1. Undergraduate School of Criminal Justice
Unit 9– Seminar
Analyzing Content: Historical, Secondary, and Content Analysis and
Crime Mapping
Good evening, welcome to Unit 8 seminar, it is good to see everyone in here again. In previous assignments, thank you for doing an outstanding work. I would like to see you keep doing a good work.
Last week, we have learned that a qualitative research method has several different approaches to conduct to collect data.  In Unit 8, the chapter focused on many aspects of qualitative research in the form of field work.  But often documents provide valuable information for a researcher.  Identifying, organizing and analyzing the vast number of documents is an important skill for criminological researchers.
Professor
Chris Lim, MA, Ph.D.(ABD)

2. Test your Key Terms
a. Involves the systematic study of messages and the meaning those messages convey.
b. Coding the underlying meaning of content of a communication.
c. Coding the visible, surface content of a communication.
d. - Analysis of information collected previously by others.
1. Secondary Analysis 2. Manifest Content 3. Latent Content 4. Content Analysis
1-d, 2-c, 3-b, 4-a

3. Secondary Data Analysis
Uses pre-existing data in a different way or to answer a different research question than intended by those who collected the data
Four major types used in social science research
Surveys
Official Statistics
Official Records
Historical Documents
Most common sources
Social science survey data collected in studies funded by federal and state governments
Official records maintained by government agencies for administrative, rather than research, purposes
Very few sources of qualitative data are available for secondary analysis
As we discussed in this chapter, virtually all data presented in publications like the sourcebook are summary tabulations from original sources. Such tabulations are extremely useful, and can form the basis for original research and analysis. A vast array of original data resources are available at the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) maintained by the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research at the University of Michigan. As we mentioned in an earlier chapters, the data collections are extensively documented. By examining file descriptions you can learn quite a lot about how data were conducted.
Thousands of data files are available in two general categories. First, and of most general interest, are data series and one-time studies collected by or for government agencies. This includes the NCVS, NIBRS, and all other series we have described in earlier chapters. Second, data from most research projects sponsored by the National Institute of Justice are also archived. This makes it possible to replicate or expand on a very large number of published research studies.
The URL below links to a subject-oriented browsing page. Data can be accessed in many other ways, but most people find this is a good place to begin. We suggest you learn about one data file of each type.
[National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD)l]

4. Sources of Secondary Data
With the advent of modern computers and, even more importantly, the Internet, secondary data analysis has become an increasingly accessible social research method.
The National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) is the major source of secondary data in crime and criminal justice is
All data sets housed at NACJD are free and can be downloaded from the website
Data and records produced by formal organizations may be the most common source of data in criminal justice research. Many public organizations produce statistics and data for the public record, and these data are often useful for criminal justice researchers. All organizations keep nonpublic records for internal operational purposes, and these records are valuable sources of data for criminal justice research. Public organizations can sometimes be enlisted to collect new data—through observation or interviews— for use by researchers.
Archives of criminal justice and other social data are maintained by the Interuniversity Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) and the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) for use by other researchers.

5. Advantages of Using Secondary Data
Allow analyses of social processes in other inaccessible settings
Saves time and money
Allows the researcher to avoid data collection problems
Depending on the specific data set and topic
May facilitate comparison with other samples
May allow inclusion of many more variables and a more diverse sample than otherwise would be feasible
May allow data from multiple studies to be combined
May allow longitudinal analysis
Although agency records have many potential research uses, because they are produced for purposes other than research they may be unsuitable for a specific study. Researchers must be especially attentive to possible reliability and validity problems when they use data from agency records. “Follow the paper trail” and “expect the expected” are two general maxims for researchers to keep in mind when using agency records in their research.
The advantages and disadvantages of using secondary data are similar to those for agency records—data previously collected by a researcher may not match our own needs.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Secondary Data
Advantages:
Cheaper and faster than collecting original data.
May benefit from the work of professionals and esteemed academics.

6. Limitations of Secondary Data
May not be possible for a researcher to focus on the specific research question of original interest because
…use of existing data does not allow the progression from formulating a research question to designing, testing, and refining specific methods that are best suited to answer that question
…the study that produced the data may not have used most appropriate sampling or measurement approach
Secondary analyst is ‘victim’ of whatever problems exist in the data
Errors
Poor sampling techniques
Poor response rate
Poor validity in measurements
Disadvantages:
Recurrent question of validity.
When one researcher collects data for one particular purpose, no assurance that data will be appropriate for other research.
Least useful for evaluation studies.
Evaluations are designed to answer specific questions about specific programs
It is always possible to reanalyze data from evaluation studies, but secondary data cannot be used to evaluate an entirely different program.
No single method of getting information unlocks all puzzles, yet there is no limit to the ways one can find out about things.

