Statistical Concepts for Criminal Justice and Criminology

by Williams, Frank P., III

• ISBN13: 9780135130469
• ISBN10: 0135130468
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-03-19
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

This book is concept-based and focuses on the building blocks of statistical ideas. Covering the essential techniques-univariate tools, Chi-square,t-test, analysis of variance, and Pearsonrs"sr-in a simple conversational style, the text explains the concepts behind each technique and how results are interpreted. Its emphasis is on understanding over mathematical calculations, and its goal is to give students a grasp of the role of variance and error. A chapter on graphical statistics complements the normal quantitative approaches and each technique is set in the context of how it is used to answer research questions.

Author Biography

Frank P. Williams III has been in the criminal justice academic field since 1976 (Ph.D., Criminology, Florida State University). He is currently a Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice, University of Houston-Downtown and is also Professor Emeritus at the California State University, San Bernardino. He has taught at doctoral, masters and undergraduate levels and held positions as department chair, research director, and program coordinator.  His academic credentials include numerous publications and research projects, editor or deputy/associate editor for several journals and publishers’ book and monograph series and office/service on boards of several scholarly organizations.  Most recent publications include Imagining Criminology, an encyclopedia, and journal articles or book chapters on drug use, gangs, processing of females in the criminal justice system, and parolee recidivism, most of which are coauthored with Marilyn D. McShane. His more than 30 years of experience in teaching statistics spans the range from introductory undergraduate to advanced doctoral level.

Table of Contents

Foundations of Statistics

Introduction to Statistics

Levels of Measurement

Describing Single Variables

Describing Variables: Graphical Statistics

Describing Variables: Measures of Central Tendency

Describing Variables: Measures of Dispersion

Describing Variables: Curves and Distributions

Describing Variables: Frequency Distributions

Testing for Bivariate Relationships

Elementary Relationships: Crosstabulation Tables

Hypotheses and Sampling Distributions

Statistical Significance

Testing for Significance: The Chi-Square Test

Testing for Significance in Two Groups: The T-Test

Testing for Significance in Multiple Groups: The Analysis of Variance

Determining the Strength of Relationships

The Concept of Association

Testing for Association: Phi

Testing for Association: Pearsonrsquo;s R and Regression

Doing Real Research: Elementary Multivariate Relationships

Box Plots

Determining normality: Skewness and Kurtosis

Ordinal Level Tests of Significance: The Mann-Whitney U-Test and the Kruskal-Wallis Analysis of Variance

Choosing a Multiple Comparison Test

Nominal Level Tests of Association: Lambda and the Uncertainty Coefficient

Ordinal Level Tests of Association: Gamma and Somerrsquo;s D

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