Research Methods inCriminal Justiceand Criminology

Fourth Edition

Frank E. HaganMercyhurst College

Allyn and BaconBoston • London • Toronto • Sydney • Tokyo • Singapore

Brief Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction of Criminal Justice Research Methods:Theory and Method 1

Chapter 2 Ethics in Criminal Justice Research 30Chapter 3 Research Design: The Experimental Model

and Its Variations 62Chapter 4 An Introduction to Alternative Data-Gathering

Strategies and the Special Case of UniformCrime Reports 107

Chapter 5 Sampling and Survey Research: Questionnaires 129Chapter 6 Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys 164Chapter 7 Participant Observation and Case Studies 198Chapter 8 Unobtrusive Measures, Secondary Analysis,

and the Uses of Official Statistics 224Chapter 9 Validity, Reliability, and Triangulated Strategies 258Chapter 10 Scaling and Index Construction 278Chapter 11 Data Analysis: Coding, Tabulation, and Simple Data

Presentation 302Chapter 12 Data Analysis: A User's Guide to Statistics 339Chapter 13 Policy Analysis, Evaluation Research,

and Proposal Writing 381Appendix A How to Write the Research Report 414Appendix B Table of Random Numbers 420Appendix C An Overview of SPSS/PC+ 422Appendix D Statistics: An Addendum to Chapter 12 437Appendix E Answers to Pop Quizzes in Chapter 12 445Appendix F Normal Curve Areas 450Appendix G Distribution of Chi-Square (%2) 455Appendix H Factor Analysis 456

References 460Glossary 506Name Index 512Subject Index 519

Detailed Contents

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

Scientific Research in Criminal Justice 1Common Sense and Nonsense 3Why Study Research Methods in Criminal Justice? 5The Emergence of Science and Criminal Justice 6Probabilistic Nature of Science 7Proper Conduct of Critical Inquiry 8

Exhibit 1.1 Merton's "Matthew Effect" in Science 9Approaches to Theory and Method in Criminal Justice 10Pure versus Applied Research 12Qualitative and Quantitative Research 14Researchese: The Language of Research 16

Concepts 16Operationalization 17Variables 17Dependent and Independent Variables 17Theories IHypotheses 18

Examples of the Research Process 18Recidivism among Juvenile Offenders 20

General Steps in Empirical Research in Criminal Justice 21Problem Formulation: Selection of Research Problem 21Problem Formulation: Specification of Research Problem 23

Exhibit 1.2 Feminist Perspectives and Research Methods 24Exhibit 1.3 PAVNET Online 26

Summary 27Key Concepts 28Review Questions 29

Chapter 2 Ethics in Criminal Justice Research 30

Ethical Horror Stories 30Biomedical Examples 30Social Science Examples 32Researcher Fraud and Plagiarism 34

Exhibit 2.1 Legendary Research Scams 35The Researcher's Role 35Research Targets in Criminal Justice 37Ethical Relativism 37Ethics and Professionalism 38

Detailed Contents

Ethics in Criminal Justice Research 39History ofFederal Regulation of Research 40The Belmont Report 42HHS Guidelines 43Research Activities Exempt from HHS Review 43National Institute ofJustice's Human Subject Protection

Requirements 46Confidentiality of Criminal Justice Research 47A Code of Ethics for Criminology/Criminal Justice Research 48

Avoid Research That May Harm Respondents 49Honor Commitments to Respondents and Respect Reciprocity 50Exercise Objectivity and Professional Integrity in Performing and

Reporting Research 50Protect Confidentiality and Privacy of Respondents 51

Ethical Problems 52The Brajuha Case (Weinstein Decision) 54The Ofshe Case 56The Hutchinson Case 56Additional Ethical Concerns 58

Avoiding Ethical Problems 58Summary 59Key Concepts 61Review Questions 61

Chapter 3 Research Design: The Experimental Model and ItsVariations 62

Types of Research Design 63The Experimental Model 65Research Design in a Nutshell 65Causality 67

Resolution ofthe Causality Problem 67Rival Causal Factors 68

Validity 69Internal Factors: Variables Related to Internal Validity 69

History 69Maturation 70Testing 71Instrumentation 71Statistical Regression 71Selection Bias 72Experimental Mortality 72Selection—Maturation Interaction 73

External Factors: Variables Related to External Validity 73Testing Effects 73Selection Bias 74Reactivity orAwareness ofBeing Studied 74Multiple-Treatment Interferences 74

