Deck 4: Section 1: Concepts, Operationalization, and Measurement

Question 1

Validity refers to the degree to which every observation can be classified in terms of one and only one attribute.

Answer 1

False

Question 2

The age of an offender is an example of the ____ level of measurement?

A) interval
B) nominal
C) ratio
D) ordinal

Answer 2

C

Question 3

In the measurement of crime, single incident cannot include multiple offenses, but may have one offense and multiple offenders.

Answer 3

False

Question 4

What might be a useful indicator of the dimension "victim harm"?

A) economic gain
B) gender of victim
C) physical injury
D) gender of offender

Question 5

A researcher is developing a scale to reflect satisfaction with police services. Which activity will yield an indication of the new scale's construct validity?

A) comparing scores on the new scale of satisfaction to scores on an established scale of satisfaction
B) asking experts in the field whether it looks like it measures satisfaction
C) comparing scores on the first half of the scale to scores on the second half
D) determining whether the scale fits logically into relationships among variables related to satisfaction

Question 6

To be scientifically useful, the attributes of every variable should be exhaustive as well as mutually exclusive.

Question 7

Loeber's "dynamic classification of offenders" is a typology.

Question 8

If a measure is reliable, you are measuring what you think you are measuring.

Question 9

Concepts are _____.

A) empirical measurements
B) variables
C) mental images
D) hypotheses

Question 10

NIBRS reports each crime incident rather than the total number of certain crimes.

Question 11

An empirical measure that adequately reflects the meaning of the concept under consideration is said to have ____.

A) reliability
B) validity
C) accuracy
D) exhaustiveness

Question 12

The UCR accounts for all types of crime, even those crimes that are not observed.

Question 13

Conceptualization is the process by which we specify precisely what we mean when we use particular terms.

Question 14

A researcher who wants to know a measure is consistent or stable is interested in ____.

A) accuracy
B) reliability
C)
D)
D) precision
Validity

Question 15

Crimes must, at a minimum, have an offender, because without an offender there is no crime.

Question 16

A researcher is developing a measure of the impact of living in high-crime neighborhoods and, in assessing its reliability administers it to the same people on two occasions several weeks apart. The researcher is assessing ____ reliability.

A) test-retest
B) inter-rater
C) split-half
D) face

Question 17

A researcher wants to measure attitudes towards gun control by asking people whether they would be worried about traveling to areas where there are known to be a lot of illegal guns. Critics argue that the conceptualization does not really look as though it is related to attitudes about gun control, in other words, that it lacks ____ validity.

A) face
B) construct
C) convergent
D) criterion-related

Question 18

Ordinal measures are variables whose attributes may be logically rank-ordered.

Question 19

A measure that corresponds well to the common understanding of the concept that is being measured is said to have ____ validity.

A) criterion-related
B) inter-rater
C) predictive
D) face

Question 20

A researcher is developing a scale to reflect satisfaction with police services. Which activity will yield an indication of the new scale's criterion-related validity?

A) comparing scores on the new scale of satisfaction to scores on an established scale of satisfaction
B) asking experts in the field whether it looks like it measures satisfaction
C) comparing scores on the first half of the scale to scores on the second half
D) determining whether the scale fits logically into relationships among variables related to satisfaction

Question 21

Ranks used to describe the hierarchy in a police department represent the ____ level of measurement.

A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio

Question 22

What level of measurement allows you to arrange attributes from greater than to less than, but does not allow you to tell how much greater or how much less than one attribute is from another?

A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio

Question 23

A researcher asks participants to indicate how frequently they have used various illicit drugs using the following scale: 1 = never used; 2 = used 1 - 5 times; 3 = used 6 - 10 times; 4 = used more than ten times. This scale is best described as ____ level.

A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio

Question 24

Which report is a summary-based measure of crime?

A) UCR
B) NCVS
C) NIBRS
D) NSDUH

Question 25

A conceptual definition ____.

