Criminal Justice Research Methods
Practice Questions
Course Introduction
Criminal Justice Research Methods provides students with an in-depth understanding of the methods and techniques used to investigate and analyze issues within the field of criminal justice. The course covers foundational topics such as research design, data collection, sampling strategies, and both qualitative and quantitative analysis. Emphasis is placed on ethical considerations in conducting research, the interpretation and presentation of findings, and the application of research to policy and practice in criminal justice settings. Through practical exercises and real-world examples, students gain essential skills needed to critically evaluate research and conduct their own studies in criminal justice contexts.
Recommended Textbook
The Practice of Social Research 14th Edition by Earl R. Babbie
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Chapter 1: Human Inquiry and Science
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Sample Questions
Q1) An independent variable precedes (comes before)the dependent variable.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) A review of the literature is not a part of a research proposal
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q3) The attributes of the variable college class level include:
A)young, middle age, old
B)study hard and not study hard
C)first-year, sophomore, junior, senior
D)the minimum hours requirement for each class level
E)first, second, third, fourth, fifth
Answer: C
Q4) Because we have individual perspectives about the world,it is impossible to ever arrive at scientific statements about reality.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
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Chapter 2: Paradigms,theory,and Social Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) Theoretical perspectives can impact the ethics of conducting research.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q2) Which one of the following is NOT a function of theories?
A)They prevent our being taken in by flukes.
B)They make sense of observed patterns to suggest other possibilities.
C)They shape and direct research efforts.
D)They help identify the more appropriate ways to view the world.
E)They provide a paradigm for future research.
Answer: D
Q3) Frankie assumed that kids like to be respected by other kids.He then developed a specific testable expectation that boys experience more pressures for delinquency than do girls.This expectation is known as a:
A)hypothesis.
B)concept.
C)variable.
D)proposition.
E)statement.
Answer: A
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Chapter 3: The Ethics and Politics of Social Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) The ethical issues are readily apparent in research projects.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q2) Bernetta did a study in which she,the researcher,could not identify a given response with a given respondent.She employed:
A)anonymity.
B)deception.
C)value free research.
D)confidentiality.
E)informed consent.
Answer: A
Q3) Informed consent combines the principles of voluntary participation and no harm to subjects.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Chapter 4: Research Design
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the steps involved in the research process.
Q2) The easiest way to identify the unit of analysis is to examine a statement regarding the variables under study.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of a cross-sectional study?
A)It is conducted at only one point in time.
B)It can be exploratory, descriptive, or explanatory.
C)It concentrates on the changes that take place among a specific sample over a period of time.
D)It provides a means for studying a large population at the same point in time.
E)All of these choices are characteristics of the cross-sectional study.
Q4) A necessary condition represents a condition that,if it is present,guarantees the effect in question.
A)True B)False
Q5) The nomothetic model of explanation is probabilistic in its approach to causation. A)True B)False
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Chapter 5: Conceptualization, operationalization, and Measurement
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Q1) Professor Twist created the categories of less than 20 hours,20 hours to 40 hours,40 hours to 60 hours,and 60 hours or more for the variable "number of hours employed outside the home." Salton's scheme is
A)a nominal variable.
B)mutually exclusive.
C)exhaustive.
D)an interval variable.
E)mutually exclusive and exhaustive.
Q2) Theoretical creations that are based on observations but that cannot be observed directly or indirectly are known as
A)constructs.
B)dimensions.
C)indicators.
D)theories.
E)corroboration
Q3) It is impossible to have several indicators of only one concept.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 6: Indexes, scales, and Typologies
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Sample Questions
Q1) The coefficient of reproducibility is used with which scale?
A)Thurstone
B)Bogardus social distance
C)semantic differential
D)Guttman
E)Likert
Q2) Freda wants to develop a measure of support for the legalization of marijuana such that she can assign scores to patterns of responses,such that some items reflect a relatively weak degree of the variable while others reflect something stronger.Which one of the following should she use?
A)index
B)scale
C)reliability
D)validity
E)nominal scale
Q3) Indicators should be related to one another if they are essentially "effects" of a variable.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Compare scales,indexes,and typologies.Give examples of each.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: The Logic of Sampling
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Q1) Sampling error is typically reduced by either increasing sample size or by increasing the homogeneity of the elements being sampled.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Stratification represents a modification to rather than an alternative to simple random sampling and systematic sampling.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The estimated probability that a population parameter lies within a given confidence interval is known as the confidence interval.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Nonprobability sampling is particularly useful in quantitative studies. A)True
B)False
Q5) Describe and illustrate each of the following types of nonprobability sampling: a)convenient sampling; b)purposive (judgmental)sampling; c)quota sampling; and d) snowball sampling.
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Chapter 8: Experiments
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Sample Questions
Q1) Izzie performed a study in which she introduced a stimulus-longer coffee breaks-and then measured how often employees left early-the dependent variable.No pretests were done.Which design did she use?
A)Solomon four-group design
B)double-blind design
C)one-shot case study
D)static-group comparison
E)classical design
Q2) Researchers tend to use probability samples to recruit subjects for the experimental and control groups.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Researchers are increasingly using the World Wide Web to conduct experiments
A)True
B)False
Q4) The Solomon Four-group is designed to avoid the problem of selection bias.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Explain what is meant by internal and external validity.
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Chapter 9: Survey Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is NOT an example of a new technology for doing survey research?
A)CATI (computer assisted telephone interviewing)
B)CASI (computer assisted self-interviewing)
C)BRS (biometric response system)
D)VR (voice recognition)
E)TDE (touchtone data entry)
Q2) During an interviewer training session,Jones,a trainee,asks you,"What should I do if...?"
