CHAPTER 3 TEST BANK
General Issues in Research Design
TRUE/FALSE
1. The pillars of science are logic and rationality.
Answer: False
2. In grounded theory, observations rarely contribute to theory development.
Answer: False
3. Longitudinal studies are designed to permit intensive observations over a short period of
time.
Answer: False
4. Explanatory scientific research centers on the notion of cause and effect.
Answer: True
5. Most explanatory social research uses a probabilistic model of causation.
Answer: True
6. Individuals may be units of analysis in criminal justice research.
Answer: True
7. When scientists consider whether causal statements are true or false, they are concerned
with the validity of causal inference.
Answer: True
8. Ecological fallacy refers to the dangers of making assertions about large groups as the units
of analysis based upon examination of individuals.
Answer: False
9. Cross-sectional studies are those based on observations made at one time.
Answer: True
10. Scientific realism bridges idiographic and nomothetic approaches to explanation by
seeking to understand how causal mechanisms operate in specific contexts..
Answer: True
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. The two essentials of science are ____.
a. correlation and causality
b. induction and deduction
c. idiographics and nomothetics
d. logic and observation
Answer: D Foundations of Social Science
2. The scientific criteria for causality include ____.
a. a correlation between the cause and the effect
b. the effect preceding the cause in time
c. the effect being caused by some third variable
d. a cause that is not probabilistic
Answer: A
3. When saying validity is "the approximate truth of an inference,” the emphasis is on ____.
a. truth
b. approximate
c. inference
d. validity
Answer: B
4. When we say something is valid, we make a judgment about the extent to which relevant
evidence supports that inference as being ____.
a. reliable
b. probable
c. true or correct
d. interesting
Answer: C
5. A scientific realist approach to examining mechanisms in context bridges ____.
a. dependent and independent variables
b. idiographic and nomothetic approaches to causation
c. truth and reality
d. sample and population differences
Answer: B
6. Traditional approaches to finding cause and effect usually try to isolate causal mechanisms
from other possible influences while the scientific realist approach views these other possible
influences as ____.
a. deviations
b. causal mechanisms
c. contexts
d. true causes
Answer: C
7. Suppose a researcher describes the age, race, and gender distributions for people who are
charged with shoplifting. The unit of analysis is ____.
a. individuals
b. demographic groups
c. arrest records
d. stores at which shoplifting occurs
Answer: A
8. Suppose a researcher wants to understand why some stores have higher rates of shoplifting
than do others and looks at the relationship between rates of shoplifting for particular stores
and the characteristics of the stores (e.g., what is sold there, the type of neighborhood,
staffing levels, etc.). In this case, the unit of analysis is ____.
a. individuals
b. demographic groups
c. arrest records
d. stores at which shoplifting occurs
Answer: D
9. A researcher using social artifacts as the unit of analysis might be studying ____.
a. newspaper editorials
b. probation officers
c. students
d. professors
Answer: A
10. A researcher is interested in how criminality is related to age and a large number of
individuals of different ages at one point in time. This is a ____ study.
a. trend
b. cohort
c. panel
d. cross-sectional
Answer: D
11. A major Midwestern university does annual surveys of its alumni. These surveys are
designed to gauge the attitudes that alumni hold about the university, its academic programs,
and the major team sports. These surveys have been an annual event for the last two decades
and represent which type of study?
a. cohort study
b. panel study
c. trend study
d. cross-sectional study
Answer: C
12. Marvin Wolfgang’s study of males born in Philadelphia in 1945 was an attempt to
measure delinquency by following those males from their 10th birthday until they were 18.
This is an example of what type of study?
a. cohort study
b. panel study
c. trend study
d. cross-sectional study
Answer: A
13. Which type of study attempts to account for errors in drawing a sample by measuring the
same people on two or more occasions?
a. cohort study
b. panel study
c. trend study
d. cross-sectional study
Answer: B
14. Which type of study would serve as a “snapshot” of a phenomenon at a single point in
time?
a. panel study
b. cross-sectional study
c. cohort study
d. trend study
Answer: B
15. Which pair refers to whether an explanation seeks to explain a particular event or a class
of events?
a. idiographic and nomothetic
b. inductive and deductive
c. quantitative and qualitative
d. social and cultural
Answer: A
16. A study of violence in children’s programming requires counting the number of violent
acts in Saturday morning cartoons for an entire year. The unit of analysis being used for this
project is the ____.
