Topic
Previously, you were asked to select a topic to write about. You were also asked to produce that topic with an explanation of why you wanted to write about it. Now, we'll talk about hypothesis. You will need to develop a hypothesis or an expectation about your theory.
Instructions: Assignment #1 Develop your "theory" What is your understanding of your topic and what types of hypothesis' do you wish to test.
Theory
Why is theory useful?Theories provide complex and comprehensive conceptual understandings of things that cannot be pinned down:
how societies work,
how organizations operate,
why people interact in certain ways.
Theories give researchers different “lenses” through which to look at complicated problems and social issues, focusing their attention on different aspects of the data and providing a framework within which to conduct their analysis.
Just as there is no one way to understand why, for instance, a culture has formed in a certain way, many lenses can be applied to a problem, each focusing on a different aspect of it.
Next Hypothesis
Instructions: Develop a hypothesis to be tested- Answer the following questions to determine the course of your research project.
What is your expected results from testing your hypothesis?
What method will you use to test your develop and test your hypothesis?
A hypothesis is an expectation about the nature of things derived from a theory-
Or a theory might contain the hypothesis “high school dropouts will have a higher delinquency rates compared to youths enrolled in high school.
This hypothesis can be tested through research.
Variables and Attributes
Attributes ◦Are characteristics or qualities that describe some object, such as a person –Married –Unemployed –Prisoners }
Variables ◦Are logical grouping of attributes –Males and females are attributes –Gender is the variable
The variable occupation is composed of attributes such as a ◦Dentist ◦Professor ◦Truck driver
A prior criminal record is a variable composed of a set of attributes such as; ◦Prior convictions ◦Prior arrests with convictions ◦Prior arrests without convictions ◦No prior arrests
Some Common Criminal Justice Concepts }Female }Probation }Thief }Gender }Sentence }Middle-aged }Auto theft }Occupation }2 different kinds of concept }
2 different kinds of concepts }Variables
2 different kinds of concepts }Attribute Female Probation Auto theft Thief
Variables and Relationships
A person’s attributes on one variable are expected to cause or encourage a particular attribute on another variable.
Variables and Relationships
A public defender seemed to cause a person to be sentenced to probation or prison. There is something about having a public defender rather to going to court with out one. ◦This is called a dependent variable.
An independent variable; is sentence depends on the type of defense attorney. Variables and Relationships Your theory is constructed in terms of variables.
It describes the associations that might logically be expected to exist between particular attributes of different variables.
Definitions-
conception
The mental images we have that represent our thoughts about things we routinely encounter. We use the word speeding (a concept) to represent our mental image (conception) of traveling above the posted speed limit.
conceptual definition
Defining concepts by using other concepts. Concepts are abstract—the words and symbols that are used to represent mental images of things and ideas. This means that a conceptual definition uses words and symbols to define concepts. In practice, conceptual definitions represent explicit statements of what a researcher means by a concept. A conceptual definition of prior record might be “recorded evidence of one or more convictions for a criminal offense.” See also operational definition.
conceptualization
The mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions (concepts) are made more specific and precise. So you want to study fear of crime? What do you mean by fear of crime? Are there different kinds of fear? What are they?
construct validity
(1) The degree to which a measure relates to other variables as expected within a system of theoretical relationships. (2) How well an observed cause-and-effect relationship represents the underlying causal process a researcher is interested in. See also validity threats.
criterion-related validity
The degree to which a measure relates to some external criterion. For example, the validity of self-report surveys of drug use can be shown by comparing survey responses to laboratory tests for drug use.
dimension
A specifiable aspect, or feature, of a concept.
face validity
The quality of an indicator that makes it seem a reasonable measure of some variable. That sentence length prescribed by law is some indication of crime seriousness seems to make sense without a lot of explanation; it has face validity.
incident-based measure
Refers to crime measures that express characteristics of individual crime incidents. The FBI Supplementary Homicide Reports are well-known examples, reporting details on each homicide incident. Compare with summary-based measure.
interval measure
A level of measurement that describes a variable whose attributes are rank ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes. The Fahrenheit temperature scale is an example of this because the distance between 17 and 18 is the same as that between 89 and 90. See also nominal measure, ordinal measure, and ratio measure.
nominal measure
A level of measurement that describes a variable whose different attributes are only different, as distinguished from ordinal, interval, and ratio measures. Gender is an example of a nominal measure.
