Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, International Edition 6th Edition by Michael G – Test Bank

 

Instant Download – Complete Test Bank With Answers

 

 

Sample Questions Are Posted Below

 

TEST BANK

 

 

TRUE/FALSE

 

1. Conceptualization is the process by which we specify precisely what we mean when we use particular terms.

ANS: T

REF: 123

LO: 1

 

2. Recidivism represents a collection of related phenomena either observed or heard about.

ANS: T

REF: 121

LO: 2

 

3. Every variable should have two important qualities; their attributes should be exhaustive as well as mutually exclusive.

ANS: T

REF: 132

LO: 3, 5

 

4. Ordinal measures are variables whose attributes may be logically rank-ordered.

ANS: T

REF: 133

LO: 6

 

5. Recidivism is a term to represent a collection of unrelated phenomena that we have either observed or heard about somewhere.

ANS: F

REF: 128

LO: 1, 2

 

6. Reliability is measuring what you think you are measuring.

ANS: F

REF: 136

LO: 7

 

7. Reliability is threatened every time there is a single observer as the source of data.

ANS: T

REF: 136

LO: 7

 

 

8. Mental images of serious crime may vary among individuals depending on their backgrounds and experiences.

ANS: T

REF: 121

LO: 1, 2

 

9. One good indicator of crime seriousness is harm to the crime victim.

ANS: T

REF: 122

LO: 2

 

10. A lower-level measure cannot be converted to a higher-level one.

ANS: T

REF: 132

LO: 6

 

 

MULTIPLE CHOICE

 

1. Sometimes it is necessary to make the same measurement more than once, which is known as:
2. test-retest method
3. inter-rater reliability
4. split-half method
5. face validity

ANS: A

REF: 137-138

LO: 7

 

2. It is always a good idea to make more than one measurement of any subtle or complex social concept, which is known as:
3. test-retest method
4. inter-rater reliability
5. split-half method
6. face validity

ANS: C

REF: 138-139

LO: 7

 

 

3. An empirical measure that adequately reflects the meaning of the concept under consideration is known as:
4. reliability
5. validity
6. accuracy
7. face validity

ANS: B

REF: 139

LO: 7

 

4. Particular empirical measures that may or may not agree with common understandings of our individual mental images about a specific concept are known as:
5. reliability
6. validity
7. accuracy
8. face validity

ANS: D

REF: 139-140

LO: 7

 

5. Content validity refers to:
6. a comparison of measures to some external criterion
7. an empirical measure that may or may not agree with our common understanding of a particular concept
8. the degree to which a measure covers the range of meanings included within the concepts
9. the basis of logical relationships among variables

ANS: C

REF: 141

LO: 8

 

6. Criterion related validity refers to:
   1. a comparison of measures to some external criterion
   2. an empirical measure that may or may not agree with our common understanding of a particular concept
   3. the degree to which a measure covers the range of meanings included within the concepts
   4. the basis of logical relationships among variables

ANS: A

REF: 140

LO: 8

 

 

7. According to Abraham Kaplan’s (1964) discussion; which of the following are not included in the three classes of things that a researcher measures?

1. direct observables
2. indirect observables
3. constructs
4. discreet observables

ANS: D

REF: 123

LO: 2

 

8. Disorder is a symbol of urban decay that people associate with
9. third world countries
10. income
11. psychology
12. crime

ANS: D

REF: 145

LO: 10

 

9. Age of an offender is an example of which level of measurement?
10. interval
11. nominal
12. ratio
13. ordinal

ANS: C

REF: 133-134

LO: 6

 

10. A researcher concerned with whether a particular measurement technique will, after repeated measures, yield the same results is concerned with:
11. accuracy
12. reliability
13. precise measurement
14. validity

ANS: B

REF: 136

LO: 7

 

 

11. Ratio measures are the highest level, followed by:
12. interval, nominal and ordinal
13. nominal, interval, ordinal
14. interval, ordinal, and nominal
15. ordinal, nominal, interval

ANS: C

REF: 135

LO: 6

 

12. Although a person’s observations and experiences are real, his or her concepts are:

1. mental creations
2. subliminal
3. discreet
4. reliable

ANS: A

REF: 125

LO: 1, 2

 

13. The specification of conceptual definitions serves as a specific working definition and also:

1. focuses observational strategy
2. focuses research on the task at hand
3. focuses readers on the core issue
4. focuses on fixing the problem

ANS: A

REF: 125

LO: 2

 

14. Professor Smith is studying attitudes toward gun control and plans to assess support for firearms registration by determining whether or not her research subjects say they would travel to countries where the possession of unlicensed guns is legal. Her critics argue that this measure lacks:
15. face validity
16. construct validity
17. convergent validity
18. criterion-related validity

