Criminal Justice Research Methods
Exam Preparation Guide
Course Introduction
Criminal Justice Research Methods introduces students to the fundamental principles and techniques used in conducting scientific research within the field of criminal justice. The course covers various research designs, including qualitative and quantitative approaches, data collection methods such as surveys, interviews, and observation, and the ethical considerations essential to criminal justice research. Emphasis is placed on developing the ability to critically evaluate research findings, formulate research questions, and apply appropriate analytical methods to real-world issues in policing, courts, and corrections. By the end of the course, students will possess the foundational knowledge necessary to both conduct and assess research within the criminal justice system.
Recommended Textbook
Understanding Research 2nd Edition by W. Lawrence Neuman
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Page 2
Chapter 1: Why Do Research
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Q1) A(n)______ is a set of logically connected statements that start simple and end with a clear conclusion that pulls everything together.
Answer: argument
Q2) Which is more important,the type of data collected or whether the data are trustworthy? Why?
Answer: Data are trustworthy- invalid data,study may be invalid.
Q3) Social research is evidence-based so answers that are derived are static,that is,they never change.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) Explanatory research asks the question and evaluation asks .
Answer: Explanatory asks why and evaluation asks does it work.
Q5) The textbook offers the examples of teenage sex education abstinence-only education as programs that really have not done what was intended of the programs.Compare the two programs,what do they have in common? What is different? What type of research was done (descriptive,etc)?
Answer: educational based programs,government money,proof that didn't work
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Chapter 2: Planning a Study
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Q1) Dr.Van Offer is a medical researcher and is very interested in which of two new drugs is better in treating high blood pressure.He asks 60 men with high blood pressure to join the experiment and then he assigns each to a group of 30.He gives one group the first drug and the other group the other drug.What is the independent variable and what is the dependent variable in this study? Why?
Answer: Drug is independent (it is being manipulated);blood pressure is the variable that is influenced by the drug taken and is the dependent variable.
Q2) One of the features that a researcher should consider in selecting an appropriate study topic is
A)where he lives.
B)his history.
C)aggregates.
D)cost of obtaining the data.
Answer: C
Q3) ______ types of research are more likely to appear in a book format because they are the results of long complex studies.
Answer: Qualitative
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4
Chapter 3: Becoming an Ethical Researcher
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Q1) Three types of research harm include physical,______and ______. Answer: emotional,legal
Q2) Dr.Mottle wishes to have her students participate in a research study.Participation has a clear educational objective.She also needs to
A)offer good grades to those that participate.
B)offer a choice of an alternative activity of equal difficulty for those not wishing to participate.
C)offer poor grades to those that don't participate.
D)covertly have some students participate.
Answer: B
Q3) Social research can cause harm by causing
A)the researcher to look like he doesn't know what he is doing.
B)physical harm or bodily injury.
C)unpleasant odor in the environment.
D)confusion.
Answer: B
Q4) A(n)______ is a committee of researchers and community members that oversees, monitors,and reviews the impact of research procedures on human participants. Answer: Institutional Review Board
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Chapter 4: Sampling
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Q1) Which of the following might be an appropriate sample frame for a population aged 16-18?
A)telephone directory
B)public property tax record
C)school registration
D)birth announcements
Q2) Dr.Van Offer has a very large sample with very little diversity among cases,so his sampling error will be
A)very small.
B)very large.
C)the same as any other error.
D)bell-shaped.
Q3) Stratified sampling is the same as snowball sampling.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What is random-digit dialing?
Q5) Give an example of a hidden population.
Q6) The______ the homogeneity (or the less the diversity),the smaller its sampling error.
Q7) What is a target population?
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Chapter 5: Measuring Social Life
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Q1) Mr.Marsh asks his colleagues if they believe that his conceptual definition and measurement fit.They agree that they do.What type of validity is this?
A)content
B)face
C)criterion
D)colleague
Q2) A continuous variable has an infinite number of values that flow along a continuum,while a ______ variable has a fixed set of separate values or categories.
A)unique
B)separate
C)interval
D)discrete
Q3) It is more important to have high reliability than have high reliability and validity. A)True
B)False
Q4) If Dr.Mottle states that a unit is mutually exclusive;what does that mean?
Q5) Discuss reliability and validity in qualitative research.
Q6) What is the difference between mutually exclusive and exhaustive attributes?
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Chapter 6: The Survey
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Q1) Discuss the three questions that a researcher should ask in the start -up stage of the survey conduct;"Who will be the respondents?" "What information does the researcher want to learn from them?" "How can a researcher get that information?"
Q2) A contingency question really has three questions that all must be answered.
A)True
B)False
Q3) What might be an example of a sensitive issue that a person would underreport?
Q4) What is a contingency question?
