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Ideas in Justice
Research in Criminal Justice
65
Criminal Justice
Undergraduate 4
05/09/2013

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Cards

Term
deceptive research
Definition
Defining and describing social phenomena of interest is a part of almost any research
investigation
Term
descriptive reseach
Definition
the primary focus of many studies of youth crime and violence
Term
exploratory reseach
Definition
seeks to find out how people get along in the setting under question
Term
explanatory research
Definition
seeks to identify causes and effects of phenomena and predicts how one phemonenon will change or vary in response to variation in some other phenomenon
Term
evaluation research
Definition
determines the affect of a social program or other type of intervention
Term
true experiments must have 3 things..
Definition

1. two groups (one receiving the experiment/intervention and the other is not)

2. the groups must be made randomly

3. assessment of the change in the outcome

Term
quasi-experimental designs vs. true experiments
Definition
quasi-experimental designs lack on of the 3 factors in a true experiment
Term
participant observation
Definition
developing a sustained relationship with the people while they go about their normal lives
Term
secondary data analysis
Definition
the reassessing of data that has already been collected
Term
crime mapping
Definition
examining a relationship between criminal activity and other social indicators
Term
triangulation
Definition

-combinging methodologies to answer a research question

-the use of two or more different measures of the same variable

Term
quantitative methods
Definition

-record variation in social life in terms of categories that vary in amount

-numbers or attributes that can be ordered in terms of magnitude

Term
qualitative methods
Definition

-designed to capture social life as participants experience it

-mostly written or spoken words that do not have a direct numerical interpretation

Term
criminalogical research question
Definition
a question about some aspect of crime and/or criminals that you seek answer through the collection and analysis of first hand, verifiable, empirical data
Term
theoretical construct
Definition
describe what is important to look at to understand, explain, predict and "do something about" crime
Term
deductive reasoning
Definition

moves from general ideas to specific reality

-theory --> data

Term
inductive reasoning
Definition

moves from specific to general

- data --> theories

Term
hypothesis
Definition
a tentative statement about empirical reality, involving a relationship between two or more variables
Term
independent variable
Definition
a variable that is hypothesized to cause or lead to variation in another variable
Term
dependent variable
Definition
a variable that is hypothesized to vary depending on the influence of another variable
Term
positive relationship
Definition
when both variables move in the same direction
Term
negative relationship
Definition
when the variables move in opposite directions
Term
3 aspects of validity
Definition

1. measurement validity

2. generalizability

2. causal validity (internal validity)

Term
measurement validity
Definition
when a measure measures what we think it measures
Term
generalizability
Definition
when a conclusion holds true for the population, group, setting, or event that we say it does, given the conditions that we specify
Term
causal validity (internal validity)
Definition
when a conclusion that A leads to or results in B is correct
Term
authenticity
Definition
when the understanding of a social process or social setting is one that reflects fairly the various perspectives of participants in that setting
Term
what 3 ethical principals for the protections of human subjects did the Belmont Report bring?
Definition

1. respect for persons - treating persons as autonomous agents

2. beneficence - minimize possible harms and maximize benefits

3. justice - distributing benefits and risk of research fairly

Term
positivism
Definition
The belief, shared by most scientists, that there is a reality that exists quite apart from our
own perception of it, although our knowledge of this reality may never be complete
Term
intersubject agreement
Definition
An agreement by different observers on what is happening in the natural or social world
Term
postpositivism
Definition
The belief that there is an empirical reality but that our understanding of it is limited by
its complexity and by the biases and other limitations of researchers
Term
interpretivism
Definition
The belief that reality is socially constructed and that the goal of social scientists is
to understand what meanings people give to that reality.
Term
constructivist paradigm
Definition
A perspective that emphasizes how different stakeholders in social settings construct their beliefs
Term
Conceptualization
Definition

The process of specifying what we mean by a term

 

- in deductive research, conceptualization helps translate portions of an abstract theory into testable hypotheses involving specific variables.

-n inductive research, conceptualization is an important part ofthe process used to make sense of related observations

Term
Operation
Definition

The procedure for actually measuring the concepts we intend to measure, identifying the value

of a variable for each case.

Term
Operationalization
Definition

The process of specifying the operations that will indicate the value ofa variable for

each case.

Term
Measurement validity
Definition
The extent to which measures indicate what they are intended to measure.
Term
face validity
Definition
whether it appears to measure what it intends
Term
content validity
Definition
the measure covers the full range ofthe concept’s meaning
Term
criterion validity
Definition
when the scores obtained on one measure can be accurately compared to those obtained with a more direct or already validated measure ofthe same phenomenon
Term
construct validity
Definition

a measure is related to a variety ofother

measures as specifiedin atheory.

Term
reliability
Definition
A measure is reliable when it yields consistent scores or observations of a given phenomenon on different occasions. Reliability is a prerequisite for measurement validity.
Term
Dichotomies
Definition
variables having only two values
Term
sample
Definition
subset of the population
Term
sampling frame
Definition
the list, from which elements of the population are selected
Term
Sample generalizability
Definition
refers to the ability to generalize from a sample, or subset, of a larger population to that population itself.
Term
Cross-population generalizability
Definition
refers to the ability to generalize from findings about one group, population, or setting to other groups, populations, or settings
Term
representative sample
Definition
of the population for which the generalizations are sought
Term
unit of analysis
Definition
the unit under study
Term
systematic random sampling
Definition

the first element is selected randomly from a list

or from sequential files, and then every nth element is systematically selected thereafter

Term
stratified random sampling
Definition

-uses information known about the total population prior to sampling to make the sampling process more efficient. -First, all elements in the population are distinguished according to their value on some relevant characteristic, which forms the sampling strata.

-Next, elements are sampled randomly from within these strata. 

Term
cluster
Definition

is a naturally occurring, mixed

aggregate of elements of the population, with each element appearing in one and only one cluster

Term
snowball sampling
Definition

you identify one member ofthe population and speakto him or her, then ask

thatperson to identify others in the population and speakto them, then askthem to identify others, and

so on

Term
ecological fallacy
Definition

conclusions about individual-level processes from group-level data

 

Term
Causal effect (nomothetic perspective)
Definition
When variation in one phenomenon, an independent variable, leads to or results, on average, in variation in another phenomenon, the dependent variable.
Term
Causal effect (idiographic perspective)
Definition
When a series of concrete events, thoughts, or actions result in a particular event or individual outcome.
Term
Nonspuriousness
Definition
is a relationship between two variables that is not due to variation in a third variable
Term
spurious relationship
Definition
when the third variable (extrenious) affects the independent and depended variable
Term
true experiments must have these 3 things
Definition

1. Two comparison groups, one receiving the experimental condition and the other receiving no treatment 

2. Random assignment to the two (or more) comparison groups.

3. Assessment of change in the dependent variable for both groups after the experimental

condition has been received.

Term
field experiments
Definition
Whenever a method utilizes the conditions of an experimental method in a real world setting
Term
cross sectional design
Definition
all data and research is collected at one point in time
Term
longitudinal design
Definition
data is collected at more than one point in time
Term
Repeated cross-sectional design (trend study)
Definition
A type of longitudinal study in which data are collected at two or more points in time from different samples of the same population
Term
sampling fatigue
Definition

Panel members may grow weary of repeated interviews and drop out of the study, or they

may become so used to answering the standard questions in the survey that they start giving stock

answers rather than actually thinking about their current feelings or actions

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