ANS: A

REF: 139-140

LO: 7

 

 

15. The process of developing operational definitions is known as:

1. conceptualization
2. proprietary means
3. reification
4. operationalization

ANS: D

REF: 127

LO: 3

 

16. Which of the following is representative of the dimension “victim harm”?
17. economic gain
18. gender of victim
19. physical injury
20. location of injury

ANS: C

REF: 129

LO: 2

 

17. The number of counts on an indictment is what level of measurement?
18. nominal
19. ordinal
20. interval
21. ratio

ANS: C

REF: 133

LO: 6

 

18. The production report generated at the city police department contains the number of arrests made by each officer on a monthly basis. What level of measurement would number of arrests be?
19. nominal
20. ordinal
21. interval
22. ratio

ANS: D

REF: 133-134

LO: 6

 

 

19. Measures of jail capacity were operationalized as whether or not there were more inmates housed at the end of the year than the original building design called for would be an example of what level of measurement?
20. nominal
21. ordinal
22. interval
23. ratio

ANS: A

REF: 132-133

LO: 6

 

20. Ranks in the local police department represent what level of measurement?
21. nominal
22. ordinal
23. interval
24. ratio

ANS: B

REF: 133

LO: 6

 

21. The penalties that are assigned to different crimes by law are best characterized as a dimension of:

1. public opinion
2. crime seriousness
3. retribution
4. cultural tastes

ANS: B

REF: 124

LO: 3

 

22. The words or symbols in language used to illustrate subjective thoughts or mental images about things we may encounter in daily life are known as:
23. operations
24. concepts
25. observations
26. measurements

ANS: B

REF: 122

LO: 2

 

 

23. Operationalization involves:

1. describing how actual measurements will be made
2. adding up the sum of the parts to determine the whole
3. removing negative correlations from variables
4. making the necessary measurements

ANS: A

REF: 127-129

LO: 3, 4

 

24. A specifiable aspect of a given concept is referred to as a:
25. dimension
26. concept
27. construct
28. direct observable

ANS: A

REF: 124

LO: 2

 

25. Which of the following sequences illustrates the progression of measurement steps?
26. conceptual definition, conceptualization, operational definition and real-world measurement
27. operational definition, conceptualization, conceptual definition and real-world measurement
28. operational definition, conceptual definition, conceptualization and real-world measurement
29. conceptualization, conceptual definition, operational definition and real-world measurement

ANS: D

REF: 127

LO: 1, 2

 

26. The assignment of grades by the professor to major research papers is an example of:
27. measurement
28. operationalization
29. conceptualization
30. validity

ANS: A

REF: 129

LO: 6

 

 

27. Researchers must be able to classify every observation in terms of one and only one attribute. Which of the following terms best describes this concept?

1. reliability
2. validity
3. mutual exclusiveness
4. exhaustiveness

ANS: C

REF: 132

LO: 5

 

28. Logical sets of attributes are known as:
29. values
30. variables
31. concepts
32. operational definitions

ANS: B

REF: 132

LO: 2

 

29. The primary difference between the interval and the ratio level of variables is that:
30. interval is rarely used
31. with ratio there is an absolute meaning of zero
32. with interval there is an absolute meaning of zero
33. none of the above

ANS: B

REF: 133

LO: 6

 

30. What two qualities should every variable possess?
31. meaning and value
32. exhaustive and thorough
33. exhaustive and mutually exclusive
34. operational definition and meaning

ANS: C

REF: 132

LO: 5

 

31. The test-retest method is used to examine:
32. reliability
33. validity
34. generalizability
35. precision

ANS: A

REF: 137

LO: 7

 

32. Validity that is related to the logical relationships between variables is known as:
33. criterion-related validity
34. face validity
35. convergent validity
36. construct validity

ANS: D

REF: 140-141

LO: 7

 

33. When the actual distance that separates the attributes composing some variables does have meaning, the variables are described as:
34. interval
35. nominal
36. ordinal
37. none of the above

ANS: A

REF: 133

LO: 6

 

34. Because low marital adjustment should lead to divorce, Professor Quinn checked his measure of marital adjustment by examining whether couples with low martial adjustment scores later obtained divorces. This illustrates the use of:
35. criterion-related validity
36. face validity
37. content validity
38. construct validity

ANS: A

REF: 140

LO: 7

 

35. Professor Jenkins is interested in attitudes toward the trying juveniles as adults and plans to assess support for this hypothesis by asking whether or not subjects say they would travel to countries that allow juveniles to stand trial as an adult. Critics would say this measure lacks:
36. face validity
37. criterion-related validity
38. content validity
39. construct validity

