CJ 8305/605 Spring 08:
Sequence of Topics and Readings

course: home

DATE OF LAST UPDATE: 1/21/08

The sequence of topics and readings, as best as I can predict them at this point, appear below. All of this is subject to change depending upon numerous factors so it is a good idea to double check this page (be sure to reload the page in your browser) before you tie in to the readings for the week. The readings and assignments are for the week they are DUE.

Codes
CD =  on a CD that will be distributed. These are usually PDf files.
 HLML = note files I have generated; these are available on the CD
Main texts:
R&B = Raudenbush and Bryk
RBCC=Raudenbush, Bryk, Cheong,Congdon,DuToit; this is the program manual for HLM 6

Recommended texts:
K&DL = Kreft and deLeeuw
S&B = Snijders and Bosker

Class Date

Topics / Readings  DUE on this week

1/22  Hello. What we are about. How to get ready for this course. How to create space for this course in your life and not lose your mind. MLM: what does it do? Main areas of application in criminology and criminal justice and sociology and psychology

1/29

 METHODS: Current issues in researching neighborhood effects;  how to create an aggregate file in SPSS and conduct your own contextual analysis;  audit functions in secondary data analysis
THEORY: key issues in neighborhood research; neighborhoods and health; cross-neighborhood effects and health; conceptual and empirical challenges of contextual analyses 
  1. Sampson, R. J., Morenoff, J. D., & Gannon-Rowley, T. (2002). Assessing "neighborhood effects": Social processes and new directions in research. Annual Review of Sociology, 28, 443-478.  (CD)
  2. Morenoff, J. D. (2003). Neighborhood mechanisms and the spatial dynamics of birth weight. American Journal of Sociology, 108(5), 976-1017.  (CD)
  3. HLML00CC.PDF (CD) - please read over regression examples carefully; answer questions in the text
  4. R&B: 1 - 10

QUESTIONS to consider while you read
Your assignment  for next week

2/5

METHODS: Review of aggregation procedure and results; understanding the aggregation problem; theoretical and statistical implications; statistical power questions
THEORETICAL: Connecting micro and macro; why communities matter for health
HLM SUBMODEL 1:  the one-way anova via HLM; steps to creating the HLM file; interpreting output

READ

  1. Thorndike, E. L. (1939). On the fallacy of imputing the correlations found for groups to the individuals in smaller groups composing them. American Journal of Psychology, 52, 122-124. (CD)
  2. Liska, A. E. (1990). The Significance of aggregate dependent variables and contextual independent variables for linking macro and micro theories. Social Psychology Quarterly, 53(4), 292-301. (CD)
  3.  Sampson, R. J. (2003). The Neighborhood context of well-being. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine, 46(3 (Supplement)), S53-S64. (CD)
  4. R&B: 16-24;38-41; 69-72 
  5. HLML01.PDF (CD)
  6. RBCC 1-49
  7. RECOMMENDED: K&DL 22-29; S&B 6-16

QUESTIONS to consider while you read
Your assignment for next week

2/12

METHODS: HLM SUBMODEL 1: One-way ANOVA with random effects ROUND 2: intraclass correlation; the statistical test
THEORY: Updating the "Chicago" approach to understanding communities and their impacts
READ:

  1. Sampson, R. J. (2002). Transcending tradition: New directions in community research, Chicago style. Criminology, 40(2), 213-230.(CD)
  2. Sampson, R. J. (2002). Studying modern Chicago. City and Community, 1(1), 45-48. (CD)

RECOMMENDED:

  1. K&DL: 9-10
  2. S&B: 16-18; 45-47
  3. Shinn, M., & Toohey, S. M. (2003). Community contexts of human welfare. Annual Review of Psychology, 54, 427-459.(CD)

QUESTIONS to consider while you read
Your assignment for next week

2/19

METHODS: HLM SUBMODEL 2: One-way ANCOVA with random effects;
THEORY: What makes informal control stronger in some neighborhoods than others?READ:

  1. R&B: 25-26
  2. Duncan, T. E., Duncan, S. C., Okut, H., Strycker, L. A., & Hix-Small, H. (2003). A multilevel contextual model of neighborhood collective efficacy. American
    Journal of Community Psychology, 32(3/4), 245-252. (read only THROUGH p. 249) (CD) (HLM EXAMPLE)
  3. HLML02BB (CD)
  4. HLML03BB (CD)
  5. HLML04DD (CD)

