Four purposes of research are exploration, description, explanation, and application.
a. True
b. False
Summary statistics, or measures of central tendency, include the mode, mean and
median.
a. True
b. False
Which of the following is an ethical question that needs to be addressed by the
researcher?
a. Are the scientific results generalizable?
b. Is it proper to use of deception to get subjects to talk with us?
c. Are the results valid?
d. Are you sure that the results are reliable?
Research into crime is related to ideology and politics in the following manner:
a. crime should not be used as a political issue
b. the study of crime can lead to policies that enhance the functioning of the criminal
justice system
c. there is no political nature to the study of crime
d. there is no ideological issues in the study of crime
When using multivariate analysis, what are you able to state with confidence?
a. that you have looked at one variable and can analyze it
b. that you have looked at two unrelated variables
c. that you looked at the simultaneous relationships among several variables but this
does not lead to interpreting their causal relationship
d. that you looked at the simultaneous relationships among several variables and that as
a result you can more fully understand the relationships between them
Valerie was interested in studying neighborhood anticrime organizations. She observed
the activities of a neighborhood anticrime organization from the time of its inception
until the time of its demise. Valerie’s study was
a. retrospective
b. cross-sectional
c. cohort
d. longitudinal
Research on a criminal justice related policy is an example of
a. explanatory research
b. descriptive research
c. applied research
d. exploratory research
A promise of anonymity is unlikely to be extended in which of the following
techniques?
a. use of department of corrections summary data
b. personal interviews
c. questionnaires that do not request identifying information
d. anonymity is really impossible in all forms of research
Which of the following do not represent measures of dispersion?
a. ranges
b. means
c. standard deviations
d. variation in groups
The primary difference between the interval and the ratio level of variables is that:
a. interval is rarely used
b. with ratio there is an absolute meaning of zero
c. with interval there is an absolute meaning of zero
d. none of the above
Professor Hardy has spent the last decade conducting a study of the effects of early
childhood “Wellness” programs on subsequent delinquency. Every year, researchers
visit participating families and collect a variety of data. Over the course of 10 years,
many families have moved away and the research staff has been unable to locate them.
What problem has Professor Hardy encountered?
a. cross-sectional distortion
b. cohort distortion
c. panel attrition
d. experimental mortality
Dr. Smith is interested in implementing a program that is designed to reduce the
recidivism rates of property offenders. He selects two state prisons and with the
blessing of the Department of Corrections begins the programs in the main state prison
for males and a female institution that is nearby. Which design would be best for Dr.
Smith to use?
a. non-equivalent groups
b. randomized study
c. interrupted times-series
d. none of these would work
When the relationship between two variables is drawn from a theory, it is said to be:
a. a fact
b. a hypothesis
c. a mini theory
d. a paradigm
Goaloriented public policies can be viewed as “ifthen” statements: if some policy action
is taken, then we expect
some result to be produced.
a. True
b. False
Which of the following is not true concerning a sponsor?
a. the sponsor should be able to advise you on whom to contact within the organization
b. the sponsor should be well respected by the director of the organization
c. the sponsor should be familiar with the formal and informal status’ of various
personnel within the organization
d. the sponsor should introduce you to the organization and leave
Which one of the following is not a function of theories:
a. they make sense of observed patterns to suggest other possibilities
b. they shape and direct research efforts
c. they prevent our being taken by flukes
d. they help identify the more appropriate ways to view the world
Which of the following is in contrast to incident-oriented policing?
a. problem-oriented policing
b. reactive-oriented policing
c. call for service policing
d. report-driven policing
Which example below is not a random assignment to experimental groups?
a. assign numbers to subjects, put corresponding numbers in a hat and pull out numbers,
place the first subject in the experimental group and the second subject in the control
group and continue until all numbers are used
b. ask subjects whether they prefer to be in the experimental group or the control group
then assign subjects based on their preference
c. flip a coin assigning subjects getting a head to the control group and those getting a
tail to the experimental group
d. use a random number generator after assigning numbers to your subjects
When a researcher uses a stratified sampling technique, they
a. select elements from heterogeneous subsets of the population
b. recognize the extent that subsets are homogeneous on stratified variables will
generally result in homogeneity on other variables as well
c. realize that a stratified sample is likely to be less representative on a number of
variables than a simple random sample
d. recognize the extent that subsets are heterogeneous on stratified variables will
generally result in heterogeneity on other variables as well
Which of the following is accurate concerning having agencies collect original research
data?
