CHAPTER 4 TEST BANK
Concepts, Operationalization, and Measurement
TRUE/FALSE
1. Conceptualization is the process by which we specify precisely what we mean when we
use particular terms.
Answer: True
2. To be scientifically useful, the attributes of every variable should be exhaustive as well as
mutually exclusive.
Answer: True
3. Ordinal measures are variables whose attributes may be logically rank-ordered.
Answer: True
4. If a measure is reliable, you are measuring what you think you are measuring.
Answer: False
5. Validity refers to the degree to which every observation can be classified in terms of one
and only one attribute.
Answer: False
6. Crimes must, at a minimum, have an offender, because without an offender there is no
crime.
Answer: True
7. In the measurement of crime, single incident cannot include multiple offenses, but may
have one offense and multiple offenders.
Answer: False
8. The UCR accounts for all types of crime, even those crimes that are not observed.
Answer: False
9. NIBRS reports each crime incident rather than the total number of certain crimes.
Answer: True
10. Loeber’s “dynamic classification of offenders” is a typology.
Answer: True
MULTIPLE CHOICE
1. A researcher is developing a measure of the impact of living in high-crime neighborhoods
and, in assessing its reliability administers it to the same people on two occasions several
weeks apart. The researcher is assessing ____ reliability.
a. test-retest
b. inter-rater
c. split-half
d. face
Answer: A
2. An empirical measure that adequately reflects the meaning of the concept under
consideration is said to have ____.
a. reliability
b. validity
c. accuracy
d. exhaustiveness
Answer: B
3. A measure that corresponds well to the common understanding of the concept that is being
measured is said to have ____ validity.
a. criterion-related
b. inter-rater
c. predictive
d. face
Answer: D
4. A researcher is developing a scale to reflect satisfaction with police services. Which
activity will yield an indication of the new scale’s criterion-related validity?
a. comparing scores on the new scale of satisfaction to scores on an established scale of
satisfaction
b. asking experts in the field whether it looks like it measures satisfaction
c. comparing scores on the first half of the scale to scores on the second half
d. determining whether the scale fits logically into relationships among variables related to
satisfaction
Answer: A
5. A researcher is developing a scale to reflect satisfaction with police services. Which
activity will yield an indication of the new scale’s construct validity?
a. comparing scores on the new scale of satisfaction to scores on an established scale of
satisfaction
b. asking experts in the field whether it looks like it measures satisfaction
c. comparing scores on the first half of the scale to scores on the second half
d. determining whether the scale fits logically into relationships among variables related to
satisfaction
Answer: D
6. The age of an offender is an example of the ____ level of measurement?
a. interval
b. nominal
c. ratio
d. ordinal
Answer: C
7. A researcher who wants to know a measure is consistent or stable is interested in ____.
a. accuracy
b. reliability
c. precision
d. validity
Answer: B
8. Concepts are _____.
a. empirical measurements
b. variables
c. mental images
d. hypotheses
Answer: C
9. A researcher wants to measure attitudes towards gun control by asking people whether
they would be worried about traveling to areas where there are known to be a lot of illegal
guns. Critics argue that the conceptualization does not really look as though it is related to
attitudes about gun control, in other words, that it lacks ____ validity.
a. face
b. construct
c. convergent
d. criterion-related
Answer: A
10. What might be a useful indicator of the dimension “victim harm”?
a. economic gain
b. gender of victim
c. physical injury
d. gender of offender
Answer: C
11. The production report generated at the city police department contains the number of
arrests made by each officer on a monthly basis. The number of arrests would be what level
of measurement?
a. nominal
b. ordinal
c. interval
d. ratio
Answer: D
12. Ranks used to describe the hierarchy in a police department represent the ____ level of
measurement.
a. nominal
b. ordinal
c. interval
d. ratio
Answer: B
13. 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 ____.
