Elements of Sociology | Student Resources | Multiple Choice Chapter 2

Higher Education

Elements of Sociology: A Critical Canadian Introduction - Chapter 2

Instructions: For each question, click on the radio button beside your answer. When you have completed the entire quiz, click the Submit my answers button at the bottom of the page to receive your results.

Question 1:

Which French philosopher was the first to coin the term ‘sociology’?
a) Max Weber
b) Émile Durkheim
c) Auguste Comte
d) Robert Park

Question 2:

Many sociologists today do not believe it possible for an _________ to study a group objectively.
a) outsider
b) insider
c) both a and b
d) None of the above

Question 3:

Qualitative research is typically used for
a) a close examination of characteristics that cannot be counted or measured
b) finding patterns governing whole structures or systems
c) studying individual cases that don’t fit into the larger model
d) Both a and c

Question 4:

Institutional ethnography
a) is a relatively new research method
b) is based on theories of Dorothy Smith
c) does not reflect the view that a neutral stance is necessarily more scientific than an approach that involves ‘taking sides’
d) All of the above

Question 5:

Narratives are
a) used to identify and describe best practices
b) stories about people and their situations
c) used to analyze the methodological practices of social scientists
d) None of the above

Question 6:

Statement below outlines a common problem in semiotics?
a) Semiotic studies of advertising depend far too much on the skill of the individual analyst.
b) Semiotic research is unable to derive an overall sense of constructed meanings from a survey, or even a large number of messages.
c) The content analysis of the research is too vague.
d) Both a and b

Question 7:

Which of the following refers to the study of heredity for the purposes of genetic or social history, or the study of pedigree?
a) Discourse analysis
b) Semiotic analysis
c) Content analysis
d) None of the above

Question 8:

A ________ correlation exists when the independent variable and dependent variable increase or decrease together.
a) direct
b) indirect
c) inverse
d) Both a and b

Question 9:

There is one specific way to do sociological research.
a) True
b) False

Question 10:

Comte’s idea of positivism is that the methods used to study the natural sciences can be applied to the social sciences, with no accommodation made for biases, or any other aspect of the personal life of the social scientist.
a) True
b) False

Question 11:

Qualitative research involves close examination of characteristics that cannot be counted or measured.
a) True
b) False

Question 12:

Case studies and narratives are almost the same—both are insider views that include stories that people tell about themselves, their situations, and the others around them.
a) True
b) False

Question 13:

Content analysis involves studying a set of cultural artifacts or events by systematically counting them and then interpreting the themes they reflect.
a) True
b) False

Question 14:

When speaking of semiotics, a sign is made up of two parts: a signifier, and a signified.
a) True
b) False

Question 15:

Genealogy is a style of thought based on the ontological and epistemological distinctions between East and West, the Orient and the Occident, respectively.
a) True
b) False

Question 16:

Independent variables are presumed to influence another variable, while dependent variables are often assumed by the sociologist to be influenced by an independent variable.
a) True
b) False