Research Methods: Criminology

Criminological Research offers a comprehensive guide to both the theory and practice of qualitative criminological research. The reader is shown how a variety of methods and approaches work and how their outcomes may be interpreted. The book also offers constructive advice for students analysing and writing their research projects. Key features of the book include an innovative framework combining different methodologies and approaches, a variety of `real-life' examples and case studies, a set of practical exercises and further reading sections in each chapter, discussions of ethnography, interviewing, documentary evidence and data-analysis, and a detailed and practical discussion of the politics of research, such as issues of access, ethics and confidentiality.

The new edition of this best selling textbook brings research alive for students studying criminology and related subjects. Contextualising research with real-life examples of crime and criminal justice, the book looks at the processes, practicalities and problems of doing criminological research, ensuring students get to grips with preparing for and doing their own research. The book includes 12 new chapters and a revised 3-part structure designed around the core elements of a research project and explores Designing Criminological Research, Undertaking a Criminological Literature Review, Crime Analysis and Survey Research, Longitudinal and Ethnographic Research, Using the Internet to Research Crime and Justice, and much more.

This text is an ideal supplement to any research methods in criminal justice textbook. Used primarily in lab settings, this text teaches students how to analyze issues and use SPSS for criminal justice research. The text explains to students, with the aid of step-by-step instructions in over 150 Windows screen shots, how to conduct and analyze their own surveys, comparing data collected with national data. Recent GSS data sets, including 2000 Census data, and the Public Health College Alcohol Survey, are utilized and available on a bundled CD.

Randomized Response describes an innovative survey technique designed to overcome the difficulties associated with sensitive or embarrassing questions. It shows how the randomized response method can protect survey respondents and minimize bias. It also shows how the technique can estimate parameters of both qualitative and quantitative measures, test subgroup differences, and perform bivariate and multivariate analyses.

Conducting research into crime and criminal justice carries unique challenges. This Handbook focuses on the application of 'methods' to address the core substantive questions that currently motivate contemporary criminological research. It maps a canon of methods that are more elaborated than in most other fields of social science, and the intellectual terrain of research problems with which criminologists are routinely confronted.