Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology (with CD-ROM and InfoTrac)

by Maxfield, Michael G.; Babbie, Earl R.

• ISBN13: 9780534615604
• ISBN10: 0534615600
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-02-19
• Publisher: Wadsworth Publishing

Summary

Part One: AN INTRODUCTION TO CRIMINAL JUSTICE INQUIRY. 1. Crime, Criminal Justice, and Scientific Inquiry. 2. Theory and Criminal Justice Research. 3. Ethics and Criminal Justice Research. Part Two: STRUCTURING CRIMINAL JUSTICE INQUIRY. 4. General Issues in Research Design. 5. Concepts, Operationalization, and Measurement. 6. Measuring Crime. 7. Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs. Part Three: MODES OF OBSERVATION. 8. Overview of Data Collections and Sampling. 9. Survey Research and Other Ways of Asking Questions. 10. Field Research. 11. Agency Records, Content Analysis, and Secondary Data. Part Four: APPLICATION AND ANALYSIS. 12. Evaluation Research and Policy Analysis. 13. Interpreting Data. Glossary. Bibliography. Name Index. Subject Index.

Table of Contents

Preface	x
PART ONE: An Introduction to Criminal Justice Inquiry	1	(76)
Crime, Criminal Justice, and Scientific Inquiry	2	(27)
Introduction	3	(1)
Home Detention	4	(1)
What Is This Book About?	4	(3)
Two Realities	4	(2)
The Role of Science	6	(1)
Personal Human Inquiry	7	(2)
Tradition	7	(1)
Arrest and Domestic Violence	8	(1)
Authority	8	(1)
Errors in Personal Human Inquiry	9	(2)
Inaccurate Observation	9	(1)
Overgeneralization	10	(1)
Selective Observation	10	(1)
Illogical Reasoning	10	(1)
Ideology and Politics	11	(1)
To Err Is Human	11	(1)
Foundations of Social Science	11	(8)
Theory, Not Philosophy or Belief	13	(1)
Regularities	13	(1)
What About Exceptions?	14	(1)
Aggregates, Not Individuals	14	(1)
A Variable Language	14	(1)
Variables and Attributes	15	(3)
Variables and Relationships	18	(1)
Purposes of Research	19	(2)
Exploration	19	(1)
Description	19	(1)
Explanation	20	(1)
Application	20	(1)
Differing Avenues for Inquiry	21	(5)
Ideographic and Nomothetic Explanations	21	(1)
Inductive and Deductive Reasoning	22	(1)
Quantitative and Qualitative Data	23	(1)
Putting It All Together: Why Did Crime Go Up (or Down) in New York City?	24	(2)
Ethics and Criminal Justice Research	26	(1)
Knowing Through Experience: Summing Up and Looking Ahead	26	(1)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercise·InfoTrac College Edition·Additional Readings	27	(2)
Theory and Criminal Justice Research	29	(22)
Introduction	30	(1)
The Creation of Social Science Theory	30	(12)
The Traditional Model of Science	30	(4)
Two Logical Systems	34	(2)
Grounded Theory and Community Prosecution	36	(4)
Terms Used in Theory Construction	40	(2)
Theory in Criminal Justice	42	(6)
Law Breaking	42	(2)
Policy Responses	44	(1)
Theory, Research, and Public Policy	45	(1)
Putting It All Together: New York's Secret? Purposive Action	46	(1)
Ecological Theories of Crime and Crime Prevention Policy	46	(2)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercise·InfoTrac College Edition·Additional Readings	48	(3)
Ethics and Criminal Justice Research	51	(26)
Introduction	52	(1)
Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice Research	52	(11)
No Harm to Participants	53	(1)
Ethics and Extreme Field Research	54	(2)
Voluntary Participation	56	(1)
Anonymity and Confidentiality	57	(1)
Deceiving Subjects	58	(1)
Analysis and Reporting	59	(1)
Legal Liability	60	(1)
Special Problems	60	(3)
Promoting Compliance with Ethical Principles	63	(6)
Codes of Professional Ethics	63	(1)
Institutional Review Boards	64	(2)
Ethics and Juvenile Gang Members	66	(1)
Institutional Review Board Requirements and Researcher Rights	67	(2)
Two Ethical Controversies	69	(4)
Trouble in the Tearoom	69	(1)
Putting it all Together: Confidentiality in Police Research	70	(1)
The Stanford Prison Experiment	70	(3)
Discussion Examples	73	(1)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercise·InfoTrac College Edition·Additional Readings	74	(3)
PART TWO: Structuring Criminal Justice Inquiry	77	(130)
General Issues in Research Design	78	(36)
Introduction	79	(1)
Causation in the Social Sciences	80	(3)
Criteria for Causality	80	(1)
Necessary and Sufficient Causes	81	(1)
