






Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Prepare for your exams
Study with the several resources on Docsity
Earn points to download
Earn points by helping other students or get them with a premium plan
Community
Ask the community for help and clear up your study doubts
Discover the best universities in your country according to Docsity users
Free resources
Download our free guides on studying techniques, anxiety management strategies, and thesis advice from Docsity tutors
A comprehensive overview of key concepts and theories in criminology and criminal justice. It covers topics such as the nature of reality, research methods, and the scientific approach to studying crime. Definitions, examples, and explanations of important terms and concepts, making it a valuable resource for students in introductory criminology courses.
Typology: Exams
1 / 12
This page cannot be seen from the preview
Don't miss anything!
Two Realities - ANSWER experiential reality and agreement reality
Experiential Reality - ANSWER The things we know from direct experience
Agreement Reality - ANSWER Things that we consider real because we have been told they are real, and everyone in our society seems to agree
empirical research - ANSWER knowledge based on experience or observation
+assertions must be both logical and have empirical support
Epistemology - ANSWER the science of knowing
Methodology - ANSWER The study of methods used to understand something; the science of finding out.
causal reasoning - ANSWER relating two or more events in such a way as to conclude that one or more of the events caused the others
Probabilistic - ANSWER Describing the empirical method, stating that science is intended to explain a certain proportion (but not necessarily all) of the possible cases.
Two important sources of secondhand knowledge - ANSWER tradition and authority
Tradition - ANSWER A cohesive collection of customs within a cultural group
+Things that "everyone knows"
+ex.) drive on right side of the road in USA
+can hinder human inquiry due to backlash against challenging norms
Authority - ANSWER A reliable, respected source — someone with knowledge.
+trusting the judgement of someone with expertise
+only going with what those in charge say may lead to us doing things that are actually ill advised or when leaders we trust speak on things they really don't know anything about
Errs in Personal Human Inquiry - ANSWER ...
Inaccurate Observation - ANSWER An observation based on faulty perceptions of empirical reality
Overgeneralization - ANSWER misunderstanding and oversimplifying an issue that is actually far more complex based on initial observations
+replication can fight against this
Replication - ANSWER repeating a research study to test the findings of an earlier study, often under slightly different conditions or for a different group of subjects
Selective Observation - ANSWER choosing to look only at things that are in line with our preferences or beliefs
Illogical Reasoning - ANSWER when we prematurely jump to conclusions or argue on the basis of invalid assumptions
+gamblers fallacy
Ideology and Politics - ANSWER crime and crime policy are inherently political; can be
Policy Analysis - ANSWER anticipate future consequences of alternative actions
Research Process - ANSWER conceptualize, operate, observe, analyze, apply
conceptualization - ANSWER the deliberate process through which we create and select social-scientific concepts
+specifying what a study will be about and what terms being used mean
+narrowing a general interest in something into something that can actually be researched
Operationalization - ANSWER the concrete steps, or operations, used to measure specific concepts
+using a survey to measure how students feel about campus safety in specific areas
Observation - ANSWER the action or process of observing something or someone carefully or in order to gain information.
Analysis - ANSWER The process or result of identifying the parts of a whole and their relationships to one another.
Application - ANSWER utilizing what you have learned to make decisions in the real world
Abstracts - ANSWER short summaries of an entire article that help the reader grasp the main points of the study
+Divided into Objectives, Methods, Results, and Conclusions
Research Proposal - ANSWER a plan that specifies what information will be obtained and how
+Problem
+Literature Review
+Research Questions
+Subjects for Study
+Measurement
+Data Collection Methods
+Analysis
+References
+Schedule
+Budget
Social scientific theory - ANSWER discovering what is, not what should be
+cannot settle debates on value or worth. Ex) cannot tell if appointing or electing prosecutors is better because the criteria for doing so will never truly be able to be agreed upon
Regularities - ANSWER Social science aims to find patterns of regularity in social life
+regularities produced by norms, rules, and based on observations
Aggregate - ANSWER total amounts or quantities
+noticing patterns that occur over a large sample
Attribute - ANSWER a characteristic of an entity
+A person can be married, single, divorced, etc.
Variable - ANSWER logical grouping of attributes
+Occupation is a variable, police officer is an attribute
+Gender is a variable, male or female are attributes included in the variable of gender
+You want to see why you score better on some exams than others so you review what factors went into each and realize that you score better when you study with other people
Quantitative - ANSWER Data that is in numbers
+Are your friends older or younger than you?