You tell Jones the first thing to do is
A)check the specifications.
B)whatever you think is most appropriate in that situation.
C)it will not happen.
D)call me if it happens.
E)jot down problems and skip that part of the interview.
Q3) A minimum response rate of what percent is adequate for analysis?
A)50%
B)60%
C)70%
D)40%
E)90%
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Chapter 10: Qualitative Field Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) Describe the stages a researcher must go through to conduct a qualitative field interview.
Q2) _______________ research is the process whereby the disadvantaged subjects define their problems,define the remedies desired,and take the lead in designing the research that will help them realize their aims.
A)Oppression
B)Civil rights
C)Correction
D)Participatory action
E)Beneficial
Q3) If we are interested in studying the rates of divorce,illness or domestic violence in field research,we are focusing on _____________.
A)groups
B)organizations
C)roles
D)episodes
E)practices
Q4) Select a topic.Describe how a complete participant and a complete observer might study that same topic.
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Chapter 11: Unobtrusive Research
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Q1) Describe a study for which content analysis is the appropriate research method.Discuss how you would use manifest and latent coding.Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the two coding schemes.
Q2) The computer program Wordscores is especially effective for researchers studying:
A) latent content.
B) manifest content.
C) indirect content.
D) quantitative data.
E) survey research.
Q3) To conduct his research on suicide,Emile Durkheim employed which of the following research methodologies?
A)experimental research
B)survey research
C)content analysis
D)existing statistics
E)interviews
Q4) The primary ethical concern with unobtrusive research is the issue of accuracy.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 12: Evaluation Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) What makes formulating the problem especially difficult in evaluation research? What suggestions are offered for dealing with this issue?
Q2) Although quasi-experimental designs do not randomly assign subjects to experimental and control groups,they do have control groups.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Hortense was asked by the local recreation board to conduct a study to determine how interested the public would be in having more recreational facilities.Specifically,he was asked to determine the balance of the expenses of the additional facilities to the specific level of increased usage of the facilities.Hortense was engaged in
A)cost-benefit analysis.
B)social indicators research.
C)computer simulations.
D)logistical problems.
E)public opinion research
Q4) Monitoring cannot be done if one is doing a needs assessment.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 13: Qualitative Data Analysis
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Q1) Which of the following is NOT one of the questions to ask when assessing the quality of qualitative research?
A)How credible are the findings?
B)How well is the eventual sample composition and coverage described?
C)How well are the context of data sources retained and portrayed?
D)Are the results generalizable to other populations?
E)How clear is the basis for evaluative appraisal?
Q2) Open coding refers to the initial classification and labeling of concepts.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Landry did a study of preschoolers in which he listened to their interactions with each other during breaks.He was particularly concerned with understanding the contexts of these interactions,and he saw them as socially structured activities.As part of his analyses,he kept detailed notes on methodological issues.Which type of notes did he use?
A)code notes
B)operational
C)theoretical
D)integrating
E)semiotics
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Chapter 14: Quantitative Data Analysis
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Q1) If Rose wanted to determine if there were any significant outliers in her data set,the simplest method would be to examine a(n)
A) frequency distribution.
B) standard deviation.
C) multivariate analysis.
D) central tendency.
E) mean.
Q2) If the mean is 10 for a given variable,and the standard deviation is 1,then 99.9 percent of cases are between which two values?
A)8 and 12
B)7 and 13
C)6 and 14
D)5 and 15
E)4 and 16
Q3) Frequency distributions indicate the number of times that variables are observed.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 15: The Logic of Multivariate Analysis
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Q1) The difference between interpretation and explanation is
A)the time placement of the test variable.
B)a statistical difference.
C)that the partials are reduced in explanation but not in interpretation.
D)that the partials are reduced in interpretation but not in explanation.
E)the level of measurement used.
Q2) Caitlin studied the relationship between gender and adjustment to retirement.She controlled for type of job before retirement and set up tables relating gender to retirement adjustment for each of her three categories of job type before retirement.These tables are known as
A)test variables.
B)partial tables.
C)explanatory tables.
D)zero-order tables.
E)descriptive tables
Q3) The term specification is used in the elaboration model regardless of whether the test variable is antecedent or intervening.
A)True
B)False
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Chapter 16: Statistical Analyses
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Q1) The proportionate reduction in error is related to the strength of the relationship between two variables.
A)True
B)False
Q2) One of the fastest growing methods of statistical analysis is the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)
A)True
B)False
Q3) You believe that the number of hours people spend in the labor force is a function of age.In fact,you argue that between the ages of 14 and 21 labor force participation,measured in hours,steadily increases.Between the ages of 22 and 60 it remains fairly constant.From ages 61 on it steadily declines.To analyze data,you should use
A)curvilinear regression.
B)partial regression.
C)multiple regression.
D)path analysis.
E)analysis of variance.
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Chapter 17: Reading and Writing Social Research
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Sample Questions
Q1) The typical professional presentation of research findings is how long?
A)2 minutes or less
B)2-5 minutes
C)10-15 minutes
D)30-45 minutes
E)60-90 minutes
Q2) Abstracts do all of the following EXCEPT
A)should give you a good idea as to whether you'll want to read the rest of the article.
B)should give you a framework for reading the rest of the article.
C)may raise questions in your mind regarding methods or conclusions.
D)may create an agenda to pursue in reading the article.
E)provide specific details of statistical analysis.
Q3) Students should be prevented from using Wikipedia in writing research reports. A)True
B)False
Q4) Reading and writing social research should be treated as it would be in any other discipline
A)True
B)False
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