Test one, sp12 True/False Indicate whether the statement is true or false. ____ 1. Humans are essentially social beings. ____ 2. America is so powerful that it doesn’t need the support of other nations. ____ 3. Unlike other aspects of society, like the economy, the media have not become truly global in nature. ____ 4. The most widely accepted definitions of sociology as a discipline are those that are narrow and focused. ____ 5. When we ask psychologists to help us understand the behavior of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who murdered 13 people and injured 24 more at Columbine High School in 1999, we are using our sociological imaginations. ____ 6. If a sociologist attempts to study whether men are really less emotional than women, she is taking the role of the social analyst, rather than the everyday actor. ____ 7. The poem “The Blind Men and the Elephant” suggests that there is only one correct approach to understanding social life. ____ 8. Conflict theory uses a dynamic model of historical change that presents change as constant, ongoing, and inevitable. ____ 9. W. E. B. Du Bois became so disillusioned with the United States that he voluntarily exiled himself to Ghana near the end of his life. ____ 10. Thomas Kuhn, a philosopher of science, argues that truth is relative, in that it is dependent on the paradigm through which one understands the world. ____ 11. You are about to do a series of interviews about drug abuse and academic performance. In order to make people feel more comfortable, you tell them that these interviews are about student satisfaction with the university and have them sign a form showing that they’ve willingly agreed to participate. You have the informed consent of your research subjects. ____ 12. The order in which a questionnaire asks about different issues cannot affect the way people respond. ____ 13. Codes of ethics in the social sciences provide very strict guidelines for researchers to follow. ____ 14. Market research is probably the most common use of sociological methods for nonacademic purposes. ____ 15. Marxists are among the strongest supporters of value-free sociology. Multiple Choice Identify the choice that best completes the statement or answers the question. ____ 16. Sociologists observe society: a. by studying the various parts of a society and the ways they interact and influence each other b. by studying the shape and boundaries of society as a whole c. by studying society as if it were a concrete object, in the same way that a geologist studies rocks d. by utilizing the preconceptions, assumptions, and beliefs that come from living in a society e. through the use of special scientific tools that allow unmediated access to the very heart of society ____ 17. Even though a small number of people have been academically trained as sociologists, we all can be described as “natural sociologists” because: a. we are born with certain skills that naturally allow us to think sociologically b. society is a par.

1. Test one, sp12 True/False Indicate whether the statement is true
or false. ____ 1. Humans are essentially social beings. ____ 2.
America is so powerful that it doesn’t need the support of other
nations. ____ 3. Unlike other aspects of society, like the
economy, the media have not become truly global in nature.
____ 4. The most widely accepted definitions of sociology as a
discipline are those that are narrow and focused. ____ 5. When
we ask psychologists to help us understand the behavior of Eric
Harris and Dylan Klebold, who murdered 13 people and injured
24 more at Columbine High School in 1999, we are using our
sociological imaginations. ____ 6. If a sociologist attempts to
study whether men are really less emotional than women, she is
taking the role of the social analyst, rather than the everyday
actor. ____ 7. The poem “The Blind Men and the Elephant”
suggests that there is only one correct approach to
understanding social life. ____ 8. Conflict theory uses a
dynamic model of historical change that presents change as
constant, ongoing, and inevitable. ____ 9. W. E. B. Du Bois
became so disillusioned with the United States that he
voluntarily exiled himself to Ghana near the end of his life.
____ 10. Thomas Kuhn, a philosopher of science, argues that
truth is relative, in that it is dependent on the paradigm through
which one understands the world. ____ 11. You are about to do
a series of interviews about drug abuse and academic
performance. In order to make people feel more comfortable,
you tell them that these interviews are about student satisfaction
with the university and have them sign a form showing that
they’ve willingly agreed to participate. You have the informed
consent of your research subjects. ____ 12. The order in which
a questionnaire asks about different issues cannot affect the way
people respond. ____ 13. Codes of ethics in the social sciences
provide very strict guidelines for researchers to follow. ____
14. Market research is probably the most common use of
sociological methods for nonacademic purposes. ____ 15.
Marxists are among the strongest supporters of value-free