Molar and Micromediational Causal Statements	82	(1)
Validity and Causal Inference	83	(7)
Statistical Conclusion Validity	83	(1)
Internal Validity	84	(1)
Construct Validity	84	(2)
External Validity	86	(1)
Validity and Causal Inference Summarized	86	(1)
Does Drug Use Cause Crime?	87	(1)
Putting it all Together: Causation and Declining Crime in New York City	88	(1)
Introducing Scientific Realism	89	(1)
Units of Analysis	90	(5)
Individuals	91	(1)
Groups	91	(1)
Organizations	92	(1)
Social Artifacts	92	(1)
Units of Analysis in Review	93	(1)
The Ecological Fallacy	94	(1)
Reductionism	95	(1)
The Time Dimension	95	(7)
Units of Analysis in the National Youth Gang Survey	96	(1)
Cross-Sectional Studies	96	(1)
Longitudinal Studies	97	(1)
Approximating Longitudinal Studies	98	(1)
Retrospective Studies	99	(1)
The Time Dimension Summarized	100	(2)
Putting it all Together: Units and Time in New York City	102	(1)
How to Design a Research Project	102	(7)
The Research Process	103	(2)
Getting Started	105	(1)
Conceptualization	106	(1)
Choice of Research Method	106	(1)
Operationalization	107	(1)
Population and Sampling	107	(1)
Observations	107	(1)
Data Processing	107	(1)
Analysis	107	(1)
Application	108	(1)
Research Design in Review	108	(1)
The Research Proposal	109	(2)
Elements of a Research Proposal	110	(1)
Answers to the Units-of-Analysis Exercise	111	(1)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercises·InfoTrac College·Edition·Additional Readings	111	(3)
Concepts, Operationalization, and Measurement	114	(28)
Introduction	115	(1)
Conceptions and Concepts	115	(7)
Conceptualization	117	(1)
Indicators and Dimensions	117	(1)
Confusion over Definitions and Reality	118	(1)
Creating Conceptual Order	118	(2)
What Is Recidivism?	120	(2)
Operationalization Choices	122	(6)
Measurement as ``Scoring''	122	(2)
Jail Stay	124	(1)
Exhaustive and Exclusive Measurement	125	(1)
Levels of Measurement	125	(2)
Implications of Levels of Measurement	127	(1)
Criteria for Measurement Quality	128	(6)
Reliability	129	(2)
Validity	131	(3)
Composite Measures	134	(3)
Typologies	134	(1)
An Index of Disorder	135	(2)
Measurement Summary	137	(1)
Putting It All Together: What's A Police Activity?	138	(1)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercise·InfoTrac College Edition·Additional Readings	138	(4)
Measuring Crime	142	(32)
Introduction	143	(1)
General Issues in Measuring Crime	143	(3)
What Offenses?	144	(1)
What Units of Analysis?	144	(1)
What Purpose?	145	(1)
Units of Analysis and Measuring Crime	146	(1)
Crimes Known to Police	146	(7)
Uniform Crime Reports	147	(2)
The UCR and Criteria for Measurement Quality	149	(1)
Incident-Based Police Records	149	(1)
The National Incident-Based Reporting System	150	(2)
NIBRS and Criteria for Measurement Quality	152	(1)
Measuring Crime Through Victim Surveys	153	(6)
The National Crime Victimization Study	153	(2)
NCVS Redesign	155	(2)
Community Victimization Surveys	157	(1)
Comparing Victim Surveys and Crimes Known to Police	158	(1)
Surveys of Offending	159	(4)
National Household Surveys on Drug Abuse	160	(1)
Monitoring the Future	161	(1)
Validity and Reliability of Self-Report Measures	162	(1)
Self-Report Surveys Summarized	162	(1)
Drug Surveillance Systems	163	(3)
Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring	163	(1)
The Drug Abuse Warning Network	164	(1)
Pulse Check	165	(1)
Measuring Crime for Specific Purposes	166	(4)
Local Crime Surveys	167	(1)
Putting it all Together: Measuring Crime in New York City	168	(1)
Incident-Based Crime Records	168	(1)
Observing Crime	169	(1)
Measuring Crime Summary	170	(1)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercises·InfoTrac College·Edition·Additional Readings	171	(3)
Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs	174	(33)
Introduction	175	(1)
The Classical Experiment	176	(4)
Independent and Dependent Variables	176	(1)
Pretesting and Posttesting	177	(1)
Experimental and Control Groups	177	(2)
Double-Blind Experiments	179	(1)
Selecting Subjects	180	(1)
Randomization	180	(1)
Experiments and Causal Inference	180	(9)
Experiments and Threats to Validity	181	(1)
Threats to Internal Validity	181	(4)
Ruling Out Threats to Internal Validity	185	(1)
