15 Jan (TCO 6) This refers to deciphering

JADM350 Research Methods in Criminal Justice

Week 8 Final Exam

Question 1 (TCO 1) The most commonly used source of research funding for crime and justice academics is:

the Public Broadcast System (PBS)

the NIJ

the BJS

the FBI

the Ford Foundation

Question 2 (TCO 1) A method that uses a written questionnaire or formal interview to gather quantitative data on the backgrounds, behaviors, beliefs, or attitudes of a large number of people or agencies is called

survey research

experimentation

sampling

nonreactive research

all of the above

Question 3

(TCO 1) During the Enlightenment, people believed in

logical reasoning

emphasis on experiences in the material world

a belief in human progress

a questioning of traditional religious authority

all of the above

Question 4

(TCO 1) Interpretive social science (ISS) can be traced to German sociologist

Auguste Comte

Sigmund Freud

Sir Karl Popper

Karl Marx

Max Weber

Question 5

(TCO 2) A person with an I.Q. of 8090 is usually considered to be

very superior

superior

bright normal

average

dull normal

Question 6

(TCO 2) Criminal justice researchers typically sample

People

Subset of reported crimes

Legal case decisions

CRJ processing decisions

All of the above

Question 7

(TCO 2) The ______________ is a mathematical relationship that states: whenever many random samples are drawn from a population, a normal distribution is formed, and the center of the distribution for a variable equals the population parameter.

central limit theorem

system sampling

confidence intervals

sampling interval

sampling theorem

Question 8

(TCO 2) A random sample in which a researcher selects every kth (e.g., 12th) case in the sample frame using a sampling interval is a

central limit theorem

systematic sampling

confidence interval

sampling interval

sampling theorem

Question 9

(TCO 2) Snowball sampling is

a nonrandom sample in which the researcher begins with one case, and then, based on information about interrelationships from that case, identifies other cases, and repeats the process again and again

a sample in which the sampling elements are selected using something other than a mathematically random process

a nonrandom sample in which the researcher first identifies general categories into which cases or people will be selected, and then selects cases in order to reach a predetermined number of cases in each category

a nonrandom sample in which the researcher selects anyone he or she happens to come across

a nonrandom sample in which the researcher uses a wide range of methods to locate all possible cases of a highly specific and difficult-to-reach population

Question 10

(TCO 3) When a researcher studies left-behind artifacts, existing data, graffiti art, and documents, this is called

direct observation

systematic observation

“snooping”

nonreactive data

indirect observation

Question 11

(TCO 3) The physical remains of human activity are called

fossils

rocks

physical traces

archival material

records

Question 12

(TCO 3) Coding systems identify four characteristics of text content. They are:

Frequency, Space, Direction, and Intensity

Height, Weight, Eye Color, and Build

Space, Time, Distance, and Volume

Length, Width, Depth, and Area

Question 13

(TCO 3) A code book is

the systematic reorganization of raw data into a format that is computer readable

a set of rules stating that certain numbers are assigned to variable attributes

a document describing the coding procedure and the location of data for variables in a format that computers can use

the act of writing the code categories directly on the questionnaire

a data field

Question 14

(TCO 3) A table that shows the distribution of cases into categories of one variable, that is, the number or percent of cases in each category, is called

a histogram

univariate statistics

a frequency distribution

descriptive statistics

numerology

Question 15

(TCO 3) The mode is

a distribution of scores where the three measures of central tendency do not equal one another

the largest and smallest scores within a distribution of scores

the middle point of a distribution of scores (½ fall below and ½ fall above the median)

the most common or frequently occurring number in a distribution of scores

the arithmetic average of a distribution of scores

Question 16

(TCO 4) Scientific misconduct includes

when a researcher fakes of invents data

when a researcher falsely reports how research was conducted

stealing the ideas or writings of others

violations of people’s rights in the collection of data

all of the above

Question 17

(TCO 4) A(n) _____________ is form of circular reasoning in which someone appears to say something new but is really talking in circles and making a statement that is true by definition

spurious relationship

reductionism

tautology

teleology

ecological fallacy

Question 18

(TCO 4) A threat to internal validity that occurs when the treatment “spills over” from the experimental group and control group subjects modify their behavior because they learn of the treatment is called

instrumentation

experimental mortality

“spill over effect”

experimental effects

diffusion of treatment

Question 19

(TCO 4) The biggest problem with mail questionnaires is

they are not very accurate

they cost too much

they have a low response rate

people lie on the questionnaire

Question 20

(TCO 5) A form of research that describes a culture and understanding another way of life from the native point of view is called

ethnography

explicit knowledge

common knowledge

tacit knowledge

common sense

Question 21

(TCO 5) Qualitative data in which a researcher attempts to capture all the details of a social setting in an extremely detailed description and convey an intimate feel for the setting and the inner lives of people in it is called

ethnography

explicit knowledge

thick description

tacit knowledge

common sense

Question 22

(TCO 5) Systematically collecting historical materials and analyzing those materials for the purpose of constructing a descriptive and/or theoretical account of what has happened in the past is called

historical research

comparative research

historical-comparative research

bilateral research

Question 23

(TCO 5) Transcience is _________________.

focusing on one idea or thing so much that is misdirects one’s attention so that other, simple things, are forgotten

searching unsuccessfully for information that the person possesses but cannot recall despite trying to do so at the moment (it is on the tip of my tongue)

mistaking fantasy for reality, or what one heard from a friend or what one saw in a movie for one’s own experience

being asked questions in such a way that a person begins to distort his or her memory and believe things happened that did not happen

experiencing the slow, continuous decay of memory over time, such that the more distance in the past an event occurred, the less detail is recalled about it

Question 24

(TCO 6) Which of the following maps is used by researchers to primarily orient their data?

