Test Bank

Chapter 4: Conceptualization and Measurement

Multiple Choice

1. The process of defining terms in words is called ______.

a. operationalization

b. conceptualization

c. observationalization

d. unobtrusive

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: What Do We Have in Mind?

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. In ______ research, conceptualization helps translate portions of an abstract theory into testable hypotheses.

a. operational

b. translation

c. inductive

d. deductive

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Conceptualization in Practice: Defining Youth Gangs

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. The US Census Bureau collects official information about crimes, known as the ______.

a. Poverty and Crime Index (PCI)

b. Systematic Social Observation (SSO)

c. Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)

d. National Minority SA/HIV Prevention Initiative (NMSHPI)

Learning Objective: 4.3: Explain the rationale for creating multi-item indexes, and discuss the issues that should always be explored about indexes.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Using Available Data

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. A closed-ended question is one in which respondents are ______.

a. offered space to write answers in their own words

b. provided explicit responses to choose from

c. offered responses with multiple meanings to choose from

d. provided no instructions as to how answers should be given

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Constructing Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. According to Webb, et al., unobtrusive measures include ______.

a. physical trace evidence

b. archives (available data)

c. contrived observation

d. all of these

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Collecting Data Through Unobtrusive Measures

Difficulty Level: Medium

6. The use of multiple methods to study one research question is known as ______.

a. unobtrusive measures

b. systematic social observation (SSO)

c. operationalization

d. triangulation

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify the different forms of single questions and response choices.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Combining Measurement Operations

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. The level of precision in the data that result from particular procedures is known as the ______.

a. standards of collection

b. levels of measurement

c. level of precision

d. standards of ordinality

Learning Objective: 4.4: Identify the different forms of single questions and response choices.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How Much Information Do We Really Have?

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. At the nominal level of measurement, the values of variables ______.

a. are mutually exclusive

b. can be classified as having only one attribute

c. have progressively more precise measurements

d. have no mathematical interpretation

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Nominal Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Unobtrusive measures allow us to collect data about individuals or groups ______.

a. whose values have no mathematical interpretation

b. with mutually exclusive attributes

c. without their direct knowledge or participation

d. with categorical levels of measurement

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Collecting Data Through Unobtrusive Measures

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. A discrete measure is one that classifies cases ______.

a. in distinct categories

b. in categories that are appropriately discreet

c. in fixed measurement units

d. with an absolute zero point

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ordinal Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. The numbers indicating the values of variables at the interval level of measurement represent ______.

a. flexible measurement units

b. a composite measurement based on scales

c. fixed measurement units

d. an absolute zero point

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Interval Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Medium

12. At which level of measurement is a question that asks the number of alcoholic drinks a respondent had within the past 30 days?

a. nominal

b. ordinal

c. interval

d. ratio

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ratio Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. The measure that covers the full range of the concept’s meaning is known as ______ validity.

a. face

b. criterion

c. construct

d. content

Learning Objective: 4.5: Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the four approaches to testing the validity of measures.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Content Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. We can say that a measure has face validity if it ______.

a. is generally similar to what’s being measured

b. obviously pertains to the concept being measured more than to other concepts we’re trying to measure

c. establishes a measure that covers the full range of the concept’s meaning

d. is related to a variety of other measures

Learning Objective: 4.5: Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the four approaches to testing the validity of measures.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Face Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. Criterion validity is established when ______.

a. confidence is gained from careful inspection of a concept to see if it makes sense

b. the scores on one measure can accurately be compared to those obtained with an already validated measure of the same phenomenon

c. the measure covers the full range of a concept’s meaning

d. a measure is related to a variety of other measures as specified in a theory

Learning Objective: 4.5: Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the four approaches to testing the validity of measures.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Criterion Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. ______ validity is commonly used in social science research when no clear criterion exists for validation.

a. Face

b. Content

c. Criterion

d. Construct

Learning Objective: 4.5: Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the four approaches to testing the validity of measures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Construct Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. When a measurement has reliability, it means that it yields ______.