Generalizability and Threats to Validity	186	(1)
Threats to Construct Validity	186	(2)
Threats to External Validity	188	(1)
Threats to Statistical Conclusion Validity	188	(1)
Variations in the Classical Experimental Design	189	(1)
Quasi-Experimental Designs	190	(13)
Nonequivalent-Group Designs	191	(3)
Cohort Designs	194	(1)
Time-Series Designs	195	(3)
Variations in Time-Series Designs	198	(1)
Variable-Oriented Research and Scientific Realism	199	(1)
Putting It All Together: A Variety of Designs in New York City	200	(3)
Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs Summarized	203	(1)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercise·InfoTrac College Edition·Additional Readings	203	(4)
PART THREE: Modes of Observation	207	(146)
Overview of Data Collection and Sampling	208	(37)
Introduction	209	(1)
Three Sources of Data	210	(3)
Asking Directions	210	(1)
Making Direct Observations	210	(1)
Examining Written Records	211	(1)
Using Multiple Data Sources	211	(1)
Putting It All Together: Using Three Types of Data in New York City	212	(1)
General Issues in Data Collection	213	(4)
Measurement Validity and Reliability	213	(1)
Multiple Measures in Home Detention	214	(1)
Obtrusive and Unobtrusive Measures	215	(1)
Be Careful, but Be Creative	216	(1)
The Logic of Probability Sampling	217	(3)
Conscious and Unconscious Sampling Bias	217	(2)
Representativeness and Probability of Selection	219	(1)
Probability Theory and Sampling Distribution	220	(8)
The Sampling Distribution in 10 Cases	221	(2)
From Sampling Distribution to Parameter Estimate	223	(3)
Estimating Sampling Error	226	(1)
Confidence Levels and Confidence Intervals	227	(1)
Random Sampling and Probability Theory Summed Up	228	(1)
Populations and Sampling Frames	228	(1)
Types of Sampling Designs	229	(6)
Simple Random Sampling	229	(1)
Systematic Sampling	230	(1)
Stratified Sampling	230	(1)
Disproportionate Stratified Sampling	231	(1)
Multistage Cluster Sampling	232	(1)
Multistage Cluster Sampling with Stratification	233	(2)
Illustration: Two National Crime Surveys	235	(2)
The National Crime Victimization Survey	236	(1)
The British Crime Survey	236	(1)
Probability Sampling in Review	237	(1)
Nonprobability Sampling	237	(5)
Purposive or Judgmental Sampling	237	(1)
Putting It All Together: Sampling New York City Police Precincts	238	(1)
Quota Sampling	239	(1)
Reliance on Available Subjects	240	(1)
Snowball Sampling	241	(1)
Nonprobability Sampling in Review	242	(1)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercise·InfoTrac College Edition·Additional Readings	242	(3)
Survey Research and Other Ways of Asking Questions	245	(36)
Introduction	246	(1)
Topics Appropriate to Survey Research	247	(3)
Counting Crime	247	(1)
Self-Reports	247	(1)
Perceptions and Attitudes	248	(1)
Policy Proposals	248	(1)
Targeted Victim Surveys	249	(1)
Other Evaluation Uses	249	(1)
General-Purpose Crime Surveys	250	(1)
Guidelines for Asking Questions	250	(4)
Open-Ended and Closed-Ended Questions	250	(1)
Questions and Statements	251	(1)
Make Items Clear	251	(1)
Short Items Are Best	252	(1)
Avoid Negative Items	252	(1)
Biased Items and Terms	252	(1)
Designing Self-Report Items	253	(1)
Questionnaire Construction	254	(4)
General Questionnaire Format	254	(1)
Contingency Questions	255	(1)
Matrix Questions	256	(2)
Ordering Questions in a Questionnaire	258	(1)
Self-Administered Questionnaires	258	(5)
Don't Start From Scratch!	259	(1)
Mail Distribution and Return	260	(1)
Warning Mailings and Cover Letters	260	(1)
Follow-Up Mailings	261	(1)
Acceptable Response Rates	261	(1)
Computer-Based Self-Administration	262	(1)
In-Person Interview Surveys	263	(4)
The Role of the Interviewer	263	(1)
General Rules for Interviewing	264	(1)
Coordination and Control	265	(1)
Computer-Assisted In-Person Interviews	265	(2)
Telephone Surveys	267	(3)
Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing	269	(1)
Comparison of the Three Methods	270	(1)
Strengths and Weaknesses of Survey Research	271	(2)
Other Ways of Asking Questions	273	(3)
Specialized Interviewing	273	(1)
Focus Groups	274	(2)
Putting It All Together: Asking Questions in New York City	276	(1)
