Basics Of Research Methods For Criminal Justice And Criminology,9780534615673

Basics Of Research Methods For Criminal Justice And Criminology

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Edition: 1st
ISBN13: 9780534615673
ISBN10: 0534615678
Format: Paperback
Pub. Date: 2005-07-28
Publisher(s): Wadsworth Publishing
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Summary

1. Criminal Justice and Scientific Inquiry. 2. Theory in Criminal Justice Research. 3. General Issues in Research Design. 4. Concepts, Operationalization, and Measurement. 5. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs. 6. Overview of Data Collection and Sampling. 7. Survey Research and Other Ways of Asking Questions. 8. Field Research. 9. Agency Records, Content Analysis, and Secondary Data. 10. Evaluation Research and Policy Analysis. 11. Interpreting Data.

Table of Contents

PART ONE: An Introduction to Criminal Justice Inquiry
1(58)
Criminal Justice and Scientific Inquiry
2(24)
Introduction
3(1)
Home Detention
4(4)
What Is This Book About?
4(1)
Two Realities
4(2)
The Role of Science
6(1)
Personal Human Inquiry
6(1)
Tradition
7(1)
Authority
7(1)
Arrest and Domestic Violence
8(18)
Errors in Personal Human Inquiry
8(1)
Inaccurate Observation
8(1)
Overgeneralization
8(1)
Selective Observation
9(1)
Illogical Reasoning
10(1)
Ideology and Politics
10(1)
To Err Is Human
10(1)
Foundations of Social Science
11(1)
Theory, Not Philosophy or Belief
11(1)
Regularities
11(2)
What about Exceptions?
13(1)
Aggregates, Not Individuals
13(1)
A Variable Language
13(1)
Variables and Attributes
14(3)
Variables and Relationships
17(1)
Purposes of Research
17(1)
Exploration
18(1)
Description
18(1)
Explanation
19(1)
Application
19(1)
Differing Avenues for Inquiry
19(1)
Idiographic and Nomothetic Explanations
20(1)
Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
21(1)
Quantitative and Qualitative Data
22(1)
Ethics and Criminal Justice Research
23(1)
Knowing through Experience: Summing Up and Looking Ahead
23(1)
Main Points
24(2)
Theory and Ethics in Criminal Justice Research
26(33)
Introduction
27(1)
The Creation of Social Scientific Theory
27(1)
The Traditional Model of Science
28(3)
Two Logical Systems
31(2)
Terms Used in Theory Construction
33(1)
Grounded Theory and Community Prosecution
34(8)
Theory in Criminal Justice
36(1)
Law Breaking
36(2)
Policy Responses
38(1)
Theory, Research, and Public Policy
39(1)
Ecological Theories of Crime and Crime Prevention Policy
39(2)
Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice Research
41(1)
No Harm to Participants
41(1)
Ethics and Extreme Field Research
42(10)
Voluntary Participation
44(1)
Protecting Identity
45(1)
Deceiving Subjects
45(1)
Analysis and Reporting
46(1)
Legal Liability
46(1)
Special Problems
47(2)
Promoting Compliance with Ethical Principles
49(1)
Codes of Professional Ethics
49(1)
Institutional Review Boards
50(2)
Ethics and Juvenile Gang Members
52(7)
The Stanford Prison Experiment
52(3)
Discussion Examples
55(1)
Main Points
55(4)
PART TWO: Structuring Criminal Justice Inquiry
59(92)
General Issues in Research Design
60(31)
Introduction
61(1)
Causation in the Social Sciences
62(1)
Criteria for Causality
62(1)
Necessary and Sufficient Causes
63(1)
Validity and Causal Inference
63(1)
Statistical Conclusion Validity
64(1)
Internal Validity
65(1)
Construct Validity
65(1)
External Validity
66(1)
Validity and Causal Inference Summarized
67(1)
Does Drug Use Cause Crime?
67(1)
Introducing Scientific Realism
68(1)
Units of Analysis
69(1)
Causation and Declining Crime in New York City
70(4)
Individuals
70(1)
Groups
71(1)
Organizations
72(1)
Social Artifacts
72(1)
The Ecological Fallacy
73(1)
Units of Analysis in the National Youth Gang Survey
74(17)
Units of Analysis in Review
74(2)
The Time Dimension
76(1)
Cross-Sectional Studies
76(1)
Longitudinal Studies
76(1)
Approximating Longitudinal Studies
77(2)
The Time Dimension Summarized
79(2)
How to Design a Research Project
81(1)
The Research Process
81(2)
Getting Started
83(1)
Conceptualization
83(1)
Choice of Research Method
84(1)
Operationalization
84(1)
Population and Sampling
