Chapter 1: The Importance of Statistics in the Criminological Sciences or Why Do I Have to Learn This Stuff?

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. The question “How many homicides were committed in the year 2020” is an example of what type of research?

a. explanatory

b. descriptive

c. inferential

d. evaluation

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Descriptive Research

Difficulty Level: Easy

2. Which type of research seeks to identify causes and effects of social phenomena?

a. descriptive

b. explanatory

c. evaluation

d. case study

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Explanatory Research

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. What type of variable is expected to change or vary depending on the value of another variable?

a. independent variable

b. dependent variable

c. change variable

d. altered variable

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Explanatory Research

Difficulty Level: Easy

4. What type of variable is expected to cause or change another variable?

a. independent variable

b. dependent variable

c. change variable

d. altered variable

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Explanatory Research

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. A researcher is analyzing how one’s fear of crime changes based upon one’s gender, race, and age. Which would be the dependent variable?

a. gender

b. race

c. age

d. fear of crime

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Explanatory Research

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. The hallmark of a true experimental design is ______.

a. forced assignment into groups

b. a researcher’s subjective determination of who is assigned to groups

c. random assignment to groups

d. respondent selection into a group

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Case Study: How Effective Are School Bullying and Violence Prevention Programs?

Difficulty Level: Medium

7. A ______ is a smaller group of data that is selected from a population.

a. micro-group

b. sample

c. sub-sample

d. sampling error

Learning Objective: 1.2. Identify the difference between a sample and a population.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Populations and samples

Difficulty Level: Easy

8. Generalizability is the extent that the sample ______.

a. produces similar results to other studies

b. is similar to other samples

c. produces information that can inform the population it was taken from

d. is representative of a general sample found in the field of study

Learning Objective: 1.3. Explain the purpose of probability sampling techniques

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Populations and samples

Difficulty Level: Easy

9. What is considered to be the fundamental aspect of probability sampling?

a. populations

b. samples

c. unbiased selection

d. random selection

Learning Objective: 1.3. Explain the purpose of probability sampling techniques

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: How do we obtain a sample

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. If you wanted to select a sample by generating random numbers to select cases from the population, which type of sampling would you use?

a. simple random sample

b. systematic random sample

c. multistage cluster sample

d. stratified sample

Learning Objective: 1.3. Explain the purpose of probability sampling techniques

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Simple random samples

Difficulty Level: Easy

11. Which type of sampling technique allows the researcher to select subjects based solely on convenience?

a. simple random sample

b. quota sample

c. availability sample

d. purposive sample

Learning Objective: 1.4. Define the different types of probability and nonprobability samples.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Availability samples

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. What type of sampling technique has respondent provide other participants for inclusion in the study?

a. inter-personal sampling

b. snowball sampling

c. trade-off sampling

d. multistage sampling

Learning Objective: 1.4. Define the different types of probability and nonprobability samples.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Purposive or judgement samples

Difficulty Level: Easy

13. The smaller the sampling error, the ______ representative the sample is of the population.

a. less

b. more

c. same

d. better

Learning Objective: 1.3. Explain the purpose of probability sampling techniques

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Populations and samples

Difficulty Level: Easy

14. If a question a researcher is asking in a survey does not actually measure what they intended to, what is this question lacking?

a. reliability

b. internal validity

c. measurement validity

d. survey validity

Learning Objective: 1.6. Specify the different types of validity in research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Measurement validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. What is considered to be the first concern in establishing confidence in research results?

a. causal validity

b. measurement validity

c. internal validity

d. external validity

Learning Objective: 1.6. Specify the different types of validity in research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Measurement validity

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. If a question in a survey is able to consistently capture a phenomenon as long as that phenomenon is not changing, the question is said to be ______.

a. valid

b. reliable

c. true

d. accurate

Learning Objective: 1.6. Specify the different types of validity in research.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Reliability

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

17. Random assignment is the best way to make causal statements that one variable affects another?

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Case Study: How Effective Are School Bullying and Violence Prevention Programs?

Difficulty Level: Easy

18. When a researcher seeks to identify the cause and effect of a social phenomenon, they are participating in evaluation research.

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Explanatory Research

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. Evaluation research tests theory whereas explanatory research is used to determine whether an implemented program or policy had the intended outcomes.

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Evaluation Research

Difficulty Level: Easy

20. Nonprobability sampling methods allow us to know in advance the likelihood that any element will be selected from the population.

Learning Objective: 1.4. Define the different types of probability and nonprobability samples.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: How do we obtain a sample

Difficulty Level: Easy

21. When a researcher seeks to identify the cause and effect of a social phenomenon, they are participating in evaluation research.

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Explanatory Research

Difficulty Level: Easy

22. When a researcher seeks to identify the cause and effect of a social phenomenon, they are participating in explanatory research.

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Explanatory Research

Difficulty Level: Easy

Essay

23. What are the differences between descriptive and inferential statistics?

Learning Objective: 1.5. State the difference between descriptive and inferential statistics.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Descriptive and Inferential Statistics

Difficulty Level: Medium

24. Name and discuss the different probability sampling techniques?

Learning Objective: 1.4. Define the different types of probability and nonprobability samples.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Probability sampling techniques

Difficulty Level: Medium

25. Explain the difference between reliability and validity. Use your explained difference to discuss how these two components can be used in assessing the question “How many drugs do you use?”

Learning Objective: 1.6. Specify the different types of validity in research.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Validity in criminological research

Difficulty Level: Hard