Author: admin

1.  How do you evaluate the current ACJS ethical code? Is it
too strict, too lenient, or about right? Are the enforcement provisions
adequate? What provisions could be strengthened?
2. Why does unethical research occur? Is it inherent in
science? Does it reflect human nature? What makes ethical research more or less
likely?
3.Does debriefing solve the problem of subject deception?
How much must researchers reveal after the experiment is over as well as before
it begins?

What policy would you recommend that researchers such as
Sherman and Berk (1984) follow in reporting the results of their research?
Should social scientists try to correct misinformation in the popular press
about their research, or should they only focus on what is published in
academic journals? Should researchers speak to audiences (such as police
conventions) in order to influence policies related to their research results?

Investigate the standards and operations of your
university’s IRB. Interview one IRB member and one researcher whose research
has been reviewed by the IRB (after receiving the appropriate permissions!).
How well do typical IRB meetings work to identify the ethical issues in
proposed research? Do researchers feel that their proposals are treated fairly?
Why or why not?

List the elements in your research plans that an IRB might
consider to be relevant to the protection of human subjects. Rate each element
from 1 to 5, where 1 indicates no more than a minor ethical issue and 5
indicates a major ethical problem that probably cannot be resolved.

1.Write one page for the application to the IRB that
explains how you will ensure that your research adheres to each relevant ASA
standard.
2. Draft a consent form to be administered to your subjects
when they enroll in your research. Use underlining and margin notes to indicate
where each standard for informed consent statements is met.
Web Exercises

Are important concepts in criminological research always
defined clearly? Are they defined consistently? Search the literature for six
articles that focus on violent crime, intimate partner violence, domestic
violence, or some other concept suggested by your instructor. Is the concept
defined clearly in each article? For example, some researchers still use the
term domestic violence when they are referring to intimate partner violence,
while others use it to describe all violence that occurs in a home, including
sibling-to-sibling violence and other forms of violence. How similar are the
definitions? Write what you have found in a short report.

List at least 10 variables that will be measured in your
research. No more than two of these should be sociodemographic indicators such
as race or age. The inclusion of each variable should be justified in terms of
theory or prior research that suggests it would be an appropriate independent
or dependent variable or will have some relation to either of these.

1.Develop measurement operations for each variable. Several
measures should be single questions and indexes that were used in prior
research. (Search the web and the journal literature in Sociological Abstracts
or PsycINFO.) Make up a few questions and one index yourself. Ask classmates to
answer these questions and give you feedback on their clarity.
2. Propose tests of reliability and validity for four of the
measures.
Web Exercises

Both some homeland security practices and inadvertent
releases of web search records have raised new concerns about the use of
unobtrusive measures of behavior and attitudes. If all identifying information
is removed, do you think criminologists should be able to study who is stopped
by police for traffic violations? What types of books are checked out in
libraries in different communities? The extent of use of pornography in
different cities by analyzing store purchases? How much alcohol different types
of people use by linking credit card records to store purchases?
SPSS or Excel exercises
Take a look at the descriptions for V7329, V7330_r, and
V7333. Do they appear to have anything in common? What kind of concept might
they be measuring?

1. Let’s use those three measures together to get a more
thorough measure of that concept. This process is called scale construction.
1. First, tabulate all three measures. There are two ways we
can compute a scale. One method is to add up all the indicators; the other is
to take their average. In this case, we will take the average. This is because
we can take an average score even when someone missed a question—we cannot add
them up unless respondents answered all three items.
1. Select transform->compute
2. Enter the following into the “numeric expression” field
and then press OK: MEAN.2(V7329, V7330_r, V7333). This syntax can be read as
“take the average of these three variables if at least two of the three items
have been completed.”