2. sociology. Multiple Choice Identify the choice that best
completes the statement or answers the question. ____ 16.
Sociologists observe society: a. by studying the various parts of
a society and the ways they interact and influence each other b.
by studying the shape and boundaries of society as a whole c.
by studying society as if it were a concrete object, in the same
way that a geologist studies rocks d. by utilizing the
preconceptions, assumptions, and beliefs that come from living
in a society e. through the use of special scientific tools that
allow unmediated access to the very heart of society ____ 17.
Even though a small number of people have been academically
trained as sociologists, we all can be described as “natural
sociologists” because: a. we are born with certain skills that
naturally allow us to think sociologically b. society is a part of
nature, so everyone has to be a natural sociologist c. our parents
taught us to be sociologists even before they sent us to school d.
we are all members of society and so have a great deal of
background knowledge about how society works e. sociologists
are really just observers of conventional wisdom ____ 18.
Howard Becker said that sociology can be best understood as
the study of people “doing things together.” This definition
reminds us that: a. neither society nor the individual exists in
isolation; each is dependent on the other b. sociology is only
interested in the way people act, not in the way they think c.
only large-scale interactions that involve many people can be
understood by sociologists d. people must have some knowledge
of each other before they can really do anything together e.
individuals exist independently of society and can be
understood without considering social influence ____ 19. Most
sociologists specialize in one particular method of study. The
first distinction is usually made between qualitative and
quantitative methodologies. What do quantitative sociologists
do differently from qualitative sociologists? a. Quantitative
sociologists preserve the detail and diversity of their data so
that each individual piece of information can be analyzed to
determine its meaning. b. Quantitative sociologists look for

3. signs of social conflict and tension in their data. c. Quantitative
sociologists translate their data into numbers so that it can be
analyzed mathematically or statistically. d. Quantitative
sociologists look for data exclusively in traditional cultures. e.
Quantitative sociologists only do interviews. ____ 20.
Regardless of which methodology they use, what are all
sociologists trying to do? a. explain why social change happens
b. illuminate the connection between the individual and society
c. explain why poverty and inequality still exist d. compare the
present with the past e. understand how our society is different
from other cultures and other times ____ 21. What is the
sociological imagination? a. a property of society that ensures
that people remain ignorant of the connections between their
lives and social change b. a particular way of understanding the
criminal mind, such as that of a serial killer c. the sociological
approach that assumes that large-scale social institutions
structure individual interactions d. the ability to understand the
connections between biography and history, or the interplay of
the self and the world e. the sociological approach that assumes
that individual decisions and interactions create larger social
institutions ____ 22. Bernard McGrane suggests we should
practice using a beginner’s mind, the opposite of an expert’s
mind. Usually it’s good to be an expert. Why should we try to
think like beginners instead? a. An expert’s mind is so full of
facts and assumptions that it has difficulty learning anything
new. b. To better understand the world, we need to
defamiliarize ourselves with it. c. We need to unlearn what we
already know in order to become better sociologists. d. A
beginner’s mind allows us to approach the world without
knowing in advance what we will find. e. The approach of a
beginner’s mind is more readily accepted by whoever is being
studied. ____ 23. What does it mean to say that America is both
a nation and an ideal? a. All Americans have strong beliefs and
ideals that are important to them. b. America is both a
geographic location and also an ideal concept that situates its
citizens within a meaningful context. c. America has standards,

