Chapter 12: Analysis and Findings

Test Bank

Multiple Choice

1. The primary purpose of researchers conducting research is to ______.

a. publish their work

b. receive notoriety for their findings

c. answer a research question

d. teach students how to conduct research

2. Quantitative analysis and findings should begin with which of the following?

a. an abstract containing details of the entire study

b. a research question

c. a description of the data

d. recommendations for future research

3. A univariate analysis involves the analysis of how many variables?

a. 1

b. 2

c. 3

d. 4+

4. A table that displays the number of times a particular value or category is observed in the data is referred to as ______.

a. a descriptive analysis

b. a frequency distribution

c. measures of dispersion

d. measures of central tendency

5. In a data analysis, the “n” usually refers to the ______.

a. median

b. range

c. percentage

d. sample size

6. The following are measures of central tendency with the exception of ______.

a. mean

b. range

c. median

d. mode

7. A group of descriptive statistics that numerically describe the “typical” case and include the mean, median, and mode are referred to as ______.

a. situational contexts

b. spatial descriptions

c. measures of dispersion

d. measures of central tendency

8. Which of the following is the most commonly used measure of central tendency?

a. median

b. mean

c. range

d. mode

9. The ______ is also referred to as the X-bar.

a. range

b. mode

c. mean

d. median

10. The mean should only be calculated on which of the following types of data?

a. ordinal and nominal

b. interval or ratio

c. ratio and ordinal

d. nominal and interval

11. Extreme values in a data distribution that are much lower or higher than the other distribution scores are called ______.

a. deductions

b. variances

c. ranges

d. outliers

12. The ______ represents the numeric center or midpoint of a data distribution.

a. median

b. mode

c. mean

d. range

13. The value appearing most often in a data set is called the ______.

a. range

b. mode

c. median

d. mean

14. Measures of dispersion include the following with the exception of ______.

a. range

b. interquartile range

c. standard deviation

d. distribution

15. Which of the following measure of dispersion describes the difference between the largest and smallest values in a data?

a. interquartile range

b. standard deviation

c. range

d. variance

16. Which of the following measure of dispersion indicates the degree of variability based on the difference between the two halves of the distribution?

a. interquartile range

b. standard deviation

c. range

d. variance

17. Which of the following measure of dispersion indicates how much each score differs from the average score in a data distribution?

a. interquartile range

b. standard deviation

c. range

d. variance

18. Which of the following is considered to be the most common measure of dispersion?

a. interquartile range

b. standard deviation

c. range

d. variance

19. Which type of analysis is used when more than two groups are being tested for differences?

a. analysis of variance

b. correlation analysis

c. regression analysis

d. second-order analysis

20. A ______ is a grid-formatted document that arranges data in rows and columns.

a. statistical package for the social sciences

b. spreadsheet

c. mind map

d. poster session

21. An Excel spreadsheet includes the following components with the exception of ______.

a. cells

b. rows

c. columns

d. data editor

22. Scholars Melde, Santos, and Cuevas used which of the following statistical software for their data analysis?

a. SAS

b. Excel

c. Stata

d. SPSS

23. The following are three primary interfaces of SPSS with the exception of ______.

a. Data Editor

b. Syntax Editor

c. Output Viewer

d. Variable viewer

24. Which of the following is the most commonly used SPSS interface?

a. Data Editor

b. Syntax Editor

c. Output Viewer

d. Rows, Cells, Columns

25. Which of the following SPSS interface elements looks similar to an Excel spreadsheet?

a. data viewer

b. variable viewer

c. output viewer

d. syntax editor

26. The following are visible using the SPSS variable viewer with the exception of ______.

a. the type of variable

b. the statistical significance of the variable

c. the variable name

d. the level of measurement of the variable

27. The following are univariate analyses that SPSS can conduct with the exception of ______.

a. frequency distributions

b. descriptive statistics

c. correlations

d. cross-tabulations

28. The following are bivariate analyses that SPSS can conduct with the exception of ______.

a. ANOVA

b. correlations

c. cross-tabulations

d. t-tests

29. Which of the following is an example of a SPSS multivariate analysis?

a. ANOVA

b. t-tests

c. linear regression

d. frequency distributions

30. Which of the following is the final step of qualitative data analysis?

a. organizing the data

b. coding the data

c. descriptive analysis

d. identify a framework

31. ______ involve/s attaching labels to lines of text so that researchers using qualitative data analysis can group and compare related pieces of information.

a. Mind maps

b. Variance

c. Themes

d. Coding

32. An idea category that emerges from grouping lower-level data points together as part of qualitative data analysis is ______.

a. theme

b. coding

c. characteristics

d. coding sorts

33. Which of the following types of qualitative analysis involves identifying recurrent themes, patterns in the data, and respondent clusters, and can be used to develop new hypotheses?

