Multiple choice questions
Question 1
The term "secondary analysis" refers to the technique of:
a) Conducting a study of seconds, minutes and other measures of time
b) Analysing your own data in two different ways
c) Analysing existing data that has been collected by another person or organization
d) Working part time on a project alongside other responsibilities
Question 2
Why might secondary analysis be a particularly useful method for students?
a) It is relatively easy to do
b) It saves time and money
c) It does not require any knowledge of statistics
d) It only requires a half-hearted effort
Question 3
Which of the following is not an advantage of secondary analysis?
a) It immerses the researcher in the field they are studying
b) It tends to be based on high quality data
c) It provides an opportunity for longitudinal analysis
d) It allows you to study patterns and social trends over time
Question 4
The large samples used in national social surveys enable new researchers to:
a) Avoid using probability sampling
b) Identify any bias in the question wording
c) Evaluate the inter-coder reliability of the data
d) Conduct subgroup analysis
Question 5
Which of the following is not a disadvantage of using secondary analysis?
a) The researcher's lack of familiarity with the data
b) It is a relatively expensive and time consuming process
c) Hierarchical datasets can be very confusing
d) The researcher has no control over the quality of the data
Question 6
Which of the following provides official statistics that could be analysed as secondary data?
a) Local Government Survey (LGS)
b) Expenditure and Food Survey (EFS)
c) Dwelling and Furnishings Survey (DFS)
d) Rowing and Oars Survey (ROS)
Question 7
What is one of the advantages that official statistics have over structured interview data?
a) The researcher can conduct natural experiments in the field
b) They are completely objective and reliable
c) They have greater measurement validity
d) They allow the researcher to identify social trends over time
Question 8
Studying the official crime rate may provide unreliable data because:
a) Categories of criminal behaviour change over time
b) There is a "dark figure" of unreported and unrecorded crime
c) Police use their discretion to investigate some crimes and not others
d) All of the above
Question 9
What is the "ecological fallacy"?
a) The assumption that secondary data analysis can be carried out at home
b) The mistake of observing people in their natural setting
c) The error of making inferences about individual behaviour from aggregate data
d) The myth that it is easy to research environmentalist action groups
Question 10
Why has the secondary analysis of official statistics been seen as an "unobtrusive" method?
a) It increases the risk of "reactive effects" from participants
b) The researcher is removed from the social settings that they are investigating
c) The data were originally collected for the same purposes as those of the current researcher
d) They do not intrude too much into the researcher's spare time