Data Collection Methods (Read Carefully)

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CJ490_Unit7_Chap10_Modified.ppt

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Agency Records, Content Analysis, and Secondary Data

Chapter 10

Introduction

Data from agency records: agencies collect a vast amount of crime and CJ data

Secondary analysis – analyzing data previously collected

Content analysis – researchers examine a class of social artifacts (typically written documents)

Types of Agency Records

Published Statistics – government organizations routinely collect and publish compilations of data (e.g., NCVS, Census Bureau, BJS; often available in libraries and online

Nonpublic Agency Records – agencies produce data not routinely released (e.g., police departments, courthouses, correctional facilities)

New Data Collected by Agency Staff – collected for specific research purposes

Less costly

Allows the researcher more control

Reliability and Validity Problems

Social production of data: most criminal justice record keeping is a social process

Most data reflects reactions to behaviors

Agency data are not designed for research

Data reflect internal agency needs that might not be the same as research needs

Tracking people, not patterns
Error increases as volume of data increases

Secondary Analysis

Sources

Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR): central repository of data collected by social science researchers

National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD): source of criminal justice data established by BJS

Advantages – cheaper, faster, benefit from work of skilled researchers
Disadvantages – data may not be appropriate to your research question; least useful for evaluation studies