research methods chapter 6-10 terms

Questionnaire

A document that contains questions and other types of items designed to solicit information appropriate to analysis.

Secondary analysis

A form of research in which the data collected and processed by one research are reanalyzed- often for a different purpose- by another.

Survey

A method for collecting data by applying a stand instrument in a systematic way to take measures from a large number of units.

Snowball sampling

A method for drawing a non-probability sample. Often used in field research, where each person is asked to suggest additional people who meet the research criteria.

Cluster sample

A multistage sample in which natural groups are sampled initially with members of each selected group being subsampled afterward.

Respondent

A person who provides data for analysis by answering a survey questionnaire that is self-completed or administered as an interview.

Ethnography

A report on social life that focuses on detained and accurate description rather than explanation.

Nonprobability sampling

A sample selected in some fashion other than those suggested by probability theory.

National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD)

A special collection of research that includes data series of special interest to criminal justice researchers and practioners.

Standard Error

A statistical estimate of how much a member of a sample might differ from the population we are studying, solely by chance.

Impact assessment

A type of applied research that seeks to the answer the question: Did a public program have the intended effect on the problem in was meant to address?

Grounded theory

A type of inductive theory that is based on field observation.

Purposive sampling

A type of nonprobability sampling in which units are selected in the sample on the basis of prespecified characteristics, so that the total sample will have the same distribution of characteristics as are assumed to exist in the population being studied.

Quota sampling

A type of nonprobability sampling in which you select the units to be observed on the basis of your own judgment about which ones will be best suited to you research purpose.

Binomial variable

A variable that has only two attributes (example: gender)

Stakeholders

Individuals with some interest in a specific program.

Focus group

Small groups (of 12 to 15) engaged in guided discussion of some topic.

Published statistics

Summary data collected by public agencies and routinely made available to the public; sometimes referred to as "administrative data."

Computer assisted interviewing (CAI)

Survey research by computer in which questionnaires are presented on computer screens instead of paper.

Stratification

The groupings of the units composing a population into homogenous groups before sampling.

Sampling frame

The list or quasi-list of units composing a population from which a sample is selected.

Reactivity

The problem that the subjects of social research may change their behavior from what it would have been normally.

Bias

The quality of a measurement device that tend to result in misinterpretation of what is being measured in a particular direction.

Confidence interval

The range of values within which a population parameter is estimated to lie.

Sampling distribution

The range, or array, of sample statistics we would obtain if we drew a very large number of samples from a single population.

Sample statistic

The summary description of a particular variable in a sample.

Population parameter

The summary description of a particular variable of a population.

Content analysis

The systematic study of messages and their meaning.

Sample element

The unit about which information is collected and that provides the basis of analysis.

Interview survey

Use a questionnaire in a systematic way to interview a large number of people. (Example: NCVS)

Evidence-based policy

Using data and other sources of information to formulate and evaluate justice policy.

Problem analysis

Using social science research methods to assess the scope and nature of a problem so that one can plan and select actions to address the problem.

Systematic sampling

a method of probability sampling in which units occurring in some specified interval in a list are selected for inclusion in the sample (i.e. every 25th student)

Equal probability of selection method (EPSEM)

a sample design in which each member of the population has the same chance of being selected in the sample.

Sample

a subset of a population selected according to one or more criteria.

Process evaluation

a type of applied research that seeks to determine whether a public program was implemented as intended.

Simple random sample

a type of probability sample in which the units composing a population are assigned numbers, a set of random numbers is then generated, and the units that have those numbers are included in the sample.

Nonpublic agency records

data collected during the routine processes of an agency, but not released to the general public.

Social production of data

data that reflect organization processes an decision rules in addition to the condition measured.

Evaluation research

involves assessing the effects of some program or policy action, usually in connection with the goals of that action.

Latent content

the underlying meaning of communications

Program evaluation

the use of social science research procedures to systematically assess the effectiveness of social intervention programs.

Sampling Units

these are things that may be selected in the process of sampling; often people.

Population

All people, things, or other elements we wish to represent.

Qualitative interview

Based on a set of topics to be discussed in depth rather than based on the use of standardized questions.

Field notes

Data recorded during field research through the use of a standardized form, or another formalized recording process of the researcher's observations.

Disproportionate stratified sampling

Deliberately drawing a sample that over represents or underrepresents some characteristic of a population.

Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Socal Research (ICPSR)

based at the University of Michigan, it is an organization that archives and distributes major social science data collections.

Confidence level

the estimated probability that a population parameter lies with a given confidence interval.

Open-ended question

questions for which the respondent is asked to provide his or her own answers.

Probability Sample

selected in accordance with probability theory, typically involving some random selection mechanism

Environmental surveys

structured observations undertaken in the field and recorded on specially designed forms.

Closed-ended question

survey questions in which the respondent is asked to select an answer from a list provided by the researcher.

Manifest content

the concrete terms contained in a communication.