Solutions Manual For Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology 9th Edition By Michael Ma

Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 1: An Introduction to Criminal Justice Inquiry

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 1: AN INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE INQUIRY

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

Review the common errors of personal inquiry discussed in this chapter. Search the news and find an article about a crime- or justice-related problem that illustrates one or more of those errors. Discuss how a criminal justice researcher would avoid making that error.

Solution: Students’ answers will vary depending on the source selected. The article should accurately demonstrate one of the errors of personal inquiry noted in the text (inaccurate observation, overgeneralization, selective observation, illogical reasoning, ideology, and politics). In their response, students should discuss a safeguard that corresponds to the error found in the article. For instance, if a student found a news article that used a poll with a small sample size to indicate the existence of a trend, the student could argue that the author has made the error of overgeneralization. The safeguard for overgeneralization is using a sufficiently large sample size. The student could propose that the researcher increases the sample size for the study to reduce the chances of overgeneralization in analysis. Students may also include in their response the details in the article that led them to believe an error of personal inquiry was made.

2. Pick a crime- or justice-related problem that you are interested in studying and list the types of questions you would want answered in an exploratory or descriptive research project on that topic.

Solution: Students’ answers will vary depending on the topic selected, in tandem with whether they choose an exploratory or descriptive research approach. For example, if a student chose the topic of juvenile delinquency and the descriptive approach, they could ask questions like • How many male children are in the juvenile justice system (JJS)? Female?

• What is the racial composition of children in the JJS? • What is the average income of families whose children are in the JJS?

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 1: An Introduction to Criminal Justice Inquiry

3. Identify the robbery rate for a city close to your college or university. Briefly discuss examples of explanatory research as they relate to the robbery rate.

Solution: For this exercise, students’ answers will depend on the location selected. In taking an explanatory research approach to the robbery rate, most students will provide examples where the research questions center around reasons why the rate is what it is; whether high, low, or in-between. This could include questions of geography, population, and socioeconomic status, among others.

4. Often, things we think are true and supported by considerable experience and evidence turn out not to be true, or at least not true with the certainty we expected.

Criminal justice seems especially vulnerable to this phenomenon, perhaps because crime and criminal justice policy are so often the subjects of mass and popular media attention. If news stories, movies, and television shows all point to growing gang- or drug-related violence, it is easy to assume that these are real problems identified by systematic study. Choose a criminal justice topic or claim that’s currently prominent in news stories or entertainment. Using Google Scholar or some other bibliographic tool, search the Internet for two research studies that examine the topic in systematic ways described in this chapter. Briefly summarize the studies’ findings.

Solution: Students’ responses will vary depending on the topic choice and their selection of corresponding research studies. Answers should include a brief summary of each study’s findings. Students may also discuss how these findings either support or refute common beliefs about criminal justice topics in mass and popular media.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 2: Foundations of Criminal Justice research

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 2: FOUNDATIONS OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESEARCH

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

In his book Crime and Everyday Life, Marcus Felson (2002) expands on “routine activity theory” as an explanation for why crime occurs. According to this theory, crimes happen when three elements come together: (a) a motivated offender, (b) an attractive victim, and (c) absence of capable guardians. Select one property crime and one violent crime. Apply routine activity theory to explain examples of each. Are you using theory in an inductive or deductive way?

Solution: Students’ answers will vary depending upon the selected property crime and violent crime, as well as their understanding of routine activity theory.

In each crime-type scenario, students should identify the motivated offender, the attractive victim, and the absence of capable guardian. They should then explain how they relate to each other in the context of Felson’s routine activity theory.

Concerning inductive versus deductive reasoning, this exercise asks students to apply a theory (routine activity theory) to individual examples (one violent crime and one property crime). It involves applying a general theory to a specific case, serving as an example of deductive reasoning.

2. Go to the Crime Solutions website (https://crimesolutions.ojp.gov/) and find a program. Summarize the program theory. In your summary be sure to describe how the program is designed to reduce the problem.

Solution: Students’ answers will vary greatly depending upon the selected program. In their summary, students should note the problem to be reduced or solved by the program, the theory used to guide the program, how the program was designed to affect the problem, and whether the program was effective.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 2: Foundations of Criminal Justice research

3. The Promoting Alternative THinking Strategies (PATHS) program is designed to develop emotional and social competencies to reduce aggression and behavior problems in children between the ages of 5 and 12. Based on your understanding of theory and hypotheses as discussed in this chapter, (a) describe how emotional and social skills might be related to juvenile delinquency and (b) propose a hypothesis that you could test.

Solution: In their answer, students should explain the connection between emotional and social skills and delinquency. From those ideas, they should then form a hypothesis for testing.

