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Statistics for Criminology and Criminal Justice
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Statistics for Criminology and Criminal Justice

Fourth Edition
February 2016 | 544 pages | SAGE Publications, Inc
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“This is a very good statistics book; it is user-friendly, logically structured, and provides novel information that is not available in other comparable textbooks.”

— Viviana Andreescu, University of Louisville

 

Statistics for Criminology and Criminal Justice, Fourth Edition offers students a practical and comprehensive introduction to statistics and highlights the integral role research and statistics play in the study of criminology and criminal justice. Packed with real-world case studies and contemporary examples utilizing the most current crime data and empirical research available, students not only learn how to perform and understand statistical analyses, but also recognize the connection between statistical analyses use in everyday life and its importance to criminology and criminal justice.

Written by two well-known experts in the field, Ronet D. Bachman and Raymond Paternoster continue to facilitate learning by presenting statistical formulas with step-by-step instructions for calculation. This “how to calculate and interpret statistics” approach avoids complicated proofs and discussions of statistical theory, without sacrificing statistical rigor. The Fourth Edition is replete with new examples exploring key issues in today’s world, motivating students to investigate research questions related to criminal justice and criminology with statistics and conduct research of their own along the way.

 

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. Learn more at edge.sagepub.com/bachmansccj4e

 

 

 
CHAPTER 1: THE PURPOSE OF STATISTICS IN THE CRIMINOLOGICAL SCIENCES
SETTING THE STAGE FOR STATISTICAL INQUIRY

 
THE ROLE OF STATISTICAL METHODS IN CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE

 
POPULATIONS AND SAMPLES

 
HOW DO WE OBTAIN A SAMPLE?

 
PROBABILITY SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

 
NONPROBABILITY SAMPLING TECHNIQUES

 
DESCRIPTIVE AND INFERENTIAL STATISTICS

 
VALIDITY IN CRIMINOLOGY RESEARCH

 
 
PART 1: Univariate Analysis: Describing Variable Distributions
 
CHAPTER 2: LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT AND AGGREGATION
LEVELS OF MEASUREMENT

 
WAYS OF PRESENTING VARIABLE

 
UNITS OF ANALYSIS

 
 
CHAPTER 3: UNDERSTANDING DATA DISTRIBUTIONS
THE TABULAR AND GRAPHICAL DISPLAY OF QUALITATIVE DATA

 
THE SHAPE OF A DISTRIBUTION

 
TIME PLOTS

 
 
CHAPTER 4: MEASURES OF CENTRAL TENDENCY
THE MODE

 
THE MEDIAN

 
THE MEAN

 
 
CHAPTER 5: MEASURES OF DISPERSION
MEASURING DISPERSION FOR NOMINAL- AND ORDINAL-LEVEL VARIABLES

 
MEASURING DISPERSION FOR INTERVAL- AND RATIO-LEVEL VARIABLES

 
THE STANDARD DEVIATION AND VARIANCE

 
COMPUTATIONAL FORMULAS FOR VARIANCE AND STANDARD DEVIATION

 
GRAPHING DISPERSION WITH EXPLORATORY DATA ANALYSIS (EDA)

 
 
PART 2: Making Inferences in Univariate Analysis: Generalizing From a Sample to the Population
 
CHAPTER 6: PROBABILITY, PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS, AND AN INTRODUCTION TO HYPOTHESIS TESTING
PROBABILITY. WHAT IS IT GOOD FOR? ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING!

 
THE RULES OF PROBABILITY

 
PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTIONS

 
A DISCRETE PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION—THE BINOMIAL DISTRIBUTION

 
HYPOTHESIS TESTING WITH THE BINOMIAL DISTRIBUTION

 
A CONTINUOUS PROBABILITY DISTRIBUTION—THE STANDARD NORMAL DISTRIBUTION

 
SAMPLES, POPULATIONS, SAMPLING DISTRIBUTIONS, AND THE CENTRAL LIMIT THEOREM

 
 
CHAPTER 7: POINT ESTIMATION AND CONFIDENCE INTERVALS
MAKING INFERENCES FROM POINT ESTIMATES: COFIDENCE INTERVALS

 
PROPERTIES OF GOOD ESTIMATES

 
ESTIMATING A POPULATION MEAN FROM LARGE SAMPLES

 
ESTIMATING CONFIDENCE INTERVALS FOR A MEAN FROM SMALL SAMPLES

 
ESTIMATING CONFIDENCE INTERVALS FOR PROPORTIONS AND PERCENTS WITH A LARGE SAMPLE

 
 
