Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology

Each chapter concludes with “Summary,” “Key Concepts,” “Review Questions,” and useful websites.

1. Introduction to Criminal Justice Research Methods: Theory and Method.

Scientific Research in Criminal Justice.

Common Sense and Nonsense.

Why Study Research Methods in Criminal Justice?

The Emergence of Science and Criminal Justice.

Probabilistic Nature of Science.

Proper Conduct of Critical Inquiry.

Exhibit 1.1: The Paradigm Shift in Policing.

Pure versus Applied Research.

Exhibit 1.2: The Project on Human Development.

Exhibit 1.3: Crime Analysis: Applied Criminal Justice Research.

Qualitative and Quantitative Research.

Researchese: The Language of Research.

Examples of the Research Process.

General Steps in Empirical Research in Criminal Justice.

Problem Formulation: Selection of Research Problem.

Problem Formulation: Specification of Research Problem.

Exhibit 1.4: Feminist Perspectives and Research Methods.

Exhibit 1.5: The World Wide Web (www).

2. Ethics in Criminal Justice Research.

Ethical Horror Stories.

Exhibit 2.1: AIDS Research in Africa and Asia: Is It Ethical?

Exhibit 2.2: Legendary Research Scams.

The Researcher's Role.

Research Targets in Criminal Justice.

Ethical Relativism.

Ethics and Professionalism.

Ethics in Criminal Justice Research.

Confidentiality of Criminal Justice Research.

Exhibit 2.3: Codes of Research Ethics of the ACJS and the ASC.

Ethical Issues in Criminology/Criminal Justice Research.

Ethical Problems.

Avoiding Ethical Problems.

3. Research Design: The Experimental Model and Its Variations.

Types of Research Design.

The Experimental Model.

Research Design in a Nutshell.

Causality.

Rival Causal Factors.

Internal Factors: Variables Related to Internal Validity.

External Factors: Variables Related to External Validity.

Related Rival Causal Factors.

Experimental Designs.

The Classic Experimental Design.

Some Criminal Justice Examples of the Classic Experimental Design.

Exhibit 3.1: The Kansas City Gun Experiment.

Other Experimental Designs.

Preexperimental Designs.

Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Designs.

Exhibit 3.2: The Cycle of Violence and Victims of Child Abuse.

Quasi-Experimental Designs.

Some Other Criminal Justice Examples of Variations of the Experimental Model.

Exhibit 3.3: Evaluations of Shock Incarceration.

The Experiment as a Data-Gathering Strategy.

4. An Introduction to Alternative Data-Gathering Strategies and the Special Case of Uniform Crime Reports.

Alternative Data-Gathering Strategies.

Social Surveys.

Participant Observation.

Life History and Case Studies.

Unobtrusive Measures.

The Special Case of Uniform Crime Reports.

Exhibit 4.1: Applied Research: Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

The Crime Index.

Crime Rate.

Cautions in the Use of UCR Data.

Related UCR Issues.

Exhibit 4.2: The Crime Dip of the Nineties.

UCR Redesign.

Exhibit 4.3: The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

5. Sampling and Survey Research: Questionnaires.

Types of Sampling.

Exhibit 5.1: Crime Profiling.

Survey Research.

Some Guidelines for Questionnaire Construction.

Organization of the Questionnaire.

Mail Surveys.

Advantages of Mail Surveys.

Disadvantages of Mail Surveys.

Ways of Eliminating Disadvantages in Mail Surveys.

Self-Reported Measures of Crime.

Some Problems with Self-Report Surveys.

Strengths of Self-Report Surveys.

6. Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys.

Types of Interviews.

Advantages of Interviews.

Disadvantages of Interviews.

Interviewing Aids and Variations.

Exhibit 6.1: Public Opinion Polls.

General Procedures in Interviews.

Training and Orientation Session.

Arranging the Interview.

Demeanor of Interviewer.

Administration of the Structured Interview.

Probing.

The Exit.

Recording the Interview.

Telephone Surveys.

Advantages and Prospects of Telephone Surveys.

Disadvantages of Telephone Surveys.

Computers in Survey Research.

Random Digit Dialing.

Techniques Employed in Telephone Surveys.

Victim Surveys in Criminal Justice.

National Crime Victimization Survey.

A Comparison of UCR, NCVS, and Self-Report Data.

Some Problems in Victim Surveys.

A Defense of Victim Surveys.

Controlling for Error in Victim Surveys.

Victim Surveys: A Balanced View.