Sample response: Emotional and social skills are demonstrated in the behavior of children. Children with lower levels of emotional and social skills may be aggressive and act out. These behaviors may evolve to juvenile delinquency. We could test the following hypothesis: Juveniles who undergo the PATHS program are less likely to be delinquent than those who do not.

4. In this chapter, we discuss the relationship between urban design and crime. Thinking about your college campus or city, articulate a hypothesis about the influence of a particular geographic characteristic on a specific type of crime. Identify the variables in your hypothesis and each of the variable’s attributes.

Solution: Student responses will vary depending upon the selection of college campus or city, geographic characteristic, and crime. The hypothesis should indicate how the geographic characteristic increases or reduces the prevalence of the crime and why.

The attributes should logically correspond with the variable given.

Sample response: Campuses with bike lockers have fewer bikes stolen than those without. Variable: type of bike security; attributes: bike lockers, bike locks, no bike security measures.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 3: Ethics and Criminal Justice Research

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 3: ETHICS AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESEARCH

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

Obtain a copy of the American Society of Criminology (2016) code of ethics at this website: https://asc41.com/wp-content/uploads/ASC_Code_of_Ethics.pdf. Read the document carefully. How would the code apply to Laud Humphreys’ tearoom research?

What about the prison simulation? Especially note the “General Principles” section beginning on page 1.

Solution: Sample response: In Humphreys’ work, he accessed government records to find the participants’ homes and surveyed them there. This would surely breach the ASC’s first general principle, which prohibits harassment. His procedure of acting as a lookout for the subjects and then going to their homes put the subjects in jeopardy or danger, a breach of the second general principle, and is dishonest to the subjects, who did not know their lookout was a researcher – a breach of the third general principle.

In the Stanford Prison Experiment, the subjects could not foresee the extent of possible harm in order to agree to it because the researchers permitted the “guards” to change the rules during the simulation. This would violate the second general principle where potential harms must be disclosed to the subjects.

2. Review the box “Ethics and Juvenile Gang Members,” noting that Decker and Van Winkle developed an informed consent form for their participants. Try your hand at preparing such a form, keeping in mind the various ethical principles discussed in this chapter.

Solution: Responses from students will vary. Each student should construct their own informed consent form for a hypothetical research project. It may resemble the example in the textbook. Students should incorporate the ethical principles discussed in the chapter, like designating whether the data will be anonymous or confidential, the avoidance of harm, voluntary participation, etc.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 4: General Issues in Research Design

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 4: GENERAL ISSUES IN RESEARCH DESIGN

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

Discuss one of the following statements in terms of what you have learned about the criteria of causation and threats to the validity of causal inference. What cause-and-effect relationships are implied? What are some alternative explanations? a. Guns don’t kill people; people kill people. b. Capital punishment prevents murder. c. Marijuana is a gateway drug that leads to the use of other drugs Solution: Students’ answers will vary depending upon the choice of statement and alternative explanations incorporated. In their answer, students should address the three criteria of causality: correlation, time-order, and non-spuriousness in relation to the causal inference stated in options a – c. Alternative explanations should involve logical relationships between the cause and effect.

2. Several times, we have discussed the relationship between drug use and crime.

Describe the conditions that would lead us to conclude that drug use is a. A necessary cause b. A sufficient cause c. A necessary and sufficient cause Solution: Sample response a) If drug use was a necessary cause for crime, drug use would be required to occur before a crime could be perpetrated, but drug use could happen without crime resulting. For instance, prior to committing a crime a person would have had to have used drugs; however, just because a person used drugs does not mean a crime was destined or had to occur. b) If drug use was a sufficient cause of crime, drug use would more or less guarantee that crime would occur, but there may also be other reasons why crime occurs. In this case, the use of drugs would almost guarantee that a crime would then be committed, but it is also possible that a crime could occur because of necessity, passion, or another reason.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 4: General Issues in Research Design

c) If drug use was a necessary and sufficient cause of crime, drug use must be present for crime to occur and any time there was drug use a crime would result.

In this scenario, a crime would not occur unless the perpetrator used drugs, and anytime a person used drugs they would in turn commit a crime.

3. In this chapter we discussed Schuck and Rabe-Hemp’s (2021, 2022) findings that women officers rate police misconduct more seriously than male officers do. Using this statement, describe the four threats to validity discussed in this chapter and explain what Schuck and Rabe-Hemp could do to reduce those threats.

Solution: Students should first discuss the four threats to validity from the chapter: statistical conclusion, internal, construct, and external validity threats. After reviewing threats to these types of validity, the student response should find possible threats within Schuck and Rabe-Hemp’s work and explain what the researchers could do to reduce the threats. Student responses will vary depending upon which threats the student chooses to focus upon in relation to the research example provided.

