Research Methods in Criminal Justice

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Research Methods in Criminal Justice

• Introduction

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Errors in Reasoning

• Overgeneralization
• Selective Observation
• Inaccurate Observation
• Illogical Reasoning
• Resistance to Change

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Developing a Research Question

• A question about some aspect of crime or
  criminals that you seek to answer through the
  collection and analysis of firsthand, verifiable,
  empirical data.
• A research question should be feasible, socially
  important, scientifically relevant.

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Basic versus Applied

• Basic research addresses general fundamental
  questions about the nature of phenomena.
• Applied research addresses specific, concrete
  questions or pragmatic problems.

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Purposes of Social Science Research

• Descriptive
• How many people are victims of violence?
• Exploratory
• What is going on here?
• Explanatory
• Why do people become offenders?
• Evaluation
• What are the effects of this program?

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• Description What is the Magnitude of Youth
  Violence?
• Exploration How do Schools Respond to Gun
  Violence?
• Explanation What Factors are Related to Youth
  Delinquency and Violence?
• Evaluation Do Violence Prevention Programs in
  Schools Work?

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Two Domains of Research

• Quantitative Methods Data that are treated as
  quantitative are either numbers or attributes
  that can be ordered in terms of magnitude.
• Qualitative Methods Designed to capture social
  life as participants experience it, rather than
  in categories predetermined by the researcher.

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Types of Research Methods

• Experimental Approach
• Surveys or Questionnaires
• Participant Observation
• Intensive Interviewing
• Secondary Data Analysis
• Content Analysis
• Crime Mapping