Practise

1. ‘Validity’ refers to ______.

a. the extent to which an account accurately represents the social phenomena to which it refers

b. whether the researcher is a trustworthy person

c. whether the findings agree with earlier research

d. all of these

e. None of these

Ans: A – the extent to which an account accurately represents the social phenomena to which it refers

2. Validity is an aim of ______.

a. quantitative research

b. qualitative research

c. case-study research

d. mixed methods research

e. all of these

Ans: E – all of these. This refers to how well a scientific test or piece of research actually measures what it sets out to, or how well it reflects the reality 

3. Anecdotalism means ______.

a. using just supportive examples from your data

b. telling a good story about your research

c. focusing on the narratives your respondents tell you

d. using just supportive examples from your data X and telling a good story about your research

e. all of these

Ans: A – using just supportive examples from your data 

4. ‘Comprehensive data treatment’ means ______.

a. studying as many cases as you can find

b. making sure your generalizations apply to every single item of relevant data you have collected

c. spending as much time as possible gathering data

d. all of these

e. None of these

Ans: B – making sure your generalizations apply to every single item of relevant data you have collected

5. Analytic induction’ involves ______.

a. finding cases that support your hypothesis

b. finding supporting examples of previous research

c. searching for deviant cases to test your hypotheses

d. all of these

e. finding cases that support your hypothesis and finding supporting examples of previous research

Ans: C – searching for deviant cases to test your hypotheses

6. Deviant cases should be ______.

a. excluded as this weakens your argument

b. analysed in order to revise your hypotheses

c. put to one side

d. excluded as this weakens your argument and put to one side

e. all of these

Ans: B – analysed in order to revise your hypotheses

7. For your research to be credible, data extracts should be ______.

a. illustrative of your argument

b. not always fit your initial hypothesis

c. as short as possible

d. all of these

e. None of these

Ans: B – not always fit your initial hypothesis

8. Qualitative researchers count ______.

a. never

b. sometimes where appropriate

c. always

d. only if they are using mixed methods

e. in emergencies

Ans: B – sometimes where appropriate

9. The reliability of interview data can be increased by ______.

a. recording all interviews

b. detailed transcription

c. presenting long extracts of data in the research report

d. all of these

e. None of these

Ans: D – all of these. The definition for reliability, which is about consistency in its findings and how you need to replicate the study for good reliability, is done by the recording, transcript and providing data so you can compare results

10. Reliability refers to ______.

a. the stability of our findings

b. whether the researcher is a reliable person

c. whether our respondents can be believed

d. all of these

e. None of these

Ans: A – the stability of our findings