Basics of Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology

361 Pages·2008·3.175 MB·English

by  Michael G. Maxfield, Earl R. Babbie

Distribution of Chi Square
Probability
df .99 .98 .95 .90 .80 .70 .50
11 .03157 .03628 .00393 .0158 .0642 .148 .455
12 .0201 .0404 .103 .211 .446 .713 1.386
13 .115 .185 .352 .584 1.005 1.424 2.366
14 .297 .429 .711 1.064 1.649 2.195 3.357
15 .554 .752 1.145 1.610 2.343 3.000 4.351
16 .872 1.134 1.635 2.204 3.070 3.828 5.348
17 1.239 1.564 2.167 2.833 3.822 4.671 6.346
18 1.646 2.032 2.733 3.490 4.594 5.528 7.344
19 2.088 2.532 3.325 4.168 5.380 6.393 8.343
10 2.558 3.059 3.940 4.865 6.179 7.267 9.342
11 3.053 3.609 4.575 5.578 6.989 8.148 10.341
12 3.571 4.178 5.226 6.304 7.807 9.034 11.340
13 4.107 4.765 5.892 7.042 8.634 9.926 12.340
14 4.660 5.368 6.571 7.790 9.467 10.821 13.339
15 5.229 5.985 7.261 8.547 10.307 11.721 14.339
16 5.812 6.614 7.962 9.312 11.152 12.624 15.338
17 6.408 7.255 8.672 10.085 12.002 13.531 16.338
18 7.015 7.906 9.390 10.865 12.857 14.440 17.338
19 7.633 8.567 10.117 11.651 13.716 15.352 18.338
20 8.260 9.237 10.851 12.443 14.578 16.266 19.337
21 8.897 9.915 11.591 13.240 15.445 17.182 20.337
22 9.542 10.600 12.338 14.041 16.314 18.101 21.337
23 10.196 11.293 13.091 14.848 17.187 19.021 22.337
24 10.856 11.992 13.848 15.659 18.062 19.943 23.337
25 11.524 12.697 14.611 16.473 18.940 20.867 24.337
26 12.198 13.409 15.379 17.292 19.820 21.792 25.336
27 12.879 14.125 16.151 18.114 20.703 22.719 26.336
28 13.565 14.847 16.928 18.939 21.588 23.647 27.336
29 14.256 15.574 17.708 19.768 22.475 24.577 28.336
30 14.953 16.306 18.493 20.599 23.364 25.508 29.336
For larger values of df, the expression (cid:2)2(cid:3)2–(cid:2)2df–1 may be used as a normal deviate with unit variance,
remembering that the probability of (cid:3)2 corresponds with that of a single tail of the normal curve.
continued on the inside back cover
Basics of Research
Methods for
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
and CRIMINOLOGY
Second Edition
Michael G. Maxfi eld
Rutgers University
Earl Babbie
Chapman University
Australia • Brazil • Japan • Korea • Mexico • Singapore
Spain • United Kingdom • United States
Basics of Research Methods for Criminal © 2009, 2006 Wadsworth, Cengage Learning
Justice and Criminology, Second Edition
Michael G. Maxfi eld and Earl Babbie ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this work covered by the copyright
herein may be reproduced, transmitted, stored, or used in any form or by
Senior Editor, Criminal Justice: Carolyn any means graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including but not limited
Henderson Meier to photocopying, recording, scanning, digitizing, taping, Web distribu-
Assistant Editor: Meaghan Banks tion, information networks, or information storage and retrieval systems,
except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States
Editorial Assistant: John Chell
Copyright Act, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
Technology Project Manager: Bessie Weiss
Marketing Manager: Michelle Williams
For product information and technology assistance, contact us at
Marketing Assistant: Jillian Myers
Cengage Learning Customer & Sales Support, 1-800-354-9706.
Marketing Communications Manager:
Tami Strang
For permission to use material from this text or product,
Project Manager, Editorial Production: submit all requests online at cengage.com/permissions.
Jennie Redwitz Further permissions questions can be emailed to
Creative Director: Rob Hugel [email protected].
