Exit Exam - General

Sociology - Exit Exam General

Exit Survey

A nuclear family consists of:

a husband-wife pair, their children, and in-laws

a husband-wife and their dependent children

any group of people related by common ancestry

kinship groups which are very tightly bound together

Sociological studies that focus on large-scale phenomena or entire civilizations are defined as:

The concept "norm" is used by sociologists to mean:

the same thing as normal

that which falls outside the statistical average or range of normality

any standard which defines what people should or should not do

sanction

none of the above

Norms governing everyday behavior, the violation of which raises comparatively little concern, are known as:

Which of the following is the best example of a primary group?

a professional baseball team

the history department

a sociology class

parents and their children

passengers on a bus

According to Cooley, "the looking-glass self" consists of:

how we imagine others see us

how we imagine others judge us

how we feel about the reactions of others

all of the above

none of the above

Societies in which high technology and service industry dominate are termed:

A prison, a concentration camp, a hospital for the mentally ill, and a cloistered convent might all be studied by sociologists as instances of what social phenomenon?

Sociology is considered a science because sociologists:

teach at respected universities.

engage in organized and systematic study of phenomena to enhance understanding.

receive government funding for research projects.

construct middle-range theories to explain social behavior.

none of the above

Citizens sometimes complain that employees in government agencies are more concerned about following the rules, even when they don’t make sense. Robert Merton referred to these employees as:

Prejudice and discrimination are two important concepts in the study of racial and ethnic groups. What is the difference, if any, between these two concepts?

there is no difference; the two concepts may be used interchangeable.

prejudice refers to beliefs about racial inferiority while discrimination refers to inequalities between racial and ethnic groups.

prejudice refers to the unequal treatment of members of a group which discrimination refers to negative attitudes toward members of a group.

prejudice refers to attitudes while discrimination refers to behavior.

prejudice refers to behavior while discrimination refers to attitudes.

Karl Marx used the concept of class consciousness to refer to:

an attitude held by members of a class that does not accurately reflect its objective position.

the reputation that a particular individual has within an occupation.

a subjective awareness held by members of a class regarding their common vested interests and the need for collective political action to bring about social change.

the respect and admiration with which an occupation is regarded by society.

none of the above

Which of these is not one of the characteristics of religion according to Durkheim?

An ascribed status is a social position:

attained by a person largely through his or her own efforts.

“assigned” to a person by society without regard for the person’s unique talents or characteristics.

that is earned.

that is reached as a result of negotiation.

none of the above

A physician's relationships with other physicians, nurses, patients, and patients' families are part of his or her:

The theoretical framework that emphasizes interaction, negotiation and role taking is called:

With this form of intergroup relations the minority group adopts elements of the culture of the majority group:

A sanction may take the form of:

Viewed cross-culturally, this has been the most common marriage pattern:

In Marx's framework those who own the tools and materials necessary for production are the:

Which perspective would view immigration into the United States from Mexico as a labor-market issue, and would emphasize that this is another example of a core industrialized nation exploiting a peripheral developing country?

modernization theory

labeling theory

world systems theory

anomie theory

The view that society is held together by consensus and interdependence is associated with which of the following theoretical orientations?

structural functionalism

conflict theory

symbolic interactionism

none of the above

all of the above

Smoking (X) and heart disease (Y) have a positive correlation. This means:

people who smoke are less likely to get heart disease

the less people smoke, the less likely they will get heart disease

the less people smoke, the more likely they will get heart disease.

smoking causes heart disease

none of the above

A measurable trait or characteristic that is subject to change under different conditions is referred to as a/an:

operational definition

theory

hypothesis

variable

Indicate the level of measurement for the following questionnaire item (marked in italic).

Q: How often do you make lists of things to do each day?
[ ] never
[ ] occasionally
[ ] most days
[ ] every day

By definition, the normal curve is ...

The confidence interval is ...

the same as alpha.

the probability that the confidence level includes the "true" population value.

an estimate of a population value in which a range of values is specified.

the extent to which sample outcomes are unlikely to occur by chance alone.

none of the above.

