Chapter 2

Objectiveness ? Objective: independent of mind ? Intersubjective agreement: agreement reality vs. experimental From question to Hypothesis ? hypothesid: a tentative statemnt about empirical reality' involving a relationship between two variables ? research question: do socially disorganized neighborhoods have higher crime rates that those? How to develop a hypothesis ? think about deviations from a general trend or principle ? imagine how you would behave if fraced with a specific problem ? consider similar problems whose solution is known ? make substained, deliberate observations of a person of phenomenon ? generate counter examples for an obvious conclusion about behavior ? borrow ideas or theories from other disciplines ? READ REPORTS OF CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH!!! Feasibility ? Time ? Funding ? Assistance (Resources) ? Gaining access to groups or ppl ? Do data sets already exist? Social Importance ? Importance for the discipline, public policy, and larger society Scientific Relevance ? Grounded in scientific literature ? What will be learned by your question? Replication, Extension, Using different methof for same question. Importance of Criminological Theory ? Interrelated set of propositions that can explain empirical reality ? linkage between theoretical constructs ? help us make predictions about the crminological world ? help guide research and public policy Concept ? a tag we place on social reality ? abstract ideas ? a mental image the summarized a set of similar observations, feelings, ideas ? ex: crime, binge drinking, etc. Variables ? specifying what we mean by a term ? helps take portions of an abstract theory and turn it into testable hypotheses ? ex: social disorder, physical disorder. Operationalization ? Specification of the steps, procedures, operations to identify and mesaure variables ? we may use different types of operations given our concept of interest Measurement ? hypothesis testing: the determination of whether the expectations that a hypothesis represents are indeed Three routes to public policy change ? legislature ? judiciary ? grass roots