Research Methods for Criminology and Criminal Justice

Title Page
Copyright Page
Brief Contents
Contents
Preface
Acknowledgments
Section I Functions
	CHAPTER 1 Research: What, Why, and How
		What You Should Know!
		The Nature of Scientific Inquiry
		Social Science Research and the Real World
		Science Versus Casual Inquiry
		The Scientific Method
		The Relationship Between Theory and Research
			Theory
		The Purpose of Research
			What Is Research?
		Types of Research
			Descriptive Research
			Explanatory Research
			Predictive Research
			Intervening Research
		Why Research Is Necessary
			Curiosity
			Social Problems
			Theory Testing
		Factors That Influence Research Decisions
		How Research Is Done
			Identifying the Problem
			Research Design
			Data Collection
			Data Analysis
			Reporting
		Summary
	CHAPTER 2 Research and Ethics
		What You Should Know!
		Ethics
		The Researcher’s Role
		Belmont Report
		Ethical Considerations
			Ethical Ramifications
			Harm to Others
			Privacy Concerns
			Voluntary Participation
			Deception
		The Professionalism of Research
			Ethical Research Criteria
			Reasons for Confidentiality and Privacy
		Summary
	CHAPTER 3 The Beginning Basics
		What You Should Know!
		Getting Started
			Picking a Topic
		The Purpose of the Research
			Exploring
			Describing
			Explaining
			Become Familiar with the Library
			Critiquing the Literature
			Understanding Writing Styles
			Knowing What to Look For
		The Research Question
			Hypotheses
		Summary
	CHAPTER 4 The Vocabulary of Research
		What You Should Know!
		The Language of Research
			Theory
			Conceptualization
			Operationalization
			Variables
			Hypotheses
			Assumptions
			Other Necessary Terms
		Qualitative Versus Quantitative Research
			Qualitative Research Defined
			Merits and Limitations of Qualitative Research
			Quantitative Research
		The Research Process
		What You Have Not Done Before
		Summary
Section II Procedures
	CHAPTER 5 Sampling
		What You Should Know!
		Sampling
		Probability Theory
		Probability Sampling
			Simple Random Samples
			Stratified Random Samples
			Systematic Samples
			Cluster Samples
		Nonprobability Sampling
			Purposive Samples
			Quota Samples
			Snowball Samples
			Convenience Sample
		Sample Size
			Confidence Levels
		Sampling Formulas
			A Commonly Used Sampling Formula
			A Sampling Size Selection Chart
		Summary
	CHAPTER 6 Introduction to Research Design
		What You Should Know!
			Empirical Observation
			Causality
			Experimental Research Designs
			Quasi-Experimental Research Design
		Quantitative Levels of Measurement
		Summary
	CHAPTER 7 Research Designs
		What You Should Know!
		Research Designs
			Descriptive Research Design
			Historical Research Design
			Cross-Sectional Research Design
			Longitudinal (or Time Series) Research Design
			Case Study Research Design
			Determining Correlations and Causations
			Evaluation Research
		Summary
	CHAPTER 8 Qualitative and Quantitative Research Designs
		What You Should Know!
		Qualitative Research Design
			Field Interviews
			Structured Interviews
			Semi-Structured Interviews
			Unstructured Interviews
			Focus Groups
			Field Observation
			Ethnographic Research
			Sociometry
		Quantitative Research Design
			Survey Research
			Quantitative Field Observation
		Summary
	CHAPTER 9 Questionnaire Development
		What You Should Know!