Art Director: Maria Epes
Print Buyer: Paula Vang Library of Congress Control Number:
Permissions Editor: Bob Kauser
ISBN-13: 978-0-495-50385-9
Production Service: Linda Jupiter ISBN-10: 0-495-50385-1
Productions
Copy Editor: Lunaea Weatherstone Wadsworth
10 Davis Drive
Proofreader: Henrietta Bensussen
Belmont, CA 94002-3098
Indexer: Katherine Simpson
USA
Illustrator: Newgen
Cover Designer: Yvo Riezebos, Riezebos Cengage Learning is a leading provider of customized learning solutions
Holzbaur Design Group with offi ce locations around the globe, including Singapore, the
United Kingdom, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and Japan. Locate your local
Cover Image: (c) George Hammerstein/
offi ce at international.cengage.com/region.
Solus-Veer/Corbis
Compositor: Newgen Cengage Learning products are represented in Canada by
Nelson Education, Ltd.
For your course and learning solutions, visit academic.cengage.com.
Purchase any of our products at your local college store or at our
preferred online store www.ichapters.com.
Printed in Canada
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 12 11 10 09 08
To Max Jacob Fauth
About the Authors
Michael G. Maxfi eld is Professor of Criminal Earl Babbie grew up in small-town Vermont
Justice at Rutgers University, Newark. He is the and New Hampshire, venturing into the outer
author of numerous articles and books on a world by way of Harvard, the U.S. Marine
variety of topics, including victimization, po- Corps, the University of California, Berkeley,
licing, homicide, community corrections, and and 12 years of teaching at the University of
long-term consequences of child abuse and ne- Hawai’i. Along the way, he married Sheila (two
glect. He is the coauthor (with Earl Babbie) of months after their fi rst date), and created Aaron
the textbook Research Methods for Criminal Justice three years after that. He resigned from teach-
and Criminology, now in its fi fth edition, and co- ing in 1980 and wrote full-time for seven years,
editor (with Mike Hough) of Surveying Crime in until the call of the classroom became too loud
the 21st Century, in the Crime Prevention Studies to ignore. To him, teaching is like playing jazz:
series. Other recent work includes a POP Cen- even if you perform the same number over and
ter guide on the problem of abandoned vehicles over, it never comes out the same twice, and you
(forthcoming) and a special issue of Criminal don’t know exactly what it’ll sound like until
Justice Policy Review on environmental criminol- you hear it. Teaching is like writing with your
ogy. Formerly a Visiting Fellow at the National voice. Recently he has rediscovered his roots in
Institute of Justice, Maxfi eld works with a vari- summer trips to Vermont. Rather than a return
ety of public agencies and other organizations, to the past, it feels more like the next turn in a
acting as a consultant and advocate of frugal widening spiral, and he can’t wait to see what’s
evaluation for justice policy. Recent projects around the next bend.
initiated collaboration with police departments
and other justice agencies in the areas of repeat
domestic violence, performance measurement
systems, and auto theft. Maxfi eld received his
Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern
University.
iv
Brief Contents
PART ONE: An Introduction to Criminal Justice Inquiry 1
Chapter 1: Criminal Justice and Scientifi c Inquiry 2
Chapter 2: Ethics and Criminal Justice Research 26
PART TWO: Structuring Criminal Justice Inquiry 49
Chapter 3: General Issues in Research Design 50
Chapter 4: Concepts, Operationalization, and Measurement 80
Chapter 5: Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs 112
PART THREE: Modes of Observation 139
Chapter 6: Sampling 140
Chapter 7: Survey Research and Other Ways of Asking Questions 169
Chapter 8: Field Research 200
Chapter 9: Agency Records, Content Analysis, and Secondary Data 229
PART FOUR: Application and Analysis 253
Chapter 10: Evaluation Research and Problem Analysis 254
Chapter 11: Interpreting Data 287
v
