Social Science Research Methods
Exam Review
Course Introduction
Social Science Research Methods introduces students to the fundamental principles, strategies, and techniques used in conducting research within the social sciences. The course covers both qualitative and quantitative approaches, including research design, data collection, sampling methods, and data analysis. Emphasis is placed on developing critical thinking skills, formulating research questions, ethical considerations, and interpreting results. By engaging with real-world examples and hands-on activities, students gain practical experience in designing and evaluating research projects, preparing them to conduct independent investigations and assess the validity of social science research.
Recommended Textbook
Essentials of Research Methods for Criminal Justice 3rd Edition by Frank E. Hagan
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11 Chapters
835 Verified Questions
835 Flashcards
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Chapter 1: Introduction to Criminal Justice
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99 Verified Questions
99 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76864
Sample Questions
Q1) Methodological _________________ refers to a fanatical adherence to a preferred method at the expense of substance; the view that there is a one and only best method for doing research.
Answer: Narcissism
Q2) The androcentric bias in criminology refers to the fact that females have been neglected in the field.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Sound criminal justice research must eliminate all sources of error in order to be acceptable as accurate and valid.
A)True
B)False
Answer: False
Q4) The dependent variable is identified by the letter Y and is the outcome variable. A)True
B)False
Answer: True
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Page 3
Chapter 2: Ethics in Criminal Justice Research
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91 Verified Questions
91 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following was not identified as a key element in the "classic professionalism model"?
A) knowledge
B) service
C) autonomy
D) cynicism
Answer: D
Q2) The Belmont Report recommended the alteration of the HEW informed consent requirement in the case of field research.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q3) Which of the following was not discussed as an example of a social science study with ethical problems?
A) Obedience to Authority Study
B) The Simulated Prison Study
C) Kansas City Experiment
D) Tearoom Trade
Answer: C
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Page 4
Chapter 3: Research Design: the Experimental Model and Its Variations
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103 Verified Questions
103 Flashcards
Source URL: https://quizplus.com/quiz/76866
Sample Questions
Q1) The classic experimental design is viewed as the purest of research designs. A)True
B)False Answer: False
Q2) Part of the widespread acceptance of the Minneapolis Domestic Experiment was related to the very aggressive dissemination of the study's findings.
A)True
B)False Answer: True
Q3) Experiments are excellent in controlling for internal validity.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Q4) The "dualistic fallacy" refers to the belief that prisoners, representing criminals, and the general population, repre senting noncriminals, are mutually exclusive groups.
A)True
B)False
Answer: True
Page 5
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Chapter 4: The Uniform Crime Reports and Sampling
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91 Verified Questions
91 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Simple random samples by no means guarantee probability samples.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Which of the following is not an index offense?
A) murder
B) rape
C) burglary
D) embezzlement
Q3) Criminal profiling involves bringing together groups of volunteers in order to record their attitudes regarding crime and criminals.
A)True
B)False
Q4) What type of sampling procedure is most useful for interviewing widely disperse populations?
A) stratified
B) cluster
C) snowball
D) probability
Q5) _________________ samples are ones in which every Nth item in a list is included.
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Chapter 5: Survey Research: Questionnaires
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42 Verified Questions
42 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The average response rate in academic surveys in 1995 was approximately 80 percent.
A)True
B)False
Q2) The results of Mark Hamm's survey of Indiana legislators was viewed as threatening by the General Assembly.
A)True
B)False
Q3) "Response set" patterns can be avoided by using reversal questions.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The technique is used particularly in ecological studies in order to estimate the size of unknown populations.
Q5) scales are a series of questions that measure truth fulness of respondents in answering a survey.
Q6) What are the principal advantages/disadvantages of mail surveys?
Q7) The Drug Use Forecasting Program, while innovative, lacks any means of validation.
A)True
B)False
Page 7
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Chapter 6: Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone
Surveys
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80 Verified Questions
80 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Discuss CATI and CAPI technology.In what types of survey situations are these most useful?
Q2) While police statistics are based on individual victimiza tions, victim surveys are based upon the number of incidents.