Should You do it Yourself?	276	(2)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercise·InfoTrac College Edition·Additional Readings	278	(3)
Field Research	281	(37)
Introduction	282	(1)
Topics Appropriate to Field Research	283	(2)
The Various Roles of the Observer	285	(2)
Asking Questions	287	(2)
Gaining Access to Subjects	289	(7)
Gaining Access to Formal Organizations	289	(1)
Gaining Access to Subcultures	289	(4)
Selecting Cases for Observation	293	(1)
Purposive Sampling in Field Research	294	(2)
Recording Observations	296	(4)
Cameras and Tape Recorders	297	(1)
Field Notes	298	(1)
Structured Observations	299	(1)
Linking Field Observations and Other Data	300	(2)
Illustrations of Field Research	302	(10)
Shoplifting	303	(1)
Conducting a Safety Audit	304	(2)
How Many People Wear Seat Belts?	306	(1)
``Driving While Black''	307	(1)
Bars and Violence	308	(2)
Putting It All Together: Field Research in New York City	310	(2)
Strengths and Weaknesses of Field Research	312	(3)
Validity	313	(1)
Reliability	314	(1)
Generalizability	314	(1)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercise·InfoTrac College Edition·Additional Readings	315	(3)
Agency Records, Content Analysis, and Secondary Data	318	(35)
Introduction	319	(1)
Topics Appropriate for Agency Records and Content Analysis	320	(1)
Types of Agency Records	321	(10)
Published Statistics	321	(3)
Nonpublic Agency Records	324	(4)
New Data Collected by Agency Staff	328	(2)
Improving Police Records of Domestic Violence	330	(1)
Units of Analysis and Sampling	331	(2)
Units of Analysis	332	(1)
Sampling	333	(1)
Reliability and Validity	333	(5)
Sources of Reliability and Validity Problems	334	(2)
How Many Parole Violators Were There Last Month?	336	(2)
Content Analysis	338	(7)
Units of Analysis and Sampling in Content Analysis	339	(2)
Coding in Content Analysis	341	(2)
Illustrations of Content Analysis	343	(2)
Secondary Analysis	345	(5)
Sources of Secondary Data	346	(1)
Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary Data	347	(1)
Putting It All Together: NYPD Agency Records	348	(2)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercise·InfoTrac College Edition·Additional Readings	350	(3)
PART FOUR: Application and Analysis	353	(81)
Evaluation Research and Policy Analysis	354	(38)
Introduction	355	(1)
Topics Appropriate for Evaluation Research and Policy Analysis	356	(4)
The Policy Process	356	(2)
Linking the Process to Evaluation	358	(2)
Getting Started	360	(7)
Evaluability Assessment	361	(1)
Problem Formulation	362	(2)
Measurement	364	(3)
Designs for Program Evaluation	367	(9)
Randomized Evaluation Designs	367	(3)
Home Detention: Two Randomized Studies	370	(3)
Quasi-Experimental Designs	373	(3)
Other Types of Evaluation Studies	376	(1)
Policy Analysis and Scientific Realism	376	(9)
Modeling Prison Populations	377	(3)
Other Applications of Policy Analysis	380	(2)
Scientific Realism and Applied Research	382	(2)
Putting It All Together: Applied Research in the NYPD	384	(1)
The Political Context of Applied Research	385	(4)
Evaluation and Stakeholders	386	(1)
Politics and Objectivity	387	(1)
When Politics Accommodate Facts	388	(1)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercise·InfoTrac College Edition·Additional Readings	389	(3)
Interpreting Data	392	(42)
Introduction	393	(1)
Univariate Description	393	(8)
Distributions	394	(1)
Measures of Central Tendency	394	(1)
Measures of Dispersion	395	(3)
Comparing Measures of Dispersion and Central Tendency	398	(2)
Computing Rates	400	(1)
Detail Versus Manageability	401	(1)
Describing Two or More Variables	401	(17)
Bivariate Analysis	402	(3)
Multivariate Analysis	405	(1)
Murder on the Job	406	(4)
Measures of Association	410	(6)
Putting It All Together: Analyzing NYPD Crime Data	416	(2)
Inferential Statistics	418	(13)
Univariate Inferences	418	(1)
Tests of Statistical Significance	419	(1)
The Logic of Statistical Significance	419	(5)
Visualizing Statistical Significance	424	(2)
Chi Square	426	(2)
Cautions in Interpreting Statistical Significance	428	(1)
Visualizing Discernible Differences	429	(2)
Main Points·Key Terms·Review Questions and Exercises·Internet Exercise·InfoTrac College Edition·Additional Readings	431	(3)
Glossary	434	(8)
Bibliography	442	(14)
Name Index	456	(3)
Subject Index	459