operational definition
Specifying what operations should be performed to measure a concept. The operational definition of prior record might be “Consult the county (or state or FBI) criminal history records information system. Count the number of times a person has been convicted of committing a crime.”
operationalization
One step beyond conceptualization. Operationalization is the process of developing operational definitions by describing how actual measurements will be made.
ordinal measure
A level of measurement that describes a variable whose attributes may be rank ordered along some dimension. An example is socioeconomic status as composed of the attributes high, medium, and low. See also nominal measure, interval measure, and ratio measure.
ratio measure
A level of measurement that describes a variable whose attributes have all the qualities of nominal, ordinal, and interval measures and in addition are based on a true zero point. Length of prison sentence is an example of a ratio measure.
reliability
That quality-of-measurement standard whereby the same data would have been collected each time in repeated observations of the same phenomenon. We would expect that the question, “Did you see a police officer in your neighborhood today?” would have higher reliability than the question, “About how many times in the past six months have you seen a police officer in your neighborhood?” This is not to be confused with validity.
self-report survey
Self-report surveys ask people to tell about crimes they have committed. This method is best for measuring drug use and other so-called victimless crimes. Confidentiality is especially important in self-report surveys.
summary-based measure
Crime measures that report only total crimes for a jurisdiction or other small area are summary-based measures of crime. The FBI Uniform Crime Reports is one well-known summary measure. Compare with incident-based measure.
typology
Classifying observations in terms of their attributes. Sometimes referred to as taxonomies, typologies are typically created with nominal variables. For example, a typology of thieves might group them according to the types of cars they steal and the types of locations they search to find targets.
validity
(1) Whether statements about cause and effect are true (valid) or false (invalid). s 3 and 5. See also validity threats. (2) A descriptive term used for a measure that accurately reflects what it is intended to measure. For example, police records of auto theft are more valid measures than police records of shoplifting. It is important to realize that the ultimate validity of a measure can never be proved. Yet we may agree as to its relative validity on the basis of face validity, criterion-related validity, and construct validity. This must not be confused with reliability.
victim survey
A sample survey that asks people about their experiences as victims of crime. Victim surveys are one way to measure crime, and they are especially valuable for getting information about crimes not reported to police. The National Crime Victimization Survey is an example.
Previously, you were asked to select a topic to write about. You were also asked to produce that topic with an explanation of why you wanted to write about it. Now, we'll talk about hypothesis. You will need to develop a hypothesis or an expectation about your theory.
Instructions: Assignment #1 Develop your "theory" What is your understanding of your topic and what types of hypothesis' do you wish to test.
Theory
Why is theory useful?Theories provide complex and comprehensive conceptual understandings of things that cannot be pinned down:
how societies work,
how organizations operate,
why people interact in certain ways.
Theories give researchers different “lenses” through which to look at complicated problems and social issues, focusing their attention on different aspects of the data and providing a framework within which to conduct their analysis.
Just as there is no one way to understand why, for instance, a culture has formed in a certain way, many lenses can be applied to a problem, each focusing on a different aspect of it.
Next Hypothesis
Instructions: Develop a hypothesis to be tested- Answer the following questions to determine the course of your research project.
What is your expected results from testing your hypothesis?
What method will you use to test your develop and test your hypothesis?
A hypothesis is an expectation about the nature of things derived from a theory-
Or a theory might contain the hypothesis “high school dropouts will have a higher delinquency rates compared to youths enrolled in high school.
This hypothesis can be tested through research.
Variables and Attributes
Attributes ◦Are characteristics or qualities that describe some object, such as a person –Married –Unemployed –Prisoners }
Variables ◦Are logical grouping of attributes –Males and females are attributes –Gender is the variable
The variable occupation is composed of attributes such as a ◦Dentist ◦Professor ◦Truck driver
A prior criminal record is a variable composed of a set of attributes such as; ◦Prior convictions ◦Prior arrests with convictions ◦Prior arrests without convictions ◦No prior arrests
Some Common Criminal Justice Concepts }Female }Probation }Thief }Gender }Sentence }Middle-aged }Auto theft }Occupation }2 different kinds of concept }
2 different kinds of concepts }Variables
2 different kinds of concepts }Attribute Female Probation Auto theft Thief
Variables and Relationships
A person’s attributes on one variable are expected to cause or encourage a particular attribute on another variable.
Variables and Relationships
A public defender seemed to cause a person to be sentenced to probation or prison. There is something about having a public defender rather to going to court with out one. ◦This is called a dependent variable.
