Criminal Justice Research Methods and Crime Measurement

Vocabulary flashcards covering the definitions of variables, official crime reports (UCR/NIBRS), victimization surveys, survey methodologies, sampling techniques, and field research roles.

Dependent variable ($Y$)

Known as the 'effect'; it depends on changes in independent variables.

Independent variable ($X$)

Known as the 'cause'; it is independent of other variables in a study.

Units of analysis

Specific entities about which researchers collect information, such as offenders, victims, offenses, and incidents.

Uniform Crime Reports (UCR)

Measures of crime based on police records; voluntary reporting began circa $1929$ and has been under the FBI since the $1930s$.

Type crime offenses (Index crimes)

A category of serious crimes in the UCR including murder, rape, robbery, larceny, burglary, aggravated assault, motor vehicle theft, and arson (added in $1979$).

Summary-based data

UCR data that includes total crime counts for reporting agencies like cities and counties.

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

A joint effort by the FBI and BJS to report each crime incident individually, including details on offenses, offenders, and victims.

Hierarchy rule

A reporting rule dropped in NIBRS to ensure offense classifications are mutually exclusive.

National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)

A longitudinal panel study by the Census Bureau since $1972$ that interviews households every $6$ months for $3$ years to illuminate unreported crime.

Dark figure of unreported crime

The amount of crime that is not reported to the police, which the NCVS seeks to measure.

Telescoping

A negative element of NCVS data where respondents incorrectly recall or misplace incident dates.

Self-report surveys

Studies such as NSDUH and MTF used to measure delinquency, 'victimless' crimes, and offenses rarely reported to police.

Open-ended questions

Survey questions where the respondent provides their own answer in their own words.

Closed-ended questions

Survey questions where the respondent selects an answer from a provided list; choices must be exhaustive and mutually exclusive.

Likert scale

A typically $5$ point scale used for statements to measure agreement, ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree.

Probe

A technique used in in-person interview surveys to elicit additional responses from a respondent.

Response rate

The percentage of surveys returned; $502$ is adequate, $602$ is good, and $702$ is considered very good.

Sampling

The process of selecting a small subset of observations from a population to generalize findings to the whole.

EPSEM

Equal Probability of Selection Method; the basis of probability sampling where each member has an equal chance of being selected.

Ethnography

A type of field research focusing on detailed and accurate description of a phenomenon rather than explanation.

Complete participant

A role in field research where the researcher participates fully and their true identity and purpose are unknown to subjects.

Participant-as-observer

A role where the researcher participates in group activities but makes their identity as a researcher known.

Observer-as-participant

A role where the researcher identifies their position but does not actually participate in the group's activities.

Complete observer

A field research role where the observer watches a process without becoming a participant in any way.

Structured observations

A method where observers record data on closed-ended forms to produce numeric measures.