Chapter 1
I.Criminal justice and scientific inquiry 1)why do I have to take this class? A)informed consumer B)informed producer 2)sources of knowledge A)tradition-basic knowledge B)authority- someone we trust tells us this is the way it is C)personal inquiry-learned by experience D)scientific method- most objective;reliable and precise 3)errors in personal inquiry
A)inaccurate observations ex. I see red cars being pulled over and decide cops are looking for red cars
B)overgeneralization
ex. I only look for red cars being pulled over
C)selective observation ex I based my opinion on what someone else says
D)illogical reasoning ex. if I put something lucky in my car I wont get pulled over cause of my lucky object
E)political issues/resistance to change
II. scientific method 1)science A)systematized knowledge 1)observation 2)study 3)experimentation B) determines the nature or principles of what is being studied
III.how is science different? 1)pursuit of fact A)solvable questions B)empiricism- everything is driven by data C)public verifiability-replication of studies D)regularities
IV.four purposes of research 1)exploration ex. compare things and see how they turn out 2)description ex. Data related to research 3)explanation ex. Gathering data in a different form from experts in that study 4)application A)evaluation ex. Asking the publics opinion B)policy analysis ex. Will the cause have an effect of the study that is positive or negative
V. principals of research 1)procedures A)systematic and rigorous B)publicize 1)data collection 2)limitations/bias 2)data A)objective B)observation C)qualitative or quantitative D)aggregation of experience
VI.ethical guidelines 1)do no harm ex. Do not want people to get hurt in their experience in the field 2)participation should be voluntary 3)maintain confidentiality of data
VII. Research terms 1)attributes- a capture of the collection of data to get everything that matters for your study 2)variables- things that are going to affect the study that you may or may not be able to control A) independent- what causes a phenomenon B) dependent- the phenomenon under study;what you are trying to explain 3) qualitative and quantitative data- things that data is going to be based upon A)qualitative- quality of the data B)quantitative- things you can count
VIII. Six basic steps of research: 1) theory- statement about relationships 2)hypothesis- looking for a particular object of subject;create something testable 3)define terms = operationalize 4) data collection 5)analysis 6)conclusions- taking results from analysis and configuring if your hypothesis correct or incorrect
IX.beer goggles example 1)hypothesis: A) all girls get prettier at closing time 2) operational definition: A)”pretty” was measured on a scale of 1-10 3)data collection: A) asked people in the bar to rate the attractiveness of other people at 3 different times 4)analysis: A) ratings of girls at 3 different times 5) conclusions: A)opposite sex rating increased and same sex ratings decreased
X. can criminology really be a science? 1)yes if...it follows traditional model science A)theory → operationalizations → hypothesis testing B)process is recursive C)replication is important D)”knowledgeable” changes
XI. deduction and induction 1) deduction- A)theory is well developed B)much is known (lots of prior research) C)drawing upon hypotheses 2) induction- A)looking for patterns B)little know or taking a new approach C) trying to develop hypotheses Chapter 2 research ethics
I. basic principals
1) no harm 2) voluntary participation most important