Conducting a Criminological Survey in a Culturally Diverse Context: Lessons From the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children

• NCJ Number: 219791
• Journal: European Journal of Criminology Volume: 4 Issue: 3 Dated: July 2007 Pages: 271-298
• Author(s): Manuel Eisner; Denis Ribeaud
• Date Published: July 2007
• Length: 28 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United Kingdom

Annotation

Based on lessons learned from the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children (Switzerland), this article discusses two issues that arise when conducting criminological research in diverse contexts, namely, threats to study validity resulting from ethnic differences in participation rates and the lack of cross-cultural equivalence of questionnaires in multilanguage contexts.

Abstract

The authors discuss how these problems were handled in the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children (z-proso), a prospective longitudinal criminological study that involved 1,240 families in Zurich. The z-proso experience suggests that recruitment efforts can significantly increase participation rates, particularly among minority groups. As expected, higher participation rates were associated with a qualitative improvement in the sample's representativeness. Parents who required targeted motivational efforts to gain their participation tended to have children with higher rates of problem behaviors than parents who were more willing to participate with little recruitment effort. The highest rates of problem behavior were found for those children whose parents chose not to participate in the study. The multimethod analysis found significant discrepancies in parent ratings of child problem behavior among migrant parents compared with teacher and interviewer ratings. Analysis indicated that such differences were likely the result of socially desirable response behavior among parents with low educational levels. The authors advise that survey-based criminological studies in ethnically diverse contexts require careful planning for the culture-specific adaptation of initial contact strategies and the reduction of language barriers through translation, training of interviewers, and close monitoring of the field work. Data-collection instruments must be valid across the cultures and backgrounds of the respondents. 60 references