Research Methods Final

Identify the four levels of measurement in order of providing less information to more information. What are the advantages of and/or contributions to research that using each type of measurement makes?

1. Nominal - they use catergories that vary in quality but not in amount 2.Ordinal- used by researchers when in need for inherent order 3.Interval -can be rank-ordered; having equal difference between categories 4. Ratio -contains all the characteristics of interval measures. but has non-arbitrary zero

Which of the following circumstances makes disproportionate stratified random sampling more desirable?

A concern with small groups in the population

All of the following statements regarding a literature reviews purpose are true EXCEPT ______.

A literature review guides research designed to generate knowledge and also guides the research endeavor.

Which of the following best describes an example of descriptive research about youth gang members?

A study examining who gang members are and what their activities are

The cohort of the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment was ______ men.

African American

Cory wrote a proposal to study the impact of birth order on aggressiveness. One of his first steps was to review definitions of aggressiveness in other research studies. This illustrates the first step in the process of:

Conceptualization

_________ is commonly used in social research when no clear criterion exists for validation purposes.

Construct validity

In criminological research, disproportionate stratified sampling:

Could be used to provide equal numbers of male and female offenders

A researcher examines the use of capital punishment in the United States. Which of the following is not a variable in her study?

Country

If a probation officer checks self-reports of drug use with urine tests she is using:

Criterion validation

In the research question, "is educational attainment associated with ex-convict recidivism?", recidivism is the ______.

Dependent

The Youth Risk Behavior Survey is used to determine trends and patterns in violence-related behavior. It is an example of:

Descriptive research

Most gang members are male. In order to obtain an equal number of male and female gang members, a researcher should use a:

Disproportionate quota sample

All of the following are examples of research questions with the exception of ______.

Do you believe that minorities are disproportionately represented in jails and prisons?

______ is research that gathers objective criteria that helps determine the need, implementation, or product of a program based on systematic assessment.

Evaluation

Studying the relationship between teenage abuse of animals and later perpetration of domestic violence is an example of:

Explanatory research

"How can the science program be improved for grade school students?" is an example of descriptive research.

False

Conceptualization is a relatively simple process

False

Consent must be obtained in writing.

False

Dependent and control variables are treated exactly the same way in analysis.

False

Descriptive research is the best approach when little or nothing is known about a topic.

False

Feasibility is generally not important when answering a research question.

False

Informed consent forms do not have to be clear and understandable to participants as long as the form is brief and undetailed.

False

It is highly recommended that researchers read all potential sources in their entirety.

False

Operationalization details how researchers will define the underlying concept of a research question.

False

The best primary sources for literature reviews are academic textbooks.

False

To maintain confidentiality, researchers should not disclose the sources of their financial support.

False

While a literature review serves many purposes, it is not generally regarded as an important part of research.

False

Imagine researchers are interested in examining the influence of fathers' criminal behavior on that of their children. A study is conducted in which families are selected, and then children in those families are asked to provide information on their family's criminal behavior. In this study:

Families are the primary sampling units and children are the secondary sampling units

A researcher finds that drug laws increase drug abuse. Her study:

Found a positive association between drug laws and drug abuse

Which of the following terms could not be used to describe a random sample?

Haphazard

If income has a negative influence on crime, crime might be reduced by:

Increasing income

In a true simple random sample, the probability of selection:

Is equal for every element

In proportionate stratified random samples, the probability of selection is:

Known and proportional across strata

The National Crime Victimization Survey selects subjects by identifying rural counties or metropolitan areas as primary sampling units, then chooses geographic regions within these units, then chooses addresses within the geographic regions. This is an example of:

Multistage cluster sampling

In a national survey of drug abuse, the variable "region" includes West, Southwest, South, Southeast, East, Northeast, Midwest, and Northwest. The level of measurement is:

Nominal

Kara interviews five drug users and discovers that four regularly carry weapons. Based on this information, she argues that drug users are more likely to carry weapons than others. This is an example of:

Overgeneralization

What is partial enumeration?

Partial enumeration is a sample that is a calculation from a portion of the population

A __________________ is the entire set of elements (e.g., individuals, cities, states, countries, prisons, schools, etc.) in which a researcher is interested.

Population

Explain and provide two examples each of probability sampling and nonprobability sampling. Why would a researcher use one over the other?

Probability sampling is a sampling technique used to gather information from a larger population based on the probability. It must be a random sample. an example would be to place m&m's in a hat and draw out one m&m and record which color you get each time. Nonprobability sampling is a subset of the population that represents the whole population. an example would be Love me nots, each time you are gaithering a subset response based off one orginal flower. Researchers would want to use probability sampling over nonprobability sampling because it is more realiable and unbiased.