4. Describe a criminal justice topic that you are interested in studying. Identify the unit of analysis for your study. Using your study topic, provide examples of ecological and reductionist fallacies.

Solution: To complete this exercise, students will use a criminal justice topic they are interested in to identify the unit of analysis of their study and possible ecological and reductionist fallacies that may be associated with the topic. The unit of analysis selected should be appropriate and align with the topic of the study chosen. Students’ answers should demonstrate their general understanding of ecological and reductionist fallacies and properly tie them to their topic using relevant examples.

5. In describing different approaches to the time dimension, criminologist Lawrence Sherman (1995) claims that cross-sectional studies can show differences and that longitudinal studies can show change. How does this statement relate to the three criteria for inferring causation?

Solution: Sample answer: Cross-sectional studies show difference because they are taking snapshots of the phenomenon studied at a given time and comparing it to another snapshot at a different time. It demonstrates the difference between the two points in time, but does not tell the story of what happened in between them. A longitudinal study looks at the changes or movement over an extended period of time. The longitudinal study would better satisfy the criteria of causality because it can show extended periods of corresponding movement. It can show continuous reading both pre- and post-treatment. Both cross-sectional and longitudinal studies may have difficulty demonstrating non-spuriousness.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 4: General Issues in Research Design

6. William Julius Wilson (1996:167) cites the following example of why it’s important to think carefully about units and time. Imagine a 13-bed hospital, in which 12 beds are occupied by the same person for one year. The other hospital bed is occupied by 52 people, each staying one week. At any given time, 92 percent of beds are occupied by long-term patients (12 out of 13); but over the entire year, 81 percent of patients are short-term patients (52 out of 64). Discuss the implications of a similar example, in which “jail cell” is substituted for “hospital bed.”

Solution: Sample answer: As a criminal justice example, if the same scenario were present but using “jail cells” instead of “beds,” this would be similar to people serving long sentences in the majority of the cells, but with one cell that houses short-term or detention incarceration (one that has regular turnover). Over a given year, from a more longitudinal perspective, the majority of the inmates will be short-term (52 out of 64); however, at a cross-section of time, the majority of inmates would be long-term (12 out of 13). The cross-sectional snapshot does not permit you to see what is actually occurring as a trend in the facility.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 5: Concepts, Operationalization, and Measurement

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 5: CONCEPTS, OPERATIONALIZATION , AND MEASUREMENT

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

Pick a criminal justice topic that you are interested in studying and write a conceptual definition and an operational definition for the topic. Based on your definitions, discuss ways that you could measure the concept. In Kaplan’s terms, is your topic something you can directly observe, something you must indirectly observe, or a theoretical creation?

Solution: Students’ answers will vary depending upon the topic selected and their choice of research approach. They should designate whether their topic is directly observable, indirectly observable, or theoretical. Their example definitions should demonstrate their understanding of the difference between a conceptual and operational definition.

The proposed measurement and observation should be realistic but may be limited in feasibility as a result of a preliminary understanding of methodology.

2. In the opening of this chapter, we talked about what makes a good criminal justice practitioner. What attributes do you think make a good criminal justice practitioner?

How would you group those attributes into variables? How would you measure your variables? Are your measures nominal, ordinal, interval, or ratio?

Solution: The students’ answers will vary based on what attributes they choose. Their answers should demonstrate an understanding of the connection between variables and attributes, and the different levels of measurement. Students may only include the level of measurement that they believe best corresponds to their variable.

3. On its web page, “Documents: Domestic Terrorism: Definitions, Terminology, and Methodology” (https://www.fbi.gov/file-repository/fbi-dhs-domestic-terrorismdefinitions-terminology-methodology.pdf/view), the FBI lists the following definition: “Domestic terrorism” means activities with the following three characteristics: a. Involves acts dangerous to human life that violate federal or state law; b. Appears intended i. to intimidate or coerce a civilian population; ii. to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 5: Concepts, Operationalization, and Measurement

iii. to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination or kidnapping; and c. Occurs primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

This is a conceptual definition. Write an operational definition, then see how it applies to stories about terrorism in a local newspaper or news feed.

Solution: Student answers will vary. In general, the operational definitions should include the means by which to measure, or observe and document, the presence of domestic terrorism. This could include types and characteristics of intimidation, coercion, mass destruction, etc. It may also include the number of individuals affected and specific location types.

4. We all have some sort of mental image of the pace of life. In a fascinating book titled A Geography of Time, Robert Levine (1997) operationalized the pace of life in cities around the world with a composite measure of the following: a. How long it took a single pedestrian to walk 60 feet on an uncrowded sidewalk b. What percentage of public clocks displayed the correct time c. How long it took to purchase the equivalent of a first-class postage stamp with the equivalent of a $5 bill Discuss possible reliability and validity issues with these indicators of pace of life.