7. Test you knowledge: Answer True or False
1. Agency records, secondary data and content analysis do not require direct interaction with research subjects.
2. Secondary analysis involves the use of data collected by third parties.
3. Being able to link an individual to the agency data collected about him or her is a clear violation of reliability and validity.
4. Data collected by or for public agencies is readily available and researchers have tight control over the actual data collection process.
1- T, 2-T, 3-F, 4-F

8. Historical Events Research
Cross-sectional examination of something that occurred in the past
May be a case study of important event to examine its potential long-term importance
For example, give me some example.

9. Comparative Methods Usually examine phenomena across societies
May study several countries - “cross-national research”
May study different social groups within a single country
Focus on research questions that are more general in nature
Limitations of single-society studies
Generalization
Controlled comparison
Causal inference
Mediation and intervening variables
Methodological uncertainty

10. Content Analysis
Systematic, objective, quantitative analysis of message characteristics
Identifying a population of documents or other textual sources
Analysis of the content of communication from sources, including
Books
Newspapers
Magazines TV
Movies
Videos
Websites
Historical documents
Video games
Songs
Speeches
Advertisements
Conversations
Graffiti
Content analysis is a tool of qualitative research used to determine the presence and meaning of concepts, terms, or words in one or more pieces of recorded communication. This systematic and replicable technique allows for compressing many words of text into fewer content categories based on explicit rules of coding in order to allow researchers to make inferences about the author (individuals, groups, organizations, or institutions), the audience, and their culture and time.
Content analysis involves the systematic study of messages and the meaning those messages convey. May be applied to virtually any form of communication. Examples:
books
magazines
films
songs
speeches
television programs
letters
laws
Constitutions
Particularly well-suited to answering the classic questions of communications research:
who says what
to whom
why
how
with what effect
As a mode of observation, requires a considered handling of the what, and the analysis of data collected in this mode, as in others, addresses the why and with what effect.

11. Test you knowledge: Answer True or False
Content analysis involves the systematic study of agency records.
1- F

12. Content analysis is well-suited for which of the following situations?
Which of the following would be an example of the data coming from the Census Bureau that have criminal justice applications?
a. Census of Children in Custody
b. National Crime Victimization Survey
c. Survey of Inmates in Local Jails
d. all of the above
Content analysis is well-suited for which of the following situations?
a. to find out what effect a communication has
b. to find out what communications are being shared with the public
c. both a and b
d. none of the above
D (p. 232),
C (p. 244)

13. Design and Refine Content Coding Procedures
Determine what unit of text to code (words, sentences, themes, ideas, paragraphs)
Categories for codes
Refine after coding a few “cases”
Coding in Content Analysis
Essentially a coding operation. Coding represents the measurement process in content analysis.
Communications – oral, written, or other – are coded or classified according to some conceptual framework.
Coding in content analysis involves the logic of conceptualization and operationalization.
Researchers must refine their conceptual framework and develop specific methods for observing in relation to that framework.
Researcher faces a fundamental choice between depth and specificity of understanding.
Content analyst has a choice between searching for manifest or for latent content.
Manifest content – coding the visible, surface content – of a communication more closely approximates the use of closed-ended items in a survey questionnaire.
Latent content – coding the underlying meaning of content – is an option.
Distinguished by the degree of interpretation required in measurement.
Attributes should be mutually exclusive and exhaustive.
No coding scheme should be used in content analysis unless it has been carefully pretested.
Reliability in content analysis can readily be tested in two related ways:
Interrater reliability can be determined by having two different people code the same message and then computing the proportion of items coded the same.
Test-retest method – one person codes the same message twice.

