Research Methods Chapter 4
__________ refers to generalizing from what we observe and measure to the real-world things in which we are interested
Construct validity
__________ is concerned with whether research findings from one study can be reproduced in another study.
External validity
__________ are designed to permit observations over an extended period.
Longitudinal studies
Which of the following is an example of a panel study?
National Crime Victimization Survey
__________ bridges idiographic and nomothetic approaches to explanation by seeking to understand how causal mechanisms operate in specific contexts.
Scientific realism
__________ are examples of social artifacts suitable for criminal justice research.
Social interactions
Which of the following is true with respect to validity threats?
Statistical conclusion validity impacts which groups the findings apply to.
It is often said that social science is inherently probabilistic. What is meant by that?
The best that can be said of findings is that they are more or less likely to occur, but never with certainty.
__________ involves reconciling general patterns of attitudes and actions with known individual exceptions.
The individualistic fallacy
Which of the following is not a characteristic of a cross-sectional study?
The study assesses changes that take place in a specific sample over time.
Which of the following is correct?
X is a sufficient cause of Y if Y always happens when X is present.
A condition that must be present for the effect to follow is
a necessary cause
A condition that more or less guarantees the effect in question is
a sufficient cause
Which of the following is accurate with respect to time dimensions?
all of the above
With respect to causation,
all of the above
Key elements in planning a research study include
all of these
Which of the following would be an example of a retrospective approach to longitudinal studies?
asking how many child abuse victims' parents were also abuse victims
Which of the following would serve as an example of a cross-sectional study?
both Uniform Crime Reports and a single wave of the National Crime Victimization Survey
In examining the relationship between drug use and crime discussed in your text, which of the following represents an internal validity threat?
both drug use and crime can be attributed to other causes
According to the textbook, because time order is a requirement for causal inferences, the time dimension of research requires
careful planning
Rather than try to exclude or otherwise control possible outside influences, scientific realism studies how such influences are involved in
cause-and-effect relationships
Which of the following would not be an example of organizations as units of analysis?
civilians in the military
Which of the following is not true concerning a cohort study?
cohort members are studied as individuals as well as their group affiliation
Marvin Wolfgang's study of males born in Philadelphia in 1945 was an attempt to measure delinquency by following those males from their tenth birthdays until they were 18. This is an example of what type of study?
cohort study
Which of the following is not a type of validity?
concept
The well-known Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment, discussed in Chapter 1, provides another example of
construct validity problems
Of the following, which time-dimension design is the most likely to be used for descriptive purposes
cross-sectional
Another word for an exploratory research study is a(n)
cross-sectional research study
Which of the following is not a type of longitudinal study?
cross-sectional study
Which of the following would serve as a "snapshot" of a phenomenon at one point in time?
cross-sectional study
Observations of shoplifters in Pueblo, Colorado, characterized as "72 percent men and 28 percent women, with an average age of 15.4 years" constitutes which type of analysis?
descriptive analysis
Which of the following refers to the danger of making assertions about individuals as the unit of analysis based on the examination of groups or other aggregations?
ecological fallacy
Despite a record number of cars being stolen in Newark, NJ, in 2000, Newark's auto theft rate was really lower than that of Miami, Denver, and Chicago. What is unit of analysis used in this example?
group
Households used by the National Crime Victimization Survey are an example of which unit of analysis?
groups
In an examination of violent crime among the most populous nations in the world, the United States ranks very high along with England, France, and Australia. The chance of being raped is higher in France than in the United States. What units of analysis are being used?
groups
A survey distributed on a college campus discovered that males support the death penalty in greater numbers than females. The units of analysis in this case would be
individuals
In his research, Gil examined whether people living in high-crime neighborhoods are more likely to have guns at home for protection than those living in low-crime areas. His unit of analysis was
individuals
A researcher compared the recidivism rates of drug abusers who were given probation with those who were sentenced to prison and discovered that the recidivism rates were highest for those sentenced to prison. What potential error is reflected by this conclusion?
internal validity
Systematic error would be found in what type of validity problem?
internal validity
Which of the following does not represent a criterion for causality?
it is not necessary for two variables to be correlated with each other
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
longitudinal
Which type of research study project is designed to permit observations over an extended period of time?
longitudinal studies
It is necessary to be charged before one can be convicted. This statement is representative of
necessary cause
A study of the commentary made about the Patriot Act in 50 major newspapers' editorials found that newspapers in the Northeast gave more attention to the subject than papers in any other part of the country. What is the unit of analysis being used?
newspaper editorials
When two variables are empirically correlated with each other, they must
occur together
After a one-year study of the recidivism rates of boot camps in the state of Georgia, the lowest rates were found in the boot camps located in Macon. What units of analysis were used in this study?
organizations
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 ten years, many families have moved away and the research staff has been unable to locate them. What problem has Professor Hardy encountered?
panel attrition
What type of study attempts to account for errors in drawing a sample by measuring the same people on two or more occasions?
panel study
Which of the following are social artifacts?
police crime reports
Which of the following would not be an example of social artifacts as units of analysis?
probation officers
Which term best describes an overly strict limitation on the kinds of concepts and variables to be considered as causes in explaining the broad range of human behavior represented by crime and criminal justice policy?
reductionism
In a general sense, external validity is concerned with whether research findings from one study can be
reproduced in another study, often under different conditions
Ruth wanted to study the educational histories of inmates in prison. She interviewed prisoners on their involvement in school and academic performance. Ruth was conducting which type of research?
retrospective
In the following research conclusion, what units of analysis are being used? "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."
social artifacts
The effects of violence in children's programming is a major research endeavor that requires counting the number of violent acts in Saturday morning cartoons for an entire year. The units of analysis being used for this project are
social artifacts
All but which of the following would be a unit of analysis?
social sentiments
Basing conclusions on the statistical relationship between two variables in a study with a less-than-ideal number of cases may compromise
statistical conclusion validity
Nonsystematic bias would be found in what type of validity problem?
statistical conclusion validity
Our ability to determine whether a change in the cause is statistically associated with a change in the effect is referring to what type of validity?
statistical conclusion validity
Our ability to determine whether a change in the suspected cause is statistically associated with change in the suspected effect is
statistical conclusion validity
A key concept for validity is the __________, a way you might be wrong.
subsidiary threat
After careful study of the relationship between the economy and arson, the conclusion was drawn that when the economy is poor and unemployment is high arson rates go up. The researcher concluded that unemployed people are more likely to commit arson than are those that are employed. What error was just committed?
the ecological fallacy
One common threat to statistical conclusion validity is
the size of the sample
A major Midwestern university does annual surveys of its alumni. These surveys are designed to gauge the attitudes that alumni hold about the university, its academic programs, and the major team sports. These surveys have been an annual event for the last two decades and represent which type of study?
trend study
Which of the following would allow a researcher to measure change in a general population over time?
trend study
In criminal justice research, there is a great deal of variation in what or who is studied—which are technically known as
units of analysis
When we are concerned with whether we are correct in inferring that a cause produced an effect, we are concerned with the
validity
