EDUC 118 Exam 1

Week ½ Exam 1:

1. Which of the following is the main focus of constructivism?

• Determining proper research methods
• Finding the truth
• Cause and effect
• Participant's views of a situation

1. Which of the following is not a characteristic of Post-positivist research?

• Reductionism
• A set Of logically related steps
• Belief in multiple Perspectives
• Focus Objective Meanings

1. Which if the following Represents a Quantitative research design?

• Narrative research
• Survey research
• Ethnography
• Phenomenological research

1. Exploratory Sequential mixed methods use broad quantitative data in the initial phase to then explore the views of the participants in the second phase.

• True
• False

1. When abstracting a study, you should identify the problem and the purpose of the study for empirical studies.

• True
• False

Week 3 Exam 2:

1.)Identify the independent variable in a quantitative study studying the effects of a GRE preparation course on GRE scores for Black and Latino male and female students.

• Race/Ethnicity
• GRE score
• GRE preparation Course
• sex/gender

2.)Identify the dependent variable in a quantitative study studying the effects of a GRE preparation course on GRE scores for Black and Latino male and female students.

• race/ethnicity
• GRE score
• GRE preparation course
• sex/gender

3.)Which suggestion is a useful tip when designing a visual literature map?

• Including citations to provide evidence of major concepts
• Avoid using circles of flowcharts for clarity
• Include at 75 studies
• Focus only on quantitative research articles

4.) Which variables does the experimenter intentionally use in order to more clearly isolate the relationship between the independent and dependent variables?

• Mediating Variable
• Intervening Variable
• Dependent Variable
• Control Variable

5.)A mediating variable transmits the effects between an independent and dependent variable.

• True
• False

Week 4 Exam 3:

1.)How is theory used in quantitative research?

• Used for a broad explanation
• Do not employ any explicit theory
• Used for testing a theory
• Used a theoretical lens or perspective

2.)A student wants to examine the role of education in history by looking at required curriculum across different college campuses. Additionally, the student will interview faculty in history departments for their perspective of the curriculum. The student hopes to identify areas of improvement for history departments in higher education. Is this human subjects research?

• Yes
• No

3.)A priori theoretical perspectives can be used in both qualitative and quantitative studies.

• True
• False

4.)Which theoretical perspective would be most appropriate for studying faculty perceptions on
Success between Black and White students?

• Feminist perspectives
• Queer theory
• Critical race theory
• Disability theories

5.)Which of the following best describes grounded theory?

• A research approach focused on testing objective theories
• A methodological framework primary used to investing the question of race, gender, and class
• An iterative and inductive approach to developing theories from qualitative data
• A technique for data collection involving surveys and Experiments

Week 5 Exam 4:

1. Which word implies a qualitative approach in a purpose statement?

• Influence
• Understand
• Impact
• Relationship

2.)Which word implies a quantitative approach in a purpose statement?

• Discover
• Explore
• Understand
• Impact

3.) A purpose Statement appears at the end of the introduction.

• True
• False

4.)The deficiencies model of writing an introduction is based on identifying the research problem first.

• True
• False

5.)Of the following, which one is not the purpose of reviewing studies in an introduction?

• Justify the importance of the problem
• Create distinctions between part studies and the proposed study
• Set the research problem within ongoing dialogue in the literature
• Provide a complete and comprehensive literature review

6.)You should only include “recent literature” in a literature review.

• True
• False

Week 6 Exam 5:

1. Which word is an example of an exploratory verb to use in developing qualitative research questions?

• Determine
• Influence
• Impact
• Discover

1. Which word is an example of a verb to use in developing quantitative research questions?

• Explore
• Affect
• Understand
• Discover

1. Identify which type of hypothesis the following fits into (among null hypothesis, alternative directional hypothesis, and alternative non-directional hypothesis).

1. Which of the following represents a qualitative research design?

• Case Study
• Survey research
• Experiment

1. Find one in-text reference from the following paragraph:

Western societies have seen an increase in violence and antisocial behavior in schools
and communities (Pollack, 1998). Juvenile crime rates have increased four times since
the early 1970s (Cook & Laub, 1997). After the shock of the Columbine school
massacre in the United States and other violent incidents, communities are demanding
interventions to help prevent similar occurrences.

(Cook & Laub, 1997)

Constructivism- Theory in education which states individuals do not passively acquire knowledge, rather they construct new knowledge and understandings through experience and social disclosure, integrating new information with what they already know (prior knowledge).

Post-positivism- the perspective that theories, hypotheses, background knowledge, and values of the researcher can influence what is observed. (therefore, post-positivists pursue objectivity by recognizing the possible effects of biases)

Human subjects research- a systematic, scientific investigation that can be either interventional or observation and involves human beings as research subjects, commonly known as test subjects.( therefore interviews are considered human subjects research but surveys are not considered human subjects research)

Independent Variable- A variable that stands alone and isn't changed by the other variables you are trying to measure.

Dependent Variable- The variable that depends on the other factors that are measured. These variables are expected to change as a result of an experimental manipulation of the independent variables or variables

Predictor- The variable That researchers believe has some sort of association with an outcome variable. (ex. Sense of belonging predicts school climate)

Outcome- The result of the action of one more independent variable. It can also be defined as any outcome variable associated with some measure, such a survey. (ex. Academic Achievement is the outcome of a reading intervention)

Alternative Directional hypothesis- Specifies the direction of the tested relationship (ex. Increases or decreases), stating that one variable is predicted to be larger or smaller than null, value but not both.

Null hypothesis- the hypothesis that there is no significant difference between specific populations, any observed difference being due to sampling or experimental error.

Alternative non-directional hypothesis- states that there is a difference between the mean scores of two groups but does not specify which group is expected to be larger or smaller. (ex. Hypothesis states a variable influences another variable, but does not say whether it is an increase or decrease or if the influences is positive or negative)

Research approach- the procedure selected by the researcher to collect, analyze, and interpret data. There are three approaches to result: quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods.

World view- the perspective of the researcher which influences their research methodology (ex. Post-positivism, constructivism, etc.)

Research design- refers to the overall strategy utilized to carry out research that defines a succinct and logical plan to tackle established research questions through the collection, interpretation, analysis, and discussion of data. (Ex. Experimental design, non-experimental design)

Meditating variables- the variable that intervenes (mediates) the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. For example, in a study on socioeconomic status and reading ability in children, parental education background could be a mediating variable.