Lecture 2 - Researching Deviance Flashcards
Reliability vs. Validity
Reliability: Consistent and stable results when under the same conditions.
Validity: It accurately shows you the results of what you are trying to measure
If you are consistently getting the wrong results, it is reliable, but not valid
Independent Variable vs. Dependent Variable
Independent Variable: The predictor variable (cause)
Dependent Variable: The outcome variable (effect)
Ex. Do body cameras reduce the use of force by police officers?
IV (cause): Body cameras
DV (effect): Use of force incidents
Classical Experimental Design
Experimental Group:
* Pre-test
* Stimulus
* Post-test
Control Group:
* Pre-test
* Post-test
Secondary Data Sources
- Any data collected by others, for a similar, or different purpose
- potential issues with reliability and validity
- Value of data liberation movement
Ethical Issues
No Harm - Minimal risk (no more than everyday risk)
* Physical
* Psychological/Emotional
* Legal
* Social
* Economic
Voluntary Participation
* Informed consent
* Threatens generalizability - since some people do not want to partake in the study
Special Populations
* Incarcerated populations - power and coercion
* Youth - Consent is given by both guardian and child
* Other groups - Mentally ill, ethnic minority, seniors
Anonymity & Confidentiality
* Anonymity: Identity of participant is unknown
* Confidentiality: Identity of participant is not shared
Deception - Sometimes necessary (must be justified)
* Active Deception - Deception by commission (actively misleading participants - giving false information)
* Passive Deception - Deception by omission (omitting parts of study or not telling participants key information)
Debrief after study can mitigate harm
Honor commitments & Respect participants
* Follow through on expectations and agreements - mutual trust between researcher and participant
Scientific Misconduct
* Objectivity (No bias)
* Appropriate Statistics (true and complete)
* Reporting transparent results - Don’t hide negative findings, study weaknesses, etc
Legal Liability - Confidentiality agreements can stop researcher from reporting crime
* Becoming accessory to crime
* Obtaining knowledge of participant’s criminal acts
OCAP + Self-Determination Research with Indigenous Peoples
- O - Ownership
- C - Control
- A - Access
- P - Possession
Goal-Evidence Based Practices
3 Parts:
* Practitioner’s individual expertise
* Client values and expectations
* Best evidence
quasi-experimental designs
A research method that resembles an experimental design but lacks random assignment of participants to groups. It is often used when true experiments are impractical or unethical.
Disadvantage: Lose points in terms of internal validity (because there are no random assignments)
True experimental design
A research method that establishes a clear cause-and-effect relationship by using random assignment, a control group, and manipulation of an independent variable.
Random Assignment
A process used in true experimental designs where participants are assigned to different groups (e.g., experimental and control) randomly, ensuring that each participant has an equal chance of being placed in any group.
field research
A term that brings to
mind the anthropologist immersing himself or herself into some foreign, perhaps
indigenous, society and learning the language, customs, beliefs, and behaviors of its
members or the researcher of a religious cult who feigns being a believer and observes others, always under the dangerous possibility that his or her identity will be revealed
and he or she will, at best, be alienated from the study site or, worse, physically harmed or even killed.
Participatory observation
be it covert or overt observation, can be dangerous,
emotionally and physically draining, and quite simply very hard work. It can also
be intellectually and emotionally rewarding. Hands-on research of this type brings
one much closer to the lives of the deviant and therefore enables a greater sense of
empathy and a much closer sense of the experiences of those people shunned by
society.
Covert observation: The researcher observes participants without their knowledge
Overt observation: Participants know they are being observed.
The Uniform Crime Report and the National Incident-Based Reporting System
UCR:
* Data is summary-based (focuses on serious crimes)
- lacks details about the crimes, victims, and offenders
NIBRS:
* Incident-based: Provides a more detailed crime report, collecting incident-level data.
Advantages:
* More detailed victim, offender, and crime data
* Captures multiple offenses per incident
* Tracks relationships between victims and offenders
UCR is being phased out, and has transitioned to NIBRS only reporting in 2021.
Institutional Review Board Process
- the IRB will want evidence that the researcher has permission to do research in a foreign country. Some countries legally prohibit research.
- An IRB will want to make sure that culturally appropriate procedures are in place to protect participants in the research activity.
- language. If the research involves in-depth interviews, the researcher or research team must know the language well enough to conduct the interviews.
- There are several protected populations where special consideration must be given to the respondents’ ability to provide consent to participate in research.
Ex. Prisoners, Youth, Mentally ill - How the data will be kept anonymous or confidential must be specified
Operationalization
Operationalization: Process of specifying the operations necessary for measuring constructs
* Specifying the variables to represent the construct (identifying attributes or variables)
Ex. Operational Hypothesis:
* # of hours studied -> Exam grade
* # of times participated in class -> Course Grade
Measurement
the process of systematically assigning numbers or labels to variables or characteristics according to specific rules or standards. It allows researchers to quantify data, making it possible to analyze and interpret findings scientifically.
Ex. Counting the number of reported thefts in a city