4. but it doesn’t always live up to them. d. As a geographic place,
America has certain principles of law that govern how
government is organized. e. Everyone in the United States has a
different understanding of what it means to be American. ____
24. Most people are interested in the lives of others, but usually
we express this only through daytime talk shows and tabloid
media. Although this sort of interest is completely
understandable, sociologists would say that it is sensationalistic
and very selective. How does a sociological perspective help to
solve this problem? a. It decreases our interest in daytime talk
shows. b. It helps us understand the people who appear on such
shows in terms of individual pathology. c. It allows us to see
connections between individual experience and larger social
patterns. d. It increases the prurient value of such programs and
makes them more appealing. e. all of the above ____ 25.
Although everyday cultural practices, such as greeting a friend,
giving flowers, or using the thumbs-up sign, seem like natural
ways of acting, an awareness of how they vary across cultures
demonstrates a healthy sociological imagination because: a. it
ensures that we don’t accidentally make a faux pas b. it reminds
us that everyday interactions are connected to larger social
structures c. it helps us economically when we do business in
different countries d. it lets us understand how immigrants
perceive America when they move here e. all of the above ____
26. The work of the French sociologist Jean Baudrillard, which
inspired the movie The Matrix, is fairly pessimistic about
contemporary society. What is Baudrillard especially worried
about? a. that there are rising levels of inequality between the
industrialized world and more traditional societies b. that we’ve
lost the ability to distinguish between reality and illusion c. that
racial hostility will ruin any chances for a meaningful
democracy d. that globalization will dilute the unique French
identity as McDonald’s and Disney World take over everywhere
e. that rising levels of crime will make fear and apprehension
the most common experiences of life in cities in the twenty-first
century ____ 27. According to William J. Mitchell, in The

5. Reconfigured Eye: Visual Truth in the Post-Photographic Era,
TV Guide once took a picture of Oprah and grafted her head
onto the body of Ann-Margret. Although this is an extreme
example, Mitchell’s larger point is that almost every photo
Americans now look at in the media has been digitally altered,
leading many to worry that: a. we have lost the ability to
distinguish between reality and special effects b. Americans are
spending too much time watching television c. we are becoming
a global village, all consuming the same media and becoming
like one tribe d. urban centers are becoming increasingly
diverse, and some are important to a postmodern world e. the
United States is becoming part of a global community ____ 28.
If you didn’t know anything about Pam Fishman but that Figure
1.2 features data from her research, what could you logically
determine about her? a. that she is a conflict theorist b. that she
is a macrosociologist c. that she is a structural functionalist d.
that she is very interested in inequality e. that she is a
microsociologist ____ 29. Look at the graphic representation of
sociology’s Family Tree (figure 2.1). Given that they’re both
very influential in the classical stage of sociological theory,
why are Karl Marx and Emile Durkheim depicted so far apart?
a. Marx’s work is no longer considered very important. b.
Durkheim was greatly influenced by Marx, but not vice versa. c.
Emile Durkheim wasn’t really a sociologist, he thought of
himself more as a psychologist. d. The theoretical schools they
founded are very different. e. Durkheim was French, while Marx
was born in Germany. ____ 30. Who coined the phrase “the
survival of the fittest”? a. Charles Darwin b. Karl Marx c. Emile
Durkheim d. Harriet Martineau e. Herbert Spencer ____ 31. In
Emile Durkheim’s work Suicide, he reported that suicide rates
went up when the economy slumped, but also spiked when the
economy boomed. Which of Durkheim’s concepts from Chapter
2 explain why both positive and negative economic conditions
could increase suicide rates? a. alienation b. anomie c.
mechanical solidarity d. organic solidarity e. empiricism ____
32. In 2008 Polish film maker Andrzej Wadja released his film

