Research methodology MCQs with answers

1. Research carried out mainly to find a solution to an immediate, practical problem facing a community or an organisation is called:

1. Fundamental research
2. Conceptual research
3. Applied research
4. Historical research

2. Which kind of reasoning moves from specific observations to a general conclusion?

1. Inductive reasoning
2. Deductive reasoning
3. Hypothetico-deductive reasoning
4. Syllogistic reasoning

3. In the positivist approach to research, valid knowledge about the world comes mainly from:

1. Tradition and the authority of experts
2. The researcher’s intuition
3. The meanings that each participant constructs
4. Observable evidence that can be measured and checked

4. A scholar studies colonial-era land revenue records to explain how present-day tenancy patterns in a district came about. This is:

1. Experimental research
2. Historical research
3. Action research
4. Survey research

5. Which statement best describes qualitative research?

1. It seeks an in-depth understanding of meanings and experiences, mostly from words, observation or images
2. It never uses any form of sampling
3. It always begins with a hypothesis to be tested statistically
4. It cannot be used in a PhD thesis

6. A study tests whether the number of hours of weekly coaching affects candidates’ UGC NET scores. Here, hours of weekly coaching is the:

1. Dependent variable
2. Extraneous variable
3. Moderating variable
4. Independent variable

7. A null hypothesis (H0) usually states that:

1. The researcher’s prediction is true
2. There is no difference or no relationship in the population
3. The sample was chosen with bias
4. The result has practical importance

8. Which of these is a testable research hypothesis?

1. Social media is bad for society
2. Students should use social media wisely
3. Undergraduates who use social media for more than three hours a day have lower sleep quality scores than those who use it for less than one hour
4. Is social media good or bad for students?

9. A variable that changes the strength or direction of the relationship between an independent and a dependent variable is a:

1. Moderating variable
2. Mediating variable
3. Dependent variable
4. Control variable

10. Education raises income, and higher income in turn improves health. In the link between education and health, income is a:

1. Moderating variable
2. Dependent variable
3. Mediating variable
4. Dummy variable

11. The feature that defines a true experimental design is:

1. A large sample
2. Random assignment of participants to groups
3. Use of a structured questionnaire
4. Data collection over several years

12. A study that collects data from people of different age groups at a single point in time uses which design?

1. Longitudinal
2. Panel
3. Cross-sectional
4. Cohort

13. A teacher compares two existing class sections, teaching one with a new method and the other as usual, without randomly assigning students. This is:

1. A quasi-experimental design
2. A true experimental design
3. A historical design
4. An ethnographic design

14. A scholar runs a survey first and then interviews some respondents to explain unexpected survey results. Which mixed-methods design is this?

1. Exploratory sequential
2. Convergent parallel
3. Embedded experimental
4. Explanatory sequential

15. Which design aims to describe the characteristics of a population or situation as they exist, without manipulating anything?

1. Experimental design
2. Descriptive design
3. Randomised controlled trial
4. Action research

16. In simple random sampling:

1. The researcher picks the most typical members
2. Respondents recruit other respondents
3. Only volunteers are included
4. Every member of the population has an equal chance of being selected

17. A researcher divides colleges into rural and urban groups and draws a random sample from each group. This is:

1. Stratified random sampling
2. Cluster sampling
3. Quota sampling
4. Snowball sampling

18. Which of these is a non-probability sampling method?

1. Systematic sampling
2. Cluster sampling
3. Stratified random sampling
4. Purposive sampling

19. To study borrowers of informal moneylenders, for whom no list exists, a researcher asks each respondent to refer others like them. This is:

1. Systematic sampling
2. Snowball sampling
3. Cluster sampling
4. Simple random sampling

20. The list of units from which a sample is actually drawn, such as an electoral roll or a list of colleges, is called the:

1. Sampling error
2. Parameter
3. Sampling frame
4. Sample size

21. Respondents rank five brands of tea from most preferred to least preferred. The data are on which scale?

1. Nominal
2. Interval
3. Ordinal
4. Ratio

22. Temperature measured in degrees Celsius is on which scale of measurement?

1. Interval
2. Nominal
3. Ordinal
4. Ratio

23. Monthly household income in rupees is measured on which scale?

1. Nominal
2. Ordinal
3. Interval
4. Ratio

24. The reliability of a research instrument refers to:

1. Whether it measures what it claims to measure
2. How consistently it measures
3. How many items it contains
4. Whether it has been published before

25. Cronbach’s alpha is used to check:

1. Normality of the data
2. Content validity
3. Internal consistency reliability of a multi-item scale
4. Adequacy of the sample for factor analysis

26. Data that a researcher collects first-hand for the current study, for example through a survey, are called:

1. Secondary data
2. Primary data
3. Tertiary data
4. Metadata

27. A thesis uses figures from Census of India reports and RBI publications. For this thesis, these are:

1. Primary data
2. Experimental data
3. Secondary data
4. Observational field notes

28. “How satisfied are you with your salary and your working hours?” is a weak questionnaire item mainly because it is:

1. Double-barrelled
2. Too short
3. Open-ended
4. Written in the second person

29. An interview in which the researcher follows a prepared guide of main questions but can change their order and ask follow-up probes is:

1. Structured
2. Unstructured
3. Semi-structured
4. A focus group

30. A schedule differs from a questionnaire mainly because a schedule is:

1. Always sent by post
2. Used only for children
3. Made up only of open-ended questions
4. Filled in by an enumerator who asks the questions and records the answers

31. A Type I error occurs when a researcher:

1. Fails to reject a null hypothesis that is false
2. Rejects a null hypothesis that is true
3. Uses a sample that is too small
4. Uses a one-tailed test

32. A test gives p = 0.03, and the significance level was set at 0.05. What follows?

1. There is a 3% probability that the null hypothesis is true
2. The effect is large and practically important
3. The null hypothesis is rejected at the 5% level of significance
4. The study had 97% power

33. To compare the mean scores of three or more independent groups on a continuous outcome, the usual parametric test is:

1. One-way ANOVA
2. Paired t-test
3. Chi-square test
4. Pearson correlation

34. To test whether gender is associated with the type of bank a customer prefers (public, private or cooperative), the suitable test is:

1. Independent samples t-test
2. One-way ANOVA
3. Pearson correlation
4. Chi-square test of independence

35. Which measure of central tendency is least affected by a few extremely high values, such as a handful of very large incomes?

1. Arithmetic mean
2. Median
3. Weighted mean
4. Mean of the highest and lowest values

36. Under the UGC plagiarism regulations of 2018, what level of similarity in a thesis falls in Level 0, with no penalty?

1. Up to 10%
2. Up to 20%
3. Up to 30%
4. Up to 40%

37. Valid informed consent means that participants:

1. Are paid for taking part
2. Sign the form before they are told what the study involves
3. Agree voluntarily after being told the purpose, procedures, risks and their right to withdraw
4. Are kept unaware of the purpose so that their answers are not biased

38. Publishing substantially the same findings in two journals without telling either journal is:

1. Fabrication
2. Duplicate (redundant) publication
3. Falsification
4. Ghost authorship

39. Changing or leaving out data so that the results appear to support the hypothesis is:

1. Fabrication
2. Plagiarism
3. Paraphrasing
4. Falsification

40. In APA 7th edition style, a standard in-text citation gives:

1. A number in square brackets
2. The author’s surname and the year of publication
3. The full title of the work
4. The DOI of the work