CC100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Positivism, Informed Consent, Economic Inequality
Researching and measuring crimes
Feb 27,2018
Types of crime
1). Street crime (conventional)
- Offenders (common) essentially anyone can commit street crime, rich or poor but
mostly the lower class is to get arrested
- Responsibility, serveral individuals can be responsible for the crime
- Two main categories (Violence and property)
- Criminal justice system, starts with police they respond and investigate. Most enforced
in the criminal justice system
Categories of crime
2). White-collar crime
- Offenders, usually are middle and upper classes who commit white collar crimes
- Occupation, have to have occupation to commit the crime
- 2 main categories (white collar is usually by itself and corporate committed by the
organization or government)
- criminal justice system, very low enforcement from criminal justice system
Researching crime
- Two major aspects of design:
1). Specify what you want to find out
2). Determine best way to do it
- Example: Corruption in government
Main purpose of research
1). Exploration; exploring a topic can be old to see the changes or can be new
2). Description: describe events, characteristics
3). Explanation: explaining why
Modes of observation
A. Experiments (positivistic approach)
- suited for: Hypothesis and casual testing
1). Independent and dependent variables (cause and effect)
2). Pre-testing and post-testing so you test before the test and after to see if there is a
difference
3). Experimental and control groups
Advantages: you can isolate the variable you want to look at, often replicate
Disadvantages: often done in labs which is artificial not real world
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
B. Quantitative analysis (surveys)
- Empirical, can be counted
- Surveys: mail, in person, by phone, electronically
- Statistical analysis (proportions, regression, rates)
- Reliability so we can replicate over time or try in different populations
- Strengths: is flexible can do it by phone, mail
- Weakness: people cannot fit in categories; the question is being misunderstood not
understanding it.
C. Qualitative analysis (observation)
- Participant (non-participant) observation
- Indepth interviews (open-ended questions) usually one on one
- Case studies
- Ethography Whyte’s street orer soiety
- Field research (labour)
- Validity (measure)
- Strengths: Get information from a person natural habit
- Weaknesses: Sample sizes are small and just talking about the study can be dangerous
for researcher, can lead to researchers arrest if they are there at the time of the crime
D. Content analysis (media studies)
- Media
- Comparisons so how is cbc reporting the event vs globe and mail
- Quantitative
o Manifest content (can be counted)
- Qualitative
o Latent content (unintended)
Designing a research project
Experiment
- Milgram (1936, 1965), they are well known, wanted to know about obedience and how
far people go
o Results: killed the people because they kept electrocuting, also did the
experiment again
- Qualitative
o Humphreys- tearoo trade ated to see ho ales iterat ith other
males who have sex in public places, he followed them in them everyone,
soeties he ould reak ito people’s ar ad get their address ad isit the
in there home
Ethics
- Protection from harm (psychological, physical, emotional)
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Offenders (common) essentially anyone can commit street crime, rich or poor but mostly the lower class is to get arrested. Responsibility, serveral individuals can be responsible for the crime. Criminal justice system, starts with police they respond and investigate. Offenders, usually are middle and upper classes who commit white collar crimes. Occupation, have to have occupation to commit the crime. 2 main categories (white collar is usually by itself and corporate committed by the organization or government) criminal justice system, very low enforcement from criminal justice system. Exploration; exploring a topic can be old to see the changes or can be new. Modes of observation: experiments (positivistic approach) suited for: hypothesis and casual testing. Pre-testing and post-testing so you test before the test and after to see if there is a difference. Advantages: you can isolate the variable you want to look at, often replicate. Disadvantages: often done in labs which is artificial not real world: quantitative analysis (surveys)