Detailed Contents vii

Related Rival Causal Factors 75Hawthorne Effect 75Halo Effect 75Post Hoc Error 76Placebo Effect 76

Other Rival Causal Factors in Criminal Justice Field Experiments 77Diffusion ofTreatment 77Compensatory Equalization ofTreatment 77Local History 77Masking Effects 78Contamination ofData 78Erosion ofTreatment Effect 78Criterion Problems 78

Experimental Designs 79The Classic Experimental Design 80Some Criminal Justice Examples of the Classic Experimental Design 82

Candid Camera 82Scared Straight 82Community Policing 83

Exhibit 3.1 The Kansas City Gun Experiment 84Other Experimental Designs 86

Posttest-Only Control Group Design 86Solomon Four-Group Design 87

Preexperimental Designs 87One-Group Ex Post Facto Design 88One-Group Before-After Design 89Two-Group Ex Post Facto Design 89

Cross-Sectional and Longitudinal Designs 90Exhibit 3.2 The Cycle ofViolence and Victims ofChild

Abuse 91Exhibit 3.3 The Project of Human Development 92

Quasi-Experimental Designs 93Time-Series Designs 94Multiple Interrupted Time-Series Designs 96Counterbalanced Designs 97

Some Other Criminal Justice Examples of Variations of theExperimental Model 97

The Provo and Silverlake Experiments 97Exhibit 3.4 Evaluations ofShock Incarceration 99

The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment 100The Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment 100

The Experiment as a Data-Gathering Strategy 102Advantages of Experiments 103Disadvantages of Experiments 104

Summary 105Key Concepts 106Review Questions 106

. Detailed Contents

Chapter 4 An Introduction to Alternative Data-GatheringStrategies and the Special Case of UniformCrime Reports 1 0 7

Alternative Data-Gathering Strategies 107Social Surveys 109Participant Observation 110Life History and Case Studies 111Unobtrusive Measures 111The Special Case of Uniform Crime Reports 112The Crime Index 114Crime Rate 114Cautions in the Use of UCR Data 115

Factors Affecting the UCR 118Related UCR Issues 120UCR Redesign 121

National Incident-Based Reporting System 121NIBRS versus UCR 122

Exhibit 4.1 The National Incident-Based Reporting System(NIBRS) 123

Summary 127Key Concepts 127Review Questions 128

Chapter 5 Sampling and Survey Research: Questionnaires 129

Types of Sampling 130Probability Samples 130Nonprobability Samples 136Sample Size 139

Survey Research 140Some Guidelines for Questionnaire Construction 141

Questionnaire Wording 142Pretest 146

Organization of the Questionnaire 147Mail Surveys 147Advantages of Mail Surveys 149Disadvantages of Mail Surveys 150Ways of Eliminating Disadvantages in Mail Surveys 150

Follow-up 151Offering Remuneration 152Attractive Format 152Sponsorship and Endorsements 152Personalization 153Shortened Format 153Good Timing 154

Self-Reported Measures of Crime 155Some Problems with Self-Report Surveys 156

Detailed Contents ix

Strengths of Self-Report Surveys 158Reliability 158Validity 158Use of Other Data 159Use of Other Observers 159Use of Polygraph 159"Known Group" Validation 160Use ofLie Scales 160Measures of Internal Consistency 161Use of Interviews 161

Summary 162Key Concepts 163Review Questions 163

Chapter 6 Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys 164

Types of Interviews 165Advantages of Interviews 167Disadvantages of Interviews 168Interviewing Aids and Variations 168

Exhibit 6.1 Public Opinion Polls 169General Procedures in Interviews 171Training and Orientation Session 171Arranging the Interview 172Demeanor of Interviewer 172Administration of the Structured Interview 173Probing 173The Exit 174Recording the Interview 175Telephone Surveys 176Advantages and Prospects of Telephone Surveys 176Disadvantages of Telephone Surveys 176Computers in Survey Research 177Random Digit Dialing 178Techniques Employed in Telephone Surveys 179Victim Surveys in Criminal Justice 180National Crime Victimization Survey 181

Sampling 181Panel Design 182

A Comparison of UCR, NCVS, and Self-Report Data 183Some Problems in Victim Surveys 184

Cost ofLarge Samples 185False Reports 185Mistaken Reporting 185Poor Memory 186Telescoping 186Sampling Bias 186

. Detailed Contents

Overreporting and Underreporting 186Interviewer Effects 187Coding Unreliability and Mechanical Error 187Problems Measuring Certain Crimes 188Benefits of Victim Surveys 188

