Chapter 23 Multiple choice questions

. What are Scott's four criteria for assessing the quality of documents?

Objectivity, subjectivity, authenticity, and value

Comprehensiveness, accuracy, value, and rigour

Authenticity, credibility, representativeness, and meaning

Credibility, reliability, accuracy, and meaning

. What is a chief strength of semiotics?

It lets the researcher see beyond the everyday situations.

It is an impressive research tool which demonstrates your research skill to an external examiner.

It is a novel approach to research.

It is a different approach which researchers are usually unsure of.

. Why might a collection of personal letters from the early twentieth century be low in representativeness?

Because it would be difficult to read old-fashioned styles of handwriting.

Because it can be hard for a modern day researcher to understand such materials.

Because they are protected under the Right-to-Privacy legislation.

Because they were preserved by a small number of powerful companies only.

. Why might business researchers be interested in analyzing photographs as a form of visual data?

They are interesting to look at.

To study the way photographs were taken by the photographer.

To help them to see what has not been photographed and why.

All of the above.

. Which of the following is not an example of an official document?

A report of a public inquiry into government finances

A PhD student's collection of interview transcripts.

Documentation from a pharmaceutical company about a new drug.

A leaked memo from one member of parliament to another.

. Which of the following can be studied as a documentary source from the mass media?

The minutes of a company board meeting.

Correspondence between an employee and employer.

Newspaper articles about a particular issue or event.

The staff newsletter produced by a private company.

. Why can it be difficult to establish the authenticity of virtual data?

Because we do not know who wrote the material on a web site.

Because virtual data are not as good as proper data.

Because it may require specialist "inside knowledge" to understand the text.

Because it is usually written using 'webspeak'

. Why is it important to study the way audiences "read" cultural documents?

To demonstrate how audiences passively accept whatever they are told.

Because their interpretation of it may differ from that intended by the author.

Because sociologists are running out of new things to research.

Because there is a lot of funding available for focus group studies.

. How does qualitative content analysis differ from quantitative content analysis?

It is always preceded by ethnographic research.

It involves counting the number of times certain words appear in a text.

It is less rigid, as researchers are constantly revising their concepts.

It is less likely to be used by feminist researchers.

. What is semiotics?

The study of semi-detached houses.

A half-baked attempt at social research.

The method of semi-structured interviewing.

The science of signs.

Chapter 23 Multiple choice questions

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