Spatial map

Face map

Social map

Temporal map

Member map

Question 25

(TCO 6) The principle that researchers should examine events as they occur in natural, everyday ongoing social settings refers to which of the following:

artificialism

reflexivity

temporalism

naturalism

ethnography

Question 26

(TCO 6) This refers to deciphering the meaning found in language and images, in the form of signs, as well as their complex interrelationships. It requires us to question commonsense assumptions and challenges us not to take for granted that there is an objective reality that stands apart from human creation and interpretation:

Anachronism

Baconian fallacy

Case review

Semiotics

Pseudoproof

Question 27

(TCO 6) A Latin legal concept that means that once a legal precedent has been made by a court, all subsequent judicial decisions should follow that precedent unless there is a compelling reason not to, is called

mens rea

actus reus

stare decisis

the law of order

case law

Question 28

(TCO 7) A second stage of coding of qualitative data, in which a researcher organizes the codes, links them, and discovers key analytic categories, is called

axial coding

open coding

coding

selective coding

Question 29

(TCO 7) Models or mental abstractions of social relations or processes are called ________. They are pure standards against which the data or “reality” can be compared.

replications

copies

imaginative concepts

non-reality ideas

ideal types

Question 30

(TCO 7) The conceptual categories in an explanation used as part of the illustrative method are called

empty boxes

illustrative methods

theoretical methods

empirical methods

analytic comparisons

Question 31

(TCO 7) _______________ is restating an author’s ideas in one’s own words and giving proper credit to the original source.

A citation

Borrowing

Coping

Paraphrasing

Plagiarism

Question 32

(TCO 7) A summary of a research project’s findings placed at the beginning of a report for an applied, nonspecialist audience, usually a little longer than an abstract, is called

the executive summary

editing

revising

sketching

freewriting

Question 33

(TCO 8) A skewed distribution is

distribution of scores where the three measures of central tendency do not equal one another

the largest and smallest scores within a distribution of scores

the middle point of a distribution of scores (½ fall below and ½ fall above the median)

the most common or frequently occurring number in a distribution of scores

the arithmetic average of a distribution of scores

Question 34 (TCO 1) Explain the knowledge/power dynamic.

Question 35 (TCO 1) What are the four errors of personal experience that reinforce one another in a person’s life?

Question 36 (TCO 2) What are the four ways to improve statistical reliability?

Question 37 (TCO 2) Define quota sampling.

Question 38 (TCO 3) List three topics appropriate for existing documents/statistics research.

Question 39 (TCO 3) Explain a graphed linear relationship.

Question 40 (TCO 4) In three lines or less, explain the Stanley Milgram study. (p. 115)

Question 41 (TCO 4) Provide a short explanation of the role a field researcher adopts when he or she does not disclose to the research subjects the purpose or objective of the study.

Question 42 (TCO 5) List three suggestions for “staying safe in unsafe settings.”

Question 43 (TCO 5) What are the first three of seven steps in conducting legal research?

Question 44 TCO 6) In some states a police dog is classified as a police officer. If you were describing the emotional binds between the handler and the dog, would they be best described in qualitative or quantitative terms? Why?

Question 45 (TCO 6) A type of experimental design that considers the impact of several independent variables simultaneously is called _________________. The treatment or manipulation is not each independent variable but is rather what?

(TCO 7) List the three steps of writing in the text.

(TCO 7) List three of the six suggestions for writer’s block in the text.

Describe the relationship between politics and research and include in your answer the influence of funding.

(TCO 2) List and briefly explain four of the eight types of statistical validity.

(TCO 2) What is cluster sampling?

(TCO 3) What is the difference between manifest coding and latent coding

(TCO 3) What are the steps in calculating the standard deviation?

Question 52 (TCO 3) What are the steps in calculating the standard deviation?

Question 53 (TCO 4) Explain the terms covert observation, deep cover, shallow cover, and explicit cover.

Question 54 (TCO 4) What are the five characteristics of a causal hypothesis?

Question 55 (TCO 5) Explain the concept of “thick description.”

Question 56 (TCO 5) What are three principles of participant observation?

1. (TCO 6) What is the difference between an ethnographer and an informant?

2. (TCO 6) What is happening statistically when there is a deliberate distortion of the past designed to protect the appearance of a particular image? What is it called?

3. (TCO 7) Explain the four similarities between quantitative and qualitative forms of data analysis.

4. (TCO 7) According to the conclusion to the book, what should be the ultimate purpose of criminal justice/criminology research? Explain.