Date post: | 07-Aug-2015 |
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The Exam
Is worth 15% of your gradeWill include:
- 40 multiple choice questions - 3 short answer questions
How to ask Questions
Open-ended Respondent is asked to provide his or her own
answer Produces narrative data
Closed-ended Respondent selects an answer from a list Choices should be exhaustive and mutually
exclusive Produces data that can be readily processed
Guidelines for Asking Questions
Make items clear – avoid ambiguous questions; do not ask “double-barreled” questions
Short items are best – respondents like to read and answer a question quickly
Avoid negative items – leads to misinterpretation
Avoid biased items and terms – do not ask questions that encourage a certain answer
Avoid terms that have bad associations
Questionnaire Construction
General questionnaire format – critical, must be laid out properly
Matrix questions – same set of answer categories used by multiple questions
Contingency questions – relevant only to some respondents – answered only based on their previous response
Ordering Questions
Ordering may affect the answers givenEstimate the effect of question orderPerhaps devise more than one versionDepending on whether it is in-person, or via
mail, internet etc. Begin with most interesting questions End with less interesting, demographic
data
Self-Administered Questionnaires
Can be home-delivered Researcher delivers questionnaire to home of
respondent, explains the study, and then comes back later
Mailed (sent and returned) survey is most common Researchers must reduce the trouble it takes to
return a questionnaire
Warning Mailings and Cover Letters
Used to increase response ratesWarning mailings – “address correction
requested” card sent out to determine incorrect addresses and to “warn” residents to expect questionnaire in mail
Cover letters – detail why survey is being conducted, why respondent was selected, why is it important to complete questionnaire
Follow-ups to mail surveys increase response rates
Survey Research
Surveys are best suited for studies that have individuals as their units of analysis
Strengths: Surveys tend to be high on reliability and
generalizability, but validity can often be a weak point Surveys useful in describing characteristics of large
population
Survey Research
Weaknesses Standardized questionnaire items often
represent the least common denominator in assessing people’s attitudes, orientations, circumstances, and experiences
Surveys often appear superficial in their coverage of complex topics
Difficult populations are hard to contact through customary sampling methods
Generally weaker on validity and stronger on reliability
Subject to recall error Social desirability may be a problem
What is Field Research?
Field research is usually associated with qualitative data
It encompasses two different methods of obtaining data: Direct observation Asking questions
Often no precisely defined hypotheses to be tested
Used to make sense out of an ongoing process
Questions related to field research tend to be ‘How?’ and ‘Why?’
Characteristics of Qualitative Research
Context is criticalIn-depth and detailedResearcher immerses self in data Bias is recognizedInductive rather than deductive (bottom up)Data are interpreted rather than analyzed
Roles of the Observer in Field Research
Full participant (e.g., a participant in a demonstration against stop and frisk)
Participant as observer (e.g., Perrone’s research on drug use in New York dance clubs)
Observer as participant (e.g., observational studies of the police)
Complete observer (e.g., research in a courtroom setting, or setting that is open to the public)
Recording Observations
Note-taking, tape recording when interviewing and when making observations (dictation device)
Videotaping or photographs can make records of “before” and “after” some physical design change
Field notes – observations are recorded as written notes, often in a field journal; first take sketchy notes and then rewrite your notes in detail
Structured observations – observers mark closed-ended forms, which produce numeric measures
Strengths and Weaknesses of Field Research
Strengths:Provides great depth of understandingFlexibility (no need to prepare much in
advance)More appropriate to measure behavior than
surveysHigh on validityWeaknesses:Low on reliability – often very personalGeneralizability – personal nature may
produce findings that may not be replicated by another
Precise probability samples can’t normally be drawn
Agency Records
Published Statistics – government organizations routinely collect and publish compilations of data (e.g., NCVS, Census Bureau, BJS; often available in libraries and online
Nonpublic Agency Records – agencies produce data not routinely released (e.g., police departments, courthouses, correctional facilities)
New Data Collected by Agency Staff – collected for specific research purposes; less costly than collecting the data yourself and more control
Agency records are often used for descriptive studies
Problems with Reliability and Validity
Virtually all criminal justice record keeping is a social process – “social production of data” Records reflect decisions made by CJ personnel as well as
actual behavior by juveniles and adults Discretion factors in keeping records
Criminal justice organizations are often more interested in keeping track of individual cases than in examining patterns
Potential for clerical errors due to volume of dataUsers of data series collected over time must be
especially carefulImperative that you understand how the data were
collected
Secondary Data Analysis
Sources – websites (BJS, NCVS, ICPSR, NACJD), libraries
Advantages Cheaper Faster Benefit from work of skilled researchers
Disadvantages Data may not be appropriate to your research
question Not useful for evaluation studies (which are designed
to answer specific questions about specific programs) Threats to validity
Content Analysis
Systematic study of messages – can be applied to virtually any form of communication Decide on operational definitions of key variables Decide what to watch, read, listen to & time frame of
documents Analyze collected data
Well-suited to answer “Who says what, to whom, why, how, and with what effect?”