a. geostatistical analysis

b. regression analysis

c. link analysis

d. second-order analysis

34. The Conjunctive Analysis of Case Configurations focuses on which of the following?

a. places

b. situational contexts

c. people

d. variables

35. Which of the following type of data is used in a conjunctive analysis case configurations truth table?

a. nominal or ratio

b. ordinal or nominal

c. interval or ordinal

d. ratio or interval

36. Which of the following types of analysis explores the complex causal recipes or pathways that define particular outcomes?

a. link analysis

b. regression analysis

c. conjunctive analysis of case configurations

d. second-order analysis

37. Which of the following types of analysis builds situational contexts of particular outcomes?

a. conjunctive analysis of case configurations

b. regression analysis

c. link analysis

d. second-order analysis

38. Which of the following is the unit of analysis for conjunctive analysis of case configurations that influences an outcome?

a. situational contexts

b. individuals

c. census blocks

d. events

39. Which of the following types of analysis uses spatial statistical methods?

a. conjunctive analysis of case configurations

b. regression analysis

c. geostatistical analysis

d. link analysis

40. The following terms are types of spatial descriptive statistics with the exception of ______.

a. mean center

b. standard deviation ellipse

c. interquartile range

d. convex hull

41. Which of the following spatial descriptive statistics is often represented as a single radius, measured in units of feet, miles, meters, or kilometers?

a. mean center

b. standard distance

c. standard deviational ellipse

d. convex hull

42. Standard distance is reported in conjunction with which of the following spatial descriptive statistics?

a. mean center

b. standard deviational ellipse

c. convex hull

d. interquartile range

43. Which of the following spatial descriptive statistics is also known as the smallest polygon that can be drawn around the outer points of all the data in a data distribution?

a. mean center

b. standard deviational ellipse

c. convex hull

d. standard distance

44. Which of the following spatial descriptive methods is the least commonly used in geostatistics?

a. mean center

b. standard deviational ellipse

c. standard distance

d. convex hull

45. Which of the following terms refers to a group of geostatistical techniques that can use known recorded phenomena values at specific locations to estimate unobserved values of the same phenomenon at other locations?

a. spatial autocorrelation

b. spatial dependency

c. spatial interpolation

d. geographically weighted regression

1. Data analysis allows researchers to generalize their conclusions to larger populations.

2. The scientific process would be incomplete without data analysis.

3. According to Cuevas, while data analysis is important, it is not necessarily a key tenant to science.

4. Data analysis findings do not always result in the support of a stated hypothesis.

5. Data analysis can lead to the creation of new theories.

6. Coming to conclusions on things other than data or evidence does not always lead to erroneous conclusions.

7. After conducting a data analysis, researchers can make conclusions based on patterns in the data.

8. Statistical software is only used with quantitative analysis.

9. Applying the appropriate analytic method when conducting data analysis is an important responsibility of being a researcher.

10. Statistical significance primarily means substantive significance.

11. Conjunctive analysis of case configurations can be used to analyze both small and large datasets.

12. Conjunctive analysis of case configurations focuses on crime hotspots, crime attractors, and crime generators.

13. A conjunctive analysis of case configurations matrix only contains case configurations that are in the existing data file.

14. Truth tables only contain interval or ratio level data.

15. Spatial statistical methods are similar to those used in the more traditional statistical methods.

16. Spatial dependency is a measure that defines the spatial relationship between values of geographical data.

17. Kernel density estimation is an example of a spatial dependency method.

18. Geographically weighted regression is similar to a linear regression analysis, and uses predictor variables to estimate the relationship to outcome variables.

19. Researchers are advised to mine their data when reporting their findings.

20. Changes to data need to always be documented.

21. Researchers must know their data before conducting their analysis.

22. Current technology cannot evaluate whether analysis is being done well and ethically.

23. Substantive significance refers to the importance of observed differences or associations.

24. Assuming that correlation always implies causation is a common pitfall in data analysis.

25. Knowing a technique does not mean that you understand the data or how to conduct proper data analysis.

1. Identify the three reasons researchers analyze data.

2. What is the goal of descriptive analysis?

3. Identify the three ways in which univariate analysis are conducted.

4. What is SPSS syntax?

5. Identify the three-step process of conducting a conjunctive analysis of case configurations (CACC).

6. What is a truth table?

7. Identify all of the software applications that can be used with a conjunctive analysis of case configuration.

8. What is a geostatistical analysis?

9. Define spatial descriptions.

10. Identify the various ways in which researchers can report their findings.

1. Why do researchers analyze data?

2. What factors need to be taken into consideration when choosing a data analysis software program?

3. What is a conjunctive analysis of case configurations and how does it compare to the more traditional data analysis methods? Do you believe that this method is better than the other discussed in the text? Why or why not?

4. What is the First Law of Geography and how does it apply to spatial dependency and spatial autocorrelation?

5. Identify and discuss the ethical guidelines developed by Rachel Wasserman. How can the use of computers and technology pose issues that might conflict with the guidelines?