14. Identify Population of Sources
Generally from list of items on previous slide (books, magazines, etc.)
Source must be appropriate to research question
Must be able to find communications about your topic in the source(s) you select
Typically, content analysis uses sampling units, recording units, or context units. Sampling units, which can be words, sentences, or paragraphs, are the individual units we make descriptive and explanatory statements about. If we wish to examine novelists who wrote on transitional justice, then the individual writers included in our sample constitute our sampling units. Recording units can be ideas relevant for the analysis. For example, we might want to see if some novelists valued transitional justice for its ability to reevaluate the recent
dictatorial past or for preventing future human rights trespasses.
However, in some cases it might be difficult for the researcher to determine whether authors present transitional justice as a backward-looking or a forward-looking phenomenon by simply examining their assertions on transitional justice. In this case, researchers use context units, which allow assertions to be evaluated in the context of the writing. The researcher must decide whether the paragraph around the assertion, several paragraphs, or the entire writing is the appropriate context unit.

15. Analyze Content Data Use your codes to define items to analyze
Count occurrences of particular items (ideas, words, etc.)
Create form to record codes and their meaning
General Procedures
Select a few “cases” (stories, articles)
“Read” the narrative (may be listen, view)
Look for all types of things that are described
Develop codes for these things
Determine how best to identify the types of things you are particularly interested in
As you “read” more, identify themes
Content analysis is a research method appropriate for studying human communications. Because communication takes many forms, content analysis can study many other aspects of behavior. Units of communication, such as words, paragraphs, and books, are the usual units of analysis in content analysis. Coding is the process of transforming raw data—either manifest or latent content—into a standardized, quantitative form. Manifest data is the visible surface content while latent is the underlying content. Secondary analysis refers to the analysis of data collected earlier by another researcher for some purpose other than the topic of the current study.

16. Unit of Analysis individuals groups
artifacts (books, photos, newspapers)
geographical units (town, census tract, state)
social interactions (dyadic relations, divorces, arrests)
One of the most important ideas in a research project is the unit of analysis. The unit of analysis is the major entity that you are analyzing in your study. For instance, any of the following could be a unit of analysis in a study:
individuals
groups
artifacts (books, photos, newspapers)
geographical units (town, census tract, state)
social interactions (dyadic relations, divorces, arrests)
Why is it called the 'unit of analysis' and not something else (like, the unit of sampling)? Because it is the analysis you do in your study that determines what the unit is. For instance, if you are comparing the children in two classrooms on achievement test scores, the unit is the individual child because you have a score for each child. On the other hand, if you are comparing the two classes on classroom climate, your unit of analysis is the group, in this case the classroom, because you only have a classroom climate score for the class as a whole and not for each individual student. For different analyses in the same study you may have different units of analysis. If you decide to base an analysis on student scores, the individual is the unit. But you might decide to compare average classroom performance. In this case, since the data that goes into the analysis is the average itself (and not the individuals' scores) the unit of analysis is actually the group. Even though you had data at the student level, you use aggregates in the analysis. In many areas of social research these hierarchies of analysis units have become particularly important and have spawned a whole area of statistical analysis sometimes referred to as hierarchical modeling. This is true in education, for instance, where we often compare classroom performance but collected achievement data at the individual student level.

17. Crime Mapping
Purpose is to illuminate relationship between some category of crime and corresponding characteristics such as poverty and disorganization across given locations
Crime mapping is used by analysts in law enforcement agencies to map, visualize, and analyze crime incident patterns. It is a key component of crime analysis and the CompStat policing strategy. Mapping crime, using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), allows crime analysts to identify crime hot spots, along with other trends and patterns.
Crime analysts use crime mapping and analysis to help law enforcement management (e.g. the police chief) to make better decisions, target resources, and formulate strategies, as well as for tactical analysis (e.g. crime forecasting, geographic profiling). New York City does this through the CompStat approach, though that way of thinking deals more with the short term. There are other, related approaches with terms including Information-led policing, Intelligence-led policing, Problem-oriented policing, and Community policing. In some law enforcement agencies, crime analysts work in civilian positions, while in other agencies, crime analysts are sworn officers.
From a research and policy perspective, crime mapping is used to understand patterns of incarceration and recidivism, help target resources and programs, evaluate crime prevention or crime reduction programs (e.g. Project Safe Neighborhoods, Weed & Seed and as proposed in Fixing Broken Windows), and further understanding of causes of crime.

18. Ethical Issues in Secondary Data Analysis
Generally, confidentiality is not an issue because existing data from research studies is usually in public use files
identifiers have been removed and file has been created so that any researcher can access it without violating confidentiality
Confidentiality may be an issue in historical records and official agency records
IRB determines whether review is necessary