CCJ4746 Exam 1 Review

What is the independent variable in the following research question: "If inmates are visited more frequently will they become more likely to follow prison rules regardless of their gender, age or ethnicity?"

frequency of visitation

Validity exists when statements or conclusions about empirical reality are correct. (true or false)

true

In a national survey of drug abuse, the variable frequency of use is measured by asking respondents to rate their levels of drug use. The ratings are made on a scale from 1 (low levels) to 5 (high levels). The level of measurement is:

ordinal

Which of the following is not an example of qualitative research methods?

a. Interviews

b. Participant observation

c. Statistical analysis

statistical analysis

In a national survey of police officers, the variable region includes West, Southwest, South, Southeast, East, Northeast, Midwest, and Northwest. The level of measurement of the region variable is:

nOminal

A research question that seeks to explain why your next door neighbor was robbed last week would be socially important, feasible, and scientifically relevant.(true or false)

false

The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is an important source of data and information on the criminal justice system.(true or false)

true

Exploratory research is generally concerned with:

uncovering detailed information about a given phenomena

For the hypothesis "if gun control laws are stricter, crime will decrease", ____________ is the independent variable and _____________ is the dependent variable.

strength of gun control laws, criminal activity level

In a national survey of drug abuse, the variable parental alcoholism is measured as the number of times that respondents observed their parents drunk. The level of measurement is:

ratiO

Before their release, prison inmates are asked to fill out a risk assessment questionaire which assesses that likelihood that an inmate will re-offend. A researcher later corroborates the results from the risk assessment with official arrest statistics. This is an example of:

criterion validation

The statement "If a prison inmate is visited more frequently then he will be more likely to follow prison rules" is an example of a:

hypothesis

For a study into rural crime, a researcher has a good amount of descriptive data. One variable is a basic demographic data point indicating a subject's racial/ethnic origin. This variable is composed of classifications indicating Hispanic, Caucasian, Pacific Islander, and African- American. What type of data is this variable?

categorial

Studies intending to assess whether policies, programs, or interventions are effective are referred to as what style of research?

evaluation research

The highest level of measurement is the __________ level.

Ratio

When evaluating a potential research question, it is important that:

the study is feasible given the time frame and resources

Which of the following lists the levels of measurement in statistics?

nominal, ordinal, interval, ratiO

If the variable monthly income were to be measured as number of dollars earned in one month, then this variable would be ratio level.(true or false)

true

In strictly inductive research, the researcher already knows what she has found when she starts theorizing.(true or false)

true

The level of measurement of the variable gender is __________?

nominal

what are the four errors in everyday reasoning?

overgeneralization, selective observation, illogical reasoning, and resistance to change

the concept of thinking that if it is true for one person than it must be true for everyone. this error is overcome when we base our conclusions on multiple observation

overgeneralization

only observing your findings that you want to see. this is overcome by forgetting personal opinions and using scientific methods

selective observation

making inaccurate conclusions that one thing causes another based on an assumption. this is overcome by learning/observing people and events

illogical reasoning

occurs when we automatically believe what an authority figure tells us. this is avoided by questioning authority and no devotion to tradition

resistance to change

3 types of motivation to conduct criminal research

policy motivation, academic motivation, and personal motivation

4 types of criminological research

descriptive, exploratory, explanatory, and evaluation

research that wants to answer who, what, when, where, and how many

descriptive research

research that attempts to find information without any expectations

exploratory research

research the seeks to find causality

explanatory research

research that seeks to find how effective policies or programs are

evaluation research

3 criteria for a good research question

feasibility, social importance, and scientific relevance

what is a theory?

a set of hypotheses that explain social phenomena

deductive reasoning

starts with a theory to make a hypothesis

inductive reasoning

starts by collecting data to make a generalization to lead to a theory

what is a hypothesis?

proposes direction of relationship

concept

defining your terms to exactly what you are researching

conceptualization

the process of specifying what we mean by a term

operationalization

the process of identifying exactly how a variable is going to be measured

indicator

the question used to find out the value

what is the goal of measurement

measurement validity

3 types of validity concerns

measurement validity, generalizability, and causal validity

what is measurement validity

making sure what were measuring is what we want to measure

4 approaches to measurement validity

face, content, criterion, and construct validity

face validity

does it measure the concept of interest

construct validity

when no clear criterion exists

content validity

covers a full range of concepts meaning

criterion validity

accurately comparing two scores

generalizability

when a conclusion holds true for the whole population or group

sample generalizability

conclusion holds true for the sample

cross-population generalizability

when findings hold true for one group holds true for another group

causality

when concludes "A causes B"

reliability

measurement yields constant results

difference between reliability and validity

reliability tests if it will recreate the same results whereas validity looks to see if the information gathered is accurate

quantitative methods

data that is numerically calculated into various different types of categories

qualitative methods

captures social phenomena through people attitudes, emotions, motivations, or events in their lives

primary data

original data collection that was never analyzed by other researchers

secondary data

information gathered from other sources

official records

recorded events or administrative data

self-report data

surveys or interviews

strengths of official records

cheaper, detailed, fewer problems with confidentiality, and less time consuming

weaknesses of official records

dark figure of crime, measurement validity, and less control over what information is collected

strengths of self-report data

control over data collected, shows the information that is usually missing due to the dark figure of crime, helps with theory testing

weaknesses of self-report data

missing cases, under and over reporting, privacy, and having to report the differences between age race and gender groups

are official records and self report data compatible

yes they are compatible because what one report covers the other does not and vice versa

ecological fallacy

drawing conclusions about individuals from group level data

what statistic is most commonly used to make comparisons across groups

rate per 100,000

describe ucr

uniformed crime report takes information from police agencies arrest and reports to for a general criminal statistic

what symbol represents sample size

N

where are variables located on a code sheet

variables are the columns that are identified by letters ex.A

how are value codes used

value codes use numbers to identify variables that have no numerical value

variable

a characteristic that describes people, objects, or places (ex. male and female)

unit of analysis

target of research study (ex. criminal defendants, police, prisons)

independent variable

factor that explains or predicts the dependent variable

dependent variable

what the researcher wants to study, can't cause the independent variable

4 levels of measurement of variables in hierarchy order low to high

nominal, ordinal, interval, ratio

nominal

no mathematical significance (ex. race, gender, type of crime)

ordinal

distinct ranked categories (greater than to less than)

interval

values that can be added and subtracted but not multiplied or divided. shows how present or unpresent something is (ex. IQ)

ratio

has an absolute zero point and known exact distances

dichotomous

nominal; yes or no answer questions

is dichotomy level a form of measurement

no it is not a level of measurement

what variables are categorical

nominal and ordinal

what variables are continuous

interval and ratio

can categorical variable be made into continuous variables

no

can continuous variables be made intro categorical variables

yes

5 sources of GIGO

measurement invalidity, sampling problems, causal invalidity, political influence, human error

population

set of individuals that we want to study

sample

a subset of the population that will be studied

representative sample

sample that is proportionate to the entire population