Addressing the Challenge of Costs and Error in Victimization Surveys: The Potential of New Technologies and Methods (From Surveying Crime in the 21st Century, P 281-301, 2007, Mike Hough and Mike Maxfield, eds., -- See NCJ-220695)

• NCJ Number: 220708
• Author(s): David Cantor; James P. Lynch
• Date Published: 2007
• Length: 21 pages
• Corporate Author: Joint Program for Survey Methodology
• Sale Source: Criminal Justice Press/Willow Tree Press
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This chapter assesses methodologies in terms of their ability to satisfy the changing demand for substantive information on crime.

Abstract

Although a great deal of knowledge has been generated through the study of victim survey methods in the last 30 years, the role and goals of the victim survey methods need to be redesigned to incorporate new technology into the surveys. The first generation of victim surveys was driven by a specific set of information demands that differed somewhat in the United States and the United Kingdom. These information demands have changed over time and the approach to meeting these demands may need to change as well. Another lesson from the first generation is that the role of victim surveys should be viewed in the context of a system of crime statistics that may include not only an omnibus victimization survey, but other more specialized surveys, as well as administrative record data from criminal justice and health care agencies. The first generation of victim surveys has been driven by the technological demands of surveys and led by survey statisticians. In assessing the future of the victim survey method, it is important for criminologists and substantive area experts to take a more aggressive role in presenting alternative conceptualizations and measurement of the crime problem. Only when these substantive issues have been thoroughly addressed can survey methodologists add the technological changes into the survey that can best serve these goals. The chapter describes the evolution of survey methods and technologies, and how the substantive demand for victimization data has changed. It examines future budgetary concerns, as well as potential errors incurred following changes in the administration of victimization surveys. Varieties of multimedia and multiple frame surveys are discussed. The option of abandoning the omnibus crime survey approach in favor of a series of more independent surveys attending to different facets of the crime problem is assessed. Notes, references