a. operations
b. concepts
c. observations
d. measurements
Answer: B
14. A conceptual definition ____.
a. focuses our observational strategy
b. directly produces observations
c. states the essential nature of some entity
d. sets the level of measurement
Answer: A
15. A specifiable aspect of a given concept is referred to as a(n) ____.
a. dimension
b. concept
c. construct
d. observable
Answer: A
16. When a professor assigns grades, the professor is engaging in ____.
a. measurement
b. operationalization
c. conceptualization
d. validity
Answer: A
17. Logical sets of attributes are known as ____.
a. values
b. variables
c. concepts
d. operationalizations
Answer: B
18. The primary difference between the interval and the ratio level of variables is that ____.
a. interval is rarely used
b. with ratio, there is an absolute meaning of zero
c. with interval, there is an absolute meaning of zero
d. ratio level is on a true zero point, while interval level is not
Answer: D
19. To have scientific utility, a variable should be ____.
a. meaningful and valuable
b. exhaustive and thorough
c. exhaustive and mutually exclusive
d. operational definition and meaning
Answer: C
20. The test-retest method is used to examine ____.
a. reliability
b. validity
c. generalizability
d. precision
Answer: A
21. Validity that is related to the logical relationships between variables is known as ____
validity.
a. criterion-related
b. face
c. convergent
d. construct
Answer: D
22. A researcher asks participants to indicate how frequently they have used various illicit
drugs using the following scale: 1 = never used; 2 = used 1 – 5 times; 3 = used 6 – 10 times; 4
= used more than ten times. This scale is best described as ____ level.
a. nominal
b. ordinal
c. interval
d. ratio
Answer: B
23. What level of measurement 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?
a. nominal
b. ordinal
c. interval
d. ratio
Answer: B
24. Which levels of measurement allow for attributes to be placed on a continuum with equal
distance between points?
a. nominal and ordinal
b. ordinal and interval
c. interval and ratio
d. ordinal, interval, and ratio
Answer: C
25. Two observers watch the same child on the playground and rate the amount of aggression
shown by the child using a standardized instrument. Comparison of the observers’ scores will
measure ____.
a. face validity
b. interrater reliability
c. split-half reliability
d. construct validity
Answer: B
26. Which report is a summary-based measure of crime?
a. UCR
b. NCVS
c. NIBRS
d. NSDUH
Answer: A
27. Since its inception, the ____ has served as a measure to monitor the volume of crime,
including crimes not reported to police.
a. UCR
b. NCVS
c. NIBRS
d. NSDUH
Answer: B
28. The NVCS is based on a nationally representative sample of _____.
a. arrests
b. offenders
c. households
d. types of crime
Answer: C
29. The ____ provides nationally-representative data on the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other
drugs.
a. UCR
b. NCVS
c. NIBRS
d. NSDUH
Answer: D
30. _____ are produced by the intersection of two or more variables to create a set of
categories.
a. Indexes
b. Typologies
c. Matrices
d. Clusters
Answer: B
COMPLETION
1. Mental images that we represent with words or symbols are known as _______________.
Answer: concepts
2. _______________ is the process by which we specify precisely what we mean when we
use a particular term.
Answer: Conceptualization
3. Specifying the different _______________ of a concept often paves the way for a more
sophisticated understanding of what we are studying.
Answer: dimensions
4. Variables whose attributes have only the characteristics of exhaustiveness and mutual
exclusiveness are _______________ level measures.
Answer: nominal
5. _______________ is a matter of whether a particular measurement technique, applied
repeatedly to the same object, will yield the same result each time.
Answer: Reliability
6. _______________ validity refers to whether a measure accurately reflects the common
agreements on concepts.
Answer: Face
7. A definition that says exactly how a concept will be measured is a(n) _______________
definition.
Answer: operational
8. The _______________ is an effort to convert the UCR to a more comprehensive crime
report.
Answer: NIBRS; National Incident-Based Reporting System
9. A(n) _______________ is produced by the intersection of two or more variables to create a
set of categories.
Answer: Typology
10. A(n) _______________ measure combines multiple indicators to yield a single measure.
Answer: composite
Test Bank for Basics of Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology
Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie
9781305261105, 9781111346911