a. measures affected by chance variation

b. consistent scores as long as the phenomenon is unchanging

c. valid scores as long as they are not changing

d. consistent measures as long as they are observed differently by observers

Learning Objective: 4.6: Define four basic methods of evaluating reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Measurement Reliability

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. A measurement showing that measures of a phenomenon at two points in time are highly correlated, as long as the phenomenon has not changed, is known as ______ reliability.

a. test-retest reliability

b. inter-item reliability

c. Cronbach’s alpha

d. alternate-forms reliability

Learning Objective: 4.6: Define four basic methods of evaluating reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Test–Retest Reliability

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. An approach that calculates reliability based on the correlation among multiple items used to measure a single concept is ______.

a. test-retest reliability

b. inter-item reliability

c. Cronbach’s alpha

d. alternate-forms reliability

Learning Objective: 4.6: Define four basic methods of evaluating reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Interitem Reliability (Internal Consistency)

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. A statistic that measures the reliability of items in an index or scale is _______.

a. split-halves test

b. Cronbach’s alpha

c. criterion’s beta

d. alternate forms reliability

Learning Objective: 4.6: Define four basic methods of evaluating reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Interitem Reliability ([Internal Consistency)

Difficulty Level: Easy

21. When researchers measure a phenomenon that does not change between two points separated by an interval of time, the degree to which the two measurements yield comparable values is the ______ reliability.

a. split halves

b. construct

c. alternate-forms

d. test-retest

Learning Objective: 4.6: Define four basic methods of evaluating reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Measurement Reliability

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. A strategy that increases the reliability of observational data by using explicit rules that standardize coding practices across observers is

a. operationalization

b. systematic social observation (SSO)

c. triangulation

d. contrived observation (CO)

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Collecting Data Through Unobtrusive Measures

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. A variable’s attributes or values are mutually exclusive if ______.

a. every case can have only one attribute

b. every value can have exclusive cases

c. cases have no mathematical interpretation

d. cases are classified in distinct categories

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How Much Information Do We Really Have?

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. The measurement of a variable in which the numbers permit greater than and less than distinctions is at the ______ level.

a. nominal

b. ordinal

c. interval

d. ratio

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ordinal Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Easy

25. The set of questions in the Favorable Attitudes Toward Antisocial Behavior Scale is a good example of a(n) ______.

a. interval level index

b. nominal index-scale

c. continuous scale

d. multi-item index or scale

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ordinal Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Medium

26. The Core Alcohol and Drug Survey (2015) includes questions that ask respondents to indicate their answers by selecting “none,” “once,” “twice,” “3 to 5 times,” “6 to 9 times),” and “10 or more times.” Use of these categories makes the level of measurement ______.

a. nominal

b. ordinal

c. interval

d. ratio

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Comparison of Levels of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Medium

27. Michael Sulik and his colleagues (2010) wanted to know whether the measure of self-regulation that had been used in many studies of children differentially measured the construct across different socioeconomic, gender, and race/ethnicity groups. The construct they measured was actually called ______.

a. self-control (SC)

b. socio-economic status (SES)

c. effortful control (EC)

d. criterion validity (CV)

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: A Comment on Measurement in a Diverse Society

Difficulty Level: Hard

28. When using a closed-ended question where students are asked to indicate their answer by checking none, once, twice, 3 to 5 times, 6 to 9 times, or 10 or more times, which of these is true?

a. It is possible to mathematically distinguish the number of times a student binged.

b. These answer choices classify as a ratio level of measurement.

c. The distance between any two cases cannot be clearly determined.

d. The level of measurement is inherent in the variable itself

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Comparison of Levels of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Hard

29. Validity of self-report measures of substance abuse varies with such factors as whether ______.

a. respondents are sober or intoxicated at time of interview

b. the measure refers to recent or lifetime abuse

c. the respondents think their responses might affect chances of receiving housing

d. all of these

Learning Objective: 4.5: Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the four approaches to testing the validity of measures.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Measurement Validity

Difficulty Level: Hard

30. Researchers are testing alternate-forms reliability when ______.

a. responses to the same questions by two randomly selected halves of a sample are about the same

b. they compare subjects’ answers to slightly different versions of survey questions

c. measurement showing that measures of a phenomenon at two points in time are highly correlated

d. they calculate reliability based on the correlation among multiple items used to measure a single concept

