Ellis, L: Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminolo

Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology is a core text for criminology and criminal justice research methods courses. It strives to offer a general foundation of knowledge that transcends particular topics or subject areas, allowing students to apply research methods and concepts to a multitude of scenarios. Even though the textbook has been written primarily for criminal justice and criminology majors, there is an underlying recognition that research methods and findings are common among all of the social sciences. This text has been designed to be user-friendly, even when dealing with some fairly complex statistical and theoretical concepts. The most critical points are clearly stated and illustrated with examples chosen to be interesting in their own right.

Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology is a core text for criminology and criminal justice research methods courses. It strives to offer a general foundation of knowledge that transcends particular topics or subject areas, allowing students to apply research methods and concepts to a multitude of scenarios. Even though the textbook has been written primarily for criminal justice and criminology majors, there is an underlying recognition that research methods and findings are common among all of the social sciences. This text has been designed to be user-friendly, even when dealing with some fairly complex statistical and theoretical concepts. The most critical points are clearly stated and illustrated with examples chosen to be interesting in their own right.

Chapter 1 PART I: GETTING STARTEDChapter 2 Chapter 1 - The Scientific Method and Criminal Justice as a Social SciencesChapter 3 Chapter 2 - Formulating Scientific Questions and Locating Background ResearchChapter 4 PART II: THE IMPORTANCE OF STATISTICSChapter 5 Chapter 3 - Univariate Statistics and the Concept of Statistical SignificanceChapter 6 Chapter 4 - Bi/Multivariate Statistics: The Concept of CorrelationChapter 7 PART III: DOCUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENTChapter 9 Chapter 5 - Research Report Structure and Styles for Citing and ReferencingChapter 10 Chapter 6 - The Concepts of Reliability, Validity, and Precision in MeasurementChapter 11 PART IV: TYPES OF SOCIAL SCIENCE DATAChapter 12 Chapter 7 - Data Based on Self-Reports: Guidelines for Constructing QuestionnairesChapter 13 Chapter 8 - Direct Observations: Qualitative and Quantitative DataChapter 14 Chapter 9 - Archival Data Analysis and Meta-AnalysisChapter 15 Chapter 10 - Measuring Crime and CriminalityChapter 16 PART V: SELECTING THOSE TO BE STUDIEDChapter 17 Chapter 11 - Surveying and SamplingChapter 18 Chapter 12 - The Human Side of Sampling and the Reliability of Self-ReportsChapter 19 PART VI: PROBING FOR CAUSAL EXPLANATIONSChapter 20 Chapter 13 - Theories, Models, Hypotheses, and Empirical RealityChapter 21 Chapter 14 - Controlled ExperimentationChapter 23 Chapter 15 - Quasi-ExperimentationChapter 24 PART VII: AVOIDING HARM AND DOING GOOD25 Chapter 16 - Ethical Issues in the Social Sciences25 Chapter 17 - Evaluation and Other Applied ResearchChapter 26 Chapter 18 - Epilogue