2.2 Criminal Justice
lanny.wilson
Chapter6.ppt© 2014 by Pearson Higher Education, Inc Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 • All Rights Reserved
Class Name,
Instructor Name
Date, Semester
Hagan, Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology, 9/e
Chapter 6
Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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Structured Interviews
Consist of check-off responses to questions that are factual and easily fit an expected pattern
Unstructured Interviews
Provide open-ended responses to questions
Depth Interview
Are more intensive or detailed interviews that are particularly useful in life histories or case studies
Types of Interviews
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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Structured Interviews
Consist of check-off responses to questions that are factual and easily fit an expected pattern
The interviewer should avoid soliciting additional
comments but, when they occur, record them verbatim.
- The main disadvantage of closed-ended questions is that they generally elicit only limited response patterns.
- The advantages are easy administration and data processing.
Types of Interviews
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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Unstructured Interviews
Provide open-ended response to questions
No predetermined response categories are provided.
Open-ended items may present a tabulation nightmare but provide the qualitative detail
and complexity of response that may be required, particularly if the subject of study
is little known.
Types of Interviews
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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Depth Interview
More intensive or detailed interviews that are particularly useful in life histories or case studies
The researcher has a general list of topics to be explored but exercises great discretion and flexibility in the manner, timing, and direction of questioning.
Types of Interviews
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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Advantages of Interviews
Disadvantages of Interviews
Personal contact between
researcher and subject
Interviewer can make use of cards, charts, & other AV aids
Time-consuming and costly
Interviewer effect/bias may distort results
Interviewer can pitch the language to respondent’s level
Interviewer may make errors in asking questions or recording information
Interviewer can use discretion as to the appropriate time to ask the more sensitive questions
Less convenient to the respondent, less anonymity than mail surveys
© 2014 by Pearson Higher Education, Inc Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 • All Rights Reserved
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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The Exit
Adminis-tration of the Interview
Session Arranging the Interview
Training and Orien-tation
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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- Where possible, the field surveyors should match, as closely as possible, the subjects with respect to age, sex, race, social class, and dress. The interviewer’s language style should be adapted to the group studied.
- Attire should be comfortable, but the interviewer should be neither overdressed nor underdressed.
- Interviewers should have experienced a few practice interviews beforehand.
- Interviewers should assure respondents that their responses will be held in strictest confidence.
- Interviewers should attempt to build a rapport with the subjects.
Demeanor of Interviewer
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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Probing involves asking follow-up question(s) to focus, expand, clarify, or further explain the response given.
The interviewer should be familiar with the responses needed to each question to know when a probe is necessary.
The probe should not appear to be a cross-examination but should be a natural extension of the interview.
Probing
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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- The interviewer should use parentheses to distinguish personal observations from the actual interview.
- Editing entails reviewing the interview schedule after completion of the interview and cleaning it up and preparing it for analysis.
- Unanswered questions should be marked “NA” for “not applicable” or simply “X” to indicate “inappropriate.”
- Where personal observations are included, it may help to cross-reference relevant items.
- Interviewers should avoid summarizing/paraphrasing responses and try to use the respondent’s own words.
Recording the Interview
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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Advantages of Telephone Surveys
Disadvantages of Telephone Surveys
No field staff needed
Simpler monitoring/prevention
of interviewer bias
Difficulty in obtaining in-depth responses
Many numbers are unlisted
Quick and inexpensive
The poor and transient may not own phones
Generally yield a low nonresponse rate
Easy and inexpensive follow-up
If the survey is global, the cost could be prohibitive
Possible high refusal rates
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Computers in Survey Research
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CAPI
Computer-Assisted Programmed Interviewing, in
which portable laptop computers are used in field interviews.
CART
Continuous Audience Response Technology, in which respondents
register their reaction to various stimuli on a continuous
basis using a handheld keypad.
CATI
Computer-Assisted Telephone Interviewing, in which the computer displays a question, the interviewer types the answer, and the program chooses the next question to ask.
SPSS
Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, which has
software for analyzing open-ended survey responses.
Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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Sampling procedure employed in telephone surveys in which random numbers are used to obtain unlisted numbers
Random Digit Dialing
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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Branching Procedure
Interview technique used to narrow down sensitive responses, such as income, into less threatening categories or ranges
Techniques Employed In Telephone Surveys
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© 2014 by Pearson Higher Education, Inc Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 • All Rights Reserved
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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Dark Figure of Crime
Crime that is unmeasured by official statistics or that has not come to the notice of police
Victim Surveys
Surveys in which subjects are asked to report alleged victimizations
Victim Surveys in Criminal Justice
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Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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NCVS National Crime Victims Survey
Sampling
Panel Design
Survey Research: Interviews and Telephone Surveys
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- Cost of large samples
- False reporting
- Mistaken interpretation
of incidents
- Sampling bias
- Overreporting and/or underreporting
Some Problems in Victim Surveys
- Memory failure, decay, and telescoping
- Interviewer effects
- Coding and
mechanical error
- Problems measuring certain crimes
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© 2014 by Pearson Higher Education, Inc Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 • All Rights Reserved
Some general advantages of the interview method are personal contact, which affords observation, clarification of misunderstandings and control over respondents, and the opportunity to employ visual aids, make return visits, and gear language to the level of the respondent.
The use of the telephone survey to assess victimization holds promise as a means of reducing the cost of victim surveys.
Some interview situations may lend themselves to the use of various electronic recording equipment or other aids, which can be a considerable bonus.
Computer software such as CART has greatly expanded the versatility of the interview. Random digit dialing enables the coverage of unlisted numbers, a previous shortcoming of phone surveys of victims.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
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© 2014 by Pearson Higher Education, Inc Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458 • All Rights Reserved
Victim surveys are not without their problems. Principal among these are high cost, false reports, mistaken interpretation of incidents as crimes, memory failure and decay, sampling bias, over- and/or underreporting, telescoping, interviewer effects, and coding and mechanical error.
Beginning in 1986, redesign of the NCVS began to be implemented. This redesign included plans to use CATI and, in the future, possibly CAPI. The redesigned NCVS particularly improved the measurement of domestic violence.
CHAPTER SUMMARY
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