Be sure to specify a conceptual definition for “pace of life.”

Solution: Student answers may differ depending upon their perspective of time and how well they believe Levine operationalized the pace of life using the three indicators.

Responses should demonstrate the students’ understanding of reliability and validity in their analysis of Levine’s indicators. Students may wish to begin their response by specifying a conceptual definition for “pace of life.” This may assist in their examination of Levine.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 6: Measuring Crime

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 6: MEASURING CRIME

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

Los Angeles police consider a murder to be gang-related if either the victim or the offender is known to be a gang member, whereas Chicago police record a murder as gang-related only if the killing is directly related to gang activities (Spergel, 1990).

Describe how these different operational definitions illustrate general points about measuring crime discussed in this chapter.

Solution: The difference in operational definitions of gang-related murder between these two cities will result in the inclusion of different types of cases dependent upon the area.

In the Los Angeles definition, if a gang member is involved in any way, the murder is defined as gang related. For instance, if a gang member is murdered in a domestic incident, it would be gang-related in Los Angeles despite the fact the murder did not involve actual gang activity. In Chicago, this murder would not be considered gang related. There are validity issues here due to the disparity in definition for this singular term.

2. Measuring gang-related crime is an example of trying to measure a particular dimension of crime: motive. Other examples are hate crimes, terrorists incidents, and drug-related crimes. Specify conceptual and operational definitions for at least one of these types. Find one mass or social media story and one research report that present an example.

Solution: The student responses to this question will vary depending upon their choice of example. The conceptual definition should offer a broader definition of the concept, whereas the operational definition should indicate the means for measurement.

Students should include their choice of popular media story and research report to demonstrate their answers.

© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 6: Measuring Crime

3. How would you measure crime in a specific city if you wanted to evaluate a community policing program that encourages neighborhood residents to report incidents to police?

Solution: Students will have different ideas for measurement. Students could suggest a victimization survey to track gaps between victimizations and reported crimes. Others may suggest comparing a victimization survey to crimes known to police. Self-report surveys could be used to show the amount of crime reported as perpetrated by respondents in comparison to numbers reported to police.

4. As discussed in this chapter, many crimes are not measured in NIBRS. What types of crimes do you think should be added the next time the system is redesigned? How does the design of the system affect researchers’ ability to measure the crime in a valid and reliable way?

Solution: Students answers to this question will vary. They may focus on the areas in the text suggested for improved coverage in the book. These include controlled substances, fraud, corruption, public order crimes, weapons offenses, and animal cruelty. The system design of the NIBRS presents problems due to clerical mistakes and politics.

Reporting is voluntary and the quality is subject to variation dependent upon location and attention to detail.

The NIBRS does not measure the concept of crime generally, like the definition given in the text: any act committed in violation of the law that prohibits it and authorizes punishment for its commission. While it has improved over the summary-based system to include more crimes reported to police, the extent of inclusion is not as expansive as the definition given. If the definition used by the NIBRS established crime as all those known to police and recorded in police files, the NIBRS would be more valid as a measure of crime.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 7: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 7: EXPERIMENTAL AND QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL DESIGNS

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

If you do not remember participating in DARE (Drug Abuse Resistance Education), you have probably heard or read something about it. Describe an experimental design to test the causal hypothesis that DARE reduces drug use. Is your experimental design feasible? Why or why not?

Solution: Students should demonstrate their understanding of basic experimental design in their responses. Answers should identify and describe the experimental design proposed and how participants will be selected. These characteristics may affect the feasibility of their experiment.

To test whether the DARE program reduces drug use, I would choose two similar middle schools: one that uses the DARE program and one that does not. I would administer a self-report survey to gauge existing drug use in the student sample from both schools. I would survey the student samples in both schools again six months after the DARE program was administered in the test school.

This is a quasi-experimental design like the example of Kim and Clark (2013) from the text. The students were not randomly assigned to the DARE program to create a treatment and control group, rather, the different middle schools serve as a treatment and comparison group. I could use random sampling in each school to create the groups, but it would be important that the two schools, and their students, share similar demographic characteristics like school funding, size, free-lunch use, student race, gender, and performance.

2. Experiments are often conducted in public health research, where a distinction is made between an efficacy experiment and an effectiveness experiment. Efficacy experiments focus on whether some new health program works under ideal conditions; effectiveness experiments test the program under typical conditions that health professionals encounter in their day-to-day work. Discuss how efficacy experiments and effectiveness experiments reflect concerns about internal validity threats on the one hand and generalizability on the other.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 7: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs

Solution: Student responses should discuss how efficacy experiments may have stronger internal validity because the ideal setting demonstrates a significantly controlled environment, whereas the effectiveness experiments are stronger in generalizability or external validity because they more closely replicate the real world.