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Preface xiii Quantitative and Qualitative Data 23
Knowing through Experience: Summing Up and
PART ONE: An Introduction to
Looking Ahead 24
Criminal Justice Inquiry 1
Main Points 24
Chapter 1: Criminal Justice and Chapter 2: Ethics and Criminal Justice
Scientifi c Inquiry 2 Research 26
Introduction 3 Introduction 27
Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice Research 27
HOME DETENTION 4
No Harm to Participants 27
What Is This Book About? 4
ETHICSAND EXTREME FIELD RESEARCH 28
Two Realities 4
The Role of Science 6 Voluntary Participation 31
Personal Human Inquiry 6 Anonymity and Confi dentiality 32
Tradition 7 Deceiving Subjects 33
Authority 7 Analysis and Reporting 33
Legal Liability 34
ARRESTAND DOMESTIC VIOLENCE 8
Special Problems 35
Errors in Personal Human Inquiry 8 Promoting Compliance with Ethical
Inaccurate Observation 8 Principles 37
Overgeneralization 8 Codes of Professional Ethics 37
Selective Observation 9 Institutional Review Boards 38
Illogical Reasoning 10 Institutional Review Board Requirements and
Researcher Rights 41
Ideology and Politics 10
To Err Is Human 10
ETHICSAND JUVENILE GANG MEMBERS 42
Foundations of Social Science 11
Theory, Not Philosophy or Belief 11 Ethical Controversies 42
Regularities 13 The Stanford Prison Experiment 42
What about Exceptions? 13 Discussion Examples 45
Aggregates, Not Individuals 13 Main Points 46
A Variable Language 14
PART TWO: Structuring Criminal
Variables and Attributes 15 Justice Inquiry 49
Variables and Relationships 18
Purposes of Research 18 Chapter 3: General Issues in Research
Design 50
Exploration 18
Description 19 Introduction 51
Explanation 19 Causation in the Social Sciences 51
Application 20 Criteria for Causality 52
Differing Avenues for Inquiry 20 Necessary and Suffi cient Causes 53
Idiographic and Nomothetic Explanations 21 Validity and Causal Inference 53
Inductive and Deductive Reasoning 22 Statistical Conclusion Validity 53
vii
viii Contents
Internal Validity 55 Conceptualization 83
External Validity 55 Indicators and Dimensions 83
Construct Validity 55
WHAT IS RECIDIVISM? 84
Validity and Causal Inference Summarized 57
Does Drug Use Cause Crime? 57 Creating Conceptual Order 84
CAUSATIONAND DECLINING CRIMEIN Operationalization Choices 86
NEW YORK CITY 58 Measurement as Scoring 87
Introducing Scientifi c Realism 60
JAIL STAY 88
Units of Analysis 61
Individuals 61 Exhaustive and Exclusive Measurement 88
Groups 61 Levels of Measurement 89
Organizations 62 Implications of Levels of Measurement 91
Social Artifacts 62 Criteria for Measurement Quality 92
The Ecological Fallacy 63 Reliability 93
Units of Analysis in Review 63 Validity 94
Measuring Crime 97
UNITSOF ANALYSISINTHE NATIONAL
YOUTH GANG SURVEY 64 General Issues in Measuring Crime 97
The Time Dimension 65 UNITSOF ANALYSISAND MEASURING
CRIME 98
Cross-Sectional Studies 66
Longitudinal Studies 66 Measures Based on Crimes Known
to Police 98
Approximating Longitudinal Studies 67
Victim Surveys 102
The Time Dimension Summarized 70
Surveys of Offending 103
How to Design a Research Project 70
Measuring Crime Summary 104
The Research Process 71
Composite Measures 105
Getting Started 73
Typologies 106
Conceptualization 73
An Index of Disorder 107
Choice of Research Method 74
Measurement Summary 109
Operationalization 74
Main Points 109
Population and Sampling 74
Observations 75 Chapter 5: Experimental and
Analysis 75 Quasi-Experimental Designs 112
Application 75 Introduction 113
Research Design in Review 75 The Classical Experiment 113
The Research Proposal 76 Independent and Dependent Variables 114
Elements of a Research Proposal 76 Pretesting and Posttesting 114
Answers to the Units-of-Analysis Exercise 78 Experimental and Control Groups 115
Main Points 78 Double-Blind Experiments 116
Selecting Subjects 116
Chapter 4: Concepts, Operationalization,
and Measurement 80 Randomization 117
Experiments and Causal Inference 117
Introduction 81
Experiments and Threats to Validity 118
Conceptions and Concepts 81
Threats to Internal Validity 118