The “Chicago School” founded by Burgess and Park was influential in our
understanding of why children failed in
schools.
a. True
b. False
A definition that spells out exactly how we plan to measure a variable is known as:
a. operational definition
b. measurement
c. concept
d. conceptualization
The key standards for measurement quality are:
a. mutual exclusivity and exhaustibility
b. reliability and validity
c. pattern and repetition
d. duplicity and veracity
Which of the following describes politic’s role in social science/CJ research:
a. can play
b. never play
c. rarely play
d. play an essential role
Different measures of crime tend to focus on different types of crime, primarily
because:
a. not all crimes can be measured the same way with any degree of reliability or validity
b. not all crimes can be measured
c. not all definitions of crime are suitable to measurement
d. none of the above
Studying a topic such as robbery can best be accomplished through:
a. quantitative techniques
b. archived data
c. content analysis
d. qualitative interviewing
In general, the longer a potential respondent delays replying:
a. the more valid their response will be because they are taking their time completing
the survey
b. the more likely they will respond
c. the less likely they will respond
d. the less valid their response will be
Probably the most important ability for interviewers to have is the ability to:
a. dress in a fashion that is similar to the people being interviewed
b. determine very quickly the kind of person the respondent will feel most comfortable
with
c. rephrase questions so that they make sense to the respondent
d. all of the above
When a researcher uses probability sampling, he/she can:
a. never be sure that the sample reflects the population from which it was drawn
b. estimate the amount of sampling error that can be expected
c. never guarantee the population elements of a known nonzero probability of being
selected for the sample
d. never be sure that the entire sampling frame was included
What can help rule out the threats to internal validity in an experimental design?
a. proper selection and assignment of subjects to groups
b. large sample size
c. small sample size
d. nothing can rule out threats to internal validity
Nesting a quasi-experimental design within a randomized experiment refers to:
a. a way to study specific parts of a town
b. a way of backing up a true experiment
c. a substitute for a classical experiment
d. a way to examine the impact of the experiment on the subjects
In the interest of being unambiguous and precise, survey questions should:
a. have questions with no more than 40 words in them
b. be generalizable
c. be clear
d. be reliable
Which of the following are not accounted for by the NCVS?
a. crimes committed upon those 12 and over in a household
b. items stolen from your car
c. crimes that have commercial establishments as victims
d. all of the above
All but which of the following would be a unit of analysis?
a. individuals
b. groups
c. organizations
d. social sentiments
When using a nonequivalent-groups design the researcher will handle subject
assignment to groups by:
a. random assignment to experimental and control groups
b. allowing subjects to pick which group they want to be in
c. matching subjects in the experimental group to those in the comparison group.
d. assignment by convenience
Which of the following make surveys a good choice for doing research?
a. surveys can be given only once to the same population because they will learn from
the prior survey
b. there are many methods of surveys that can be used with any given population
c. survey research is appropriate only for exploratory research
d. surveys have strong validity
The relationship between synchronic questions and time is:
a. straightforward
b. non existent
c. linear
d. backwards
Gender and race are both examples of:
a. an attribute
b. a variable
c. an assessment
d. a fallacy
In social science, rather than focusing upon an individual, we look at whole groups
known as:
a. pairs
b. gangs
c. gaggles
d. aggregates
In which of the following analyses is content analysis least likely to be used?
a. coverage of proposed crime legislation in your state House of Representatives
b. the number of references to crime in rap music
c. the number of murder convictions in Michigan during 2009
d. the frequency of “get tough on crime” as a theme for political speeches
What role does the sponsor play in field research?
a. telling the police about criminal acts being done so that the researcher knows where
to look for offenders
b. someone who helps make contact with subcultures
c. the person who assists in the observation of subcultures
d. the person responsible for making sure that the researcher is not hurt during the
course of their data collection
If a researcher wanted to determine the amount of cocaine use in an inner city area of
Chicago, which type of study would he most likely use?
a. police data
b. in person interviews
c. self-report survey
d. victimization survey
Most focus groups are interested in:
a. spontaneity and emergence of themes
b. gathering vast amounts of data
c. illicit specific participant response patterns
d. unblocking cognition
Doing a literature review should be:
a. done only when one has to do it
b. done in pieces to setup a research problem
c. systematic and deliberate
d. unorganized
Confidence levels allow the researcher to have some idea of how closely their samples
reflect the parameter. Which of the following statements about confidence levels is not
true?
a. if a simple random sample is used, probability theory suggests that researchers can be
68 percent sure the estimates of that sample fall within one standard error of the
parameter
b. if a simple random sample is used, probability theory suggests that researchers can be
95 percent sure that estimates of that sample fall within two standard errors of the
parameter
c. if a simple random sample is used, probability theory suggests that researchers can
almost positive (99+ percent) that estimates of that sample fall within three standard
errors of the true value
d. if a simple random sample is used, probability theory allows the researcher to know
with certainty that they have accurate data
Which of the following is not correct with respect to process evaluations?
a. information about program implementation can be linked to outcome measures, even
when accompanied by a process evaluation
b. process evaluation aids in interpreting results from impact assessments
c. process evaluations are useful when a researcher is interested in the performance of
specific tasks within a program
d. process evaluations assume that tasks within a program are linked to program
outcomes
Which of the following is not a concern when a questionnaire is not formatted
properly?
a. respondents may miss questions
b. respondents may finish the questionnaire too quickly
c. respondents may throw the questionnaire away
d. respondents may become confused about the nature of the data desired
One way to gain access to a subculture would be to
a. ask question of the larger culture
b. post flyers in the neighborhood
c. conduct a telephone survey
d. hang around places where the subculture you are interested in hang out
Which of the following is NOT a framework for designing qualitative interviews:
a. diachronic
b. synchronic
c. tetronic
d. all of these are frameworks for designing qualitative interviews
The assignment of grades by the professor to major research papers is an example of:
a. measurement
b. operationalization
c. conceptualization
d. validity
Which of the following is not a concern about the use of agency records?
a. since most agencies are computerized, there is little cause to be concerned about the
quality of the data
b. expect the expected, it is the unexpected findings that are worrisome
c. changes in record-keeping practices can affect the measurement
d. data will be accurate because agency data has to be
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