Texas State University
School of Criminal Justice
Ph.D. Comprehensive Exam for Quantitative Methods
October 13, 2015
12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
DIRECTIONS: Choose Option One or Option Two.
Save two electronic copies of your answer (one with just your ID number assigned to you,
the other with your ID number and name). Email both copies to Cybele Hinson
ch56@txstate.edu. Print out and turn in a hard copy as well with both your ID number
and name on it.
OPTION ONE
Following a steady increase in the number of alcohol-related violence in a large city, a city
ordinance is introduced by which greater restrictions are imposed on licensed establishments.
These include limiting opening hours, and regulating how alcohol is served and displayed (e.g.,
limitations on serving sizes and special promotions). Measures are also introduced so that the
licenses of non-compliant establishments can be more easily revoked. It is now one year since
the ordinance came into effect, and the city would like you to conduct an evaluation.
Please design a research study to evaluate the effectiveness of the ordinance in reducing alcoholrelated violence in the city. You should address the following issues/questions:
1. Study design:
1.1. What will be the overall study design and which research question(s) will be
answered (or which hypothesis/hypotheses will be formulated)?
1.2. What data will you collect/analyze?
1.3. How will you analyze the data?
1.4. How is the strategy adopted advantageous over other potential study designs? Make
reference here to the data to be used as well, and any challenges these may present.
2. Identify the potential threats to the internal and external validity of your study and how you
might mitigate or eliminate these. Make reference to implementation issues.
3. What ethical considerations would you need to take into account? Describe the steps you
would need to follow to ensure your study is conducted in an ethical manner.
OPTION TWO
Wu (2014) recently published an article in Policing & Society titled “Race/ethnicity and
perceptions of the police: a comparison of White, Black, Asian and Hispanic Americans.” Below
you will find the abstract and excerpts from the methodology section (some of these have been
adapted). Please answer the questions that follow.
Abstract:
This study extends the dominant Black-White paradigm in assessing public perceptions of the
police by including Hispanic and Asian Americans. Relying on a large random sample of Seattle
residents, this study examines: (1) perceptions of police problem-solving, hassling, racial
profiling and bias among Hispanic, Asian, Black and White Americans and (2) factors that
influence police perceptions. Results reveal both majority-minority and inter-minority variations
in attitudes towards police, suggesting that a single vertical scale or gradation of attitudes cannot
adequately describe the complexity of different racial/ethnic groups’ perceptions of multiple
aspects of policing. A range of individual demographic factors influence public perceptions of
the police. Some interesting findings include that educational attainment and employment have
negative effects on public satisfaction with the police. Possible explanations are provided.
Methods:
This study analyses secondary data from the Seattle Neighbourhoods and Crime Survey, 20022003. The survey collected data from 4,904 households in Seattle in 2002 and early 2003, using
three separate sampling frames: (1) the ‘random sample’ based on cluster sampling method, with
two block groups randomly selected from each of 123 census tracts in Seattle and then nine
households randomly selected from each block group, resulting in a sample of 2,220 households;
(2) the ‘ethnic oversample’ based on a disproportionate number of households in neighbourhoods
with high percentages of racial/ethnic minorities, resulting in a sample of 1,145 households; and
(3) the ‘replication sample’ based on a random selection of six street segments in each of the 100
census tracts sampled by a previous Seattle criminal victimisation survey and three households
within each of the street segments, resulting in a sample of 1,539 households. The overall
response rate was over 51%.
Telephone interviews were conducted with one adult in each household.
Perceived police bias is measured by an additive scale of five items (Cronbach’s alpha 0.87),
which overall indicate whether police are seen to be biased in favour of White and/or wealthy
people. The other three variables measured in regard to police perceptions (i.e., problem-solving
ability, hassling and racial profiling) are all measured using individual Likert scales.
Apart from the respondents’ race, also recorded were gender, age (in years), education level
(0=lower than college degree, 1=college degree or higher), employment (0=currently
unemployed, 1=currently employed), household income (1=under $25,000, 2=$25,000-$75,000,
and 3=over $75,000), and place of origin (0=foreign-born, 1=US-born).
1. Identify the dependent and independent variables and their levels of measurement in this
study, justifying your answers.
2. How should the data in this study be analyzed? Justify your choice of analytical strategy,
based on the study’s independent and dependent variables, and their levels of measurement.
3. How generalizable are the results of this study? Justify your answer.
4. Identify the criteria for causality (in general) and how each are/are not met in this study
(in particular; explain why or why not).
5. Secondary data were used in this study. What are some known weaknesses associated
with the use of secondary data, and how could they have affected this study?
6. Describe and appraise the sampling strategy used in this study and offer an alternative
strategy.
7. Discuss the ethical issues that would need to be considered in relation to this study, and
specify whether the study would qualify for an exemption under IRB rules.