Introduction to Criminal Justice Research Methods: An Applied Approach, Second Edition

• NCJ Number: 225681
• Author(s): Gennaro F. Vito Ph.D.; Julie C. Kunselman Ph.D.; Richard Tewksbury Ph.D.
• Date Published: 2008
• Length: 272 pages
• Sale Source: Charles C. Thomas
• Publication Format: Book (Hardbound)
• Publication Type: Overview Text
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Based upon the authors’ collective experience as researchers and instructors in criminal justice research and policy analysis, this text is designed to assist criminal justice students and practitioners to conduct research on problems and issues facing the criminal justice system.

Abstract

This text is designed as an introduction to research methods in criminal justice. Divided into 11 chapters, the text begins with an overview of basic research principles and theoretical concepts which provides an introduction to the body of the text. In chapter 2, the reader learns about the purpose, process, and uses of research that focuses on identifying what information is already known about a particular topic or question. Chapter 3 reviews ethical issues and concerns in research and ethical decisions that must be made by the researcher. In chapter 4, the problems faced in the measurement of crime through the examination of some sources of crime data are examined after defining the key concepts of measurement, validity, and reliability. Continuing on, chapter 5 features an introduction to research design, the plan or blueprint for a complete research project. The research design outlines: the questions to be studied, the number and nature of the variables under study, how the data will be obtained, and how it will be analyzed. Chapter 6 discusses the fundamentals of sampling (the selection of a proportion of the population). In chapter 7, several forms of survey research and the ways in which surveys are applied in the field of criminal justice are examined, highlighting principles of good question writing and the steps of survey research. The concept of scaling and some common methods of scale construction are introduced in chapter 8. Chapter 9 concentrates on the basics of qualitative approaches and forms of participant observation with chapter 10 focusing exclusively on qualitative interviewing. The text concludes with the final chapter introducing the fundamentals of evaluation research in criminal justice, also known as program evaluation. References and index