NCJ Number
85917
Editor(s)
M G Maxfield,
A Hunter
Date Published
1980
Length
378 pages
Annotation
The fourth volume in a five-volume report, this document presents an overview of the different methods used in the Reactions to Crime Project (RCP) -- a large scale, multisite, interdisciplinary, multimethod effort to investigate neighborhood responses to crime and neighborhood-based community organizations.
Abstract
An introduction discusses the unique characteristics of the RCP, which ran officially from 1975 to mid-1980, and problems resulting from its large scale and lengthy research period. A report on the participant observation studies undertaken in three neighborhoods each in Philadelphia and San Francisco and in four Chicago neighborhoods covers the method's benefits and the site selection criteria. Profiles of these cities and the 10 neighborhoods are provided, based on field research, census data, and items from a telephone survey. The next chapter describes the random digit dialing telephone survey conducted by the Center for Urban Affairs at Northwestern University to collect information for the RCP and another project on the impact of crime on city dwellers' lives. It includes discussions of within-city sampling, issues in survey methodology, and scales and scaling procedures, as well as a copy of the survey instrument. Another component of the RCP consisted of an indepth analysis of stories about violent crime in Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia in daily metropolitan newspapers. The summary of this methodology details training and coding procedures and criteria for selecting stories. A copy of the codebook is appended. Other sources of data used at various stages of the project are examined, as are two related projects at the Center for Urban Affairs -- the Fear of Rape Project and Citizen Participation and Crime Prevention Program. The final summary reflects on the RCP's organizational, social, and political features. The volume includes 35 references.