Fundamentals of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice

4. Auflage 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5063-5957-1
Verlag: SAGE PUBN

Buch, Englisch, 360 Seiten, Format (B × H): 202 mm x 254 mm, Gewicht: 645 g

Fundamentals of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Fourth Edition introduces students to the multifaceted subject of research methods and shows them why research is important in the field of criminology and criminal justice. This brief version of Ronet Bachman and Russell K. Schutt’s successful textbook (The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice) simplifies complex concepts with real-world research examples found in everyday experiences in the criminology and criminal justice professions.



The thoroughly updated Fourth Edition of this bestseller reflects the most recent developments in research methods, including the use of big data, increased coverage of crime mapping, evidence-based and web-based research, along with the most current research examples impacting the field. This is an excellent introductory text for undergraduate research courses, and is ideal for students who want to understand how and why criminal justice research is done to become critical consumers of research.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Bachman, Ronet D.

Schutt, Russell K.

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Kriminalsoziologie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Preface
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
1. Science, Society, and Criminological Research
What Do We Have in Mind?
Reasoning About the Social World
How the Scientific Approach Is Different
Social Research Philosophies
Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
Specific Types of Research Methods
Strengths and Limitations of Social Research
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
2. The Process and Problems of Criminological Research
What Do We Have in Mind?
Criminological Research Questions
The Role of Theory
Social Research Strategies
A History of Investigating the Effects of Arrest for Intimate Partner Violence: The Research Circle in Action
Guidelines for Criminologists
Social Research Standards
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
3. Research Ethics
What Do We Have in Mind?
Historical Background
Ethical Principles
Research Involving Special Populations: Children and Prisoners
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
4. Conceptualization and Measurement
What Do We Have in Mind?
Concepts
Concepts and Variables
How Will We Know When We’ve Found It?
How Much Information Do We Really Have?
Did We Measure What We Wanted to Measure?
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
5. Sampling
What Do We Have in Mind?
Sample Planning
Sampling Methods
Units of Analysis and Errors in Causal Reasoning
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
6. Causation and Experimentation
What Do We Mean by Causation?
Causal Explanation
Criteria for Nomothetic Causal Explanations
Why Experiment?
What If a True Experiment Isn’t Possible?
What Are the Threats to Internal Validity and Generalizability in Experiments?
The Element of Time in Research
Causality in Nonexperimental Designs
How Do Experimenters Protect Their Subjects?
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
7. Survey Research
Survey Research in Action: Measuring Victimization
What Is a Survey?
Questionnaire Development and Assessment
Writing Survey Questions: More Difficult Than You Think!
Organization Matters
Survey Designs
Ethical Issues in Survey Research
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
8. Qualitative Methods and Data Analysis
What Do We Mean by Qualitative Methods?
Fundamentals of Qualitative Methods
Participant Observation
Systematic Observation
Intensive Interviewing
Focus Groups
Analyzing Qualitative Data
Techniques of Qualitative Data Analysis
Alternatives in Qualitative Data Analysis
Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis
Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research
Who Owns the Qualitative Data?
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
9. Analyzing Content: Secondary Data Analysis, Comparative Methods, Content Analysis, Crime Mapping, and Big Data
What Are Secondary Data?
Comparative Methods
Content Analysis
Crime Mapping
Big Data
Methodological Issues When Using Secondary Data
Ethical Issues When Analyzing Available Data and Content
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
10. Evaluation and Policy Analysis
A Brief History of Evaluation Research
Evaluation Basics
Evaluation Alternatives
Design Decisions
Evaluation in Action
Strengths of Randomized Experimental Designs in Impact Evaluations
When Experiments Are Not Feasible
Qualitative and Quantitative Methods
Ethics in Evaluation
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
11. Mixing and Comparing Methods
What We Have in Mind
What Are Mixed Methods?
Strengths and Limitations of Mixed Methods
Comparing Results Across Studies
Ethics and Mixed Methods
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
12. Reporting Research Results
Research Report Goals
Types of Research Reports
Curbing the Frustrations of Writing
Displaying Data
Some Final Thoughts on Reporting Quantitative and Qualitative Research
Ethics, Politics, and Reporting Research
Communicating With the Public
Plagiarism
Conclusion
Key Terms
Highlights
Exercises
Appendix A. Conducting Literature Reviews and Finding Information
Appendix B. How to Read a Research Article
Appendix C. How to Use a Statistical Package: SPSS
Appendix D. How to Use a Qualitative Analysis Package
Appendix E. How to Use a Data Spreadsheet: Excel
Appendix F. Conducting Descriptive Quantitative Data Analysis
Appendix G. Data Sets
Glossary
References
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Schutt, Russell K.
Russell K. Schutt, PhD, is a professor and the chair of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and a lecturer on sociology in the Department of Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School (Massachusetts Mental Health Center). He completed his BA, MA, and PhD (1977) at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University (1977–1979). His other books include Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research and Fundamentals of Social Work Research (with Ray Engel), Making Sense of the Social World (with Dan Chambliss), and Research Methods in Psychology (with Paul G. Nestor)—all with SAGE Publications, as well as Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness (Harvard University Press) and Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society (coedited with Larry J. Seidman and Matcheri S. Keshavan, also Harvard University Press). Most of his peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters focus on the effect of social context on cognition, satisfaction, functioning, and recidivism, the orientations of service recipients and of service and criminal justice personnel, and the organization of health and social services. He is currently a coinvestigator for a randomized trial of peer support for homeless dually diagnosed veterans, funded by the Veterans Administration.

Bachman, Ronet D.
Ronet D. Bachman, PhD, worked as a statistician at the Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice, before going back to an academic career; she is now a professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware. She is coauthor of Statistical Methods for Criminology and Criminal Justice and coeditor of Explaining Criminals and Crime: Essays in Contemporary Criminal Theory. In addition, she is the author of Death and Violence on the Reservation and coauthor of Stress, Culture, and Aggression; Murder American Style; and Violence: The Enduring Problem; along with numerous articles and papers that examine the epidemiology and etiology of violence, with particular emphasis on women, the elderly, and minority populations as well as research examining desistance from crime. Her most recent federally funded research was a mixed-methods study that examined the long-term desistance trajectories of drug-involved offenders who were released from prison in 1990, followed from 1990 through 1995, and interviewed again in 2009.