_______________________ is the risk set by the researcher for incorrectly rejecting a null hypothesis.

The owner-manager of TRU has received a complaint from the local union of trash collectors that TRU employees are underpaidthat the average salary is nowhere near the national average of $31,000. In this example, the local trash collectors is the ...

The totality of learned, socially transmitted customs, knowledge, material objects, and behavior is known as:

A researcher is interested in the effect that neighborhood crime-watch efforts have on the crime rate in the inner city, but she is unwilling to predict the direction of the difference. The appropriate test of hypothesis would be a _________________ test.

Which measure of central tendency is like "a fulcrum that exactly balances all of the scores?"

The term ∑Xi2 means …

to square the sum all of the scores in the distribution

sum the squared scores in the distribution

sum the square of every ith score in the distribution

none of the above

In sociological research, a tentative statement about the relationship between two or more variables is known as a(n) __________________________.

“Empirical” data are based on:

thoughts and ideas.

sensory experiences.

speculation.

theories.

The larger unit of people from which a sample is drawn is called a(n) _________________________.

population

control group

cosmos

experimental group

Which of the following theories holds that to understand deviance one must study the rule-makers as well as the rule breakers?

The authority type based on extraordinary personal qualities is known as:

One of the advantages of experiments over other research designs is that experiments:

reduce the likelihood of experimenter effects occurring.

offer researchers access to large samples of people.

offer researchers the most advantageous position from which to infer causal relationships between variables.

give researchers access to people, such as the deceased, who are inaccessible to other forms of research.

In social research the purpose of statistics is to:

prove that the research theory is correct

validate the research project design

manipulate and analyze data

ensure acceptance by the scientific community

A white teacher believes that his black students are lazy. Because of this belief he makes little effort to help them learn. In turn, his black students are aware of his contempt for them and, therefore, make little effort to succeed in school. As a result, the teacher perceives "confirmation" of his bias that blacks are inferior. This process is called:

Exchange theory assumes that actors:

are irrational

focus on multiple goals at any one time

are inconsistent

with more resources have more power

Which of these are among what Simmel calls the subjective culture?

legal systems, language and philosophical systems

the capacity of the actor to produce, absorb and control elements of the objective culture

culture products

Which of these is not true about the dialectical way of viewing reality?

the only focus is on the past and present time periods

opposites merge to form new social phenomena

man is not only made by society but “makes” society

knowledge is created by all men and they actively react to knowledge created by others in society

One of the key things about theories is that they:

offer an abstract explanation of phenomena.

offer concrete descriptions of phenomena.

tell us what sort of research design to use.

both a and c are true.

If we observe that in a given society individuals have opportunities to "get ahead" and improve their standing over that of their parents, what kind of stratification system might we say that society has?

Elaine is a clinical sociologist who practices marriage and family therapy. She is also a college professor. One of her current students asks her if she can make an appointment for a therapy session. Elaine tells the student that she will refer her to a colleague because she feels that holding therapy sessions with a student might create:

The McDonaldization of society refers to the tendency of industrialized societies to:

encourage eating only at McDonalds restaurants

provide increasingly uniform bland products and ideas

become increasingly democratic

promote increasingly greater diversity in products and ideas

become standardized and focused on efficiency and predictability.

When Americans abroad say that "they really find these people strange" they are:

being ethnocentric

expressing cultural relativism

identifying with a counterculture

expressing a wish for more cultural variability

hypocritical

______________________ are variables that are used to classify persons, objects, or events according to the kind or quality of their characteristics.

discrete variables

continuous variables

disjunctive variables

equiprobable variables

extraneous variable

A category of people who share a distinctiveness due to a common set of cultural traits would be known as a/an:

Administrators of Kerith University asked a random sample of 500 students if they favor a plan to make the athletic activity fee optional. Eighty-five percent (+ 3) favored the plan. What does the + 3 stand for?

the level of bias

the standard deviation is 3 percentage points

the percentage falls between 82% and 88%

there is a 3% chance that 85 is wrong

both b and c

Males are expected to dominate family decision-making in a (an):

Many city schools are predominantly black because the neighborhoods in which they are located are predominantly black. This is an example of:

Weber's bureaucratic form of organization includes which of the following characteristics?

salaried employment

lots of red tape

employment based upon technical qualifications

slow decision-making process

bottoms-up decision making

Goffman:

thought of himself as a symbolic interactionist

is known for his work on “dramaturgy”

developed ideas on rituals in daily life based upon the work of Durkheim’s elementary forms of religion

both b & c

Socialization:

is a life-long process

refers only to the process in which a dependent defenseless and ignorant infant is slowly trained to become an adult in the society in which he or she is raised

stops when the individual enters puberty

includes instincts, drives, and reflexes

all of the above

Deviance is …

always criminal behavior.