6. Katyn, about the massacre of 20,000 Polish officers by the
Soviet Union during World War II. When asked why he had
made this movie, Wadja said he wanted to make a film for
“those moviegoers for whom it matters that we are a society and
not just an accidental crowd.” Wadja believed that it was still
possible for people to be bound together on the basis of shared
traditions and experiences. In his statement, Wadja was
expressing a hope that Poland could still be united by: a.
organic solidarity b. conflict c. manifest functions d.
mechanical solidarity e. positivism ____ 33. Karl Marx believed
that the economy was closely related to other social processes,
including politics, values, beliefs, and norms. As a result, he
also believed that: a. the lower classes have the power to
challenge the upper classes b. the lower classes almost always
understand the sources of their oppression c. the ruling ideas are
the ideas of the ruling class d. the ruling class has relatively
little control over popular culture e. the ruling ideas are meant
to support the lower classes ____ 34. What was Marx criticizing
when he said that religion is “the opiate of the masses”? a. the
lower classes b. superstition and any belief in the supernatural
c. drug use and alcoholism d. the use of religion by the ruling
class e. the way religion blinds people to scientific truth ____
35. According to Karl Marx, how could a belief in heaven as a
reward for earthly suffering serve the interests of the ruling
class? a. by keeping the lower class from demanding better
treatment in this life b. by distracting the lower classes with
gaudy spectacles c. by using the church as a means to extract
economic resources from the poor d. by keeping the lower
classes busy with religious activities so that they wouldn’t have
time to organize e. by making people meek ____ 36. In the
United States today, the richest 20 percent of Americans have
85 percent of the country’s wealth. Marx would call this: a.
alienation b. bourgeoisie c. social inequality d. capitalism e.
organic solidarity ____ 37. In Great Britain, in the eighteenth
century, there were a series of Enclosure Acts, which broke up
small farms, forced many small farmers to move to large cities

7. in search of wage labor, and increased agricultural profits for
landowners. What large-scale social system was this a part of?
a. socialism b. agrarian utopianism c. feudalism d. nomadism e.
capitalism ____ 38. If you were to hear someone singing a song
with these lines: It is we who plowed the prairies; built the
cities where they trade; Dug the mines and built the workshops,
endless miles of railroad laid; Now we stand outcast and
starving midst the wonders we have made. You might conclude,
along with Karl Marx, that the people being described suffered
from: a. verstehen b. anomie c. structural dysfunctions d.
alienation e. a lack of solidarity ____ 39. In 1987, the software
company Infocom released a game called Bureaucracy, scripted
by the science-fiction writer Douglas Adams. In the game, a
character struggles to keep her blood pressure low enough to
avoid a heart attack while changing her address and dealing
with a large, impersonal, and inefficient bureaucracy. Although
the game is meant to be humorous, what element of Bureaucracy
would be familiar to Max Weber? a. nothing b. the frustration
that comes with dealing with a bureaucracy c. the sense of
humor and whimsy with which the game treats bureaucracies d.
the lack of efficiency associated with bureaucracies e. the
impersonal nature of bureaucracy ____ 40. Which two primary
forces, according to Sigmund Freud, are essential to all human
nature? a. verstehen and disenchantment b. Eros and Thanatos c.
ego and id d. bourgeoisie and proletariat e. self and society
____ 41. Although she made contributions to sociology, Jane
Addams is perhaps best remembered for her embrace of praxis,
meaning that she: a. was a pragmatist b. acted on her
intellectual convictions in practical ways c. applied dialectics to
her understanding of history d. was the first person to translate
Comte into English e. embraced conflict theory ____ 42. Which
if the following is a latent function of the educational system in
the United States? a. teaching reading and writing b. keeping
children out of trouble while parents are at work c. preparing a
modern workforce to use technology d. instructing new
immigrants in American values and history e. all of the above