CHAPTER 8: FROM ESTIMATION TO STATISTICAL TESTS: HYPOTHESIS TESTING FOR ONE POPULATION MEAN AND PROPORTION
HYPOTHESIS TESTING FOR POPULATION MEANS USING A LARGE SAMPLE: THE z TEST

 
DIRECTIONAL AND NONDIRECTIONAL HYPOTHESIS TESTS

 
HYPOTHESIS TESTING FOR POPULATION MEANS USING SMALL SAMPLES: THE t TEST

 
HYPOTHESIS TESTING FOR POPULATION PROPORTIONS AND PERCENTS USING LARGE SAMPLES

 
 
PART 3: Bivariate Analysis: Relationships Between Two Variables
 
CHAPTER 9: TESTING HYPOTHESIS WITH CATEGORICAL DATA
CONTINGENCY TABLES AND THE TWO VARIABLE CHI-SQUARE TEST OF INDEPENDENCE

 
THE CHI-SQUARE TEST OF INDEPENDENCE

 
A SIMPLE-TO-USE COMPUTATIONAL FORMULA FOR THE CHI-SQUARE TEST OF INDEPENDENCE

 
MEASURES OF ASSOCIATION: DETERMINING THE STRENGTH OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN

 
TWO CATEGORICAL VARIABLES

 
 
CHAPTER 10: HYPOTHESIS TESTS INVOLVING TWO POPULATION MEANS OR PROPORTIONS
EXPLAINING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO SAMPLE MEANS

 
SAMPLING DISTRIBUTION OF MEAN DIFFERENCES

 
TESTING A HYPOTHESIS ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO MEANS: INDEPENDENT SAMPLES

 
MATCHED-GROUPS OR DEPENDENT SAMPLES t TEST

 
HYPOTHESIS TESTS FOR THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TWO PROPORTIONS: LARGE SAMPLES

 
 
CHAPTER 11: HYPOTHESIS TESTING INVOLVING THREE OR MORE POPULATION MEANS: ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE
THE LOGIC OF ANALYSIS OF VARIANCE

 
TYPES OF VARIANCE: TOTAL, BETWEEN-GROUPS, AND WITHIN-GROUP

 
CONDUCTING A HYPOTHESIS TEST WITH ANOVA

 
AFTER THE F TEST: TESTING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PAIRS OF MEANS

 
A MEASURE OF ASSOCIATION WITH ANOVA

 
A SECOND ANOVA EXAMPLE: CASELOAD SIZE AND SUCCESS ON PROBATION

 
A THIRD ANOVA EXAMPLE: REGION OF THE COUNTRY AND HOMICIDE

 
 
CHAPTER 12: BIVARIATE CORRELATION AND REGRESSION
GRAPHING THE BIVARIATE DISTRIBUTION BETWEEN TWO QUANTITATIVE VARIABLES: SCATTERPLOTS

 
THE PEARSON CORRELATION COEFFICIENT

 
A MORE PRECISE WAY TO INTERPRET A CORRELATION: THE COEFFICIENT OF DETERMINATION

 
THE LEAST-SQUARES REGRESSION LINE AND SLOPE COEFFICIENT

 
COMPARISON OF b AND r

 
TESTING FOR THE SIGNIFICANCE OF b AND r

 
THE PROBLEMS OF LIMITED VARIATION, NONLINEAR RELATIONSHIPS, AND OUTLIERS IN THE DATA

 
 
PART 4: Multivariate Analysis: Relationships Between More Than Two Variables
 
CHAPTER 13: CONTROLLING FOR A THIRD VARIABLE: MULTIPLE OLS REGRESSION
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY CONTROLLING FOR OTHER IMPORTANT VARIABLES?

 
THE MULTIPLE REGRESSION EQUATION

 
COMPARING THE STRENGTH OF A RELATIONSHIP USING BETA WEIGHTS

 
PARTIAL CORRELATION COEFFICIENTS

 
HYPOTHESIS TESTING IN MULTIPLE REGRESSION

 
ANOTHER EXAMPLE: PRISON DENSITY, MEAN AGE, AND RATE OF INMATE VIOLENCE

 
 
CHAPTER 14: REGRESSION WITH A DICHOTOMOUS DEPENDENT VARIABLE: LOGIT MODELS
ESTIMATING AN OLS REGRESSION MODEL WITH A DICHOTOMOUS DEPENDENT VARIABLE—THE LINEAR PROBABILITY MODEL

 
THE LOGIT REGRESSION MODEL WITH ONE INDEPENDENT VARIABLE

 
MULTIPLE LOGISTIC REGRESSION: MODELS WITH TWO INDEPENDENT VARIABLES

 
 
APPENDIX A: Review of Basic Mathematical Operations
 
APPENDIX B: Statistical Tables
 
APPENDIX C: Solutions for Odd-Numbered Practice Problems

Supplements

Instructor Resource site
SAGE edge offers a robust online environment featuring an impressive array of tools and resources for review, study, and further exploration, keeping both instructors and students on the cutting edge of teaching and learning. SAGE edge content is open access and available on demand. Learning and teaching has never been easier!

