Lesson 02A.2.5

02A.2.5 Ethics in sociological research Quiz: OCR Sociology, Unit 5

20 questions

Written by Revision Ninja · Last reviewed 11 October 2026

In partnership with Revision Ninja

Lesson 02A.2.5, Ethics in sociological research: 20 multiple choice questions for the OCR Sociology (H580), Unit 5: Research methods and researching social inequalities (Section A), written with Revision Ninja.

Host it live on the board and students join with a game code on their own devices, or revise alone with Free Play. The answers are revealed in the game.

Host this setFree Play

The 20 questions

  1. What ethical guideline ensures participants can leave a research study at any time?

    • Debriefing
    • Right to withdraw
    • Confidentiality
    • Informed consent

  2. What ethical process involves participants agreeing to take part after knowing the study details?

    • Deception
    • Informed consent
    • Anonymity
    • Protection from harm

  3. Which term describes keeping participants' identities completely hidden in research reports?

    • Consent
    • Confidentiality
    • Privacy
    • Anonymity

  4. What protects participants from psychological or physical damage during a sociological study?

    • Protection from harm
    • Right to withdraw
    • Debriefing
    • Informed consent

  5. What ethical process typically occurs immediately after a deceptive or sensitive study?

    • Debriefing
    • Piloting
    • Triangulation
    • Sampling

  6. What term describes hiding the true purpose of research from participants?

    • Confidentiality
    • Covert research
    • Bias
    • Deception

  7. Which research approach involves joining a group without revealing you are a sociologist?

    • Structured interview
    • Pilot study
    • Covert observation
    • Overt observation

  8. What term describes protecting personal data shared by participants so it is not leaked?

    • Confidentiality
    • Censorship
    • Consent
    • Anonymity

  9. A researcher hides their identity to study a gang. Which major ethical issue is raised?

    • Data theft
    • Lack of consent
    • Sampling error
    • Official bias

  10. A questionnaire asks deeply personal questions without a debrief. What is primarily breached?

    • Random sampling
    • Protection from harm
    • Operationalisation
    • Quantitative validity

  11. Publishing survey data with real participant names violates which ethical boundary?

    • Anonymity
    • Operationalisation
    • Triangulation
    • Hypothesis testing

  12. Participants are forced to stay in an intense interview. Which guideline is violated?

    • Debriefing
    • Right to withdraw
    • Covert observation
    • Random sampling

  13. A sociologist lies about a study's purpose to avoid bias. What is this tactic called?

    • Deception
    • Sampling
    • Triangulation
    • Anonymity

  14. Researchers promise data protection but share files insecurely. What principle is failed?

    • Randomisation
    • Informed consent
    • Confidentiality
    • Positivism

  15. An ethnographer tells a community their true identity and research goals before starting. What is this?

    • Covert observation
    • Overt observation
    • Deceptive experiment
    • Pilot study

  16. Why might a British Sociological Association (BSA) guideline restrict certain covert studies?

    • Ethical harm
    • Small fonts
    • Slow computers
    • High costs

  17. What is the primary sociological reason for debriefing vulnerable participants?

    • Restore well-being
    • Verify statistics
    • Reduce funding
    • Increase sample size

  18. Which ethical issue is most prominent when researching illegal subcultures covertly?

    • Low response rate
    • Sampling frame bias
    • Coding errors
    • Legal liability

  19. When is informed consent practically impossible to obtain in field research?

    • Focus groups
    • Lab experiments
    • Postal surveys
    • Crowd behaviour

  20. Why do interpretivists sometimes accept the ethical compromise of covert observation?

    • Quick analysis
    • Valid insights
    • Official funding
    • Large samples

All OCR Sociology quizzes