Content Analysis
Systematic study of messages – can be applied to virtually any form of communication Decide on operational definitions of key variables Decide what to watch, read, listen to & time
frame of documents Analyze collected data
Well-suited to answer “Who says what, to whom, why, how, and with what effect?”
Examines content and meaning
Content Analysis
Essentially a coding operation Communications need to be coded according
to some conceptual frameworkChoice between depth & specificity of
understanding: Manifest content – visible, surface content –
similar to using closed-ended survey questions Latent content – underlying meaning
Evaluation Research
It is gaining in popularity among researchers that really want to make a difference
Federal requirements for program evaluations often accompany the implementation of new programs
Funding is available for program evaluationsCan utilize a number of different research
designsLinks the intended actions and goals of
criminal justice policy to empirical evidence that supports them having the desired effects
Conditions Requisite for Randomized Experiments
Staff must accept random assignment and agree to minimize exceptions to randomization
Case flow must produce enough subjects in experimental and control groups for statistical tests
Experimental interventions must be consistently applied to experimental and withheld from control group
Need equivalence prior to intervention, and ability to detect differences in outcome measures after intervention
The Policy Process
Begins with a demand for a new course of action or opposition to an existing policy
Policy makers consider their ultimate goals and means of achieving those goals
Resources are allocated (considerations include; personnel, equipment, supplies etc.)
What are the policy outputs (i.e. what is actually produced?)
What is the impact of the policy output?
Interpreting Data
Empirical research is a logical rather than a mathematical operation
Statistics – branch of math appropriate to research
Descriptive statistics – used to summarize and describe data in manageable forms
Inferential statistics – assist in forming conclusions from our observations; usually about a population based on studying a sample
Types of Analysis
Univariate analysis – describing single variables (e.g. # of males; average age; place of birth etc.)
Bivariate analysis – describes the associations that connect one variable with another
Multivariate analysis – examines relationships among three or more variables
Data Analysis
Central tendency - mean, median, modeMeans are susceptible to extreme values. A few very
large, or a few very small numbers can change the mean dramatically
Because of this, it is important to examine measures of dispersion
Simplest measure of dispersion is the range – the distance from the highest to the lowest value (e.g. 13 to 19 years)
Standard deviation – the average amount of variability in a set of scores (i.e. the average amount each individual observation varies from the mean)
The larger the standard deviation, the larger the average distance each data point is from the mean of the distribution
Rates
Fundamental descriptive statistics in criminal justice research
Used to standardize some measure for comparative purposes
Total Murders in Four States, 2004 Total Murders Total Population
California 2,407 35,894,000 Florida 946 17,397,000
Louisiana 574 4,516,000 Pennsylvania 650 12,406,000
Short Answer Questions
1. Compare and contrast the strengths and weaknesses of field research and survey research. Give specific attention to the topics of validity, reliability and generalizability2. Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of secondary data and give an example of each3. Identify the difference between the various roles of the observer in field research. Give an example of a research scenario that would be appropriate for each role