Which type of study attempts to account for errors in drawing a sample by measuring
the same people on two or more occasions?
a. cohort study
b. panel study
c. trend study
d. cross-sectional study
In structured field observations, the data collection form resembles a survey
questionnaire. For example, the environmental surveys are used for which of the
following research purposes?
a. determining the grounded theory
b. planning police strategies in drug enforcement and to assess the impact of those
strategies
c. developing notes on graffiti and vandalism damage in an urban area
d. finding out green environment
Patterns of cause and effect are _____ in nature.
a. probabilistic
b. absolute
c. experiential
d. nihilistic
Which fact is important to remember when using agency records?
a. to ask permission before you study any agency data
b. to examine the data through some form of content analysis
c. the financial considerations of obtaining complete agency records are typically
substantial
d. the discretionary actions by criminal justice officials and others affect the production
of virtually all agency records
In Widom’s research purpose on the relationship between early child abuse and later
delinquency or adult criminal behavior was ___________:
a. valid and reliable
b. critical and valid
c. explanatory
d. exploratory
Which statement is most accurate?
a. Experiments are only useful in the physical sciences such as chemistry and physics.
b. Experiments involve observing phenomena but do not try to produce them.
c. Experiments can be used in scientific as well as nonscientific human inquiry.
d. Experiments in the classical form require at least three groups of subjects..
The reliability of quantitative field studies can be enhanced by ____.
a. By reviewing police records.
b. Reviewing by the director of the organization.
c. Contacting various personnel within the organization.
d. Careful attention to the details of observation.
Which approaches are considered inappropriate for initiating field research among
active offenders?
a. telephone survey, informal gatherings, and club meetings
b. focus group meetings and movies
c. letters, phone calls, and formal meetings
d. all forms of formal and informal contacts
A researcher using stratified sampling wants to reduce the ____.
a. sampling error
b. standard error
c. number of dependent variables
d. time it takes to draw a sample
Which statement is false with regard to structured interviews?
a. they enable the researcher to generate numeric measures of observed conditions
b. they are best suited for studies where a researcher is expected to encounter a wide
variety of situations
c. they are more reliable than other methods
d. they require careful training
Which of the following is not an effective role (in the sense that the researcher could
affect what he/she is studying) for a field researcher?
a. total observation
b. total participation
c. participant-as-observer
d. observer-as-participant
FBI statistics and annual reports from the Federal Bureau of Prisons are examples of
_____.
a. nonpublic agency records
b. new data collected by agency staff
c. published statistics
d. content analysis
Which element should NOT be in a letter that serves as a follow up to identification of
the sponsor?
a. the name of your sponsor
b. a detailed description of your research
c. arranging a time and date for a phone call
d. identify that you want to meet and talk with the contact person
Focus groups are most useful ____.
a. when precise generalization to a larger population is essential and the focus groups
participants and the larger population are relatively heterogeneous
b. when precise generalization to a larger population is essential and the focus groups
participants and the larger population are relatively homogeneous
c. when precise generalization to a larger population is not necessary and the focus
groups participants and the larger population are relatively homogeneous
d. when precise generalization to a larger population is not necessary and the focus
group participants and the larger population are relatively heterogeneous
In the U.S., federally designated special populations ____.
a. are exempt from informed consent
b. cannot be exposed to a greater amount of risk than other populations
c. must be compensated for research participation
d. cannot be used in research unless it will directly benefit them
Suppose a researcher wants to understand why some stores have higher rates of
shoplifting than do others and looks at the relationship between rates of shoplifting for
particular stores and the characteristics of the stores (e.g., what is sold there, the type of
neighborhood, staffing levels, etc.). In this case, the unit of analysis is ____.
a. individuals
b. demographic groups
c. arrest records
d. stores at which shoplifting occurs
Which procedure is suitable for random assignment to groups?
a. Assigning subjects in the order they arrive, so that one group is filled before the next
is started
b. Letting subjects express a preference and then assigning them to a non-preferred
group
c. Flipping a coin assigning subjects to the control group and to the experimental group.
d. Asking each subject to secretly decide which group they want to be in
Which of the following is not an advantage of the use of matrix questions?
a. they are faster to complete for respondents
b. they do not take much thought on the part of the respondents to answer
c. they use space efficiently
d. the format increases the comparability of responses given to different questions for
the respondent as well as the researcher
Which of the following illustrates a population in which cluster sampling would be the
best choice?
a. law enforcement officers in the United States
b. Uniform Crime Reports
c. convicted violent criminals
d. news paper reports
If a cross-sectional study can be likened to a ‘snapshot,” and a trend study to a ‘slide
show,” then which study is most like a “motion picture?”
