Social Science Research Concepts

Flashcards covering key concepts from the lecture notes on social science research methods and theories.

What is considered to be true and reliable information?

Knowledge

What falls within the category of social science that focuses on crime and law enforcement?

Criminal justice

What are the systematic processes used in conducting social science research called?

Research methods

What is the term for the evidence or information collected to answer a research question?

Data

What type of journals gives you confidence that knowledge gathered is reliable?

Legitimate peer review journals

What common source of nonscientific knowledge involves passing beliefs from person to person?

Traditions, customs, and norms

What is an example of a nonscientific source of knowledge from which information is obtained from a professor?

Authoritative source

What includes feelings, senses, and gut instincts as a source of knowledge?

Intuition

What guides research designed to increase understanding of a topic?

Research question

What methods include conducting in-person interviews and focus groups?

Collecting data

What is required from subjects before they participate in a study?

Informed consent

Who were the subjects in the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment?

African American men

Who approves health and social science research involving humans in the U.S.?

Institutional review boards

What should researchers do after identifying their research question?

Proceed to a literature review.

What type of process is science described as?

A recursive process.

What is the recommended order of the scientific process?

Theory, hypothesis, research design.

What type of research focuses on providing detailed understanding of topics?

Descriptive research.

What type of research identifies unimportant characteristics for future consideration?

Exploratory research.

What type of research explains factors related to a topic?

Explanatory research.

What type of research assesses the need or implementation of a program based on criteria?

Evaluation research.

What is the first step in constructing a research question?

Picking a topic.

What is the final step in constructing a research question?

Refining your research question.

What is the best way to narrow down sources from an electronic search?

Read the abstract.

What section of an empirical journal article explains the research goals and its importance?

Introduction (or Problem Statement / Background).

Where are key words found in a journal article?

Abstract page.

Which part of a journal article is typically blocked justified?

Abstract.

What does the abstract provide?

A concise description of the research results.

What is the correct order of sections in an empirical journal article?

Abstract, Introduction, Literature Review, Methods, Findings, Discussion.

How should excellent literature reviews be constructed?

Thematically.

Which word should not be used in a literature review?

I.

What guides operationalization in research?

Conceptual definition.

What is the process of defining abstract ideas called?

Conceptualization.

What are the focus variables in research called?

Dependent variables.

What are the variables that influence or cause variation in outcomes known as?

Independent variables.

What type of measurement has attributes whose only difference is their name?

Nominal measurement.

What type of measurement is defined by an inherent order?

Ordinal measurements.

What is the measurement that has known and equal differences between categories called?

Interval measurements.

What type of measurement contains a meaningful zero?

Ratio measurement.

What type of research measurement uses ordered attributes like 'satisfied' or 'unsatisfied'?

Likert scale.

What are conclusions drawn about a population based on a sample called?

Inference.

What is the process of selecting a subset of a population called?

Sampling.

What do you call gathering data from every element in a population?

Census.

What describes a sample that fails to include all population types?

Biased sample.

What is the most common unit of analysis in criminology and criminal justice research?

Individual.

What is it called when a researcher applies group conclusions to individual cases?

Ecological fallacy.

What is it called when a researcher applies individual conclusions to a group?

Individualist fallacy.

What is the first most important quality of a sample?

How the data is collected.

What is essential for conducting quality qualitative research?

Observe and analyze.