3.2 Self Report Studies Flashcards
What does a self report study involve?
Asking people what crimes they have committed
Self report studies are often carried out on who? Focusing on what?
Young people
Focused on certain types of crime and deviance
What sort of offences are focused on?
Minor ones not picked up in police figures
They may be qualitative such as the jack roller (shaw) consisting of unstructured interviews to build what?
Life history of the criminal giving an insight into criminality rather than measuring crime
Most self reports are quantitative and involve what?
List of offences from which the respondent selects those they’ve committed
The findings of these studies can create a challenge to what?
The typical criminal stereotype reinforces by the stats
Campbell - levels of crime and deviance admitted by females and males were what?
Closer than the stats suggest
Implying the stats overemphasise male involvement in crime
Self report studies are often what in nature?
Longitudinal
What does it mean that self reports are longitudinal?
Follow same participants over a number of years to get an overview
Longitudinal self reports measure variables such as what?
Family background Peers Education Area Gender
The Farrington Caimbridge study followed the crimes of who?
411 boys aged 8-32 from 1961
The Edinburgh study followed the offending careers of who? And what were they focusing on?
4000 youths collecting data for each young person once a year
Focus on gender differences
Why might self reports not be valid?
People concealing offences or making false claims about their offences
How can the validity of self reports be assessed?
Comparing them against recorded arrests and convictions - assessing participants honesty
Validity - west and farrington found what percentage of convicted boys admitted they had been convicted?
94%
Validity - west and Farrington what percentage of i convicted boys claimed to be convicted?
2%
Validity - Farrington said while young males admit their convictions who are less likely to and why?
Older males or females as they want to present themselves as responsible
Self reports can also be compared with direct measures of what?
Offending
Farrington gave young people the opportunity to steal and compared what?
Actual stealing with self reported stealing
What is attrition?
Participation and drop out rates
Attrition - the participants most difficult to find and interview tend to do what?
Commit the most offences
Farrington- a study with a high attrition rate is likely to miss what?
Number of frequent offenders and underestimate the number of offences committed
How did the Cambridge study raise an issue of cooperation?
Most of the uncooperative men aged 32 had uncooperative parents and were uncooperative by age 18
Ethics - how did the Edinburgh study gain informed consent of parents?
Through a letter
Ethics - how did the Edinburgh study maintain right to withdraw?
Parents had to return a tear off slip
Ethics - in the Edinburgh study children were fully informed of what?
Studies purpose and the right to refuse
Ethics - the children in the Edinburgh study also signed a form allowing what?
Access to their police files
There is an issue of matching offenders definitions of criminal behaviour with what?
Police categories
Self reports focus on what and why is this an issue?
Small samples and specific crimes
Lack of representatives