An independent variable; is sentence depends on the type of defense attorney. Variables and Relationships Your theory is constructed in terms of variables.
It describes the associations that might logically be expected to exist between particular attributes of different variables.
Definitions-
conception
The mental images we have that represent our thoughts about things we routinely encounter. We use the word speeding (a concept) to represent our mental image (conception) of traveling above the posted speed limit.
conceptual definition
Defining concepts by using other concepts. Concepts are abstract—the words and symbols that are used to represent mental images of things and ideas. This means that a conceptual definition uses words and symbols to define concepts. In practice, conceptual definitions represent explicit statements of what a researcher means by a concept. A conceptual definition of prior record might be “recorded evidence of one or more convictions for a criminal offense.” See also operational definition.
conceptualization
The mental process whereby fuzzy and imprecise notions (concepts) are made more specific and precise. So you want to study fear of crime? What do you mean by fear of crime? Are there different kinds of fear? What are they?
construct validity
(1) The degree to which a measure relates to other variables as expected within a system of theoretical relationships. (2) How well an observed cause-and-effect relationship represents the underlying causal process a researcher is interested in. See also validity threats.
criterion-related validity
The degree to which a measure relates to some external criterion. For example, the validity of self-report surveys of drug use can be shown by comparing survey responses to laboratory tests for drug use.
dimension
A specifiable aspect, or feature, of a concept.
face validity
The quality of an indicator that makes it seem a reasonable measure of some variable. That sentence length prescribed by law is some indication of crime seriousness seems to make sense without a lot of explanation; it has face validity.
incident-based measure
Refers to crime measures that express characteristics of individual crime incidents. The FBI Supplementary Homicide Reports are well-known examples, reporting details on each homicide incident. Compare with summary-based measure.
interval measure
A level of measurement that describes a variable whose attributes are rank ordered and have equal distances between adjacent attributes. The Fahrenheit temperature scale is an example of this because the distance between 17 and 18 is the same as that between 89 and 90. See also nominal measure, ordinal measure, and ratio measure.
nominal measure
A level of measurement that describes a variable whose different attributes are only different, as distinguished from ordinal, interval, and ratio measures. Gender is an example of a nominal measure.
operational definition
Specifying what operations should be performed to measure a concept. The operational definition of prior record might be “Consult the county (or state or FBI) criminal history records information system. Count the number of times a person has been convicted of committing a crime.”
operationalization
One step beyond conceptualization. Operationalization is the process of developing operational definitions by describing how actual measurements will be made.
ordinal measure
A level of measurement that describes a variable whose attributes may be rank ordered along some dimension. An example is socioeconomic status as composed of the attributes high, medium, and low. See also nominal measure, interval measure, and ratio measure.
ratio measure
A level of measurement that describes a variable whose attributes have all the qualities of nominal, ordinal, and interval measures and in addition are based on a true zero point. Length of prison sentence is an example of a ratio measure.
reliability
That quality-of-measurement standard whereby the same data would have been collected each time in repeated observations of the same phenomenon. We would expect that the question, “Did you see a police officer in your neighborhood today?” would have higher reliability than the question, “About how many times in the past six months have you seen a police officer in your neighborhood?” This is not to be confused with validity.
self-report survey
Self-report surveys ask people to tell about crimes they have committed. This method is best for measuring drug use and other so-called victimless crimes. Confidentiality is especially important in self-report surveys.
summary-based measure
Crime measures that report only total crimes for a jurisdiction or other small area are summary-based measures of crime. The FBI Uniform Crime Reports is one well-known summary measure. Compare with incident-based measure.
typology
Classifying observations in terms of their attributes. Sometimes referred to as taxonomies, typologies are typically created with nominal variables. For example, a typology of thieves might group them according to the types of cars they steal and the types of locations they search to find targets.
validity
(1) Whether statements about cause and effect are true (valid) or false (invalid). s 3 and 5. See also validity threats. (2) A descriptive term used for a measure that accurately reflects what it is intended to measure. For example, police records of auto theft are more valid measures than police records of shoplifting. It is important to realize that the ultimate validity of a measure can never be proved. Yet we may agree as to its relative validity on the basis of face validity, criterion-related validity, and construct validity. This must not be confused with reliability.
victim survey
A sample survey that asks people about their experiences as victims of crime. Victim surveys are one way to measure crime, and they are especially valuable for getting information about crimes not reported to police. The National Crime Victimization Survey is an example.