A student could use the example of medication to assist with diabetes. A diabetes drug could be extremely effective in an efficacy experiment where all of the conditions are ideal or controlled. Inpatient participants may have their diet and exercise level controlled by medical staff in conjunction with the drug treatment. As a result, the drug is found to be extremely effective in controlling the symptoms of diabetes. This result is valid that the experiment may be collecting data that directly measures the effect of the drug, but it is not generalizable because it is occurring under a controlled, laboratory-like setting. An effectiveness study of the same drug may get much different results due to the lack of experimental control. Similar to the earlier example, participants would be tested by the medical staff to gauge how the medicine is working, but staff would not be able to ensure that the participant’s activity and diet are appropriate or ideal for human health. The results from this study may have less validity due to the lack of control on test conditions, but they would be much more generalizable as to how the drug would work in the real world.

3. Crime hot spots are areas where crime reports, calls for police service, or other measures of crime are especially common. Police in departments with a good analytic capability routinely identify hot spots and launch special tactics to reduce crime in these areas. What kinds of validity threats should researchers be especially attentive to in studying the effects of police interventions on hot spots?

Solution: To answer this question, students should identify various threats to validity and how they may be (1) represented in this research model, or (2) mediated by process or instrumentation. Answers will vary depending upon the threat selected. For example, a student may discuss how this is an applied study, which typically carry stronger external validity. For example, a student may note that because the hot spot intervention research is occurring in the field, there may be strong external validity.

Research under controlled conditions have stronger internal validity. This research is studying how interventions are applied in the field. The real-world application may increase the generalizability of the findings. However, we must be careful. The unique nature of the city or neighborhood may reduce the generalizability to other areas.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 8: Sampling

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 8: SAMPLING

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

At the beginning of this chapter, we discussed how sampling methods might affect victimization estimates for individuals experiencing housing insecurities. Pick a justice-focused topic that you are interested in studying. Describe a sampling method for recruiting participants. Identify potential biases associated with your sampling method and how these biases may affect the accuracy of your research findings.

Solution: Student responses will vary depending upon their choice of justice-focused topic and corresponding sampling method for recruiting participants. Students should be able to justify their use of a given sampling method by establishing how it fits their topic specifically. The biases discussed should be appropriate to the type of sampling method chosen.

For example, a student could propose to study elder abuse victimization surveying a random sample from the mailing list of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP). Using this sampling method, a number of groups would be missed. People must apply and pay for membership to the AARP before they appear on the list.

Individuals without internet access or those who are not comfortable with computer use may be less likely to be members. There is also a membership fee, which may seem minimal, but may be prohibitive to people on a fixed income. Individuals most vulnerable to elder abuse are often dependent upon the care of others. It may be unlikely that a person who is abusing or neglecting an older person would be attentive to maintaining a fringe membership. This sampling example would not measure the true extent or depth of elder abuse. This would severely reduce the validity of my measurement.

2. Stop-and-frisk is a controversial tactic in which police approach persons on the street who appear to act suspiciously, “frisk” them for weapons or contraband, then ask some questions. Research in New York City has shown that young males of color are more often stopped than older people, females, or Whites (Jones-Brown, Gill, and Trone, 2010). Briefly describe two approaches to sampling participants for a research study on people’s experiences of stop-and-frisk.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 8: Sampling

Solution: Student responses should demonstrate their understanding of sampling methodology and how to apply the methods chosen in order to get the appropriate sample required for the study. The methods chosen may not be the most feasible. This is an exercise in giving an accurate example of the method, not necessarily selecting the “best” method.

For example, a student could suggest reliance on available participants—like standing on a street corner in the city asking people who walk by to share their experiences with stop-and-frisk. Or if the student is focused on getting the experiences of those who have had a negative encounter, a researcher could start with a person they know who has had a bad stop-and-frisk encounter and then, using snowball sampling, ask them to identify others that have experiences to share.

3. Discuss possible study populations, elements, sampling units, and sampling frames for drawing a sample to represent the populations listed below. You may wish to limit your discussion to populations in a specific state or other jurisdiction. a. Municipal police officers b. Felony court judges c. Auto thieves d. Persons incarcerated in county jails e. Formally incarcerated community members f. City areas with high crime rates Solution: Student answers will vary depending upon their selection of study populations, elements, sampling units, and sampling frames for the populations given. The response should demonstrate logical links between the population, elements, sampling units, and frames. Answers may include discussion of how differences in the study population or sampling frame selected may significantly change the operational definition of study elements.