8. ____ 43. Stricter control of the border between the United
States and Mexico was implemented to curb illegal immigration,
but it also made illegal immigrants more likely to stay in the
United States for longer periods of time, as frequent border
crossings became both dangerous and costly. The increase in the
number of illegal immigrants who stayed permanently or
semipermanently is: a. a manifest function of the border patrol
b. a latent function of increased security c. a serious source of
anomie d. a source of mechanical solidarity e. a cause for
repression and sublimation ____ 44. Which of the following is a
major critique of conflict theory? a. It has a hard time
explaining inequality. b. It overemphasizes the importance of
face-to-face interaction. c. In focusing on conflict and change,
it sometimes ignores the stable and enduring parts of society. d.
It overemphasizes continuity. e. It fails to develop any theory of
praxis that could help researchers put their theories into action.
____ 45. Theodor Adorno and Max Horkheimer argue that:
Under monopoly all mass culture is identical, and the lines of
its artificial framework begin to show through. The people at
the top are no longer so interested in concealing monopoly: as
its violence becomes more open, so its power grows. Movies
and radio need no longer pretend to be art. The truth that they
are just business is made into an ideology in order to justify the
rubbish they deliberately produce. They call themselves
industries; and when their directors’ incomes are published, any
doubt about the social utility of the finished products is
removed. With which theoretical paradigm does this passage
suggest that Adorno and Horkheimer identify? a. queer theory b.
feminist theory c. conflict theory d. structural functionalism e.
symbolic interactionism ____ 46. Which social theory was
developed mostly in the United States? a. structural
functionalism b. positivism c. Marxism d. symbolic
interactionism e. conflict theory ____ 47. According to
symbolic interactionism, what is the relationship between the
self and society? a. The development of a sense of self is guided
by society. b. The self is shaped by society, but society is also

9. shaped by the self. c. Society is a product of individual actions.
d. Both the self and society are created by the course of history.
e. Both the self and society are shaped by larger external forces.
____ 48. Which of the following is an important aspect of
symbolic interactionism? a. the idea that the working class does
not understand the true source of their oppression b. the idea
that society is mainly stable, orderly, and functional c. the idea
that individuals are mainly unaware of their role in a larger
economic system d. the idea that society is produced and
reproduced by individuals interacting with each other,
especially through language e. the idea that conflict is the
source of all social change ____ 49. Which theoretical
perspective shows how large-scale social structures are
produced by individuals at the micro level? a. positivism b.
pragmatism c. social Darwinism d. symbolic interactionism e.
structural functionalism ____ 50. Before beginning a research
project, what will a good researcher always do? a. use the
scientific method to evaluate his survey questions b. review the
literature in order to become familiar with earlier research that
relates to his topic c. clearly define his variables d. look for
correlations between two or more different phenomena e. form a
hypothesis ____ 51. What do you call broad theoretical models
of the social or natural world? a. paradigms b. hypotheses c.
interviews d. grounded theory e. prejudice ____ 52. A paradigm
shift is a major break in the assumptions that are used to
understand the world. What causes a paradigm shift? a. the
study of history b. new data forces a new way of looking at the
world c. religion and theology d. increased awareness of the
current paradigm e. objective knowledge of the world ____ 53.
A graduate student is almost done with his dissertation when he
is informed that twenty years ago someone did a very similar
project and already demonstrated what he had hoped to be the
first to discover. What basic step of the scientific method could
have saved him from this problem? a. developing an operational
definition b. selecting a research method c. analyzing data d.
reviewing the literature e. creating relevant variables ____ 54.

