CJ 540 Final

a table, which examines the relationship between two variables (cross­tabulation).

The assignment of numerical values to responses/information gathered using a research instrument.

Consistency of measurement is determined by whether the set of items used to measure a phenomenon are highly related (associated with each other) and measuring the same concept.

Stability of measurement is determined by whether, assuming that conditions(rival causal factors) have not changed, a respondent will give the sameanswer to the question on a second testing.

Accuracy ofthe instrument in measuring the concept it was designed to measure (e.g., thefit between the theory and the operational or working definition of terms).

Systematic classificationand study of the content of mass media, such as newspapers and television.

Accuracy of individual itemsin a scale in measuring the concept being measured.

Different measures of the same concept should yield similar results (convergence).Whereas the same measure of different concepts should yield different results(discrimination).

Procedures thatassign weights or ratings to various crimes to measure severity.

Data libraries ororganizations that store date resources (raw data) from pervious researchstudies.

double-checking a datafile to find and correct errors.

statistics intended to summarize or describe data.

Accuracy of the instrument in measuring (on face value) that whichis intended.

Purposively selected groups-brought together to measure theirreactions to some stimuli (for example, a commercial).

procedure to display a single variable in a summary table,which shows the number of cases within each category.

the analytical mapping of incidents, such ascrimes and arrest, showing the extent and type of a crime problem withrespect to location.

The use of GIS computer software to identify clusters of crime (hotspots).

statistics that enable generalization or inference of samplefindings to a larger population.

Variables that contain all the elements of nominal andordinal data and also assume equal distance between items on a scale.

Simple attitude scale consisting of a 5-point bipolar response schemefor each item ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Statistical analysis of data from many different studies dealing with the sameresearch questions to determine general findings.

Summary statistics that describe the typical, middle oraverage of a distribution of scores (mode, median, mean).

Use of statistical techniques to control for other variables (e.g.,rival causes, a third variable introduced to assess the relationship betweenthe independent and dependent variables).

Measurement that places responses in mutually exclusivecategories; categorical data.

Bell-shaped curve that describes a variety of phenomena.

Placement ofitems into ranks, for example 1st, 2nd and 3rd.

Type of unobtrusive measure that involves the analysis ofdeposits, accretion of matter and other indirect evidence produced byprevious human interaction (e.g., graffiti).

Accuracy of the measuring instrument in predicting the currentstatus (concurrent validity) or future status(predictive validity). .

Scales developed to forecast behavior (e.g., crime commission orsuccess or failure on probation).

Variables that assume equal interval quality of dataand they also have a fixed zero point.

If one variable enables the prediction of the values of a second variable,the variables are related.

Reliability means that an instrument yields stable and uniform results overtime.

Repetition of experimentsor studies using the same methodology to confirm results.

Attempts to increase the complexity of the level of measurement of variablesfrom nominal to at least ordinal and interval level.

a scale that tries to account for both the quality of data(seriousness) and the quantity of the act using three dimensions (a magnitude scale).

Use of gaming strategies that attempt to imitate a more complex socialreality (e.g., mock trials).

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences is a pre-written computer programfor statistical analysis.

Determination of whether the findings are due to chance(sampling error) or are statistica1ly significant at a given probabilitylevel.

Ways of studying groups so that subjects are unaware of beingstudied, thus eliminating reactivity.

The measuring instrument in fact measures what it claims to measure; it anaccurate or true measure of the phenomenon under study.