The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice - International Student Edition

SECTION I: FOUNDATIONS FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH
Chapter 1: Science, Society, and Research Related to Crime, Criminology, and Social Control
Reasoning About the Social World
The Social Science Approach
Criminal Justice and Criminological Research in Practice
Alternative Research Orientations
More on the Role of Values in Research
Quantitative and Qualitative Methods
Highlighting a Few Specific Types of Research Methods
Strengths and Limitations of Social Research
A Comment on Research in a Diverse Society
Conclusion
Chapter 2: The Process and Problems of Research Related to Crime and Criminology
Identifying a Research Question
Social Research Foundations
The Role of Theory
Social Research Strategies
Social Research Standards
Conclusion
Chapter 3: Ethical Guidelines for Research
Historical Background
Ethical Principles
Institutional Review Board
Research Involving Special Populations: Prisoners and Children
Conclusion
SECTION II: FUNDAMENTALS OF RESEARCH
Chapter 4: Conceptualization and Measurement
Concepts
Variables and Levels of Measurement
Did We Measure What We Wanted to Measure?
A Comment on Measurement in a Diverse Society
Conclusion
Chapter 5: Sampling
Sample Planning
Sampling Methods
Sampling Distributions
Conclusion
Chapter 6: Causation and Research Design
Causal Explanations
Criteria and Cautions for Nomothetic Causal Explanations
Research Designs and Causality
Units of Analysis and Errors in Causal Reasoning
Conclusion
SECTION III: RESEARCH DESIGNS
Chapter 7: Experimental Designs
History of Experiments
True Experiments
Quasi-Experiments
Validity in Experiments
Factorial Survey Design
Ethical Issues in Experimental Research
Conclusion
Chapter 8: Survey Research
Survey Research in the Social Sciences
Designing Questionnaires
Writing Survey Questions
Organization of the Questionnaire
The Cover Letter
Survey Designs
Errors in Survey Research
Ethical Issues in Survey Research
Conclusion
Chapter 9: Qualitative Methods: Observing, Participating, and Listening
Fundamentals of Qualitative Methods
Participant Observation
Systematic Observation
Intensive Interviewing
Focus Groups
Ethical Issues in Qualitative Research
Conclusion
Chapter 10: Analyzing Content: Research Using Secondary, Historical, and Comparative Data, and Content Analysis
Analyzing Secondary Data
Historical and Comparative Methods
Comparative Research
Content Analysis
Methodological Issues When Using Secondary Data
Ethical Issues When Analyzing Available Data and Content
Conclusion
Chapter 11: Social Network Analysis, Crime Mapping, and Big Data
Social Network Analysis
Crime Mapping
Big Data
Ethical Issues When Using Big Data
Ethical Issues When Using Big Data
Chapter 12: Evaluation and Policy Analysis
A Brief History of Evaluation Research
Evaluation Basics
Questions for Evaluation Research
Design Decisions
Evaluation in Action
Quasi-Experimental Designs in Evaluation Research
Nonexperimental Designs
Qualitative and Quantitative Methods
Policy Research: Increasing Demand for Evidence-Based Policy
Basic Science or Applied Research
Ethics in Evaluation
Conclusion
Chapter 13: Mixing and Comparing Methods
What Are Mixed Methods?
Strengths and Limitations of Mixed Methods
Comparing Results Across Studies
Ethics and Mixed Methods
Conclusion
SECTION IV: AFTER THE DATA ARE COLLECTED
Chapter 14: Analyzing Quantitative Data
Introducing Statistics
Preparing Data for Analysis
Displaying Univariate Distributions
Summarizing Univariate Distributions
Cross-Tabulating Variables
Regression and Correlation
Conclusion
Chapter 15: Analyzing Qualitative Data
Features of Qualitative Data Analysis
Qualitative Compared With Quantitave Data Analysis
Techniques of Qualitative Data Analysis
Alternatives in Qualitative Data Analysis
Computer-Assisted Qualitative Data Analysis
Ethics in Qualitative Data Analysis
Conclusion
Chapter 16: Summarizing and Reporting Research
Research Report Goals
Writing Is Not Easy!
Research Report Types
Displaying Research
Special Considerations for Reporting Qualitative or Mixed-Methods Research
Ethics, Politics, and Reporting Research
Plagiarism
Conclusion
Appendix A: Questions to Ask About a Research Article
Appendix B: How to Read a Research Article
Appendix C: How to Use a Statistical Package: IBM SPSS Statistics
Appendix D: How to Use a Data Spreadsheet: Excel
Appendix E: Data Sets