Self-Report Studies Flashcards
what is a self-report study?
asking people which crimes they themselves have committed
who are self-report studies often carried out on and what do they focus on?
they’re often carried out on young people
they focus on minor offences which aren’t always picked up on by police recorded crime or crime surveys
Shaw (1966)
self report studies may be qualitative.
e.g. Shaw used unstructured interviews to build up a ‘life history’ of a criminal
this gives an insight into criminality so is favoured by Interpretivists
Campbell (1981)
found that levels of crime and deviance were much closer than the police recorded figures suggested. Also suggesting that statistics overemphasis working class male involvement in crime
Issues affecting the usefulness of self-report studies:
validity
attrition
ethics
Validity:
how far do SRS produce a true picture of number of offences committed
participants may conceal offending or make false claims
this can be overcome by comparing self-reports against recorded arrests or convictions
Validity: Farrington (2001)
found that while young males admit their convictions, this may not be true for older males or for females
this is because they may be concerned with presenting a facade of respectability
Validity: Farrington et al (1980)
self reports can be compared with more direct measures of offending
e.g. Farrington gave young people an opportunity to steal and then compared actual stealing with self reported stealing
Attrition:
refers to participation and drop out rates in studies
a surgery with high attrition rates is likely to miss out a number o frequent of offenders and underestimate the true number of offences committed
Ethics:
informed consent, confidentiality and right to withdraw must be considered
Ethics: Edinburgh Study
Gaines informed consent of parents trough a letter with a tear-off slip for permission.
children were fully informed about the purpose of the study and were free to reduce participation