For example, auto thieves—The population would be all individuals convicted of auto theft in the state of Indiana. My sampling frame would be the list of all imprisoned people serving time for auto theft in the department of correction. The sampling unit are the individuals who were convicted. The sampling element are individuals.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 9: Survey Research

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 9: SURVEY RESEARCH

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

For each of the open-ended questions listed, construct a closed-ended question that could be used in a questionnaire. a. What was your family’s total income last year? b. How do people feel about having police officers in schools? c. How do people in your neighborhood feel about getting rid of cash bail? d. What do you feel is the biggest problem facing this community? e. How do you protect your home from burglary?

Solution: Students should demonstrate their understanding of question construction and the characteristics of closed-ended questions, specifically that the attributes provided be exhaustive and mutually exclusive. Answers may be in multiple choice or matrix form.

Options b. and c. may use a Likert format.

2. Prepare a brief questionnaire to study perceptions of crime near your college or university. Include questions asking respondents to describe a nearby area where they either are afraid to go after dark or think crime is a problem. Then use your questionnaire to interview at least 10 students.

Solution: Student responses will vary. The questionnaire should demonstrate their basic understanding of question types and construction. Students may include a summary of their results and a reflection of their experience interviewing respondents.

3. In 2018, the Chicago Police Department (CPD) partnered with a private company to collect information about trust and confidence in the police. Each month a sample of residents are asked to report their level of agreement (0–10) to the following statements: “The police in my neighborhood treat local residents with respect”; and (2) “The police in my neighborhood listen and take into account the concerns of local residents.” See the CPD website (https://home.chicagopolice.org/statisticsdata/datadashboards/sentiment-dashboard/) for more information. Is this a valid way to measure community confidence in policing? What other questions should community members be asked about policing in their neighborhood?

© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 9: Survey Research

Solution: Validity in survey research is dependent upon how well the questions and corresponding responses measure the phenomena of interest, in this case trust and confidence in the local police. Students should examine how well these two questions about respect and listening to local residents are able to measure community confidence in policing. While there is some connection between these concepts, students may question whether it is a sufficient measure of community confidence and seek to include additional questions to aid in measurement. Questions created by the students will vary. Examples could include the following: “The police take action to revolve my concerns when I call them”; “I believe the police are invested in the safety of my community”; and “I have seen police engaged in positive interactions with people in my neighborhood.”

4. Open a free SurveyMonkey account. Construct a five-item questionnaire for students in your class, asking them to evaluate this textbook. As much as possible, use survey templates that are available on SurveyMonkey, then use some sampling procedure to select 10 students from your class who will complete the survey. Write a brief report that summarizes your findings.

Solution: Student responses will vary. The questionnaire should demonstrate the student’s understanding of survey construction and be sensitive to issues of validity and reliability. In their report, students should include their findings and may justify decisions made in operationalization. Students could use random, probability, or nonprobability sampling methods. For example, students could use available subjects by sending the survey to the first 10 students they see from the class. Or a student could use random sampling, acquiring a class list and sending it to every nth student on the list for a total of 10.

© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 10: Qualitative Interviewing

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 10: QUALITATIVE INTERVIEWING

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

Watch one of the following movie clips: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQ4y7GPeFBY or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymsHLkB8u3s.

Write down the main points that you think are conveyed. Compare your interpretation to those of two or three other people in your class.

Solution: Students will compare their interpretations of their clips of choice with their classmates. In speaking with their classmates, students may recognize how the subjective lens of their life experiences shapes their interpretations of the clips.

2. Select a research topic of interest and write an interview schedule. First use an interview guide and then use semistructured questions. Be sure to include a few scheduled probes in your semistructured interview schedule.

3. Interview one person using the two interview schedules created in Question 2.

Write a few paragraphs comparing the two approaches (unstructured and semistructured).

What were the advantages and disadvantages of each approach?

4. Write an operational memo about your self-reflexivity after your interview. Be sure to discuss your insider/outsider status and how this shaped some of your thoughts.

5. Create thinking units or sensitizing concepts about your research project. Then write a coding or analytic memo about your research project.

6. Using one or two interviews, code your data and identify themes. Discuss the process of how you identified themes for your research project. Describe how your themes shifted based on coding one versus two interviews.

Solutions: Questions 2–6 Student responses will vary dependent upon their topic of choice. Answers to each question should demonstrate their understanding of that segment of the qualitative interviewing process. Their discussion may include how their choices made in that segment may affect the larger validity or reliability of the results.

© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 11: Field Observation

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 11: FIELD OBSERVATION

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

Identify a justice-focused topic you want to study by doing field observations.

What type of participant role would you take, and what sampling technique would you use to select observation targets?

Solution: The student’s choice of participant role and sampling technique will depend, in part, on the topic and participants selected. Students may justify their decisions by describing how the role and sampling technique compliments the research.

