As a student you will be evaluating research evidence and using research and data to build arguments for your papers and seminar discussions. Some of the sources you might use to help you evaluate the research evidence include books, journal articles and web-based materials that offer varying perspectives.
Audio and visual sources
Some Ted Talks covering the use of statistics are Anne Milgram’s discussion on why smart statistics are the key to fighting crime and Peter Donnely’s talk on why juries are fooled by statistics.
Cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker has contributed a Ted Talk which decribes key findings from his book on the decline of violence in society (The Better Angels of our Nature: Why Violence has Declined). In this talk he discusses the available evidence drawing on various data sources. https://www.ted.com/talks/steven_pinker_on_the_myth_of_violence
You might like to review more general content like Ben Goldacre’s website Bad Science (http://www.badscience.net/), or Ted Talks (for example, https://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science) particularly in relation to his reviews of meta-analytic studies. This content is generally about medicine but the critical perspective applies equally to the study of crime.
Books and journal articles
There are several books about how statistics are used and abused. Gary Smith’s Standard Deviations: Flawed assumptions, tortured data and other ways to lie with statistics provides an easy to read account of how data can sometimes fool us.
In addition there are several articles that deal with how to interpret research findings. A search of the Journal of Experimental Criminology is a good place to start. For example:
Maltz, M., 2006. ‘Some p-baked thoughts (p>0.5) on experiments and statistical significance’. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 2, 211-226.
Murray, J., Farrington, D., & Eisner, M. 2009. ‘Drawing conclusions about causes from systematic reviews of risk factors: The Cambridge Quality Checklists’. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 5, 1-23.
Perry, A., Weisburd, D., & Hewitt, C. 2010. ‘Are Criminologists describing randomized controlled trials in ways that allow us to assess them? Findings from a sample of crime and justice trials’. Journal of Experimental Criminology, 6, 245-262.
Sources of data:
Finally, you’ll want to discover data for yourself. There are several sources including general crime statistics and links to victimization surveys. Look for both local and international content but bear in mind the data may not be comparable and don’t forget to check your local state, county, provincial or municipality.