a. social artifact
b. individual
c. group
d. organization
Answer: A
17. Units of analysis are typically also the units of ____.
a. observation
b. inference
c. interaction
d. deduction
Answer: A
18. A researcher studies community-level arson rates in relation to economic indicators such
as household income, poverty, and unemployment. The researcher finds that communities
with higher arson rates have higher poverty and unemployment rates and lower household
income. The researcher concluded that unemployed people are more likely to commit arson
than are those who are employed. What error was just committed?
a. the ecological fallacy
b. reductionism
c. using the wrong time dimension
d. an internal validity threat
Answer: A
19. Which unit of analysis is a social artifact?
a. citizen attitudes about the death penalty
b. editorials in the New York Times
c. cities with over 250,000 inhabitants
d. months of the year
Answer: B
20. A survey distributed on a college campus discovered that males support the death penalty
in greater numbers than do females. The units of analysis in this case would be ____.
a. social artifacts
b. groups
c. organizations
d. individuals
Answer: D
21. The ____ is a panel study.
a. National Incident-based Reporting System
b. U.S. Census
c. National Crime Victimization Survey
d. Uniform Crime Reports
Answer: C
22. What type of research is characterized by the direct observation of events as they actually
occur?
a. field
b. grounded
c. cohort
d. idiographic
Answer: A
23. Which study design would allow a researcher to measure change in a general population
over time?
a. trend study
b. cohort study
c. panel study
d. cross-sectional study
Answer: A
24. Data analysis looks for patterns in what is ____.
a. proved
b. observed
c. hypothesized
d. assumed
Answer: B
25. After reading current research on the causes of juvenile crime and noting that lack of
opportunity, school failure, and parental neglect are often prominently mentioned, you have
trouble reconciling what you read with what your personal experience. You think in
particular of someone you went to high school with who, despite coming from a well-
educated, wealthy family, being a star student and athlete, and having very attentive parents,
carried out a series of burglaries and arsons. This illustrates the ____ fallacy.
a. individualistic
b. ecological
c. observational
d. personal
Answer: A
26. The relationship between attributes and variables lies at the heart of ____.
a. both science and mathematics
b. publishing your outcomes
c. units of analysis
d. both description and explanation in science
Answer: D
27. If a cross-sectional study can be likened to a “snapshot,” and a trend study to a “slide
show,” then which study is most like a “motion picture?”
a. trend study
b. retrospective study
c. prospective study
d. panel study
Answer: D
28. What unit of analysis is being used in the following statement? “An enormous variation
of deviant activities was represented in a sample of 1,485 news items. We categorized these
deviant activities into five general types of analysis: violence, economic, political,
ideological/cultural and diversionary.”
a. individuals
b. social artifacts
c. organizations
d. groups
Answer: B
29. In an examination of violent crime among the most populous nations in the world, the
United States ranks very high along with England, France, and Australia. The chance of
being raped is higher in France than in the United States. What units of analysis are being
used?
a. individuals
b. organizations
c. social artifacts
d. groups
Answer: D
30. A researcher studying rates of psychiatric disorders among inmates as a function of
institutional security level finds that the highest-security prisons have the highest rates of
psychiatric disorders. The unit of analysis is ____.
a. individuals
b. organizations
c. social artifacts
d. groups
Answer: B
COMPLETION
1. According to your text, causation, units of analysis, and _______________ are key
considerations in planning a research study.
Answer: Time
2. Research that asks people to recall their pasts is called _______________ research.
Answer: retrospective
3. The two pillars of science are logic and _______________.
Answer: observation
4. Scientists assess the truth of statements about cause by considering threats to
________________.
Answer: validity See; Differing Avenues for Inquiry
5. A(n) _______________ is a structure that is intended to represent or model something
about the world.
Answer: Theory
6. Theories describe _______________ that might logically be expected among variables.
Answer: relationships
7. _______________ reasoning moves from the specific to the general, from a set of
particular observations to the discovery of a pattern that represents some degree of order
among the varied events under examination.
Answer: Inductive
8. When someone tries to come to conclusions about an individual based on group-level data,
the _______________ is being committed.
Answer: ecological fallacy
9. Types of longitudinal studies include trend, panel, and _______________ studies.
Answer: cohort
10. In _______________ studies, data are gathered at a single point in time.
Answer: cross-sectional
Test Bank for Basics of Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology
Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie
9781305261105, 9781111346911