Behavior that violates the standards of conduct or expectations of a group or society.

Perverse behavior.

Inappropriate behavior that cuts across all cultures and social orders.

All of the above

The rules set down by a society requiring you to marry within a particular group (i.e. religious, political, geographic group) are known as:

When scientific analysis moves from the level of theoretical statements to that of testable hypotheses, the process has involved:

inductive reasoning.

common sense reasoning.

deductive reasoning.

operational definitions.

An invisible barrier that blocks the promotion of a qualified individual in a work environment because of the individual’s gender, race, or ethnicity, is called:

expressiveness.

the glass ceiling.

a gender role.

instrumentality.

In which type of authority pattern are the adult members of the family regarded as equals?

neolocal

egalitarian

bilateral

homogamous

From a Marxian point of view, what is/are the basis for social class distinctions among people in society?

power differences in society.

ownership and non-ownership of the means of production.

status or prestige differences among people in a community.

inheritance vs. achievement of position in society.

all of the above

There are several major theoretical perspectives that are employed by sociologists in their efforts to understand and explain human behavior and societies. Which theoretical perspective draws an analogy between society and its interrelated parts with the human body & its interrelated parts & systems?

conflict perspective

interactionist perspective

relationist perspective

functionalist perspective

dramaturgical perspective

The three basic demographic variables are:

income, education and occupation

age, sex and race

fertility, mortality and migration

marital status, urban/rural residence and religious affiliation

employment, mobility and income

Which of the following is likely to serve as a master status for adults in industrial nations?

One of the functions performed by the old tradition of "dorm hours" was that a female student could use the rules to get rid of a "bad" date. These unintended consequences of the rules would be known as a:

The number of births per 1000 women between the ages of 15 years and 44 years is a society's:

A collective activity through which people promote or resist social change is called:

The study of births, deaths and migration and their contribution to changes in population size is known as:

A behavior by which one group prevents or restricts another group’s access to scarce resources is the definition of:

The motivation to define the human services as a scientific discipline has arisen from the effort to:

replace scientific researchers with human service researchers.

replace human service practitioners with behavioral scientists in the intervention process.

clearly distinguish the boundaries between science and practice.

enhance the accountability of the helping professions.

Theories serve as a guide for human service workers in that:

they cannot conduct research without the direction of a theory.

theories focus research attention on certain phenomena as being relevant to the issues of concern.

theories tell them what kind of research design would be most appropriate for a given study.

theories tell them whether unwarranted biases have been introduced into the research process.

Reasoning that involves inferring a specific conclusion from some general or abstract premises is called:

inductive reasoning.

idiographic reasoning.

nomothetic reasoning.

deductive reasoning.

The "Sociological Imagination" is the ability to see the connection between biography and history. This concept was coined by:

From the 1980s to the present, agribusiness firms have expanded their socioeconomic hold on agricultural markets and products through:

In a low mortality society such as the United States, the principal causes of death are related to:

non-communicable conditions and diseases (such as cardiovascular diseases, like heart attacks and stroke; cancers; diabetes, etc.)

infectious and parasitic diseases, (such as measles; malaria; etc.)

pregnancy-related conditions and diseases

injuries due to such things as violence and accidents

______________________ is the conscious or unconscious tendency to select a mate with personal characteristics similar to one’s own.

Grounded theory begins with ________________.

patterns

themes

common categories

observations

The term “stakeholder” refers to:

the people who are being observed in evaluation research.

the people who have an interest in a particular social program or policy.

the people who assist the researcher in conducting evaluation research.

none of the above