Learning Objective: 4.6: Define four basic methods of evaluating reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Interitem Reliability (Internal Consistency)

Difficulty Level: Medium

31. One of Meldrum’s main areas of research concerns the measurement and operationalization of ______.

a. associating with delinquent peers

b. understanding college bound peers

c. empirical significance of non-peer delinquency on peers

d. social-networking sites like MySpace

Learning Objective: 4.7: Understand the difference between measurement validity and reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Careers and Research

Difficulty Level: Hard

32. In deductive research, conceptualization ______.

a. helps translate portions of an abstract theory into testable hypotheses

b. is an important part of the process used to make sense of related observations

c. must be defined unidimensionally

d. is a mental image that summarizes a set of similar observations, feelings, or ideas

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Conceptualization in Practice: Defining Youth Gangs

Difficulty Level: Medium

33. Sampson and Raudenbush (1999) and St. Jean (2007) used direct observation and other techniques in their studies of ______.

a. broken windows theory and policing in St. Paul

b. neighborhood disorder and crime in Chicago

c. physical trace evidence in Minneapolis

d. alcohol consumption in Milwaukee

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Making Observations

Difficulty Level: Hard

34. Physical traces of past behavior are one type of ______.

a. open-ended available data

b. statistical information

c. unobtrusive measure

d. official measure

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify the different forms of single questions and response choices.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Collecting Data Through Unobtrusive Measures

Difficulty Level: Medium

35. To determine the convergence between official incident records inmate misconduct and self-reported offending, Steiner and Wooldredge (2014) ______.

a. conducted interviews with inmates as well as official records for the same inmates

b. collected intake information from recent inmates (less than 6 months) as well as official records for the same inmates.

c. collected survey data from inmates as well as official records from a random sampling of inmates at the same institution

d. collected survey data from inmates as well as official records for the same inmates

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Case Study: Defining Inmate Misconduct

Difficulty Level: Hard

True/False

1. Because they are often ordinary terms, it is very easy for social scientists to define concepts precisely.

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Conceptualization in Practice: Defining Youth Gangs

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Good conceptualization and operationalization can prevent confusion later in the research process.

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: How Will We Know When We’ve Found It?

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. The goal of conceptualization is to devise operations that actually measure what we intend to measure.

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How Will We Know When We’ve Found It?

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. With open-ended questions, respondents are more likely to answer questions that the researcher really wants them to answer.

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify the different forms of single questions and response choices.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Constructing Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Open-ended questions are preferable when the range of responses cannot adequately be anticipated.

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify the different forms of single questions and response choices.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Constructing Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. For open-ended questions, response choices should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive.

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify the different forms of single questions and response choices.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Constructing Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. Questioning can be a particularly poor approach for measuring behaviors that are socially stigmatized.

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify the different forms of single questions and response choices.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Combining Measurement Operations

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. The ordinal level of measurement is a qualitative level

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ordinal Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. For most statistical analyses in social science research, the ordinal and interval level of measurement can be treated as equivalent.

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Ratio Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Medium

10. Level of conflict, with response choices of “low,” “medium,” or “high,” is measured at the nominal level of measurement.

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ordinal Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. Variables that have only two values are known as dichotomies.

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: The Case of Dichotomies

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. The nominal level of measurement is also called the categorical level.

Learning Objective: 4.4

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Nominal Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. A measure with numbers indicating the values of variables as points on a continuum is a continuous measure.

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Ratio Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. The level of measurement is inherent in the variable itself.

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Comparison of Levels of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Easy

15. Construct validity is the type of validity established by comparing scores on a measure with a more direct or already validated measure of the same phenomenon.

Learning Objective: 4.5: Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the four approaches to testing the validity of measures.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Construct Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. Reliability is a prerequisite for measurement validity.

Learning Objective: 4.6: Define four basic methods of evaluating reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Measurement Reliability

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. We must always assess the validity of a measure if we hope to establish its reliability.

Learning Objective: 4.7: Understand the difference between measurement validity and reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Can We Achieve Both Reliability and Validity?