An evaluation of a prevention program includes the statement that "the average delinquency of adolescents was reduced by 33% during the time of the study." If this statement is literally true, the level of measurement of delinquency in the study was at least:

Ratio

In a national survey of drug abuse, the variable "parental alcoholism" is measured as the number of times that respondents observed their parents drunk. The level of measurement is:

Ratio

High school seniors in a small town are asked a series of questions to measure the frequency of their drinking and driving. The students give consistent answers to the series of questions, but police records indicate that drinking and driving is much more common than indicated by the students' responses. This suggests that the measure of frequency of drinking and driving is:

Reliable but not valid

Which of the following lists the correct order of the stages of research?

Research question, literature review, research design, collect data, choose best data analysis methodology and analyze data, generate findings, conclusions, and policy implications.

A list of elements from which a sample is to be selected is termed a:

Sampling frame

When all units in the population are identical or resources are unlimited:

Sampling is not necessary

For the hypothesis "if gun control laws are stricter, crime will decrease", ____________ is the independent variable and _____________ is the dependent variable.

Strength of gun control laws, criminal activity level

If periodicity is suspected, which type of sampling should not be used?

Systematic random sampling

Ahlin and Connell believe that age of first cigarette consumption is associated with later criminal involvement. Specifically, they believe the earlier the first cigarette consumption was, the more criminal activities a person would commit later on. Please write a research hypothesis (1 point) based on their belief and identify the independent variable and its level of measurement (2 points) and the dependent variable along with its level of measurement (2 points) of Ahlin and Connell's research statement.

The earlier in age someone smokes a cigarette, the more likely they are to engagde in criminal activities later on in life. The dependent varibale is the the criminal activitiy later on. The level of measurement is nonimal because we are figuring out a yes/no question. Did the person who smoked commit criminal activity (yes/no). The independent varibale is the person who smokes a cigarette or not. The level of measurement is ordinal because we want know whether or not they smoked as well as there age.

A theory is, most simply, a set of ideas that explain something such as offending behavior.

True

Conceptual definitions are comprehensive, clear, and accurately reflect the underlying concept that they describe.

True

Federal regulations require that IRB members come from diverse backgrounds.

True

In certain situations, the law may require researchers to break confidentiality.

True

Literature reviews are typically done prior to conducting new research.

True

Our emotions can influence us even before we begin to reason about what we have observed.

True

Personal motivations are valid motives for criminological research.

True

Exploratory research is generally concerned with:

Uncovering detailed information about a given phenomenon

One goal of ethical research, minimizing possible harms and maximizing benefits is known as __________.

beneficience

The gathering of data from a collective that includes every element in a population is called a ______.

census

What are the basic stages of moving conceptually from the abstract to the concrete?

concepts, conceptualization, operationalization, variables

__________ validity involves showing that a measure is related to a variety of other measures as specified in a theory

construct

The evidence or information collected and analyzed in order to answer a research question is referred to as ______.

data

Institutional Review Board committees must be diverse in which of the following areas?

demographics, areas of expertise, and affiliations with institutions

Variables which have only two values are called ______________.

dichotomous

In __________________ stratified sampling, the proportion of each stratum that is included in the sample is intentionally varied from what it is in the population.

disproportionate

When a researcher draws conclusions about individual-level processes from group-level data, he is making a (n) __________.

ecological

A variable's attributes or values are ______________ when every case can be classified into one of the categories.

exhaustive

The peer review process is typically completed within a few weeks of manuscript submission

false

Being able to use the findings from samples to make statements about the general population is called ______.

generalizability

All of the following are examples of common primary source journal articles with the exception of ______.

government reports

Which of the following steps in research methods is rarely adequately taught in academic textbooks?

literature reviews

A variable's attributes or values are ______________ if every case can have only one attribute.

mutually exclusive

The primary difference between a nominal and ordinal level measure is that the ordinal level measure can be _______________.

ordered

The first step in constructing a research question is ______.

picking a topic

The National Institute of Justice can issue a ____________ which protect researchers from being legally required to disclose confidential information. (Hint: 2 words)

privacy certificate

If a sample is selected through a process in which every population element has a known, non-zero chance of being selected, the process is called ______.

probability sampling

Individualist fallacy is also called ______.

reductionist

__________ is reached when a method produces consistent results every time it is used.

reliability

The following terms are types of probability sampling EXCEPT ______.

snowball sampling

Operationalization is guided by ______.

the conceptual definition validity

A theory is, most simply, a set of ideas that explain something such as offending behavior.

true

Fake journals are created by predatory publishers who charge authors a large fee to publish their work.

true