ANS: A

REF: 139-140

LO: 7

 

 

36. The key standards for measurement quality are:

1. mutual exclusivity and exhaustibility
2. reliability and validity
3. pattern and repetition
4. duplicity and veracity

ANS: B

REF: 135

LO: 7

 

37. A person’s height as a measure of a person’s IQ would be seen as having what problem?
38. precision
39. reliability
40. accuracy
41. validity

ANS: D

REF: 139

LO: 7

 

38. Many criminal justice measures are imprecise, so reporting approximate values is:

1. often necessary
2. often preferable
3. undesirable
4. unacceptable

ANS: A

REF: 121

LO: 7, 8

 

39. Numerous studies have shown that measures of crime based on police records often suffer from:

1. reliability problems
2. validity problems
3. accounting problems
4. typology problems

ANS: A

REF: 136

LO: 7, 8

 

 

40. Validating an individual measure to compare it with alternative measures of the same concept is known as:

1. content validity
2. multiple measures
3. construct validity
4. criterion-related validity

ANS: B

REF: 141-142

LO: 9

 

41. Composite measures are frequently used in criminal justice research for all of the following reasons except:

1. in some cases the researcher is unable to develop single indicators of complex concepts
2. the researcher may desire to use a rather refined ordinal measure of a variable, arranging cases in several ordinal categories from very low to very high on a variable
3. indexes and scales are efficient devices for data analysis
4. the researcher is seeking a method for measuring disorder and composite measures are the only allowable measure

ANS: D

REF: 145

LO: 10

 

42. What type of variable allows you to arrange attributes from greater than to less than, but does not allow you to tell how much greater or how much less than one attribute is from another?
43. nominal
44. ordinal
45. interval
46. ratio

ANS: B

REF: 133

LO: 6

 

43. Which of the following variables allows for attributes to be placed on a continuum with equal distance between points?
44. nominal and ordinal
45. ordinal and interval
46. interval and ratio
47. all of the above

ANS: C

REF: 133

LO: 6

 

 

44. An example of direct observables are:
45. individual values
46. are mandatory sentences fair
47. the words in a crime report
48. all of the above

ANS: C

REF: 123

LO: 1, 2

 

45. A definition that spells out exactly how we plan to measure a variable is known as:
46. operational definition
47. measurement
48. concept
49. conceptualization

ANS: A

REF: 127

LO: 2

 

46. What is the main distinction between measurement and operationalization?
47. measurement involves actually making observations and assigning scores to those observations
48. operationalization involves actually making observations and assigning scores to those observations
49. the operationalization process starts much earlier, usually with conceptualization
50. there is not a difference between the terms

ANS: A

REF: 127-129

LO: 3

 

47. When a supervisor for a survey contacts a subset of the respondents to verify certain information, it is an example of:
48. lack of generalizability
49. interrater reliability
50. split-half method
51. construct validity

ANS: B

REF: 138

LO: 7, 8

 

 

48. The study of food-buying habits where researchers were interested in learning whether people who drank wine ate healthier foods than people who drank beer—is a good example of:

1. research exhaustiveness
2. face validity
3. interrater reliability
4. split-half method

ANS: B

REF: 139-140

LO: 7

 

49. In general, whenever researchers are concerned that measures obtained through coding may not be classified reliably, they should:

1. have each measure independently coded by different people
2. not obtain measures through coding
3. perform split-half method test
4. perform an interrater reliability test

ANS: A

REF: 138

LO: 7

 

50. A questionnaire contained the item “social class” with responses of lower class, lower middle class, middle class, upper middle class, upper class. The researcher asks respondents to check the one that describes them. The researcher is using this question to measure:
51. direct observables
52. indirect observables
53. constructs
54. nominal variables

ANS: B

REF: 123

LO: 2

 

51. Which of the following best represents the abstract “reliability”?
52. a measure adequately reflects the meaning of the concept
53. a measure does not adequately reflect the underling concept
54. the measure is stable
55. the measure is unstable

ANS: C

REF: 136

LO: 7, 8

 

 

52. Which of the following represents problems for reliability?
53. any time you have a single observer as the source of data
54. use of different interviewers during the course of a research project
55. there are different coders used to evaluate the data
56. all of the above

ANS: D

REF: 136

LO: 7,8

 

53. If we consider the theft of $20 from a poor person to be more serious than the theft of $2,000 from a wealthy oil company CEO, victim wealth, in this case, could be considered a(n):

1. influencing attribute
2. mitigating circumstance
3. dimension
4. indicator

ANS: C

REF: 124

LO: 2

 

