Criminal Justice Research Methods
Independent: Types of meals eaten
2. What is the population in the above hypothesis?
People over 65 years old.
3. When one creates an operational definition of a variable, what is the most important question one should ask other than can a reasonable person follow the instructions accurately?
Does the measurement accurately measure the values of the underlying variable?
4. Give a very precise definition of what a scientist mans by an operational definition using the words “variable” and “value” in your answer properly:
An operational definition defines how a concept will be measured; the concept is assigned a numerical value and by being operationalized is now a variable.
5. In what section of a research proposal is a working hypothesis suppose to appear and what topic is it most likely to follow?
Section: Methods
6. What are the three key elements found in a good introduction to a research paper?
1. A lead in
7. In what section of a proposal is a theoretical hypothesis supposed to appear and what topic is it most likely to follow? (READ QUESTION VERY CAREFULLY THAT CONTAINT THE WORD FOLLOW)
Section: Theoretical Literature Review
8. At the theoretical level, what two things is one attempting to establish in a good literature review?
1. The theoretical lit. review explains why your 2 variables may or may not be related.
9. What must be present in a good title and how many of them are required?
1. An independent and dependent variable (and possibly a populations).
10. At the empirical level, name the three most important things or ideas that one is attempting to locate in a literature review that might be incorporated in your methodology section?
1. Measurement
11. What are the two test of whether or not a research topic meets the requirement of being “important”?
1. Contributes to theoretical based knowledge
OR
1. The research is for knowledge’s sake
12. What is the difference in the goals of applied and pure research?
Applied research: Has pragmatic implications, concerned with solving immediate problems.
13. Identify the independent variable and the dependent variable in the following hypothesis: There exists a direct relationship between the severity of sentencing of felons and the magnitude of the court’s backlog of cases during any month for felons convicted of robbery
Independent: Magnitude of court’s backlog
14. What level of measurement is the independent variable and the dependent variable in the above hypothesis? (Sentences may include probation jail & prison).
LOM Independent: Ratio
What is the unit of analysis in the above hypothesis?
One month
CJ 3170
NOTE: The answers that I wrote down during midterm review were what I believed to be the right answers. They are not necessarily all mine, but instead are what I believed to be the best answer stated during the review.
1. What is the independent and the dependent variable in the following hypothesis? People over 65 years old who eat balanced meals will have significantly less health problems involving their immune systems than people who do not. (Note: be careful once you have identified each variable to write in a form that reflects a variable instead of a constant, ie., type of x, amount of x, etc.)
Dependent: Health problems
Follows: Operational Definition
2. The hypothesis
3. A statement on why the paper will be useful/important
Follows: The Introduction
2. The theoretical lit. review gives theories that support or oppose your hypothesis.
2. At least one of each
2. Sampling/Design
3. Strengths and Weaknesses
2. Has immediate pragmatic operation
2. The research is for a specific purpose.
Pure research: Contributes to theoretical knowledge for the sake of science or the development of the field.
Dependent: Severity of sentencing
LOM Dependent: Interval/ration
What I feel like right now.