section A.
b. Five new students have been accepted on the editorial staff of their school paper. Two
of the students are 18 years of age, one is 19 years, and two are 21 years of age.
c. Of the 20 female students living in a housing complex, 10 are under 20 years of age,
one is between 20 and 25 years, seven are between 26 and 30 years, and two are above
30 years.
d. all of these.
Which of the following statements is/are true about problems in client recruitment and
retention in experimental and quasi-experimental evaluations in social work agencies?
a. Referring agencies might dump clients that they don”t want to serve.
b. Referring agencies might be reluctant to refer any clients.
c. Referring agencies might resent having their referrals assigned to a control condition.
d.Clients may resent the use of randomized procedures to determine which service they
receive.
e. Agency estimates of the number of likely referrals may be overly optimistic.
f. All of these.
The weakest form of validities::
a. face validity.
b. criterion validity.
c. construct validity.
d. content validity.
Which of the following statements is (are) TRUE about the literature review in social
work research?
a. Reference librarians are rarely helpful when it comes to social work literature
b. Online searches are too cumbersome and should be avoided.
c. Online searches remove the need to examine recent issues of professional journals.
d. None of these.
If Wang from the previous question decided to look at whether grandparents who have
grandchildren living with them later obtain custody of the grandchildren and then later
adopt the grandchildren, Wang would be looking at:
a. Frequencies
b. Causes
c. Processes
d. Structures
e. Magnitudes
If a relationship between two variables is spurious:
a. it is curvilinear.
b. it can disappear when a third variable is controlled for.
c. it will remain unchanged when a third variable is controlled for.
d. it involves a mediating variable.
Which of the following statements is true about analyzing existing statistics?
a. Existing statistics in official government documents can be presumed to be highly
valid.
b. Existing statistics in official government documents can be presumed to be highly
reliable.
c. In government agencies existing statistics always can be presumed to have been
collected in a careful, systematic fashion.
d. None of these
If an instrument has both convergent and discriminant validity, it then has:
a. predictive validity.
b. concurrent validity.
c. construct validity.
d. content validity.
Suppose you instruct a couple to have a typical conversation while you observe them in
your office. This would be an example of
a. unobtrusive observation.
b. research reactivity.
c. obtrusive observation.
d. interval recording.
Which of the following contemporary positivist strategies is recommended for
enhancing the rigor of qualitative studies?
a. Prolonged engagement
b. Triangulation.
c. Negative case analysis.
d. Leaving a paper trail for auditing.
e. All of these.
Which of the following is NOT a type of reliability?
a. inter-rater.
b. test-retest.
c. internal consistency.
d. known groups.
Time series designs with many measurement points control for statistical regression.
Social desirability bias is a form of random measurement error.
Videotaping treatment sessions should be used only as a last resort when assessing
intervention fidelity.
It is sometimes difficult for IRB panelists to decide whether to approve a proposed
study.
Critical thinking is part of evidence-based practice.
Unfortunately, the number of journals related to social work is very small, numbering
less than 10 at last count.
Concealing the nature of the study from those being observed violates the norm of
voluntary participation.
The top-down approach to searching for evidence has the advantage of feasibility but
can be risky in light of the fallibility and possible bias of experts.
The term evidence-based practice is an extension of the term evidence-based medicine,
which predated it.
If an intervention has been supported by the best evidence, then it is safe to assume that
it will be effective with a particular client.
Because the rates under treatment approach to needs assessment looks only at those
currently utilizing services, it is vulnerable to underestimating the true extent of need.
Science can be affected by political matters.
Coefficient alpha measures internal consistency reliability.
Probes are used more frequently in open-ended questions than in closed-ended ones.
Research designs can be descriptive, explanatory, or exploratory, but never more than
one.
Program evaluators should involve stakeholders in planning an evaluation.