Chapter 9 - Criminal Justice and Criminology Research Methods, 2nd Edition

Chapter 9 Nonreactive Research: Content Analysis and Existing Documents/Statistics 1 Digging Up Data Unobtrusive Measures - another name for nonreactive measures that emphasize how the people being studied are not aware of it because the measures do not intrude. Nonreactive Data - a class of data that are collected in such a way that the people being studied are unaware that they are part of a study. Three categories of unobtrusive measures include: Physical Traces Archival Material Unobtrusive Observation 2 Quantitative Content Analysis What is Content Analysis? Content analysis is a technique for gathering and analyzing the content of text. Text - the general name for a communication medium from which symbolic meaning is measured in content analysis. Content Analysis - a technique for gathering and analyzing the content of text. 3 Measurement and Coding General Issues Careful measurement is crucial in content analysis because a researcher takes murky symbolic communication and turns it into precise, quantitative data. Coding System A set of instructions or rules used in content analysis to explain how a researcher systematically observe and record content from text. 4 What is Measured? Structured Observation - a method of watching what is happening in a social setting that is highly organized and follows systematic rules for observation and documentation. Coding systems identify four characteristics of text content: Frequency Direction Intensity Space 5 Types of Coding Manifest Coding A type of content analysis coding in which a researcher first develops a list of words, phrases, or symbols and then locates them in a communication medium. Latent Coding A type of content analysis coding in which a researcher identifies subjective meaning such as themes or motifs and then systematically locates them in a communication medium. 6 How to Conduct Content Analysis Research Question Formulation Units of Analysis Sampling Variables and Constructing Coding Categories Inferences 7 Note on Reliability Intercoder Reliability Equivalence reliability in content analysis with multiple content coders that require a high degree of consistency across coders. Researchers do this by asking coders to code the same text independently and then checking for consistency across coders. 8 Existing Documents/Statistics Locating Data and Existing Statistics The main sources of existing documents are government agencies, private sources, and international agencies involved in crime control. Many existing statistics are free, but the time and effort it takes to search for specific information can be substantial. The single most valuable source of statistical information about the United States is the Statistical Abstract of the United States. 9 Reliability and Validity Validity problems are a real threat to legitimacy of existing statistics research. Three potential threats include: When the researcher’s theoretical definition does not match that of the government agency or organization that collected the information. When official statistics are a surrogate or proxy for a construct in which a researcher is really interested. When researcher lacks control over how information is collected. 10 Stability Reliability Stability Reliability - a technique that checks to see whether the coding is stable or changing. Problems with reliability can also plague existing statistics research. Stability reliability problems arise when official definitions or the methods of collecting information change over time. Equivalence reliability can also be a problem due to poor bookkeeping and recordkeeping. Representative reliability is also a problem in official statistics. 11 The Issue of Missing Data Missing data is another serious problem that plagues researchers using existing documents/statistics. However, more frequently, data was never collected. Government agencies start or stop collecting information for political, budgetary, or other reasons. 12