A Defense of Victim Surveys 189Controlling for Error in Victim Surveys 189

Bounding 189Reverse Record Checks 190

Victim Surveys: A Balanced View 190Redesign of the National Crime Victimization Survey 191

Exhibit 6.2 The Redesigned National Crime VictimizationSurvey 192

Summary 195Key Concepts 197Review Questions 197

Chapter 7 Participant Observation and Case Studies 198

A Critique of Experiments and Surveys 199Verbal Reports versus Behavior 199

A Defense of Quantitative Research 200Participant Observation 201Types of Participant Observation 202Characteristics of Participant Observation 204

Objectivity in Research 204"Going Native" 206

General Procedures in Participant Observation 207Field Notes 207Mnemonics 208Caution in Use of Other Recording Methods 208

Tips on Participant Observation 209Gaining Access 210

Exhibit 1.1 American Skinheads 211Gatekeepers 212Announcement oflntentions 212Sampling 212Reciprocity and Protection ofldentity 213Concern for Accuracy 213

Examples of Participant Observation 214Exhibit 7.2 Islands in the Streets 215

Advantages of Participant Observation 216Disadvantages of Participant Observation 216Case Studies 218

Life History/Oral History 218Some Examples of Case Studies 219

Journalistic Field Studies 219Single-Subject Designs 220

Detailed Contents xi

Summary 222Key Concepts 223Review Questions 223

Chapter 8 Unobtrusive Measures, Secondary Analysis,and the Uses of Official Statistics 224

Major Types of Unobtrusive Methods 225Physical Trace Analysis 226Use of Available Data and Archives 227

Secondary Analysis 228Personal Documents and Biographies 229Examples of Secondary Analysis 231Limitations of Official Data 234Measuring Hidden Populations 235Historical and Archival Data 235Content Analysis 237Content Analysis by Computer 238Meta-Analysis 240

Sources of Existing Data 241Exhibit 8.1 Violence Research Data from the

National Archive of Criminal Justice Data 244Observation 244Disguised Observation 246Simulations 250Advantages of Unobtrusive Measures 251Disadvantages of Unobtrusive Measures 252Summary 252Key Concepts 253Review Questions 254

Chapter Appendix 8.1 Street Gang Crime in Chicago 255

Chapter 9 Validity, Reliability, and Triangulated Strategies 258

Levels of Measurement 258Error in Research 261Reasons for Lack of Validation Studies in Criminal Justice 262Ways of Determining Validity 263

Face Validity 264Content Validity 265Construct Validity 265Pragmatic Validity 266Convergent-Discriminant Validation/Triangulation 267

Reliability 269Test-Retest 270Multiple Forms 271Split-HalfTechnique 271

Mythical Numbers 272Phantom Army ofAddicts 272

Detailed Contents

Drug Use Forecasting (DUF) 273Exhibit 9.1 The Drug Use Forecasting Program 273

Other Examples of Research Validation 275Summary 276Key Concepts 277Review Questions 277

Chapter 10 Scaling and Index Construction 278

Scaling Procedures 279Arbitrary Scales 280The Uniform Crime Report as an Arbitrary Scale 280Attitüde Scales 281

Thurstone Scales 282Likert Scales 283Guttman Scales 286

Other Scaling Procedures 290Q Sort 290Semantic Differential 290Other Variations 291

Crime Seriousness Scales 292Sellin-Wolfgang Index 293Types of Crime Seriousness Scales 293

Prediction Scales 295The Salient Factor Score 296Greenwood's "Rand Seven-Factor Index" 296Career Criminal Programs 298

Advantages of Scales 298Disadvantages of Scales 299Summary 300Key Concepts 301Review Questions 301

Chapter 11 Data Analysis: Coding, Tabulation,and Simple Data Presentation 302

Variables List 303Computers 304Data Management 305

Editing 305Coding 306Coder Monitoring 309Keyboard Entry 309Data Verification 310

Simple Data Presentation 310Rates 312Proportions 312Percentages 313Ratios 313

Detailed Contents xiii

The Frequency Distribution 314Graphic Presentations 315

Pie Charts 315Bar Graphs 315Frequency Polygons (Line Charts) 317Crime Clocks 319

Table Reading 323Why Bother with Tables? 323What to Look for in a Table 323

Steps in Reading a Table 325Summary of Table 11.3 326

How to Construct Tables 327Presentation of Complex Data 328General Kules for Percentaging a Table 329

Improper Percentaging 330An Example of Table Percentaging 332

Elaboration 333Lying with Statistics 336Summary 337Key Concepts 338Review Concepts 338

