CSP Applied Sociology 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A sociological practitioner conducting a community needs assessment uses participatory action research (PAR). What distinguishes PAR from traditional research?
- Researchers maintain complete control over data collection and analysis
- Community members co-design the research and use findings to drive change (Correct answer)
- The study focuses exclusively on quantitative indicators
- Findings are kept confidential to protect the research institution
Correct answer: Community members co-design the research and use findings to drive change
PAR involves community members as co-researchers who help design the study, collect data, interpret findings, and implement action based on results.
Question 2: When applying Strain Theory to a workplace intervention, which factor would a CSP practitioner most likely identify as producing deviant behavior?
- Excess of cultural goals relative to available legitimate means (Correct answer)
- Inadequate socialization during childhood
- Biological predispositions toward rule-breaking
- Insufficient surveillance by management
Correct answer: Excess of cultural goals relative to available legitimate means
Merton's Strain Theory posits that deviance results from the gap between culturally prescribed goals and the legitimate means available to achieve them.
Question 3: A nonprofit hires a sociological practitioner to evaluate program effectiveness. Which evaluation design provides the strongest evidence of causality?
- Cross-sectional survey of current participants
- Randomized controlled trial with treatment and control groups (Correct answer)
- Ethnographic case study of program staff
- Review of existing administrative records
Correct answer: Randomized controlled trial with treatment and control groups
Randomized controlled trials randomly assign participants to treatment or control conditions, minimizing selection bias and providing the strongest causal evidence.
Question 4: In applied sociological work, 'cultural humility' differs from 'cultural competence' primarily because it:
- Requires memorizing facts about specific ethnic groups
- Emphasizes ongoing self-reflection and power-balancing over fixed knowledge (Correct answer)
- Focuses on acquiring credentials in cross-cultural communication
- Limits practitioner interventions to monocultural settings
Correct answer: Emphasizes ongoing self-reflection and power-balancing over fixed knowledge
Cultural humility is a lifelong process of self-reflection and recognizing power imbalances, rather than claiming mastery of another culture's traits.
Question 5: A sociologist working in a hospital setting notices that Black patients receive less pain medication than white patients with similar diagnoses. This is an example of:
- Confirmation bias by individual nurses
- Institutional racism embedded in clinical practice (Correct answer)
- Random variation in treatment protocols
- Patient non-compliance with prescribed regimens
Correct answer: Institutional racism embedded in clinical practice
Systematic racial disparities in medical treatment reflect institutional racism, where policies and practices produce inequitable outcomes regardless of individual intent.
Question 6: Which concept best describes the process by which dominant cultural norms are presented as natural and inevitable, concealing the power structures that produced them?
- Anomie
- Hegemony (Correct answer)
- Social capital
- Relative deprivation
Correct answer: Hegemony
Gramsci's concept of hegemony explains how dominant groups maintain power by making their worldview appear as common sense rather than ideology.
Question 7: A practitioner designing a school-based intervention uses Bronfenbrenner's ecological model. Which system level addresses the relationships between family and school environments?
- Microsystem
- Mesosystem (Correct answer)
- Exosystem
- Macrosystem
Correct answer: Mesosystem
The mesosystem encompasses the interactions and linkages between settings in which the individual directly participates, such as home-school connections.
CSP Applied Sociology 2
A sociological practitioner conducting a community needs assessment uses participatory action research (PAR).
What distinguishes PAR from traditional research?