Research Methods in Criminology

1. Research Methods in Criminology Experiments Field Studies Surveys Existing statistics

2. Research Methods in Criminology • Experiments • Field research • Survey research • Existing data research • Comparative research

3. Classic Experiment • At least two groups (control and experimental) • Randomly assign people to groups • Treat the experimental group by manipulation the independent variable • Observe the effect of the treatment on the dependent variable in the experimental group • Compare the dependent variable differences in the experimental and control groups

4. The Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment (1983) • Goal was to find the most effective strategy • Three groups: two treatment groups and one control • Police officers volunteering to take whatever action was dictated by a random system: instruction in an envelope • Three different instructions: (1) arrest the suspect; (2) separate or remove the suspect from the scene for 8 hours; (3) advise and mediate

5. Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment • Victims have been interviewed every two weeks for the next 6 months, police records have been monitored as well • Most influential policy experiment • Arrest works more effectively in deterring domestic violence

6. Experiments in Criminology • Not always possible (ethical issues) • Quasi-experiments or natural experiments • Example: Effect of the decision to conduct crackdown on drinking and driving by a local police force (planned interventions) • Occasionally, natural events (catastrophe or tornadoes) might substitute planned interventions

7. Social Science Experiments • Laud Humphrey’s “Tearoom Trade” (1970) • Stanley Milgram’s “Obedience to Authority” (1974) • Philip Zimbardo’s simulated prison experiment (1972-1974)

8. Laud Humphreys and the “Tearoom Sex Study “ • He stationed himself in "tearooms" and offered to serve as "watchqueen" • He was able to gain the confidence of some of the men he observed, disclose his role as scientist, and persuade them to tell him about the rest of their lives and about their motives • Humphreys secretly recorded the license numbers of their cars • A year later and carefully disguised, Humphreys appeared at their homes claiming to be a health-service interviewer and interviewed them about their marital status, race, job, and so on.

9. Humphreys' findings destroyed many stereotypes • 54% of his subjects were married with kids • 38% were neither bisexual nor homosexual: they were men whose marriages were marked with tension • 24 % were clearly bisexual, happily married, well educated, economically quite successful, and exemplary members of their community • Another 24 % were single and were covert homosexuals • Only 14 % of Humphreys' subjects were members of the gay community and were interested in primarily homosexual relationships

10. Stanley Milgram’s “Obedience to Authority” • Psychologist at Yale University, conducted a study focusing on the conflict between obedience to authority and personal conscience • Character flaw “Readiness to obey authority without question, no matter what outrageous acts authority commands” • Everything in the experiment was staged except one person-subject • Milgram changed a lot in his initial script because people were obeying too much

11. Experiment “Learner” is taken to a room where he is strapped in a chair and an electrode is placed on his arm. The "teacher" is instructed to read a list of two word pairs and ask the "learner" to read them back. If "learner" gets the answer wrong, the "teacher" is supposed to shock the "learner" starting at 15 volts

12. Experiment The generator has 30 switches ranging from "slight shock" to "danger: severe shock“ The final two switches are labeled "XXX“ The "teacher" automatically is supposed to increase the shock each time the "learner" misses a word in the list

13. Links • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BcvSNg0HZwk&feature=related • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IzTuz0mNlwU • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmFCoo-cU3Y

14. Results • “Two-thirds of this study participants fall into the category of ‘obedient' subjects, and that they represent ordinary people drawn from the working, managerial, and professional classes • 65% of all of the "teachers" punished the "learners" to the maximum 450 volts • No subject stopped before reaching 300 volts

15. Results • The theory that only the most severe monsters on the sadistic fringe of society would submit to such cruelty is disclaimed

16. Zimbardo’s simulated prison experiment • Subjects –males, undergraduate, paid volunteers • Role of either guard or prisoner • Mock prison was constructed in the basement of Stanford university • Experiment was to have lasted for two weeks but Zimbardo cancelled the study after 6 days because of possible harm

17. What went wrong? • Individuals became carried away with their roles • Guards behaved aggressively and dehumanizing toward prisoners • Prisoners behaved ether passively or were hostile • Subjects did consent to participate in the study, but they did not expect the consequences

18. Field Study • A piece of research undertaken outside the laboratory or place of learning, usually in a natural environment or among the general public • METHODS: Observations and interviews

19. Observation • Observation is a research technique in which a researcher directly observe the behavior of individuals in their usual social environments, not in a laboratory

20. Different strategies • Complete Participant –researcher goes “undercover” and does not tell people being observed that he/she is doing research • Complete Observer –researcher views things from a distance or one-way mirror • Participant Observer – people know that they are observed

21. Interviews • Active offenders - hidden population • Criminals behind bars?

22. Criminals behind bars… • Unsuccessful criminals • Unskilled criminals • Lacking access to “nice” criminal network • Might not be honest

23. How to locate active and not apprehended criminals? • Snowball sampling • Appropriate when members of a population are difficult to locate. • Researcher collects data on members of the target population she can locate, then asks them to help locate other members of that population. • New cases are sampled until there is no additional information from new cases.

24. Snowball Sampling

25. Limitations of the Snowball Sampling • The role of the 1st person sampled is crucial in determining who else get sampled • Bias may be high since people are more likely to mention people that are like themselves, i.e. no variation on the characteristic of interest.

26. Statistics • Source: The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) • Ongoing since 1972, this survey of households interviews about 134,000 persons age 12 and older in 77,200 households each year about their victimizations from crime.

27. Life history and case studies • In-depth analysis of one or a few cases • Sutherland’s “The Professional Thief” (1937) • Shaw’s “The Jack-Roller: A Delinquent Boy's Own Story “

28. Survey Research • Surveyis a series of questions asked of a number of people and designed to measure the behavior, attitudes, beliefs, values, and personality traits • Based on sampling

29. Unobtrusive Research • Unobtrusive methods are strategies for studying people’s behavior in ways that do not have an impact on the subjects

30. Unobtrusive methods • Use of existing statistics • Content analysis

31. Triangulation • Every method has both strengths and weaknesses • Whenever possible researchers use more than one method to obtain data • Triangulation – methods are combined so that the strengths of one method overcome the weakness of another method

32. Example of Triangulation • Suppose you study the impact of neighborhood problems on youth development • Census information (unobtrusive) about poverty level in neighborhoods • Survey among youth and parents • Observations