RECOMMENDED: K&DL, 30-32

QUESTIONS to consider while you read
Your assignment for next week

2/26

HLM SUBMODEL 2: One-way ANCOVA with random effects: ROUND 2
THEORY: Reactions to crime: Two local examples

READ:
1. Wyant, B. R. (2008). Multilevel impacts of perceived incivilities and perceptions of crime risk on fear of crime. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 45(1), 39-64.
(read results up through Table 3) (CD) (HLM EXAMPLE)
2. McCord, E. S., Ratcliffe, J. H., Garcia, R. M., & Taylor, R. B. (2007). Nonresidential crime attractors and generators elevate perceived neighborhood crime and incivilities. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 44(3), 295-320.(CD) (HLM EXAMPLE)

  QUESTIONS to consider while you read
Your assignment  for next week

3/4

HLM SUBMODEL 3: Random coefficients regression model.
In-class midterm
3/11 Panama City / Daytona Beach Spring Break

3/18

METHODS: HLM SUBMODEL 4 and maybe the full model: MAOR and IASAO
THEORY: Multilevel models of legal cynicism
READ:

  1. HLML05CC (CD)

  2. Finish Duncan et al. (2003)

  3. Sampson, R. J., & Bartusch, D. J. (1998). Legal Cynicism and (Subcultural?) Tolerance of Deviance: The neighborhood context of Racial Differences. Law and Society Review, 32, 777-804. (CD) (HLM EXAMPLE)

  4. R&B: 99-107

  QUESTIONS to consider while you read
Your assignment  for next week

3/25

METHODS: HLM FULL MODEL: Intercepts and Slopes as Outcomes (IASAO); what does it mean to predict varying slopes?
THEORY: Impacts of Crime and Collective Efficacy
READ:

  1. Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W., & Earls, F. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: A multilevel study of collective efficacy. Science, 277(15), 918-924. (CD) (HLM EXAMPLE)

QUESTIONS to consider while you read
Your assignment  for next week 
4/1

METHODS: Observations over time THEORY: Changes over time: life course criminology; trajectory models vs. growth curve models; evaluation models
READ:

  1. HLML06BB (CD)
  2. R&B: 160-200
  3. Raudenbush, S. W. (2005). How do we study "What happens next"? Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 602, 131-144. (CD) (HLM EXAMPLE)
  4. RECOMMENDED for further theoretical background only: Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (2003). Life-course desisters?: Trajectories of crime among delinquent boys followed to age 70. Criminology, 41(3), 555-592. (CD)

QUESTIONS to consider while you read
Your assignment  for next week

4/8

METHODS: Residual Analysis
THEORY:

READ:

  1. Kautt, P. M. (2002). Location, location, and location: interdistrict and intercircuit variation in sentencing outcomes for Federal drug-trafficking offenses. Justice Quarterly, 19(4), 633-671. (CD) (HLM EXAMPLE)

QUESTIONS to consider while you read

4/15

METHODS: The general probability model: Binary, multinomial, and count outcomes
THEORY: A delinquent retention example using the full model (IASAO); impacts of crime on trust

READ:
  1. HLML15 (CD)
  2. Rodriguez, N. (2007). Juvenile court context and detention decisions: Reconsidering the role of race, ethnicity, and community characteristics in juvenile court processes. Justice Quarterly, 24(4), 629-656.  (CD) (HLM EXAMPLE)
  3. Garcia, R. M., Taylor, R. B., & Lawton, B. A. (2007). Impacts of violent crime and neighborhood structure on trusting your neighbors. Justice Quarterly, 24(4), 679-704.
    (CD) (HLM EXAMPLE)
  4. R&B: 291-317

 QUESTIONS to consider while you read

4/22

 

4/29

POSTER SESSION
MONDAY 5/5 IS LAST DAY OF SCHEDULED CLASSES. 5/6 AND 5/7 ARE STUDY DAYS. EXAMS BEGIN ON 5/8

5/13

 SECOND IN-CLASS EXAM

5/14

Final Examination Period:  final version of paper due