		Surveys and Questionnaires
		Rules for Questionnaire Construction
			Rule One: Start With a List of All the Items One Is Interested in Knowing About the Group, Concept, or Phenomenon
			Rule Two: Be Prepared to Establish Validity and Reliability
			Rule Three: Word the Questionnaire Appropriately for the Target Audience
			Rule Four: Clearly Identify Who Should Answer the Questions
			Rule Five: Avoid Asking Questions That Are Biased, Leading, or Double-Barreled in Nature
			Rule Six: Before Constructing a Questionnaire, Decide Whether to Use Open- or Closed-Ended Questions or a Combination of Both
			Rule Seven: Keep in Mind That Respondents May Not Have All the General Information Needed to Complete the Questionnaire
			Rule Eight: Whenever Possible, Pretest the Questionnaire Before It Is Officially Used
			Rule Nine: Set Up Questions So That the Responses Are Easily Recognizable Whether the Questionnaire Is Self-Administered or an Completed in an Interview
			Rule Ten: Organize the Questionnaire to Keep the Respondents’ Interest, Encouraging Them to Complete the Entire Questionnaire
		Scales
		Scaling Procedures
			Arbitrary Scales
			Attitudinal Scales
		Summary
	CHAPTER 10 Data Collection
		What You Should Know!
		Survey Research
			Mail Distribution of Surveys
			Surveys and the Internet
		Interviews
			Face-to-Face Interviews
			Structured, Semi-structured, and Unstructured Interviews
			Telephone Interviews
		Field Observation
		Secondary Data
			Sources of Secondary Data
			Content Analysis
		Summary
Section III Final Steps
	CHAPTER 11 Data Preparation and Analysis
		What You Should Know!
		Data Preparation
			Data Coding
			Data Entry
			Data Cleaning
			Missing Data
			Recoding Data
		Data Analysis
		Statistical Analysis
		Descriptive Statistics
			Frequency Distributions
			Displaying Frequencies
			Measures of Central Tendency
			Measures of Variability
		Summary
	CHAPTER 12 Inferential Statistics
		What You Should Know!
		Statistical Analysis
		Overview of Inferential Statistics
		Measures of Association
			Statistical Significance
		Comparative Statistics
			Crime Rates
			Crime-Specific Rates
			Percentage Change
			Trend Analyses
		Inferential Statistics
			Bivariate Analysis
			Contingency Tables (or Cross-Tabulations)
			Bivariate Regression
		Multivariate Analysis
			Student t Test
			Correlation
			Analysis of Variance
			Multiple Regression
			Other Multivariate Techniques
		Summary
	CHAPTER 13 Writing up the Research
		What You Should Know!
		The Research Paper
			The Title Page
			Abstract
			The Introduction
			Methodology
			Results
			Conclusions
			References or Bibliography
			Tables and Figures
			Appendices
		Summary
	CHAPTER 14 Summing Up
		What You Should Know!
		Research Ethics
			Ethical Concerns
		Getting Started
			Picking a Topic
			Reviewing the Literature
			The Research Question
		Doing Criminological Research
			Steps in the Research Process
		The Language of Research
			Theory
			Conceptualization
			Operationalization
			Variables
			Hypotheses
			Sampling
			Validity
			Reliability
			Data
		Sampling
			Probability Theory
			Probability Sampling
			Nonprobability Sampling
			Sample Size
			Confidence Levels
		Introduction to Research Design
			Causality
			Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Research Designs
		Research Design
			Descriptive Research Design
			Historical Research Design
			Cross-Sectional Research Design
			Longitudinal (or Time Series) Research Design
			Case Study Research Design
			Correlational and Causal-Comparative Research
		Qualitative Research
			Field Interviewing
			Focus Groups
			Field Observation
			Ethnographic Study
		Quantitative Research
			Survey Research
		Questionnaire Construction
			Scales
		Data Collection
			Surveys
			Interviews
			Field Observation
			Secondary Data
			Content Analysis
		Data Preparation
		Data Analysis
		Statistical Analysis
			Frequency Distributions
			Other Ways to Describe the Data
		Inferential Statistics
			Measures of Association
			Statistical Significance
			Bivariate Analysis
			Multivariate Analysis
		Writing the Research
		Summary
References
Appendix
	Institutional Review Board Application
	What Is IRB Approval?
	Who Should Complete the IRB Application Form?
	How Long Does an IRB Review Take?
	General Overview of Information in IRB Applications
	Read This If You Are Using a Published Instrument
	Read This If You Are Creating Your Own Instrument or Modifying an Existing Instrument
	Forms and Letters
Glossary
Author Index
Subject Index