54. Which of the following statements is not correct?
55. a measure is valid if it truly measures the underlying concept
56. a measure is reliable if it is observable over time
57. a measure is reliable if it is constant
58. both validity and reliability are important in a measure

ANS: B

REF: 136-139

LO: 5

 

55. The design and execution of criminal justice research requires eliminating the confusion over concepts and reality. To accomplish this, scientists have found it useful to distinguish three kinds of definitions: real, conceptual, and:

1. apparent
2. operational
3. congruent
4. altruistic

ANS: B

REF: 125

LO: 2

 

 

56. If a researcher is concerned with combining variables to result in a different composite measure, the researcher is using what technique?
57. typology
58. validity
59. operationalization
60. reliability

ANS: A

REF: 144

LO: 10

 

57. A researcher has measured fear of crime by asking the subjects whether or not they were afraid of crime and by asking them to rate from 1 – 10 their own fear of crime. Which is the highest level of measurement that is illustrated by this example?
58. nominal
59. ordinal
60. interval
61. ratio

ANS: B

REF: 133

LO: 6

 

58. With respect to levels of measurement which of the following is not correct?
59. a variable measured at the ratio level can also be measured at the ordinal level
60. a variable measured at the interval level can also be measured at the nominal level
61. a variable measured at the ordinal level can also be measured at the interval level
62. a variable measured at the ordinal level can also be measured at the nominal level

ANS: C

REF: 133

LO: 6

 

59. Which of the following is an attribute of the variable “employment status”?
60. unemployed
61. minimum wage
62. number of employees
63. all the above

ANS: A

REF: 132

LO: 3

 

 

60. In research, the process of regarding something as real (such as crime seriousness) when it is not is called:
61. reification
62. validity
63. typology
64. reliability

ANS: A

REF: 125

LO: 2

 

 

COMPLETION

 

1. Measurement is difficult and ________________, therefore researchers try to describe the measurement process explicitly.

ANS: imprecise

REF: 121

LO: 8

 

2. Words are symbols in language that we use to represent mental images are known as ____________.

ANS: concepts

REF: 121

LO: 2

 

3. _________________is the process by which we specify precisely what we mean when we use a particular term.

ANS: Conceptualization

REF: 123

LO: 1, 2

 

4. Specifying the different ____________ of a concept often paves the way for a more sophisticated understanding of what we are studying.

ANS: dimensions

REF: 124

LO: 2

 

5. The process of regarding as real things that are not is called _____________.

ANS: reification

REF: 125

LO: 2

 

 

6. A definition that spells out precisely how the concept will be measured is known as _______________.

ANS: operational definition

REF: 127

LO: 2

 

7. The conceptualization and operationalization processes can be seen as the specification of variables and the _____________ composing them.

ANS: attributes

REF: 127-129

LO: 3

 

8. Variables whose attributes have only the characteristics of exhaustiveness and mutual exclusiveness are _______________________ measures.

ANS: nominal

REF: 132

LO: 5

 

9. _________________________is a matter of whether a particular measurement technique, applied repeatedly to the same object, will yield the same result each time.

ANS: Reliability

REF: 136

LO: 7

 

10. Reliability does not ensure ______________ any more than precision ensures it.

ANS: accuracy

REF: 136

LO: 7, 9

 

11. The ________________ method lays the groundwork for a check on reliability in regards to making multiple measures of the same complex concept.

ANS: split half

REF: 138-139

LO: 7

 

12. ________________ validity refers to particular empirical measures that may or may not accurately reflect the common agreements on concepts.

ANS: Face

REF: 139-140

LO: 7

 

 

13. Content validity refers to the degree to which a measure covers the range of meanings included within the _____________.

ANS: concept

REF: 141

LO: 7

 

14. Combining ___________________ measures often produces more valid and reliable indicators.

ANS: individual

REF: 135

LO: 10

 

15. Researchers combine _________________ in different ways to produce different composite measures.

ANS: variables

REF: 142

LO: 10

 

 

ESSAY QUESTIONS

 

1. Identify the four levels of measurement and give examples of each.

 

2. For each of the following variables, give its level of measurement and whether the variable is discrete or continuous.

 

a.________________ ________________ verdict at trial

 

b.________________ ________________ gender of victim

 

c.________________ ________________ age of offender

 

d.________________ ________________ violent offender

 

e.________________ ________________ ranks in a police department

 

3. Discuss the threat to validity. Cover the following threats: face, content, criterion-related, and construct.

 

4. Discuss the measures used to insure reliability: test-retest method, inter-rater, and split-half method.

 

5. Use an example from criminal justice and create an index.