A)True
B)False
Q3) The National Crime Victimization Survey has traditionally operationalized homicide very well.
A)True
B)False
Q4) The National Crime Victimization Survey is an example of a cross-sectional survey.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Internet surveys are limited as a means of surveying the general population.
A)True
B)False
Q6) _________________ is the tendency of respondents to move forward and report as having occurred events that actually took place before the reference period.
Page 8
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Chapter 7: Participant Observation and Case Studies
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66 Verified Questions
66 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) There is a unanimous agreement among those conducting participant observation in criminal justice research that the investigator should avoid moralistic stances.
A)True
B)False
Q2) A "verstehen" approach to research represents a commitment to a more positivistic or quantitative strategy.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Which of the following is not true of participant observa tion?
A) involves less prejudgments than experiments
B) is more accurate than experiments
C) is less disturbing of subjects than experiments
D) is more natural than experiments
Q4) Polsky suggests that it is both wise and possible to study criminals in their natural environment.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Identify and discuss the following three designs: ABA, ABAB, ABACA.
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Chapter 8: Unobtrusive Measures, Secondary Analysis, and the
Uses of Official Statistics
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72 Verified Questions
72 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Which of the following is not an advantage of unobtrusive measurement?
A) avoids privacy invasion
B) nonreactivity
C) more natural method
D) avoids overreliance upon attitudinal data
Q2) Mechanical aids should generally be avoided in unobtrusive measurement.
A)True
B)False
Q3) _________________ are persons who pretend to be subjects, but are really in on an experiment in order to "speed up the action."
Q4) The analysis of available data can be considered a type of unobtrusive measure. A)True
B)False
Q5) The "Dayton Water Survey" was an example of an unobtrusive measure. A)True B)False
Q6) Simulation involves the transfer of observations into numerical scores. A)True B)False
Q7) Discuss and give some examples of the major types of unobtrusive methods. Page 10
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Chapter 9: Validity, Reliability, and Triangulated Strategies
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68 Verified Questions
68 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The use of properly triangulated strategies can prove the validity of one's instrument.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Epstein used the term, "phantom army of addicts," to refer to:
A) "Narco Traficantes" in Latin America
B) the dark figure of crime
C) a "statistical epidemic" of addicts created by the Bureau of Narcotics
D) self reports of addicts
Q3) What is the importance of being concerned about issues of validity and reliability in criminal justice research? What are some reasons for the lack of validation studies in criminal justice?
Q4) In the ADAM program the data is used only for research pur poses and anonymity is assured.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Discuss the principal features of the ADAM program.What is its major benefit to criminal justice research?
Q6) Discuss the three primary methods of attempting to demonstrate reliability.
Q7) _________________ is the use of multiple methods to measure the same phenomenon.
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Chapter 10: Scaling and Index Construction
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62 Verified Questions
62 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) The use of appropriate statistical procedures can assure that one is using adequate indicators for concepts.
A)True
B)False
Q2) What is the purpose of scale and index construction? How useful are these efforts in the area of criminal justice research? What are the relative advantages/disadvantages of scales?
Q3) It is best for a researcher to develop their own attitude scales rather than rely upon those developed by others.
A)True
B)False
Q4) A major problem with Likert scales is that on the basis of the total scale score it is impossible to accurately predict the exact endorsement of items.
A)True
B)False
Q5) Most attitudinal scales used in the social sciences are ordinal in nature.
A)True
B)False
Q6) Briefly discuss the prediction scale tradition in criminal justice.
Page 13
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Chapter 11: Policy Analysis and Evaluation Research
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61 Verified Questions
61 Flashcards
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Sample Questions
Q1) Evaluation research is best conducted by "in-house" rather than by outside researchers.
A)True
B)False
Q2) Having an evaluation cost more than the operating costs of the program it is designed to assess is absurd according to the National Advisory Committee on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals.
A)True
B)False
Q3) Most methodological procedures used in evaluation research are quite different from those we have examined throughout this course.
A)True
B)False
Q4) Policy experiments are field experiments which concern themselves with the development of pure science.
A)True
B)False
Q5) What have been some obstacles to evaluation research in the field of criminal justice?
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