A) focuses our observational strategy
B) directly produces observations
C) states the essential nature of some entity
D) sets the level of measurement

Question 26

Validity that is related to the logical relationships between variables is known as ____ validity.

A) criterion-related
B) face
C) convergent
D) construct

Question 27

_____ are produced by the intersection of two or more variables to create a set of categories.

A) Indexes
B) Typologies
C) Matrices
D) Clusters

Question 28

The production report generated at the city police department contains the number of arrests made by each officer on a monthly basis. The number of arrests would be what level of measurement?

A) nominal
B) ordinal
C) interval
D) ratio

Question 29

The words or symbols in language used to illustrate subjective thoughts or mental images about things we may encounter in daily life are known as ____.

A) operations
B) concepts
C) observations
D) measurements

Question 30

Which levels of measurement allow for attributes to be placed on a continuum with equal distance between points?

A) nominal and ordinal
B) ordinal and interval
C) interval and ratio
D) ordinal, interval, and ratio

Question 31

The NVCS is based on a nationally representative sample of _____.

A) arrests
B) offenders
C) households
D) types of crime

Question 32

Two observers watch the same child on the playground and rate the amount of aggression shown by the child using a standardized instrument. Comparison of the observers' scores will measure ____.

A) face validity
B) interrater reliability
C) split-half reliability
D) construct validity

Question 33

Logical sets of attributes are known as ____.

A) values
B) variables
C) concepts
D) operationalizations

Question 34

The ____ provides nationally-representative data on the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs.

A) UCR
B) NCVS
C) NIBRS
D) NSDUH

Question 35

To have scientific utility, a variable should be ____.

A) meaningful and valuable
B) exhaustive and thorough
C) exhaustive and mutually exclusive
D) operational definition and meaning

Question 36

The primary difference between the interval and the ratio level of variables is that ____.

A) interval is rarely used
B) with ratio, there is an absolute meaning of zero
C) with interval, there is an absolute meaning of zero
D) ratio level is on a true zero point, while interval level is not

Question 37

The test-retest method is used to examine ____.

A) reliability
B) validity
C) generalizability
D) precision

Question 38

Since its inception, the ____ has served as a measure to monitor the volume of crime, including crimes not reported to police.

A) UCR
B) NCVS
C) NIBRS
D) NSDUH

Question 39

A specifiable aspect of a given concept is referred to as an) ____.

A) dimension
B) concept
C) construct
D) observable

Question 40

When a professor assigns grades, the professor is engaging in ____.

A) measurement
B) operationalization
C) conceptualization
D) validity

Question 41

An) _______________ is produced by the intersection of two or more variables to create a set of categories.

Question 42

_______________ validity refers to whether a measure accurately reflects the common agreements on concepts.

Question 43

Identify the four levels of measurement and give an example of each.

Question 44

The _______________ is an effort to convert the UCR to a more comprehensive crime report.

Question 45

_______________ is a matter of whether a particular measurement technique, applied repeatedly to the same object, will yield the same result each time.

Question 46

Specifying the different _______________ of a concept often paves the way for a more sophisticated understanding of what we are studying.

Question 47

Using the four steps in the "progression of measurement," discuss how you might develop a measure of "serious crime."

Question 48

Compare and contrast UCR and NCVS with respect to the type of crime data they collect and how they collect it. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Question 49

Variables whose attributes have only the characteristics of exhaustiveness and mutual exclusiveness are _______________ level measures.

Question 50

_______________ is the process by which we specify precisely what we mean when we use a particular term.

Question 51

A definition that says exactly how a concept will be measured is an) _______________ definition.

Question 52

Define and discuss test-retest and interrater reliability.

Question 53

Mental images that we represent with words or symbols are known as _______________.

Question 54

An) _______________ measure combines multiple indicators to yield a single measure.

Question 55

Define and discuss face, content, criterion-related, and construct validity.