A Beginner S Guide To Statistics For Criminology And Criminal Justice Using R

This book provides hands-on guidance for researchers and practitioners in criminal justice and criminology to perform statistical analyses and data visualization in the free and open-source software R. It offers a step-by-step guide for beginners to become familiar with the RStudio platform and tidyverse set of packages. This volume will help users master the fundamentals of the R programming language, providing tutorials in each chapter that lay out research questions and hypotheses centering around a real criminal justice dataset, such as data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, National Crime Victimization Survey, Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, The Monitoring the Future Study, and The National Youth Survey. Users will also learn how to manipulate common sources of agency data, such as calls-for-service (CFS) data. The end of each chapter includes exercises that reinforce the R tutorial examples, designed to help master the software as well as to provide practice on statistical concepts, data analysis, and interpretation of results. The text can be used as a stand-alone guide to learning R or it can be used as a companion guide to an introductory statistics textbook, such as Basic Statistics in Criminal Justice (2020).

This book provides hands-on guidance for researchers and practitioners in criminal justice and criminology to perform statistical analyses and data visualization in the free and open-source software, R. It offers a step-by-step guide for beginners to become familiar with the RStudio platform. This volume will help users master the fundamentals of the R programming language, in addition to program basics. Tutorials in each chapter lay out research questions and hypotheses that center around a real criminal justice dataset, such as data from the National Youth Survey, Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS)-Body Worn Camera Survey, the Survey of Inmates in State and Federal Correctional Facilities (SISFCF), the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), the British Crime Survey/Crime Survey for England and Wales, and the Seattle Neighborhoods and Crime Survey. At the end of each chapter are exercises that reinforce the R tutorial examples, designed to help master the software, as well as to provide practice on statistical concepts, data analysis, and interpretation of results. The text can be used as a stand-alone guide to learning R or it can be used as a companion guide to an introductory statistics textbook, such as Basic Statistics in Criminal Justice (2020).

This introductory textbook takes a building-block approach that emphasizes the application and interpretation of statistics in research in crime and justice. This text is meant for both students and professionals who want to gain a basic understanding of common statistical methods used in criminology and criminal justice before advancing to more complex statistical analyses in future volumes. This book emphasizes comprehension and interpretation. As the statistical methods discussed become more complex and demanding to compute, it integrates statistical software. It provides readers with an accessible understanding of popular statistical programs used to examine real-life crime and justice problems (including SPSS, Stata, and R). In addition, the book includes supplemental resources such as a glossary of key terms, practice questions, and sample data. Basic Statistics in Criminology and Criminal Justice aims to give students and researchers a core understanding of statistical concepts and methods that will leave them with the confidence and tools to tackle the statistical problems in their own research work.

Statistical analysis is critical in criminal justice. Professionals in the field must be diligent producers of research to assist policy makers in evaluating program and policy proposals. The key to understanding statistical analysis is by applying the concepts, methodology, and statistical procedures taught in the classroom. Written for undergraduates with little or no background in statistics, the third edition of Statistical Analysis in Criminal Justice and Criminology continues to focus on students’ understanding of fundamental analysis. It is premised on active learning utilizing common statistical tools to analyze crime data, avoiding the comprehensive approach common to many statistics texts. Authors draw from longtime classroom experience to present complex theories in approachable ways. Exercises move from an initial step through the application of concepts explained in each chapter before insights on interpreting the results in a meaningful way is provided. New to this edition is the inclusion of both SPSS and Excel criminal justice data sets used to complete end-of-chapter exercises and analyses. This distinctive offering enables readers to develop their skills with the program most accessible to them.

"Statistical Analysis in Criminal Justice and Criminology" is aimed at undergraduates with little or no background in the subject. It is premised on active learning utilizing common statistical tools to analyze criminal justice data. The focus is on the student's understanding of fundamental statistical "analysis," and not on comprehensive coverage of statistical research. Special features of the book include: examples of criminal justice research step-by-step guidance in using SPSS two data sets: a) crime data from the Uniform Crime Reports for all 50 states, coupled with other data, such as number of executions, size of the jail and prison population; and b) survey data from the National Survey on Crime and Justice. Companion Website, an instructor's manual, and a student study guide introduction of a new method of analysis in each chapter, along with terms, examples, and practice problems.

"...It is a great textbook for undergrads who are being exposed to statistics in the field for the first time and for Master’s students who need a better grasp of the fundamentals of statistics before taking more advanced courses..." —Calli M. Cain, University of Nebraska at Omaha "A must-have textbook for Instructors and students alike in the fields of Criminology and Criminal Justice. The book is user-friendly." —Bonny Mhlanga, Western Illinois University An Introduction to Statistics in Criminology and Criminal Justice Statistics for Criminology and Criminal Justice, Third Edition demonstrates how statistics is relevant to a student’s life and future career by illustrating the logical connections between basic statistical concepts and their real-world implications in criminology and criminal justice. Written for students with a limited mathematical background, author Jacinta Gau eases student anxiety around statistics by simplifying the overarching goal of each statistical technique and providing step-by-step instructions for working through the formulas and numbers. Students use real data from the field to build a foundational knowledge of statistics, rather than merely memorizing key terms or formulas. New to the Third Edition NEW Thinking Critically feature encourages students to apply the concepts from the chapter to real-life scenarios, with open-ended questions that are designed to inspire students to think about the nuances of science, statistics, and their application to criminal justice. Additional illustrations and examples in every chapter keep students engaged with the content and offer ample opportunities for them to practice the techniques. New and updated data sets from a wide range of relevant sources, such as the NCVS and UCR, BJS, LEMAS, the Census of Jails, and much more have been incorporated to give students insights into the state of criminal justice research today. New research on critical topics encourages students to discuss changes happening in the field such as the Census of Jails, inmate-on-staff assaults in prisons, and homicide rates. Practicing Statistics Whiteboard Videos, available in SAGE edge, walk students through statistical calculations to reinforce key concepts. Previous edition errors have been corrected by a statistician. Give your students the SAGE edge! SAGE edge offers a robust online environment featuring an impressive array of free tools and resources for review, study, and further exploration, keeping both instructors and students on the cutting edge of teaching and learning.

This book provides the student, researcher or practitioner with the tools to understand many of the most commonly used advanced statistical analysis tools in criminology and criminal justice, and also to apply them to research problems. The volume is structured around two main topics, giving the user flexibility to find what they need quickly. The first is “the general linear model” which is the main analytic approach used to understand what influences outcomes in crime and justice. It presents a series of approaches from OLS multivariate regression, through logistic regression and multi-nomial regression, hierarchical regression, to count regression. The volume also examines alternative methods for estimating unbiased outcomes that are becoming more common in criminology and criminal justice, including analyses of randomized experiments and propensity score matching. It also examines the problem of statistical power, and how it can be used to better design studies. Finally, it discusses meta analysis, which is used to summarize studies; and geographic statistical analysis, which allows us to take into account the ways in which geographies may influence our statistical conclusions.

Criminal Justice / Law Enforcement