NCJ Number
57053
Date Published
1978
Length
354 pages
Annotation
THREE MODES OF ANALYSIS HAVE BEEN EMPLOYED TO ASSESS THE QUALITY OF CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH PUBLISHED IN THE UNITED STATES BETWEEN 1945 AND 1972.
Abstract
THE TRIPTYCH USED TO EVALUATE SCIENTIFIC CRIMINOLOGY INCLUDED A CITATION INDEX (ASSESSING THE VALUE OF CRIMINOLOGICAL MATERIALS BY THEIR FREQUENCY OF CITATIONS IN PROFESSIONAL WORKS AND JOURNALS), PEER NOMINATION (A SURVEY OF 500 MEMBERS OF PROFESSIONAL CRIMINOLOGICAL ASSOCIATIONS ASKING THEM TO SELECT THE 20 MOST IMPORTANT WORKS IN CRIMINOLOGY), AND CONTENT ANALYSIS (READING, CLASSIFYING, CODING, RATING, AND ANALYZING 4,417 WORKS). IN THE LAST PROCESS, RATERS USED A GLOBAL RATING RANGING FROM A SCORE OF ONE FOR WORKS OF THE LOWEST QUALITY TO A SCORE OF SEVEN FOR THE HIGHEST. EACH OF THESE MODES OF EVALUATION IS DESCRIBED AND COMPARISONS BETWEEN EACH OF THE MODES ARE MADE, PROVIDING A COMPOSITE SCORE VALUE. RESULTS OF THE CITATION INDEX INDICATE EXTREME SKEWNESS IN DISTRIBUTION OF THE 3,690 SOURCE DOCUMENTS REGARDING THEIR REPRESENTATION IN THE 220,000 CITATIONS IDENTIFIED; 82 SOURCE DOCUMENTS, OR 2.2 PERCENT, ACCOUNTED FOR ONE-HALF OF ALL CITATIONS. FURTHERMORE, 2,113, OR 57.3 PERCENT, WERE NEVER CITED IN OTHER BOOKS, ARTICLES, DISSERTATIONS OR REPORTS. FINDINGS OF THE PEER SURVEY SHOW THAT A TOTAL OF 287 DIFFERENT BOOKS AND 791 DIFFERENT ARTICLES WERE NOMINATED, THUS, APPROXIMATELY HALF THE BOOKS AND A QUARTER OF THE ARTICLES WERE CONSIDERED TO BE AMONG THE BEST WORKS IN THE FIELD (INDICATING A WIDE RANGE OF OPINION ABOUT WHAT CONSTITUTES QUALITY. WHEN WORKS WERE SUBJECTED TO CONTENT ANALYSIS (INVESTIGATION OF THE VARIOUS SUBJECT DOMAINS OF CRIMINOLOGY, RESEARCH AND THEORETICAL TECHNIQUES AND APPROACHES, SCOPE, DATA-GATHERING, SAMPLE SIZE, UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS, OPERATION DEFINITIONS, VARIABLES, ETC.), IT WAS FOUND THAT NEARLY HALF OF THE THEORETICAL WORKS ARE POLEMICAL WITHOUT MUCH STRUCTURE AND WITH LITTLE CAPACITY FOR GENERATING HYPOTHESES. ONLY ABOUT 10 PERCENT OF THE TOTAL WORKS WERE GIVEN A SIX OR SEVEN RATING. THE MOST IMPORTANT IMPLICATION TO BE DRAWN FROM THIS STUDY IS THAT THE METHODOLOGICAL SOPHISTICATION AND COMPETENCY OF MOST PUBLICATIONS IN CRIMINOLOGY ARE DISMALLY LOW, AND DEMONSTRATION OF ADEQUATE AND APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY IN STUDY DESIGN AND EXECUTION SHOULD BE A PRIME REQUISITE FOR PUBLICATION. METHODS FOR PREDICTING THE QUALITY OF A WORK USING THE THREE MODES OF ANALYSIS ARE DESCRIBED, A LIST OF WORKS IDENTIFIED AS BEING THE BEST IN CRIMINOLOGY IS PRESENTED, AND REFERENCES, STUDY DATA, AND STUDY INSTRUMENTS ARE PRESENTED. (DAG)