Quantitative Methods in Criminology - History and Development of Quantitative Research in Criminology

History and Development of Quantitative Research in Criminology

A general definition for criminology is a scientific approach to the study of criminal behavior. By this definition, one of the first appearances of criminology was the work of Cesare Beccaria in 1764 related to torture and the death penalty. Beccaria's contribution to criminology was foundational, but purely philosophical. Quantitative methods in Criminology were developed later during the 19th century resurgence of positivism spearheaded by well-known sociologist Émile Durkheim, who is responsible for one of the first modern research projects titled Suicide. It was published in 1897 and was the first work of its kind to include quantitative data, mainly suicide rates across different populations. This study marks the first documented use of quantitative research methods in the field of criminology. The first case of this in the United States occurred at the University of Chicago, around 1915 where scientists were studying the massive immigration into the city. It provided an ideal setting for empirical studies, where the scientists were testing hypotheses related to the proneness to criminal behavior. To study this they looked at recorded convictions, environment and social experiences, from which they recorded data and statistics to formulate a conclusion for the study. American criminology was greatly influenced by British criminology due to the large number of social scientist that developed criminology theories. Some of these early criminologist theorists were Karl Marx, Cesare Lombroso, Jeremy Bentham, and Émile Durkheim. Criminology back in the late 19th century was a broader scope which included similar theories as sociology. A more current and encompassing definition of criminology is: The scientific study of crime, criminals, criminal behavior, and corrections. This is the definition that is more widely used than the one from the late 19th century. In general criminology has remained constant in terms of its science and how it is conducted. Research methods for criminology and well as early theories have had little if no change to those of today. The use of quantitative methods in criminology is still heavily used as it was when the discipline first developed, and the means of collection and analysis are still very similar.

Quantitative methods of research can be defined as "methods such as surveys and experiments that record variation in social life in terms of categories that vary in amount. Data that are treated as quantitative are either numbers or attributes that can be ordered in terms of magnitude" (Schutt 17).

This means that the research, unlike qualitative methods, is not based upon a subjective interpretation of the observations but aims to be a more objective and impartial analysis based on the numerical findings of quantitative research (Dantzker and Hunter 88).

In the study of criminology, the research methods tend to be quantitative because of the potential for bias in qualitative research. However, there are many issues not suitable for quantitative study. Debates and personal beliefs tend to be more influenced by emotion rather than scientific study. This makes quantitative research a difficult, but worthwhile method of research (Dantzker and Hunter 88).