2. This question is linked to Exercise 2 in Chapter 9. After tabulating responses to your questions about nearby areas where respondents feel unsafe or believe crime to be a problem, plan and conduct field observations in those areas. First, visit one or more areas and make detailed field notes about the area’s characteristics, thinking especially about how those characteristics might be associated with perceptions of crime problems. Second, use your notes and observations to develop a form for making structured field observations. Third, visit more areas cited by your respondents and use your form to record area characteristics.

Solution: This question refers to Exercise 2 in Chapter 9, which reads: Prepare a brief questionnaire to study perceptions of crime near your college or university. Include questions asking respondents to describe a nearby area where they either are afraid to go after dark or think crime is a problem. Then use your questionnaire to interview at least 10 students.

Students are expected to undergo the process of taking the data from their interviews to plan and execute field observations of the locations indicated by the participants. This exercise is focused on students engaging in the full process of observation, notation, and recording, rather than answering a specific question or providing a given artifact.

© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 11: Field Observation

3. We briefly described how Shuryo Fujita sampled street segments and conducted systematic observations using Google Street View (GSV). In a paragraph or so, summarize another way to use GSV images as a source of field observation data.

What are some advantages and disadvantages of this data source? Describe one example of a concept that can be readily measured with GSV, and one example of a concept that cannot.

Solution: Students may have a variety of ideas on how GSV may be used to observe a number of phenomena. In their answer, they should connect their understanding of what may be viewed on GSV with concepts of research interest that may be observed there and in turn measured for further analysis.

4. The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP) sponsors a variety of activities to educate New York City students about urban policy and to involve students in field research projects. One group investigated the use of big data by documenting their neighborhood using photography, talking with stakeholders, and exploring algorithms.

You can download the booklet titled “Big Data Big Issues” from their website (https://welcometocup.org/projects/big-data-big-issue). Briefly describe how the students’ research involves techniques of field observation described in this chapter.

By the way, CUP projects address a variety of issues in criminal and juvenile justice.

For example, see the poster by Danica Navgorodoff (2010), “I got arrested! Now what?” (https://welcometocup.org/projects/i-got-arrested-now-what).

Solution: In the CUP project, students documented the neighborhood through photography, surveyed community members, and interviewed other stakeholders about the NYPD’s use of big data and its effect upon the community.

5. In the box “Case Study: Video data analysis,” observing videos was discussed.

What topics might be appropriate to study using publicly available footage? What are some potential problems with using videos from social media platforms such as YouTube or Reddit?

Solution: Students may select a number of different topics that are appropriate to study using publicly available footage. Disadvantages of using existing online videos is that the accuracy of the situation or event filmed may not be verified or verifiable. It is possible that the video may have been edited. The footage may also be limited by available filming angle or the quality of the footage may be poor.

© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 12: Agency Records, Content Analysis, and Secondary Data

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 12: AGENCY RECORDS, CONTENT ANALYSIS, AND SECONDARY DATA

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

The NACJD includes a variety of data resource guides on its home page (https://www.icpsr.umich.edu/web/pages/NACJD/). Each resource guide describes how a data series is collected, along with key features of measures and other information. Choose one data resource guide and then (a) summarize in a paragraph or so how data were collected and what are the units of analysis and (b) formulate at least one research question that you think can be addressed by data in the series.

Solution: The guides on the NACJD page feature a variety of different research topics. The students’ answers will differ depending upon the topic they select. Their answers should include discussion of how the data were collected and the units of analysis used. The students should then form a unique research question that could be answered by using the data in the series.

2. Visit the FBI UCR website (https://cde.ucr.cjis.gov/). Use the table-building tool to find violent crime rates and property crime rates for 10 states. Or examine trends in reported crime for a 20-year period. Briefly write up a summary of results.

Solution: The students’ result summaries will vary dependent upon the states selected for analysis.

3. Many newsfeed services are available on the web. Google Alert is one example.

Create a newsfeed on a criminal justice topic of interest and accumulate stories for a week. Be aware of a trade-off between being too narrow (not enough stories) and too broad (being overwhelmed with stories). Write two paragraphs that describe how you would go about conducting a content analysis on concepts of interest in the stories.

Focus on manifest content.

Solution: The topics students select will vary; however, their discussion of conducting a content analysis should demonstrate their understanding of the topic from the text. Student analyses should focus on manifest content—the visible or surface content made available in their accumulated stories.

© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 13: Evaluation Research and Problem Analysis

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 13: EVALUATION RESEARCH AND PROBLEM ANALYSIS

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

In presentations to justice practitioners, Maxfield describes evaluation as answering two questions: “Did you get what you expected?” and “Compared to what?” Discuss how particular sections of this chapter relate to those two questions.