a. cooperation to add research questions is not as likely to be successful if you are
asking for a major additional effort on the part of the agency staff
b. the cooperation of the staff and their organizations are directly proportional to the
intrusiveness of the data collection
c. if the research project is likely to save the agency money or improve staff
performance the chances of enlisting assistance is greater
d. all of the above are accurate
Which of the following phrases is most true concerning random assignment to groups?
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”
Which of the following is not a central feature of the classical experiment?
a. variables
b. time order
c. concepts
d. groups
Which of the following is not collected routinely by the British Crime Survey?
a. offender demographics
b. self reported drug use
c. attitudes toward criminal sentencing
d. fear of crime
If a researcher is concerned with combining variables to result in a different composite
measure, the researcher is using what technique?
a. typology
b. validity
c. operationalization
d. reliability
Which of the following does not represent steps in the policy analysis process?
a. there is a demand for some new course of action or strong opposition to an existing
policy
b. formulate a hypothesis that will allow for exploration
c. identify the ultimate goals and the different actions for achieving those goals
d. consider the impact of the policy outputs
Many law enforcement agencies are using a program to detect emerging patterns in
crime, this program is:
a. problem-oriented policing
b. conceptualization
c. reactive analysis
d. computerized crime maps
An example of direct observables are:
a. individual values
b. are mandatory sentences fair
c. the words in a crime report
d. all of the above
Much of the current social science research has moved from description to:
a. exploration
b. explanation
c. understanding
d. theory
What is not an advantage to using unstructured interviewing techniques when
conducting field research?
a. good when the researcher does not know much about the subject under study
b. good when the researcher may be likely to enter into casual conversation with the
subject as a means of gathering data
c. good when there is a high likelihood of the subjects and the researcher spending a lot
of time together
d. being able to ask pre-established questions and record the answers
If a researcher has a list of 10,000 elements and wants to sample 1000 and selects every
10thelement she is using:
a. simple random sampling
b. cluster sampling
c. systematic sampling
d. Quota sampling
To calculate the mean for grouped data, which of the following steps should not be
completed?
a. multiply the number of subjects within each category by the value of that category
b. total the results of the multiplication
c. divide by the number of categories
d. divide by the number of subjects
When a researcher is aware that a certain pattern exists in the data, he/she may commit
the error of
____________________observation when they ignore events that do not fit the pattern.
The four elements of a crime for reporting purposes are offender, victim, , and incident.
When crime prevention policies try to reduce the opportunities for crime to occur,
____________________crime prevention is being employed.
Provide an example of the way in which the ecological fallacy is the result of errors
with units of analysis. Explain in detail.
Answer:N/A
Discuss in detail the various levels of measurement. Are their certain circumstances
when some levels of measurement are more appropriate than others? Be sure to defend
your answer.
Answer:N/A
is a technique that involves writing about the research process from beginning to end.
Use an example from criminal justice and create an index.
Answer:N/A
research is the production of knowledge based on experience or observation.
A researcher should complete a program that reflects their own understanding of
program goals, elements and operations of the organization under study.
statistics help researchers form conclusions from their observations usually forming
conclusions about a population from the study of a sample drawn from it.
Paradigms were discussed in your text in part in terms of Thomas Kuhn’s paradigm
shifts. What does this mean and
give an example of a paradigm shift in the field of criminology or criminal justice.
Answer:N/A
The more connected one is to a group, the more of a they are.
When a researcher cannot match a given response to a specific research subject this is
known as
____________________.
When discussing regression analysis, the is the difference between the total variation
and the unexplained variation.
The primary goal of is homogeneity.
affords a comparatively long-term time series that monitors the most serious medical
consequences of drug use.
With respect to internal validity issues, testing refers to changes in how subjects
respond to measurement while
refers to changes in the measurement process itself.
Rather than trying to exclude or control possible outside influences, studies show such
influences are involved in cause-and-effect relationships.