Redesign of the National Crime Victimization Survey.

Exhibit 6.2: The Redesigned National Crime Victimization Survey.

7. Participant Observation and Case Studies.

A Critique of Experiments and Surveys.

A Defense of Quantitative Research.

Participant Observation.

Types of Participant Observation.

Characteristics of Participant Observation.

General Procedures in Participant Observation.

Tips on Participant Observation.

Exhibit 7.1: American Skinheads.

Examples of Participant Observation.

Exhibit 7.2: Islands in the Streets.

Exhibit 7.3: This Thing of Darkness: A Participant Observation Study of Idaho Christian Patriots.

Advantages of Participant Observation.

Disadvantages of Participant Observation.

Case Studies.

Some Examples of Case Studies.

Single-Subject Designs.

8. Unobtrusive Measures, Secondary Analysis, and the Uses of Official Statistics.

Major Types of Unobtrusive Methods.

Physical Trace Analysis.

Use of Available Data and Archives.

Exhibit 8.1: Automated Pin Mapping: Applied Criminal Justice Research Using GIS for Crime Analysis.

Exhibit 8.2: Street Gang Crime in Chacago.

Exhibit 8.3: Applied Criminal Justice Research: Grid Analysis and Hotspot Analysis.

Sources of Existing Data.

Exhibit 8.4: X-Files at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Observation.

Exhibit 8.5: National Archive of Criminal Justice Data.

Disguised Observation.

Simulations.

Advantages of Unobtrusive Measures.

Disadvantages of Unobtrusive Measures.

Chapter Appendix 8.1: Street Gang Crime in Chicago.

9. Validity, Reliability, and Triangulated Strategies.

Error in Research.

Reasons for Lack of Validation Studies in Criminal Justice.

Ways of Determining Validity.

Reliability.

ADAM (Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring Program).
Exhibit 9.1: ADAM.

Other Examples of Research Validation.

10. Scaling and Index Construction.

Levels of Measurement
Exhibit 10.1: Score Yourself General Attitude/Knowledge Survey.

Scaling Procedures.

Arbitrary Scales.

The Uniform Crime Report as an Arbitrary Scale.

Attitude Scales.

Other Scaling Procedures.

Crime Seriousness Scales.

Prediction Scales.

Advantages of Scales.

Disadvantages of Scales.

11. Policy Analysis and Evaluation Research.

Policy Analysis.

Evaluation Research.

Policy Analysis: The Case of the National Institute of Justice Research Program.

A Systems Model of Evaluation Research.

Types of Evaluation Research.

Steps in Evaluation Research.
What Works in Criminal Justice?
Exhibit 11.1: Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising.

Obstacles to Evaluation Research.

Researchers and Host Agencies.

12. Data Management: Coding, Tabulation, and Simple Data Presentation.

Variables List.

Computers.

Data Management.

Simple Data Presentation.

The Frequency Distribution.

Graphic Presentations.

Table Reading.

Steps in Reading a Table.

How to Construct Tables.

Presentation of Complex Data.

General Rules for Percentaging a Table.

Elaboration.

Lying with Statistics.

13. Data Analysis: A User's Guide to Statistics.

Why Study Statistics?

Types of Statistics.

Measures of Central Tendency for a Simple Distribution.

Measures of Dispersion.

Standard Deviation Units (Z Scores).

Chi-Square (x2).

Chi-Square-Based Measures of Association.

Nature and Types of Statistics.

The t Test (Difference of Means Test).

ANOVA (Analysis of Variance).

Other Measures of Relationship.

Correlation Coefficient (Pearson's r).

Regression.

Ordinal Level Measures of Relationships.

Multivariate Analysis.

Statistical Software.

Caveat Emptor.

The Ecological Fallacy.

Appendix A: How to Write a Research Report.



Appendix B: Table of Random Numbers.



Appendix C: Statistics: An Addendum to Chapter 13.

Measures of Central Tendency for Grouped Data.

Standard Deviations for Grouped Data.

Calculation of ANOVA.

Regression Calculations.

A Test of Significance for Gamma.

Appendix D: Answers to Pop Quizzes in Chapter 13.



Appendix E: Normal Curve Areas.



Appendix F: Distribution of Chi-Square (x2).



Appendix G: Proposal Writing and Evaluation.

Proposal Writing.

NIJ Proposal Format and Content.

Evaluation of Research Proposals.

References.



Glossary.



Name Index.



Subject Index.