Survey Research in Criminology - Criminology - Lecture Slides, Slides of Criminal Justice

Download Survey Research in Criminology - Criminology - Lecture Slides and more Slides Criminal Justice in PDF only on Docsity! Survey Research in Criminology Docsity.com Survey • Survey is a series of questions asked of a number of people and designed to measure the attitudes, beliefs, values, and personality traits • Measurement tool • Some variables are easy to measure (demographics) Docsity.com Measuring “Attachment to Parents ” • a) time spent with family; • b) importance of parental influence; • c) parents’ involvement in youths’ lives; High scores on these dimensions will reflect emotionally close attachment to parents. Docsity.com Types of Surveys • Face-to-face (interview) • Self-administered (mail, web) • Phone Provide different answers Docsity.com Reasons for differences • Social desirability • Acquiescence (culturally-based tendency to agree) • Norm of even-handedness Docsity.com Surveys • The goal of writing questions for self- administered questionnaire is to develop a query that every potential respondent will interpret in the same way, be able to respond accurately, and be willing to answer Docsity.com Types of survey questions • Closed-ended format: Are you _____male ______female? • Open-ended format: What is the thing that you like most about your criminology class? Why? Docsity.com Questionnaire wording • Wording of the questions has an important impact on results • Respondents can misinterpret even well- formulated questions • Avoid grammatical complexity that can lead to trouble Docsity.com Reported Hours of studying Mail Telephone Reported Hours/Day 2.5 hours or more Less than 2.5 hours Low version High version Mail Telephone 23% 77% 58% 42% 69% 70% 30% 31% Docsity.com Vagueness and ambiguity • “Do you think that children suffer any ill effects from watching programs with violence in them, other than ordinary Westerns?” • What is wrong with this question? Docsity.com Avoid threatening questions • “Do you happen to have murdered your wife?” • “As you know, many people have been killing their wives these days. Do you happened to have killed yours?” Docsity.com What is wrong with the following question? • How often did you attend religious services during the past year?  Never  Rarely  Occasionally  Regularly Docsity.com A revision • How often did you attend religious services during the past year?  Not at all  A few times  About once a month  Two to three times per month  About once a week  More than once a week Docsity.com Use equal numbers of positive and negative categories for scalar questions • How satisfied were you with the service you received when you bought air conditioner?  Completely satisfied  Mostly satisfied  Somewhat satisfied  Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied  Dissatisfied • How satisfied were you with the service you received when you bought air conditioner?  Completely satisfied  Mostly satisfied  Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied  Somewhat dissatisfied  Dissatisfied Docsity.com What is wrong with this question? (Panel for the evaluation of Crime Surveys) • Were the police informed of this incident in any way?  No  Do not know –Skip to check item G  Yes-Who told them? 1.Household member 2.Someone else Docsity.com What is wrong with this question? (Panel for the evaluation of Crime Surveys) What were the injures you suffered, if any?  None-skip to question 10  Raped  Attempted rape  Knife or gunshot wounds  Broken bones or teeth knocked out  Internal injures, knocked unconscious  Bruises, black eye, cuts, scratches, swelling  Other____________(specify) Docsity.com Constructing the Questionnaire • Easy to understand and answer • Each respondent must comprehend the questions as well as visual layout in the same way Docsity.com Eye Movement Pattern Docsity.com Eye Movement Pattern; Unequal Information Docsity.com Eye Movement Pattern Docsity.com Principle of Proximity (Similar figures in closer proximity will be seen as a group) Docsity.com Principle of Proximity (Similar figures in closer proximity will be seen as a group) Docsity.com Principle of Similarity (Similar figures will be seen as a group.) Do you see groups? Docsity.com Figure and Ground Docsity.com Figure and Ground Docsity.com