SAGE edge for Instructors supports teaching by making it easy to integrate quality content and create a rich learning environment for students.
  • Test banks provide a diverse range of pre-written options as well as the opportunity to edit any question and/or insert personalized questions to effectively assess students’ progress and understanding
  • Sample course syllabi for semester and quarter courses provide suggested models for structuring one’s course
  • Editable, chapter-specific PowerPoint® slides offer complete flexibility for creating a multimedia presentation for the course
  • EXCLUSIVE! Access to full-text SAGE journal articles have been carefully selected to support and expand on the concepts presented in each chapter to encourage students to think critically
  • Web resources include links that appeal to students with different learning styles
  • SPSS Datasets and SPSS Student Datasets to enhance student learning and provide more integration with the content
  • Practice tests and solutions
  • Discussion group problems and solutions
  • Figures and tables for easy download and use in your courses
  • Appendices
Student Study Site
SAGE edge for Students provides a personalized approach to help students accomplish their coursework goals in an easy-to-use learning environment.
  • Mobile-friendly eFlashcards strengthen understanding of key terms and concepts
  • Mobile-friendly practice quizzes allow for independent assessment by students of their mastery of course material
  • A  customized online action plan includes tips and feedback on progress through the course and materials, which allows students to individualize their learning experience
  • Learning objectives reinforce the most important material
  • Web resources include links that appeal to students with different learning styles
  • EXCLUSIVE! Access to full-text SAGE journal articles that have been carefully selected to support and expand on the concepts presented in each chapter
  • SPSS Student Datasets to enhance student learning and provide more integration with the content
  • Practice problems and solutions
  • Discussion group problems 
  • Appendices

“The book is clear and easy to follow.  All the material I would cover in my undergraduate stats class is presented in the book…When I teach both the undergraduate and graduate level statistics in the same semester this would be the ideal book to use.  I could use it for both courses just cover all of the material in the graduate level course.  That would allow me really to prep just one instead of two courses.”

Shelly A. McGrath
University of Alabama at Birmingham

“This is a very good statistics book; it is user-friendly, logically structured, and provides novel information that is not available in other comparable textbooks.”

Viviana Andreescu
University of Louisville

“Case studies provide interesting and relevant examples that make concepts easier to understand.”

Sara Z. Evans, PhD.
University of West Florida

“Good discussion of the basics of hypothesis testing (which can be hard to clearly convey to students)”

Christopher J Sullivan
University of Cincinnati

“[Statistical Methods for Criminology and Criminal Justice is an] excellent introductory text to basic applied statistics. The authors did a successful job in blending theory and application in this textbook. The practical examples and exercises included in the text are very helpful to the students”

Fawn T. Ngo
University of South Florida Sarasota/Manatee

“Detailed and systematic presentation of statistical concepts”

Gary Sweeten
Arizona State University
Key features

NEW TO THIS EDITION:

  • Current crime data and new research examples ensure students have practical experience with the most up-to-date information available in criminology and criminal justice.
  • New learning objectives guide students through each chapter, reinforcing the most important concepts for students to understand before proceeding to the next chapter.
  • New SPSS exercises that correspond to relevant chapter material give students hand-on experience utilizing real data including subsets of data from the National Crime Victimization Survey, Monitoring the Future, the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, state-level crime data from the UCR, and opinion data from the General Social Survey.
  • Streamlined content provides students with a clear discussion of basic statistical procedures.    

KEY FEATURES:    

  • An engaging and conversational writing style complimented by helpful pedagogical features makes the text more approachable for anxiety-ridden students with little or no background in statistics.  
  • Statistical formulas combined with step-by-step instructions for calculation make the statistical material easier for students to understand and apply.
  • Contemporary case studies captivate students’ interest with relevant examples from research in criminology and criminal justice, with some linked to SAGE journal articles on the companion websites.
  • Extensive end-of-chapter practice problems and SPSS problems offer students plenty of hands-on experience with important statistical techniques referencing research questions from published studies.  
  • Definitions of key terms and formulas at the end of each chapter make mastery of statistical concepts and procedures easier for students to reference and understand.
  • A SAGE edge Instructor Teaching Site and Student Study Site are available to instructors and students at no additional cost.

Sample Materials & Chapters

Chapter 1

For instructors

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