A)a two-part question in which a first question screens who gets the second question
B)a two-part sentence with a beginning and an end
C)question with a "yes" or "I don't know" response
D)a delay question used to annoy the respondent
Q5) The three stages for gathering data to test a hypothesis using a survey are start-up,execution,and ______.
Q6) A mail questionnaire format limits the kinds of questions that a researcher can use. A)True B)False
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Chapter 7: The Experiment
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Q1) The two effects that influence the dependent variable are main effects and interaction effects in ______ design.
Q2) Discuss external validity.Name two threats that might weaken external validity.
Q3) Researchers use deception in all their experiments to ensure that participants don't alter their behavior or opinions to fit the researcher's hypothesis. A)True B)False
Q4) Differentiate pre- versus post-test in the context of an experiment.
Q5) What is the difference between a classical experimental and quasi-experimental study?
Q6) A placebo is an independent variable,typically an active treatment. A)True B)False
Q7) The weakness of static group comparison is that a researcher doesn't know whether group differences prior to the experiment caused differences in ______.
Q8) A researcher should never measure the dependent variable in an experiment. A)True B)False
9
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Chapter 8: Research With Non-Reactive Measures
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Q1) Dr.Mottle is comparing data across two cities.If she adjusts the measures by a common base,she is
A)creative.
B)standardizing the information.
C)using ecological fallacy.
D)using topic understanding.
Q2) A limitation to use of the General Social Survey is A)lack of photos.
B)infrequent publication.
C)ways questions are worded.
D)All of these answers are correct.
Q3) People are not aware that they are being studied in nonreactive research.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Content analysis is useful for A)topics studied at a distance.
B)anyone who wants to learn about research.
C)only social scientists.
D)small,intricate details.
Q5) Why is content analysis considered a nonreactive research technique?
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Chapter 9: Making Sense of the Numbers
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Q1) Mr.Marsh wants to see if smokers like to gamble at casinos.Once he has his data,he plots the information in a scattergram.What three aspects of the bivariate relationship will the scattergram reveal? Explain the significance of each.
Q2) A graph that allows a researcher to see bivariate relationships and usually has independent variables on the horizontal axis and dependent variables on the vertical axis is called a
A)percent table.
B)bell curve.
C)scattergram.
D)covariation.
Q3) What does a .01 level of significance mean?
Q4) When there is an absence of an association or covariation between two variables this is called what?
Q5) ____ is one of the most widely used statistical techniques for nonexperimental data analysis in professional research reports.
Q6) If the level of significance is 0.001,this means that the results are due to chance factors 1 in _____ times?
Q7) A Z-score is a standardized measure that uses what two measures in one score?
Page 11
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Chapter 10: Observing People in Natural Settings
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Q1) The purpose of ______ is to provide a detailed description and up-close understanding of a way of life from the standpoint of its natives or members.
Q2) Tacit knowledge includes
A)time as given by a timepiece.
B)book references.
C)unspoken cultural norms.
D)a journal reference.
Q3) Mr.Marsh writes the following in his notes: "the cashier had a bad hairdo." What would be a better way to describe the cashier's hair for field notes?
A)The cashier had weird hair that other people stared at.
B)The cashier's hair didn't match his outfit.
C)The cashier had an unusual hairdo.
D)The cashier had combed his jet-black hair straight forward over his eyes.
Q4) What is the most common ethical issue in field research?
A)deceit
B)confidentiality
C)privacy
D)gossip
Q5) What is the most common ethical issue in field research?
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Chapter 11: Looking at the Past and Across Cultures
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Q1) The historian's main goal is to locate,collect,validate,and analyze primary sources.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A question that a researcher should keep in mind while gathering evidence for comparative research is
A)"What type of research am I conducting?"
B)"How accurate and strong is the evidence?"
C)"Where is my field research?"
D)"What length of time will it take for my research to be conducted?"
Q3) Early in the research study,the researcher should think through the topic and develop ideas.Which of the following is true?
A)It is impossible to begin research without some assumptions,concepts,and theory.
B)It is possible to write a preliminary report before the research begins.
C)Once a researcher is set on a topic,it is impossible to change direction because of what he learns from the data.
D)Often the data fit with original concepts.
Q4) Name three things that make historical-comparative research unique.
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Chapter 12: Writing a Research Report
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Q1) A temporary inability to write that some people experience when they have a writing task to complete is called ______.
Q2) In the ______ section of the research report,the researcher restates the research question and summarizes major findings.
Q3) When writing a report on field research,the report is typically organized in two different ways.What are they?
Q4) ______ is part of the rewriting process in which a researcher moves ideas around or adds and subtracts ideas.
Q5) What is the difference between revising and editing?
Q6) Two major ways of organizing field research reports are by chronological natural history and by A)themes.
B)groups of people.
C)question content.
D)context.
Q7) The three steps in the writing process are:
Q8) ______ refers to the type of words,length and form of sentences,and pattern of paragraphs.
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