Chapter 12 Data Analysis: A User's Guide to Statistics 339

Why Study Statistics? 340Types of Statistics 341Measures of Central Tendency for a Simple Distribution 341

Mode 342Mediän 342Mean 343Pop Quiz 12.1 344

Measures of Dispersion 344Range 344Standard Deviation (a) 346Pop Quiz 12.2 348

Standard Deviation Units (Z Scores) 349Pop Quiz 12.3 350

Chi-Square (%2) 350Calculation of Chi-Square 351Cautions 353Pop Quiz 12.4 353

Chi-Square-Based Measures of Association 353Phi Coefficient (ty) and Phi-Square (§2) 354Contingency Coefficient (C) 354Cramer's V 355Pop Quiz 12.5 355

Nature and Types of Statistics 355Nonparametric Statistics 355

. Detailed Contents

Null Hypothesis 356Tests of Significance 357

The t Test (Difference of Means Test) 357Types oft Tests 358Pop Quiz 12.6 360

ANOVA (Analysis of Variante) 360Calculation of ANOVA 361Pop Quiz 12.7 363

Other Measures of Relationsfrip 363The Concept of Relationship 363

Correlation Coefficient (Pearson's r) 364Interpretation ofPearson's t 364Calculation ofPearson's r 365Statistical Significance ofPearson's r 367Pop Quiz 12.8 367

Regression 367Pop Quiz 12.9 369

Ordinal Level Measures of Relationship 369Spearman's Rho (rs) 369Interpretation ofRho 371Gamma 371Pop Quiz 12.10 373

Multivariate Analysis 374Partial Correlation 374Multiple Correlation and Regression 374Final Quiz 375

Statistical Software 376Caveat Emptor 376The Ecological Fallacy 377Summary 378Key Concepts 380Review Questions 380

Chapter 13 Policy Analysis, Evaluation Research,and Proposal Writing 381

Policy Analysis 381Evaluation Research 382

Policy Experiments 384Policy Analysis: The Case of the National Institute of Justice Research

Program 385NU Mission Statement 385NU Research Priorities 386

A Systems Model of Evaluation Research 386Types of Evaluation Research 388

Will the Findings Be Used? 390Is the Project Evaluable? 390Who Can Do This Work? 392

Detailed Contents x v

Steps in Evaluation Research 392Problem Formulation 393Design of Instruments 393Research Design 393Data Collection 394Data Analysis 395Utilization 396

Obstacles to Evaluation Research 397Murph/s Law in Evaluation Research 397Researchers and Host Agencies 399

Exhibit 13.1 Evaluating Intensive SupervisionProbaton/Parole 400

Proposal Writing 402Funding Agencies 402Grantsmanship 402Basic Elements ofa Proposal 403

NU Proposal Format and Content 408Evaluation of Research Proposais 410

NU Evaluation of Proposais 411Summary 411Key Concepts 412Review Questions 413

Appendix A How to Write the Research Report 414

General Advice 414Steps in the Research Report 415

Research Problem and Literature Review 416Methodology 416Analysis and Findings 417Discussion and Conclusions 417References 417Appendix 418

References 418

Appendix B Table of Random Numbers 420

Appendix C An Overview of SPSS/PC+ 422

File Management 422Types of Files 422Naming Files 422General Information 423Creating or Retrieving Files 423Saving Files 423Executing Programs 424Examining the Listing (Output) File 424Errors and Warnings 424ExitingSPSS/PC+ 424

Detailed Contents

Printing Files 424SPSS/PC+ Programming Commands 425Data Definition 425

Data List 425Variable Labels 426Value Labels 427Set 427Missing Value 428

Transformations 428Recode 429Compute 429If 430Selectlf 430Processlf 430

Statistical Procedures 431Frequencies 431Crosstabs 432T-Test 432Correlations 433Regression 433

Miscellaneous Issues 434In-line Data 434System Files 435Errors and Warnings 436

Summary 436Reference 436

Appendix D Statistics: An Addendum to Chapter 12 437

Measures of Central Tendency for Grouped Data 437Standard Deviations for Grouped Data 440

Raw Score Approach 440Deviation Score Approach 441

Calculation of ANOVA 442Regression Calculations 443A Test of Significance for Gamma 444

Appendix E Answersto Pop Quizzes in Chapter 12 445

Appendix F Normal Curve Areas 450

Appendix G Distribution of Chi-Square (x2) 455

Appendix H Factor Analysis 456

References 460

Glossary 506

Name Index 512

Subject Index 519