Qualitative - ANSWER Data in the form of words
+What is the relationship status of your friends?
Theory - ANSWER systematic explanation for the observed facts and laws that relate to a particular aspect of life; propositions explaining why events occur in the manner that they do
Objectivity - ANSWER treating facts without influence from personal feelings or prejudices
"independent of mind"
Subjectivity - ANSWER Decisions based on personal feelings rather than facts
Intersubjective agreement - ANSWER Norm of science whereby different researchers studying the same problem arrive at the same conclusion
Hypothesis - ANSWER specified expectation about empirical reality, derived from propositions
+multiple studies proving a similar hypothesis can lead to the creation of a theory
Paradigm - ANSWER fundamental model or scheme that organizes our view of something
+A paradigm offers a way of looking, a theory aims to explain what we see
Traditional Model of Science - ANSWER conceptualization, operationalization, observation
Traditional Model of Science example - ANSWER conceptualization: Park and Burgess describe Chicago's growth as occurring through concentric zones, incl. transition areas, residential areas, central biz core. Transition zones see the most crime because of the shifting nature of the population weakening neighborhood ties and being occupied consistently by poor residents who have little footing in the area. "Social disorganization"
Operationalization: Shaw and McKay test Park and Burgess theory against the idea that the real reason transition zones have high crime is due to cultural issues with the residents of the area by using juvenile crime rates in defined areas as the measurement
observation: Shaw and McKay observe that all groups have higher rates of delinquency in transition zones and lower in outer, more defined areas
Hypothesis testing - ANSWER a decision-making process for evaluating claims about a population
grounded theory - ANSWER A type of inductive theory that is based on (grounded in) field observation. The researcher makes observations in natural settings and then formulates a tentative theory that explains those observations.
risk heterogeneity - ANSWER prior victimization or some other factor renders the victim or location as an appropriate target for further victimization
+houses near where burglars live are at greater risk than other houses
event dependency - ANSWER The same offender commits a subsequent offense against the same target
ethical - ANSWER conforming to the norms or standards of a group
Ethical concerns in CJ research - ANSWER ....
crime and doing nothing
Special Problems in CJ research - ANSWER ...
Staff Misbehavior - ANSWER While conducting applied research, researchers may become aware of irregular or illegal practices by staff in public agencies
Research causes crime - ANSWER Some research projects have the potential to produce crime or influence its location or target
Withholding desirable treatments - ANSWER In some cases, the benefits of the research - beneficial outcomes may be available to some subjects/respondents but not to others.
National Research Act of 1974 - ANSWER Signed into law after a few highly publicized examples of unethical practices in medical and social science research
Belmont Report (1979) - ANSWER prescribed a brief but comprehensive set of ethical problems for promoting human subjects
1.) Respect for persons
2.) Beneficence
3.) Justice
Respect for persons - ANSWER individuals must be allowed to make their own decisions about participation in research, and those with limited capacity to make such decisions should have special protection
Beneficence - ANSWER research should do no harm to participants and seek to produce benefits
Justice - ANSWER the benefits and burdens of participating in research should be
distributed fairly
Two general methods for promoting ethical research practices - ANSWER Code of professional ethics and institutional review boards
Codes of Professional Ethics - ANSWER sets of standards created by various professions to govern the conduct of employees in research
Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) - ANSWER groups of people responsible for reviewing proposed research to ensure that it meets the accepted standards of science and provides for the physical and emotional well-being of research participants
+key among these is figuring out if participation was based on informed consent and safeguarding special populations
Informed Consent - ANSWER agreement to participate in research after being informed about goals, procedures, and potential risks
Special populations - ANSWER groups such as juveniles and prisoners who require special protections if they are research subjects
researcher rights - ANSWER - many social research study designs are regarded as exempt from IRB review under federal guidelines
Trouble in the tearoom - ANSWER Laud Humphreys (1975) - Studied homosexual acts between strangers who meet in public restrooms in parks ("tearooms")
Served as "watchqueen"
Noted plate numbers of participants, tracked down names and addresses through police, conducted a survey to obtain personal info at their homes
Stanford Prison Experiment - ANSWER Philip Zimbardo's study of the effect of roles on