NCJ Number
131706
Journal
Journal of Quantitative Criminology Volume: 7 Issue: 1 Dated: (March 1991) Pages: 41-58
Date Published
1991
Length
18 pages
Annotation
Data from survey responses of 574 Illinois police chiefs regarding police cynicism were evaluated using the canonical factor regression method (CFRM). This analytical tool is designed to construct indices and measure the reliability of those indices from items derived from Neiderhoffer's police cynicism index.
Abstract
Five theoretically salient predictors of cynicism were used in the survey: anomia, education, professionalism, length of service, and work alienation. CFRM seems to be useful for constructing composite indices; the analysis showed that CFRM allowed a more powerful test of hypothesized relationships between dimensions of cynicism and the predictor variables than had been previously possible. However, the comparison of alpha and CFRM-omega reliability estimates suggests that the assumption of parallelity between measures is problematic. Hypothesis testing and construct validity are two issues that remain pertinent when using CFRM. 3 tables, 3 appendixes, and 28 references (Author abstract modified)