POL 100 Study Guide - Midterm Guide: School Violence, Criminal Record, Mental Process
14 May 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
CRIM 220 Midterm:
Week 1:
2 Realities:
- Experiential
Based on experience.
- Agreement
Based on what we’ve been told.
- Methodology: the study of methods to understand something.
(ex. surveys, observation, and prison pop.)
- Personal Human Inquiry: Firsthand experiences.
- Tradition: Things everyone knows.
- Authority: New knowledge.
5 Human Errors:
- Inaccurate Observation
(ex. eyewitness testimony)
- Overgeneralization
(ex. property crime)
- Selective Observation
(ex. racial/ethnic prejudices)
- Illogical Reasoning
(ex. crime rates)
- Ideology/Politics
(ex. safe injection sites)
4 Types of Research:
- Exploratory
Get a basic understanding of a problem (ex. What’s the broad picture of school violence?)
- Descriptive
Describes the scope of the problem (ex. How many students have been cyber-bullied?)
- Explanatory
Explain why something is the way it is (ex. How does school climate affect school violence?)
- Applied
Get specifics to inform policy (ex. Has anti-bullying legislation reduced bullying?)
- Theory: Systematic explanation for observed facts/laws that relate to a particular aspect of life.
- Hypothesis: Specified expectation of empirical reality (ex. Will studying improve my grade? H1:
Yes H2: No H3: No effect).
- Patterns: Support theory and set baseline for normal.
- Aggregates: group of units (ex. people, prisons, and courtrooms).
- Attribute: characteristics (ex. person - female).
- Variable: Logical grouping of attributes.
- IV: Causes DV (ex. X).
- DV: Caused by IV (ex. Y).
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Week 2:
2 Modes of Casual Reasoning Explanations:
- Idiographic: Detailed understanding of a particular phenomenon.
- Nomothetic: Explain a # of similar phenomena.
Must be covariant/related and have cause prior to effect!
2 Logical Models of Reasoning:
- Inductive: Moving from specific to general.
- Deductive: Moving from general to specific.
2 Types of Data:
Quantitative: # data.
(ex. # of students in a classroom).
Qualitative: non-# data.
(ex. crime type).
Necessary cause: A condition that must be present for the effect to follow.
Sufficient cause: A condition that guarantees the effect in question.
Validity: Whether statements about cause or measures are correct.
4 Types of Validity:
- Statistical Conclusion
Is the relationship between variables stat. significant?
Threats: random error and small sample size (n).
** Is n less than 100?
- Internal
Are relationships due to the effect of some other variable?
Threats: not random error, spurious relationship, and uncontrolled environment
** Can anything else explain X → Y?
- External
Can results be replicated in another pop./time/
place?
Threats: non-generalizability and specific pop/
time/place.
** Is the pop/place/time too specific?
- Construct
Are measures reflective of the underlying theory or causal process of interest?
Threats: mismatch of construct and measurement and measures too narrow to
generalize to theoretical processes.
** Do measures reflect concept?
Identify the Threats to Validity Examples
1. A researcher wants to know whether the commission of certain types of crime is related to
income among adults. She surveys 10,000 university students about the types of crimes they have
committed over the past 12 months. This inclusive list of crimes includes 50 types that range in
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Crim 220 midterm: (ex. surveys, observation, and prison pop. ) (ex. racial/ethnic prejudices) (ex. crime rates) (ex. safe injection sites) Based on what we"ve been told. (ex. eyewitness testimony) (ex. property crime) Methodology: the study of methods to understand something. Theory: systematic explanation for observed facts/laws that relate to a particular aspect of life. Hypothesis: specified expectation of empirical reality (ex. Patterns: support theory and set baseline for normal. Aggregates: group of units (ex. people, prisons, and courtrooms). Get a basic understanding of a problem (ex. Explain why something is the way it is (ex. Must be covariant/related and have cause prior to effect! Idiographic: detailed understanding of a particular phenomenon. Nomothetic: explain a # of similar phenomena. Necessary cause: a condition that must be present for the effect to follow. Sufficient cause: a condition that guarantees the effect in question. Validity: whether statements about cause or measures are correct. Threats: random error and small sample size (n).