84(1)
Observations
85(1)
Analysis
85(1)
Application
85(1)
Research Design in Review
86(1)
The Research Proposal
87(1)
Elements of a Research Proposal
87(1)
Answers to the Units-of-Analysis Exercise
88(1)
Main Points
88(3)
Concepts, Operationalization, and Measurement
91(32)
Introduction
92(1)
Conceptions and Concepts
92(2)
Conceptualization
94(1)
Indicators and Dimensions
94(1)
Creating Conceptual Order
95(1)
What Is Recidivism?
96(2)
Operationalization Choices
96(2)
Jail Stay
98(12)
Measurements as Scoring
98(2)
Exhaustive and Exclusive Measurement
100(1)
Levels of Measurement
100(2)
Implications of Levels of Measurement
102(1)
Criteria for Measurement Quality
103(1)
Reliability
104(2)
Validity
106(2)
Measuring Crime
108(1)
General Issues in Measuring Crime
108(2)
Units of Analysis and Measuring Crime
110(13)
Measures Based on Crimes Known to Police
110(3)
Victim Surveys
113(1)
Surveys of Offending
114(2)
Measuring Crime Summary
116(1)
Composite Measures
117(1)
Typologies
117(1)
An Index of Disorder
118(2)
Measurement Summary
120(1)
Main Points
120(3)
Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs
123(28)
Introduction
124(1)
The Classical Experiment
124(1)
Independent and Dependent Variables
125(1)
Pretesting and Posttesting
125(1)
Experimental and Control Groups
126(1)
Double-Blind Experiments
127(1)
Selecting Subjects
127(1)
Randomization
128(1)
Experiments and Causal Inference
128(1)
Experiments and Threats to Validity
129(1)
Threats to Internal Validity
129(2)
Ruling Out Threats to Internal Validity
131(1)
Generalizability and Threats to Validity
132(1)
Threats to Construct Validity
132(2)
Threats to External Validity
134(1)
Threats to Statistical Conclusion Validity
134(1)
Variations in the Classical Experimental Design
135(1)
Quasi-Experimental Designs
136(1)
Nonequivalent-Groups Designs
137(3)
Cohort Designs
140(1)
Time-Series Designs
140(3)
Variations in Time-Series Designs
143(2)
Variable-Oriented Research and Scientific Realism
145(2)
Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs Summarized
147(1)
Main Points
147(4)
PART THREE: Modes of Observation
151(122)
Overview of Data Collection and Sampling
152(32)
Introduction
153(1)
Three Sources of Data
154(1)
Asking Questions
154(1)
Making Direct Observations
154(1)
Examining Written Records
155(1)
Using Multiple Data Sources
155(1)
Multiple Measures in Home Detention
156(28)
The Logic of Probability Sampling
157(1)
Conscious and Unconscious Sampling Bias
158(2)
Representativeness and Probability of Selection
160(1)
Probability Theory and Sampling Distribution
160(1)
The Sampling Distribution of 10 Cases
161(4)
From Sampling Distribution to Parameter Estimate
165(1)
Estimating Sampling Error
166(1)
Confidence Levels and Confidence Intervals
167(1)
Random Sampling and Probability Theory Summed Up
168(1)
Population and Sampling Frames
169(1)
Types of Sampling Designs
170(1)
Simple Random Sampling
170(1)
Systematic Sampling
170(1)
Stratified Sampling
171(1)
Disproportionate Stratified Sampling
172(1)
Multistage Cluster Sampling
172(2)
Multistage Cluster Sampling with Stratification
174(1)
Illustration: Two National Crime Surveys
174(2)
The National Crime Victimization Survey
176(1)
The British Crime Survey
177(1)
Probability Sampling in Review
177(1)
Nonprobability Sampling
178(1)
Purposive, or Judgmental, Sampling
178(1)
Quota Sampling
178(1)
Reliance on Available Subjects
179(1)
Snowball Sampling
180(1)
Nonprobability Sampling in Review
181(1)
Main Points
181(3)
Survey Research and Other Ways of Asking Questions
184(32)
Introduction
185(1)
Topics Appropriate to Survey Research
186(1)
Counting Crime
186(1)
Self-Reports
186(1)
Perception and Attitudes
187(1)
Policy Proposals
187(1)
Targeted Victim Surveys
187(1)
Other Evaluation Uses
188(1)
Guidelines for Asking Questions
188(1)
Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Questions
188(1)
Question and Statements
189(1)
Make Items Clear
189(1)
Short Items Are Best
190(1)
Avoid Negative Items
190(1)
Biased Items and Terms
190(1)
Designing Self-Report Items
191(1)
Questionnaire Construction
192(1)
General Questionnaire Format
