A researcher is interested in how criminality is related to age and a large number of
individuals of different ages at one point in time. This is a ____ study.
a. trend
b. cohort
c. panel
d. cross-sectional
What is the advantage to using unstructured interviewing techniques when conducting
field research?
a. the researcher knows a lot about the subject under study
b. the researcher may not want be likely to 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
If you have concluded that a particular pattern exists and have developed a general
understanding of why, you may be tempted to ignore facts that don”t fit. This illustrates
_____.
a. inaccurate observation
b. overgeneralization
c. illogical reasoning
d. selective observation
Things we know from direct experience are a direct result of ____ reality.
a. agreement
b. expressed
c. assumed
d. experiential
A researcher studying rates of psychiatric disorders among inmates as a function of
institutional security level finds that the highest-security prisons have the highest rates
of psychiatric disorders. The unit of analysis is ____.
a. individuals
b. organizations
c. social artifacts
d. groups
A researcher who wants to know a measure is consistent or stable is interested in ____.
a. accuracy
b. reliability
c. validity
d. precision
A letter used to gain access to a formal organization should include all of the following
topics except ____.
a. the purpose of your research
b. who is funding your research
c. the action that you request someone to do for you
d. name your sponsor within the organization
A group of researchers from an urban university want to employ some target hardening
techniques in their area. Which outcome might they expect?
a. an immediate increase in crime in their area
b. a decrease in crime in surrounding areas
c. an increase in crime in surrounding areas
d. crime rates that remain unchanged
Determining whether a program designed to reduce burglary actually had the intended
effect is an example of _____.
a. explanation
b. evaluation
c. application
d. deduction
All of the following would be examples of goal statements that must be clarified before
empirical testing can follow except for ____.
a. participants will accept the philosophy of a drug-free life
b. participants will be equipped with the life skills necessary to succeed
c. participants will be able to obtain their GED upon completion of the program
d. provides participants with problem-solving skills
Neither the subjects nor the researcher can identify which group is the control group
and which is the experimental group. Which design is being used?
a. cross-sectional
b. double-blind
c. a blind experiment
d. of no value
Which statement is true concerning the relationship between standard error and sample
size?
a. There is a positive relationship.
b. There is an inverse relationship.
c. As sample size decreases, the standard error decreases.
d. As sample size increases, the standard error increases.
To have scientific utility, a variable should be ____.
a. meaningful and valuable
b. exhaustive and thorough
c. exhaustive and mutually exclusive
d. operational definition and meaning
Information that is collected by other people often as a part of their day-to-day work in
a justice agency, but used by someone else for research purposes is referred to as
_______________ of existing data.
Validity that is related to the logical relationships between variables is known as ____
validity.
a. criterion-related
b. face
c. convergent
d. construct
Your college has implemented a new policy on campus regarding underage drinking.
You want to find out if it has been effective. The purpose of your research is _____.
a. exploration
b. description
c. explanation
d. evaluation
Things we consider real because we”ve been told they are real reflect ____ reality.
a. agreement
b. expressed
c. assumed
d. experiential
Which example illustrates a research study in which there was potential harm to the
researcher?
a. Bruce Johnson and associates’ research on violence
b. John Monahan’s study of heroin users in New York, where participants were gathered
by word of mouth among addicts
c. Reuter, MacCoun, and Murphy’s study using probation records to identify drug
dealers
d. Reuter and associates study of drug addicts
Which of the following have been identified as disadvantage of the use of
computer-assisted interviewing?
a. respondents seem to sense a greater degree of confidentiality
b. get more “productive” answers to questions dealing with topics such as drug use
c. increase the speed and efficiency of the responses
d. It can be difficult to print and archive a complex questionnaire used in CAI.
