midterm
answer each question and keep the number of the question before answering
Instructions: Please answer all parts of all questions. Do not exceed the suggested length for
each question. I am looking to see if you understand the concepts in the assigned chapters.
Some questions may have more than one correct answer. Please submit the exam as a file that
is readable by Microsoft Word. Organize your answers in a way that will be comprehensible and easy for me to grade.
to incorporate my comments and guidance in your answers.
Part I. Recognizing concepts and variables in published research
In the folder with this midterm examination you will find a subfolder labeled “Support files for the midterm exam.” There are two articles from sociological journals in PDF format in this
subfolder. Read through these files carefully and answer the questions below. The first two questions are from the article on homophobia. The next two are from the article on religiosity.
Questions pertaining to the article: Exploring the Relationship between Homophobia and
Participating in Core Sports among High School Students.
1. What is the dependent variable in this study, and how exactly, is it operationalized? (1 short paragraph, 2 points)
2. What level of measurement best describes the dependent variable in this study after it
was transformed into the final form used by the authors in their statistical models? (1
sentence, 1 point)
Questions pertaining to the article: Is Personal Insecurity a Cause of Cross-National Differences
in the Intensity of Religious Belief?
3. What is the main independent variable in this study and how, exactly, does the author
purport to measure it? (1 paragraph, 2 points)
4. The author goes to considerable lengths to defend the validity of the main independent
variable in this study. Which form or forms of validity does he invoke to defend his
conceptualization of the independent variable? Give specific examples from the article.
(1 sentence, 1 point)
Part II. Applying operationalization and measurement
4. Choose one of the following concepts: (1) patriotism, (2) racism, (3) environmentalism.
Operationalize the concept into a survey index with three ordinal questions. Make sure each
question measures a different aspect of the concept and then write two or three sentences
defending the content validity of your operationalization. (4 points)
Part III. Sampling
5. Explain, in detail, how you would draw a representative sample of adults (18+) in Florida
without a sampling frame listing these adults. Be specific on exactly how you would go about
your task (1 or 2 paragraph, 3 points)
6. What is the essential difference between a quota sample and a stratified random sample?
How does this difference affect our ability to generalize from a quota sample? (1 or 2
sentences, 2 points)
Part IV. Miscellaneous
7. You are a researcher doing a study on how different ethnic groups in your town feel about
the city council. Ethnic group A constitutes 45 percent of the town’s population. Ethnic group B
constitutes 45 percent of the town’s population. Ethnic group C constitutes 10 percent of the
town’s population.
a. In any given representative sample of 200 persons, how many members of ethnic group
C would you expect to see in your sample? (1 sentence, 1 point)
b. Suppose you wanted to have an equal number of persons from each ethnic group in
your sample, but you still wanted to use one of the probability sampling methods and
have a representative sample. Explain exactly how you would accomplish this. (1
paragraph, 2 points)
7. At risk middle-school students in your town are being enrolled in an after school tutoring
program designed to improve their math skills. In one short paragraph, tell me how you would
design a trend study to examine whether or not students are retaining these math skills five
years after completing the tutoring program. Next, write a paragraph telling me how you’d
design a fixed-sample panel design to determine whether or not the program is successful. You
must be specific enough that I can easily see that you know the difference between the
different research designs. (2 paragraphs, 2 points)
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