Statistics in Criminal Justice - 4th Edition by David Weisburd & Chester Britt (Hardcover)

About the Book

With new chapters on data analysis and multi-level models, and fresh exercises in SPSS and Stata, this fourth edition provides a solid introduction to the topic. Real-life examples show how statistical results are influenced by differing research methods.

Book Synopsis

Statistics in Criminal Justice takes an approach that emphasizes the application and interpretation of statistics in research in crime and justice. This text is meant for both students and researchers who want to gain a basic understanding of common statistical methods used in this field. In general, the text relies on a building-block approach, meaning that each chapter helps to prepare the student for the chapters that follow. It also means that the level of sophistication of the text increases as the text progresses. Throughout the text there is an emphasis on comprehension and interpretation, rather than computation. However, as the statistical methods discussed become more complex and demanding to compute, there is increasing use and integration of statistical software. This approach is meant to provide the reader with an accessible, yet sophisticated understanding of statistics that can be used to examine real-life criminal justice problems with popular statistical software programs. The primary goal of the text is to give students and researchers a basic understanding of statistical concepts and methods that will leave them with the confidence and the tools for tackling more complex problems on their own.

New to the 4^th Edition

- New chapter on experimental design and the analysis of experimental data.

- New chapter on multi-level models, including growth-curve models.

- New computer exercises throughout the text to illustrate the use of both SPSS and Stata.

- Revision of exercises at the end of each chapter that places greater emphasis on using statistical software.

- Additional resources on the text's web site for instructors and students, including answers to selected problems, syntax for replicating text examples in SPSS and Stata, and other materials that can be used to supplement the use of the text.

From the Back Cover

Statistics in Criminal Justice takes an approach that emphasizes the application and interpretation of statistics in research in crime and justice. This text is meant for both students and researchers who want to gain a basic understanding of common statistical methods used in this field. In general, the text relies on a building-block approach, meaning that each chapter helps to prepare the student for the chapters that follow. It also means that the level of sophistication of the text increases as the text progresses. Throughout the text there is an emphasis on comprehension and interpretation, rather than computation. However, as the statistical methods discussed become more complex and demanding to compute, there is increasing use and integration of statistical software. This approach is meant to provide the reader with an accessible, yet sophisticated understanding of statistics that can be used to examine real-life criminal justice problems with popular statistical software programs. The primary goal of the text is to give students and researchers a basic understanding of statistical concepts and methods that will leave them with the confidence and the tools for tackling more complex problems on their own.

New to the 4th Edition:

- New chapter on experimental design and the analysis of experimental data.

- New chapter on multi-level models

- More advanced discussions of statistical power, multi-nomial and ordinal regression.

- New computer exercises throughout the text to illustrate the use of both SPSS and Stata.

- Revision of exercises at the end of each chapter that places greater emphasis on using statistical software.

- Additional resources on the text's web site for instructors and students, including answers to selected problems, syntax for replicating text examples in SPSS and Stata, and other materials that can be used to supplement the use of the text.

About the Author

David Weisburd (Ph.D., Yale University) is a leading researcher and scholar in the field of criminal justice. He is Professor of Criminology at the Hebrew University Law School in Jerusalem and is a professor in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland. Professor Weisburd serves as a senior fellow at the Police Foundation in Washington DC, and is a member of the National Academy of Sciences Panel on Police Practices and Polices and the steering committee of the Campbell Crime and Justice Coordinating Group. Chester Britt (Ph.D, University of Arizona) is a researcher and scholar in the field of criminology. He is Associate Professor in the Administration of Justice Department at Arizona State University West. Professor Britt is the editor for Justice Quarterly. He has published more than twenty scientific articles and book chapters on issues related to the demography of crime, criminal careers, criminal case processing, and statistics.