a. trend study
b. retrospective study
c. prospective study
d. panel study
Which of the following is false concerning the use of field notes for recording
observations?
a. field notes include what you are sure you have observed
b. field notes should not include unanticipated events
c. field notes should include what you think you observed
d. note taking can be done on standardized recording forms that you create prior to the
start of the research
Which statement is inaccurate?
a. impact assessments evaluate whether or not specified goals are attained
b. process evaluations focus on whether programs are carried out according to plans
c. problem analysis usually considers a limited range of alternative choices
d. ideally, impact assessments and process evaluations are conducted separately
Which step is of least concern in the evaluability assessment?
a. determine the degree of support for your project
b. determine what the general program goals are as well as the specific objectives
c. determine how the goals are translated into the program components
d. determine whether people in the organization have some sort of direct or indirect
stake in the program
The visible, objective context of a communication is known as ____.
a. latent content
b. manifest content
c. concept
d. validity
What is an advantage to using unstructured interviewing techniques when conducting
field research?
a. the researcher knows a lot about the subject under study
b. the researcher won”t enter into casual conversation with the subject as a means of
gathering data
c. the researcher and subject may have short fixed time for the interview
d. the researcher and subject may witness an event together
Which of the following is a serious consideration for researchers who adopt the role of
complete participant when doing field research?
a. generalizability
b. ethics
c. validity
d. reliability
Which technique can be used to help reduce the threat to experimental mortality?
a. increasing the sample size
b. decreasing the sample size
c. shortening the time between the pretest and the posttest
d. selecting only subjects who are female
The history threat refers to the possibility that ____.
a. because of their personal experiences, some subjects will be uncooperative
b. most important research in the social sciences has already been done
c. events external to the experiment that will impact the results
d. the experiment will be judged to be unimportant
Dr. Jones is having his Introductory to Criminal Justice students analyze cartoons. He
instructs them to identify the number of violent acts per show, the type of violent act
and the characteristics of the victim. Dr. Jones is having his students use ____.
a. content analysis
b. secondary data
c. new data collected by agency staff
d. nonpublic agency records
Which of the following is not appropriate for use as a sampling frame?
a. telephone directories when you wish to sample attitudes toward a new law
b. lists of licensed drivers when you wish to ask juveniles their opinions about drinking
prohibitions
c. taxpayer rolls when the researcher is interested in public concerns about school
appropriations in their community
d. American Medical Association membership lists to survey doctors about their
attitudes concerning HMOs
Which statement best fits randomization as it is used in experiments?
a. “all other things being equal”
b. “use your best guess”
c. “it is close enough for government work”
d. “you are never 100% sure, so don”t worry about it”
Topics that lend themselves to the use of content analysis tend to focus upon the links
between communication and ____.
a. criminal justice policy
b. police behavior
c. perceptions of valid research
d. writing skills
Criminal justice research sometimes combines field research with surveys or
_________________________________________________
a. data from newspaper accounts
b. data from official records.
c. Data from telephone discussions
d. All of the above
Policy _______________ refer to what is actually produced.
The ___________________ is the person who will assist you in gaining access to a
subculture.
The _______________ is an effort to convert the UCR to a more comprehensive crime
report.
Outputs refer to the basic question of what a policy action is trying to achieve.
Telephone surveys are relatively fast and low cost.
In a classical experiment, the independent variable must be a ratio level variable.
A researcher engaged in field research would likely use ________________ data that is
defined as observations that are not easily reduced to numbers.
Data and records produced by formal organizations may be the most common source of
data in criminal justice research.
In case-oriented research, a great number of cases are examined in order to understand a
small number of variables.
Generally speaking, secondary data are least useful when the purpose of research is
______________.
The unit about which information is collected and that provides the basis of analysis is
called the _______________.
In _______________ research, a large number of variables that are associated with a
small number of cases or subjects are studied.
Long items in a questionnaire are usually better than short ones
A respondent who must select an answer from among a list provided by the researcher
is answering _______________ questions.
Goal-oriented public policies cannot be viewed as “if-then” statements: if some policy
action is taken, then we expect some result to be produced.
Field research has covered the wide range of applications from highly structured
counting to less structured field observations and _____________________.
Field observation is not the preferred data collection method for obtaining information
about physical or social settings, behavior, and events.
We live in a world of two realities; agreement and experiential.
The potential for ________________ increases as the number of clerical entries
increases.
_______________ reasoning moves from the specific to the general, from a set of
particular observations to the discovery of a pattern that represents some degree of
order among the varied events under examination.