10. What are the goals of ethnography? a. to explain ethnic
differences using qualitative methods b. to develop quantitative
data sets that allow researchers to discover correlations c. to
conduct interviews with people who have very different ways of
life d. to describe activities sociologists observe and to
understand what those activities mean to the people involved e.
to develop ethics and standards for sociological research ____
55. What does it mean if ethnographers are overt about their
roles? a. They maintain narrow and limited definitions of
appropriate research methodologies. b. They spend a great deal
of time reflecting on their roles in the research process. c. They
observe and record data without letting anyone know they are
doing research. d. They openly admit that they are doing
sociological research. e. They make their hypotheses explicit.
____ 56. Which of the following research techniques focuses on
gaining an insider’s perspective of the everyday lives of
subjects under investigation, often dispelling stereotypes about
the group being investigated? a. participant observation b.
surveys c. the analysis of existing data d. experiments e. content
analysis ____ 57. The sociologist Mitch Duneier wrote his
ethnography, Sidewalk, about street vendors in New York City’s
Greenwich Village. While writing the book, Duneier was
particularly concerned that the people he was studying would
alter their behavior when he was present, especially since his
background was very different from theirs. What do sociologists
call this problem? a. bias b. response rate c. reflexivity d.
validity e. thick description ____ 58. In her ethnography,
Wheeling & Dealing, Patricia Adler investigates the social and
professional worlds of midlevel cocaine and marijuana
smugglers. Her research started serendipitously when she
discovered that her next-door neighbor and friend was a drug
smuggler; this was a huge advantage for her because it meant
that she already had ____________ with one of her informants.
a. informed consent b. rapport c. thick description d. sampling
e. causation ____ 59. One of Mitch Duneier’s main conclusions
in his ethnography of street vendors in New York City was that,

11. despite the chaos and disorder they seem to bring to the street,
the opportunity to sell something actually gave vendors a sense
of purpose and dignity. Disputing aspects of New York’s
crackdown on petty and nonviolent crimes, Duneier argues that
politicians have failed to distinguish between physical signs of
decline, like graffiti, and street vendors who are working to
improve their lives. Which of the following advantages of
ethnography does Duneier’s research demonstrate? a. The
detailed nature of ethnographies can help to reshape the
stereotypes that we hold about others and that are often the
basis for social policy. b. Ethnographies offer a means of
studying groups that are often overlooked with other methods.
c. Ethnographies allow respondents to speak in their own words.
d. Ethnographies are not always representative. e. Ethnographic
research can be used to gather data on a population that is too
large to study by other means. ____ 60. When he was writing
Spirit and the Flesh: Sexual Diversity in American Indian
Culture, the ethnographer Walter Williams was always very
open about his own sexual orientation, because he believed that
being open with the people he was studying was the only way to
establish a trusting and sharing interaction with them. What was
Williams concerned with? a. validity b. thick description c.
reactivity d. rapport e. replicability ____ 61. Researchers should
try to avoid double-barreled questions, or questions that: a. ask
about multiple issues b. use emotional language that may bias
the respondent c. are vague or ambiguous d. have a hidden
agenda e. allow for a wide variety of responses ____ 62.
Researchers are often worried that interviewees have not been
completely honest or forthcoming, especially when asked about
sensitive subjects. How did Arlie Hochschild attempt to deal
with this problem? a. She asked each question in different ways
to try to trap respondents in contradictions. b. She interviewed
each spouse separately to see if their stories matched. c. She
observed some respondents as they went about their daily
routines to see if their actions matched their answers. d. She
confronted respondents when they give answers that seemed

12. dubious. e. When respondents seemed to be giving questionable
answers, she used leading questions. ____ 63. Which of the
following is NOT a disadvantage of using interviews to conduct
social research? a. Interviewees are allowed to speak in their
own words. b. Interviewees are not always truthful. c.
Interviewees can be difficult to talk to. d. Interviews are time
consuming. e. It can be difficult to generalize from interviews
because the sample size is usually small. ____ 64. Why do
social scientists who use interviews rarely speak with large
numbers of people for a project? a. It is hard to find people
willing to be interviewed. b. The transcription process takes a
long time. c. There are usually very few people who are
interesting enough to be interviewed. d. Face-to-face
interviewing is a very time consuming process. e. The data is so
rich that only a few interviews are needed. ____ 65. Arlie
Hochschild was concerned that her sample of interviewees was
too small to guarantee representativeness. How did Hochschild
attempt to overcome this problem? a. by very carefully selecting
only totally representative interviewees b. by deciding that she
didn’t need to generalize to any larger population c. by asking
only open-ended questions d. by doing follow-up interviews
with each interviewee e. by comparing demographic information
about her interviewees with information about her target
population ____ 66. While it is always important to ask clear
and unambiguous questions regardless of the method that you
use, it is especially important to avoid confusion when
conducting surveys. Why? a. Survey research methods
commonly use statistics. b. When using survey research
methods, the researcher is usually not present to clarify any
misunderstandings. c. Confusing and ambiguous questions
create an ethical dilemma. d. Survey researchers talk to many
people. e. Survey research tends to look at large-scale social
patterns. ____ 67. When writing questions for a survey,
researchers must avoid all of the following EXCEPT: a. leading
questions b. double-barreled questions c. negative questions d.
bias e. open-ended questions ____ 68. One of the key methods

