NCJ Number
226741
Journal
Journal of Experimental Criminology Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: March 2009 Pages: 1-23
Date Published
March 2009
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This paper presents new methodological quality checklists to evaluate the quality of risk factor studies.
Abstract
Three new methodological quality checklists to identify high-quality risk factor research are presented. The Cambridge Quality Checklists identify the best quality studies for drawing conclusions about correlates, risk factors, and causal risk factors. To draw confident conclusions about correlates, the researcher only needs the correlate score to be high. For confident conclusions to be drawn about risk factors, both the correlate score and the risk factor score need to be high. For confident conclusions to be drawn about causal risk factors, all three scores on the checklists need to be high. Checklists of this nature are argued as needed and should be used in systematic reviews and meta-analyses. It is argued that the proposed checklists are plausible, justifiable, simple to understand, and easy to use. Systematic reviews summarize evidence about the effects of social interventions on crime, health, education, and social welfare. Social scientists should also use systematic reviews to study risk factors, which are naturally occurring predictors of these outcomes. To do this, the quality of risk factor research needs to be evaluated. Figure, tables, and references