Solution: The first question, “Did you get what you expected?” is related to the use of goals and objectives in evaluation research. Whenever there is a change in policy, or the implementation of a rehabilitation program, there are expectations of changes that will occur in the treatment group. The objectives permit us to measure the extent to which a goal is achieved (or not). The question “Compared to what?” is relatable to both the process of having a treatment and control group, as well as the contextual nature found in scientific realism. In evaluation research, we are comparing the treatment group that received the intervention with that of the control group that did not. The difference between the two may be attributable to the intervention or stimulus.

Scientific realism implies that context is an important factor in making comparisons of whether a stimulus or treatment works. Some contexts may not be ideal for comparison because their individual context may be sufficiently different; therefore, different results will occur. As a result, treatments or interventions should be unique to the context or location.

2. When programs do not achieve their expected results, it’s due to one of two things: the program was not a good idea to begin with, or it was a good idea but was not implemented properly. Discuss why it is necessary to conduct both a process evaluation and an impact evaluation to learn why a program failed.

Solution: If we solely evaluate the impact of an intervention, we may not see the whole picture.

The program goals and objectives may not be achieved due to the program being under or poorly developed; however, it could also be that the program was sound, but poorly executed by the staff. If only an impact evaluation was completed, we may not be able to discern the reasoning for the failure. The process evaluation will enable us to understand the execution of the program and whether it was a factor in its failure.

© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 13: Evaluation Research and Problem Analysis

3. What are the principal advantages and disadvantages of randomized designs for field experiments? Are such designs used in problem analysis? Explain your answer.

Solution: An advantage of using randomized designs in field experiments is the ability to avoid the selectivity that is a fundamental part of criminal justice decision-making. This may remove the bias associated with discretionary decisions enabling the researcher to focus on the intervention or stimulus. On the other hand, randomized designs are not always suitable for evaluating experimental criminal justice programs. There are some situations where it could be unethical or potentially dangerous to randomly assign the treatment to participants.

4. Select a justice-focused program that you are interested in studying and do an evaluability assessment. Be sure to identify the goals, clients, and operations of the program.

Solution: Answers to this question will vary dependent upon the justice-focused program selected by the student. Their discussion should include the goals, objectives, participants, and operations of the program.

© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 14: Interpreting Data

Solution and Answer Guide

MICHAEL G. MAXFIELD, EARL R. BABBIE, AMIE SCHUCK, RESEARCH METHODS FOR CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND CRIMINOLOGY , 9TH EDITION, © 2025, 9780357763735; CHAPTER 14: INTERPRETING DATA

TABLE OF CONTENTS Review Questions and Exercises ........................................................................................1

REVIEW QUESTIONS AND EXERCISES 1.

Using the data in the accompanying table, construct and interpret tables showing a. The bivariate relationship between age and attitude toward capital punishment b. The bivariate relationship between political orientation and attitude toward capital punishment c. The multivariate relationship linking age, political orientation, and attitude toward capital punishment.

Solution: a. No relationship between age and attitude.

Age Attitude Favor Oppose Total

Younger 150 (75%) 50 (25%) 200 (100%)

Older 75 (75%) 25 (25%) 100 (100%)

b. Conservative more likely to favor capital punishment than liberal.

Attitude Favor Oppose Total

Political Orientation Conservative Liberal 150 (88%) 75 (58%) 20 (12%) 55 (42%) 170 (100%) 130 (100%)

c. Conservatives of any age are more likely to favor capital punishment than liberals of any age.

Attitude Favor Oppose Total

Conservative– Younger 90 (90%) 10 (10%) 100 (100%)

Political Orientation–Age Conservative– Liberal– Older Younger 60 (86%) 60 (60%) 10 (14%) 40 (40%) 70 (100%) 100 (100%)

Liberal– Older 15 (50%) 15 (50%) 30 (100%)

© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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Solution and Answer Guide: Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie, Amie Schuck, Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9th Edition, © 2025, 9780357763735; Chapter 14: Interpreting Data

2. Using information from Question 1, explain the difference between measures of association and tests of statistical significance.

Solution: Measures of association calculate the strength of a relationship, for instance between age and attitude about the death penalty. Tests of statistical significance assess the likelihood that the relationship shown exists and is not the result of sampling error.

3. Go to the Bureau of Justice Statistics website for the National Crime Victimization Survey at https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/ncvs. Select one of the publications that interests you. Pay attention to how the researchers present information. Do they use tables or figures? What type of notes are included with the tables? In many cases you can download the data. Download the data for a figure and see if you can re-create the figure used in the publication.

Solution: Student responses will vary upon the publication selected. Their answers should discuss how the data were presented in the reports and an attempt to re-create the figures or tables using the data from the site.

© 2025 Cengage Learning, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.

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