13. used to do political polling is random-digit dialing, in which
every phone number in an area code has an equal chance of
being selected to take part in a survey. However researchers
have noticed that young people are more likely to only use a
cell phone, and people with cell phones are less likely to answer
a call from an unknown number. As a result, polling
organizations often count responses from young people as being
worth “more” than those from older people. What is this
technique called? a. weighting b. bias c. probability sampling d.
Likert scales e. leading questions ____ 69. In 1936 The Literary
Digest conducted a survey to predict the winner of the
presidential election. It sent ten million surveys to a variety of
households identified through phone books, automobile
registries, and magazine subscriptions. Two million people
returned the surveys and showed a very strong preference for
Alf Landon over Franklin Roosevelt. What was the response
rate? a. 20 percent b. 10 million c. 50 percent d. 2 percent e.
100 percent ____ 70. Which of the following are disadvantages
of using existing sources of data for research? a. Researchers
often seek answers to questions that the data doesn’t directly
address. b. Researchers have to spend a great deal of time and
money to get the data. c. Researchers do not always understand
how the data was interpreted or what it meant in its original
context. d. both A and B e. both A and C ____ 71. Why are
social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace so exciting
to sociologists who study social networks? a. For the first time,
social networking sites offer sociologists a data set rich enough
to test ideas that until now have only been theorized. b. For the
first time, sociologists have realized just how much the internet
has changed social networks. c. For the first time, sociologists
don’t have to spend the time and money to go talk to people and
can do all their work from a computer. d. For the first time,
sociologists can find out what young people’s social networks
look like. e. For the first time, sociologists can track the spread
of urban legends. ____ 72. What is the primary goal of
comparative and historical research methods? a. to enhance the

14. validity of experiments b. to understand relationships between
parts of society in different times and different places c. to
uncover issues that been neglected by mainstream social
research d. to select participants who are very similar so that
the independent variable can be isolated e. to produce data that
can be used to encourage social change ____ 73. What does it
mean for a sociologist to control for a variable? a. Research
subjects are divided into two groups. b. Change over time is
measured in a dependent variable. c. One group is allowed to
understand the nature of the experiment while the other group is
kept in the dark. d. Precise tools are developed with which to
measure a variable. e. All factors except for the independent
variable are taken into account. ____ 74. A recent sociological
experiment sought to determine the exact role that social
support plays in the health of expectant mothers. To conduct the
experiment, the researchers asked midwives to flip a coin each
time they received a new client, and if it came up heads to try as
hard as possible to put the client in contact with others who
could provide social support. If the coin came up tails, the
midwives would not discourage the woman from receiving
social support, but would not facilitate it. What is the dependent
variable in this experiment? a. coin flips b. health c. social
support d. midwives e. expectant mothers ____ 75. When Elton
Mayo did his now-classic experiment on worker productivity, he
found that he could increase productivity by changing variables
in a work environment, but also that changing variables back
increased productivity. What did he conclude was the true cause
of the increase in productivity? a. a decrease in sick days b. his
own bias c. the effect of being studied d. the effect of change in
the workplace, as it broke workers’ routines and made them
more alert e. increased lighting and longer breaks