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. The type of validity that is achieved when a measure measures what it is presumed to measure is measurement validity.

Learning Objective: 4.5: Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the four approaches to testing the validity of measures.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Measurement Validity

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Researchers are testing split-halves reliability when they compare subjects’ answers to lightly different versions of survey questions.

Learning Objective: 4.6: Define four basic methods of evaluating reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Alternate-Forms Reliability

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. When ratings by an observer are being assessed at two or more points in time, test–retest reliability is termed inter-observer reliability.

Learning Objective: 4.6: Define four basic methods of evaluating reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Intraobserver and Interobserver Reliability

Difficulty Level: Medium

21. Reliability and validity of measures in any study must be tested after the fact to assess the quality of the information obtained.

Learning Objective: 4.7: Understand the difference between measurement validity and reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Can We Achieve Both Reliability and Validity?

Difficulty Level: Medium

22. Measurement validity is a necessity for social research.

Learning Objective: 4.5: Compare the advantages and disadvantages of the four approaches to testing the validity of measures.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Conclusion

Difficulty Level: Medium

23. Cronbach’s alpha can be computed when only one question is used to measure a concept.

Learning Objective: 4.6: Define four basic methods of evaluating reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Interitem Reliability (Internal Consistency)

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. How we operationalize concepts affects our findings.

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Case Study: Defining Inmate Misconduct

Difficulty Level: Easy

25. A measure is valid when it yields consistent scores or observations of a given phenomenon on different occasions.

Learning Objective: 4.7: Understand the difference between measurement validity and reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Construct Validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

Short Answer/Essay

1. What is Triangulation? How might it assist in achieving better validity?

Learning Objective: 4.3: Explain the rationale for creating multi-item indexes, and discuss the issues that should always be explored about indexes.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Combining Measurement Operations

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. What is meant by the term “conceptualization”? As part of your answer, discuss how you might conceptualize “youth gangs.”

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Concepts

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Why is it crucial to clearly define a concept before conducting research?

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Concepts

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. How is conceptualization different from operationalization?

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How Will We Know When We’ve Found It?

Difficulty Level: Medium

5. What is a closed-ended (fixed-choice) question? Why is it important that response choices should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive?

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify the different forms of single questions and response choices.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Constructing Questions

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. Why do surveys that are to be given to a large number of people often consist primarily of closed-ended (fixed choice) questions?

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify the different forms of single questions and response choices.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Constructing Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. What are open-ended questions? When are they preferable to be used in questionnaires? Give an example of an open-ended question that asks about alcohol use on your campus compared with another campus.

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify the different forms of single questions and response choices.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Constructing Questions

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Why might a researcher be concerned with inter-item reliability (or internal consistency)? Why would the researcher choose to use a multi-item index to measure a concept rather than a single question? As a part of your answer, discuss Cronbach’s alpha.

Learning Objective: 4.3: Explain the rationale for creating multi-item indexes, and discuss the issues that should always be explored about indexes.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Interitem Reliability (Internal Consistency)

Difficulty Level: Hard

9. Is reliability the same as validity? As part of your answer, define both and describe why (or why not) they show different things.

Learning Objective: 4.7: Understand the difference between measurement validity and reliability.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Can We Achieve Both Reliability and Validity?

Difficulty Level: Hard

10. What are four levels of measurement? Name and give an example of each.

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Nominal Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. In most statistical analyses in social science research, the interval and ratio levels of measurement can be treated as equivalent. How is that possible? As part of your answer, define continuous measures.

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Ratio Level of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Hard

12. Is the level of measurement inherent in the variable itself? Why? Does it matter at which level a variable is measured? Does it make sense to measure variables at a lower or higher level?

Learning Objective: 4.4: Give examples of the four levels of measurement.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Comparison of Levels of Measurement

Difficulty Level: Hard

13. What is “operationalization”? Using the concept “binge drinking”, operationalize one variable that represents it, and finally provide one indicator for the measure.

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define and distinguish conceptualization, operationalization, and an indicator.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: How Will We Know When We’ve Found It?

Difficulty Level: Medium