Self Report Studies

Self Report Studies –

· Self report studies are designed by sociologists themselves, rather than any other agency. They are sent to offenders, rather than victims or courts, or they may be sent to a sample of a target population and ask them whether they have committed a crime in the previous year

· The data is gathered by either survey or structured interview

· Data gathered can include information about the social characteristics of the individual, as well as what crime they have committed and so general trends relating to class, gender, age ethnicity etc. can be seen in these studies

· Data can be compared with official statistics to establish the accuracy of both; if they correlate then the data is likely to be reliable

· An example of a self report study is one conducted by Graham and Bowling (1995). The self report study found that overall, social class did not affect admission of committing a crime; however, they did find that those of lower social classes were more likely to admit to more serious offenses

· Feminists may be more likely to believe self report studies, as they are not created by crime agencies. People may be more likely to report crimes they have committed, and as a result theories can be…