What unit of analysis is being used in the following statement? “An enormous variation
of deviant activities was represented in a sample of 1,485 news items. We categorized
these deviant activities into five general types of analysis: violence, economic, political,
ideological/cultural and diversionary.”
a. individuals
b. social artifacts
c. organizations
d. groups
You observe police activity in your city for one week, and then you summarize what
you observed. What type of study have you performed?
a. explorative
b. descriptive
c. explanative
d. applicative
Experimental mortality is especially likely to be a problem when ____.
a. subjects are paid an excessive amount to participate
b. participation requires only one session, but it is an hour long
c. students must participate as a course requirement
d. participation in the experiment requires substantial effort by subjects
Shortening the time between pretest and posttest or perhaps even offering cash
payments to participants in an experiment are techniques that may be used to ____.
a. limit diffusion
b. decrease experimental mortality
c. decrease the effects of instrumentation
d. control threats to testing
The NVCS is based on a nationally representative sample of _____.
a. arrests
b. offenders
c. households
d. types of crime
Which factor is a serious consideration for researchers who adopt the role of complete
participant when doing field research?
a. generalizability
b. ethics
c. validity
d. all of these answers are correct
_______________ validity is the correspondence between the empirical test of a
hypothesis and the underlying causal process that the experiment is intended to
represent.
a. Construct
b. Compensatory
c. Correlational
d. Criterion
In the Stanford prison study, ____.
a. subjects accepted their roles very readily
b. debriefing sessions were held at the conclusion of the project
c. participants were allowed to leave the simulation periodically
d. inmates were paid more than were guards
Which statement is false regarding 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
What are the four purposes of research?
a. exploration, description, explanation, application
b. exploration, description, funding, application
c. exploration, development, inquisition, funding
d. exploration, development, inquisition, application
Field notes should include all but which of the following?
a. specific names of those being studied and where events happen even if those being
studied are criminals
b. what you specifically witnessed
c. what you think that you witnessed
d. your interpretations of what you witnessed
When it is not possible to match research data to the identities of participants, _____
has been achieved.
a. confidentiality
b. the absence of deception
c. anonymity
d. assurance of voluntary participation
The relationship between attributes and variables lies at the heart of ____.
a. both science and mathematics
b. publishing your outcomes
c. units of analysis
d. both description and explanation in science
Which of the following would be considered an appropriate method for increasing the
response rate in mailed surveys?
a. go to the respondent’s home and pick up the questionnaire
b. targeting a narrowly defined population
c. send one dollar along with the questionnaire
d. send out only one original mailing with no follow ups
A measure that corresponds well to the common understanding of the concept that is
being measured is said to have ____ validity.
a. criterion-related
b. inter-rater
c. predictive
d. face
When assessing the potential for harm, the researcher should _____.
a. proceed only when they are confident that no harm will result
b. proceed only when the harm potential is psychological and not physical
c. never proceed when harm is more than minimally possible
d. proceed when the potential benefit outweighs the potential harm
Field research is a data collection method that involves the direct observation of
phenomena in their natural settings.
Grounded theory is not built from qualitative field observations.
Sampling is often used when it is not possible to collect information from all persons
you want to study and when it is not necessary to collect information from all persons.
In a classical experiment, the researcher uses a(n) _______________ to offset the
effects of the experiment itself.
The two pillars of science are logic and _______________.
Sometimes, the only way to obtain the information that you need is through qualitative
data collection.
_______________ refers to the extent to which findings from an experiment can be
applied to the real world.
In content analysis, the underlying meaning of a communication is referred to as
________________.
Each of us is born into and inherits a culture made up, in part, of firmly accepted
knowledge about the workings of the world.
When no reasonable sampling frame exists and a probability sample cannot be drawn,
at least estimates about the sample accuracy are available through nonprobability
samples.
Theories describe _______________ that might logically be expected among variables.
The four purposes of research are exploration, description, explanation, and application.
We should accept research findings with caution even if they come from experts,
because results may be mistaken or misinterpreted.
Qualitative research has covered the wide range of applications from highly structured
counting to less structured field observations and _______________.
National Crime Victimization Survey can be used to evaluate local crime prevention
programs.
NIBRS reports each crime incident rather than the total number of certain crimes.
Understanding the details of how agency records are produced is the best guard against
reliability and validity problems.