CJ 605 Spring 06 Advanced Statistics in Criminal Justice:
Questions to Accompany Readings
Questions linked to readings: DATE is the week the readings are DUE
1/26/06
SAMPSON: Summarize in your own words the limitations of current neighborhood
effects research What, in your own words, is the self selection problem?
HLML00CC: answer the questions that go with the regression models.
ARNOLD: Look at the first equation she describes starting Yij = ....
; explain how the terms in that equation are different from those you would see
in an ordinary regression.
2/2/06
THORNDIKE: What is the take away lesson here? Can you see WHY a situation can
develop where there is NO relationship at the individual level but there appears
to be one at the neighborhood level?
LISKA: This is an extremely important article by a colleague who is no longer
with us. What are the definitions for analytical (aggregate), structural, and
global properties of "social groups or collectivities"? According to Liska, what
were the theoretical conclusions reached about contextual analyses? On
what grounds (this is key) does Liska maintain that contextual predictors are
important? (Do you see what is going on here in the debate between "practical
significance" vs. "theoretical significance?")
BROWN: What are the key determinants of views toward the police? How solid are
these findings? Does this work suggest neighborhood may be important and if so,
in what ways?
2/9/06
ENGEL - What are the two or three - for your - main takeaway lessons about
racial profiling?
TYLER 1980 - what is procedural justice, and how does it link to basic social
psychological theorizing?
TYLER 2004 - what are the connections between neighborhood incivilities, fear of
crime, perceived profiling, and perceived police legitimacy, and how does this
vary by racial group?
3/16
NOTE - FROM HERE ON IN THESE ARE BOTH QUESTIONS, AND STUDY GUIDE TYPE IDEAS
SAMPSON AND BARTUSCH
- You want to be clear on the outcomes, and the data sources
- What were the most surprising level 1 results? Explain
- What do you think was the most important Level 2 result
3/23
SAMPSON, RAUDENBUSH, AND EARLS - this is a hugely influential article
- What is the outcome - pay close attention to the variables that make up CE -
you want to be sure you understand the tables
- What is the data source?
- there is some different stuff going on with their model - it looks 2 level but
is really 3 level - we will clarify
- Does CE have ecological variation? What are the theoretical implications of
that?
- the authors say the connections of "residential instability with violence are
largely mediated by collective efficacy." Can you see SPECIFICALLY what results
allow the authors to get to this conclusion?
3/30
MORENOFF 2003
- What is the outcome?
- pay close attention to how he integrates geography into the predictors - this
represents an important elaboration of an hlm model, moving it closer to
geography - what is going on THEORETICALLY? What is going on in terms of the
analysis?
4/6
ROUNTREE
- what is outcome? What is data source? How are cases nested?
- What slopes vary?
- Can you explain THEORETICALLY how one of the L2 predictors predicts L2 varying
slopes?
4/13
SILVER AND MILLER
- what is the outcome?
- what contributions are the police making to the outcome? Can you see specifically in the tables the related coefficients?
4/20
Ulmer and Johnson on sentencing:
Can you explain one of the cross-level interactions he found in Table 5? What does this suggest?
Recommended
Robinson et al.
- what are the outcomes?
- How are data organized
- How is time handled? Can you explain how changes are isolated?
- What are the TYPES of impacts of incivilities on the outcomes?
- What does MLM reveal about incivility impacts that would not have been
revealed otherwise?