192(1)
Contingency Questions
193(2)
Matrix Questions
195(1)
Ordering Items in a Questionnaire
195(1)
Self-Administered Questionnaires
196(1)
Don't Start From Scratch!
197(19)
Mail Distribution and Return
197(1)
Warning Mailings and Cover Letters
198(1)
Follow-Up Mailings
199(1)
Acceptable Response Rates
199(1)
Computer-Based Self-Administration
199(2)
In-Person Interview Surveys
201(1)
The Role of the Interviewer
201(1)
General Rules for Interviewing
201(1)
Coordination and Control
202(1)
Computer-Assisted In-Person Interviews
203(2)
Telephone Surveys
205(1)
Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing
206(1)
Comparison of the Three Methods
207(1)
Strengths and Weaknesses of Survey Research
208(2)
Other Ways of Asking Questions
210(1)
Specialized Interviewing
210(1)
Focus Groups
211(1)
Should You Do It Yourself?
212(2)
Main Points
214(2)
Field Research
216(30)
Introduction
217(1)
Topics Appropriate to Field Research
218(1)
The Various Roles of the Observer
219(2)
Asking Questions
221(2)
Gaining Access to Subjects
223(1)
Gaining Access to Formal Organizations
223(2)
Gaining Access to Subcultures
225(1)
Selecting Cases for Observation
226(2)
Purposive Sampling in Field Research
228(1)
Recording Observations
229(1)
Cameras and Voice Recorders
230(1)
Field Notes
231(1)
Structured Observations
231(1)
Linking Field Observations and Other Data
232(3)
Illustrations of Field Research
235(1)
Shoplifting
235(1)
Conducting a Safety Audit
236(10)
``Driving While Black''
238(1)
Bars and Violence
239(2)
Strengths and Weaknesses of Field Research
241(1)
Validity
241(1)
Reliability
242(1)
Generalizability
243(1)
Main Points
244(2)
Agency Records, Content Analysis, and Secondary Data
246(27)
Introduction
247(1)
Topics Appropriate for Agency Records and Content Analysis
247(2)
Types of Agency Records
249(1)
Published Statistics
249(2)
Nonpublic Agency Records
251(3)
New Data Collected by Agency Staff
254(2)
Improving Police Records of Domestic Violence
256(6)
Units of Analysis and Sampling
256(1)
Units of Analysis
256(2)
Sampling
258(1)
Reliability and Validity
258(1)
Sources of Reliability and Validity Problems
259(3)
How Many Parole Violators Were There Last Month?
262(11)
Content Analysis
262(2)
Units of Analysis and Sampling in Content Analysis
264(2)
Coding in Content Analysis
266(1)
Illustrations of Content Analysis
267(2)
Secondary Analysis
269(1)
Sources of Secondary Data
270(1)
Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary Data
270(1)
Main Points
271(2)
PART FOUR: Application and Analysis
273(61)
Evaluation Research and Policy Analysis
274(33)
Introduction
275(1)
Topic Appropriate for Evaluation Research and Policy Analysis
275(1)
The Policy Process
276(1)
Linking the Process to Evaluation
277(2)
Getting Started
279(1)
Evaluability Assessment
280(1)
Problem Formulation
281(2)
Measurement
283(3)
Designs for Program Evaluation
286(1)
Randomized Evaluation Designs
286(2)
Home Detention: Two Randomized Studies
288(3)
Quasi-Experimental Designs
291(3)
Other Types of Evaluation Studies
294(1)
Policy Analysis and Scientific Realism
294(1)
Modeling Prison Populations
295(3)
Other Applications of Policy Analysis
298(1)
Scientific Realism and Applied Research
299(2)
The Political Context of Applied Research
301(1)
Evaluation and Stakeholders
301(1)
Politics and Objectivity
302(1)
When Politics Accommodates Facts
303(4)
Main Points
304(3)
Interpreting Data
307(27)
Introduction
308(1)
Univariate Description
308(1)
Distributions
308(1)
Measures of Central Tendency
309(2)
Measures of Dispersion
311(2)
Comparing Measures of Dispersion and Central Tendency
313(1)
Computing Rates
314(2)
Describing Two or More Variables
316(1)
Bivariate Analysis
316(3)
Multivariate Analysis
319(1)
Murder on the Job
320(14)
Inferential Statistics
324(1)
Univariate Inferences
324(1)
Tests of Statistical Significance
325(2)
Visualizing Statistical Significance
327(1)
Chi Square
328(2)
Cautions in Interpreting Statistical Significance
330(2)
Main Points
332(2)
Glossary 334(8)
References 342(10)
Name Index 352(2)
Subject Index 354

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