SAGE Journal & Encyclopedia Articles

Click on the following links. Please note these will open in a new window.

Fergusson, R. (2013). Risk, responsibilities and rights: Reassessing the ‘economic causes of crime’ thesis in a recession. Youth Justice. 13(1).31-56.
This article explores competing accounts of an apparent inversion of the previously prevailing relationship between young people’s unemployment and the incidence of youth offending at a time of economic recession. It begins by highlighting the faltering association between unemployment and offending, and considers the paradoxical implications for risk-based methodologies in youth justice practice. The article then assesses explanations for the changing relationship that suggest that youth justice policies have successfully broken the unemployment–offending link; and alternatively that delayed effects of recession have yet to materialize, by reference to the work of four inter-governmental organizations and to youth protests beyond the UK. In place of ever more intensive risk analyses, the article then focuses on the adverse effects of unemployment on social cohesion, and proposes a rights-based approach to youth justice that recognizes the growing disjuncture between the rights afforded to young people and the responsibilities expected of them.

Petts, R.J. (2009). Family and religious characteristics' influence on delinquency trajectories from adolescence to young adulthood. American Sociological Review, 74(3). 465-483.
This study takes a life-course approach to examine whether family and religious characteristics influence individual-level delinquency trajectories from early adolescence through young adulthood. Based on data from the NLSY79, results suggest that residing with two parents deters youths from becoming delinquent and that supportive parenting practices reduce their likelihood of becoming involved in delinquent behavior early in adolescence. There is also evidence that family and religion interact to predict delinquency trajectories. Religion enhances the effect of parental affection in deterring delinquent behavior and mitigates the increased risk of high levels of delinquent behavior among youths in single-parent families. Moreover, the findings indicate that delinquency trajectories are not immutable; family transitions are associated with increases in delinquency, but religious participation throughout adolescence and marriage are associated with declines in delinquent behavior. Overall, results suggest that family and religious characteristics continually influence the extent to which youths commit delinquent acts.

Flere, S. and Lavric, M. (2008). On the validity of cross-cultural social studies using student samples. Field Methods, 20(4). 399-412.
Student samples have become a widely used resource in the study of not only particular phenomena and problems within individual environments but also of their study within a cross-cultural context. A number of such studies, most often generalizing their results to the level of cultures, are illustrated in this article. In addition, the authors carry out a number of empirical tests of the generalizability of results attained on student samples in cross-cultural research. Based on the World Values Survey data, mean values of four sociologically and psychologically relevant measures are compared between national and student samples of twenty-three countries. Results suggest that the findings attained on student samples can be viewed cautiously as a good indicator of national sample rankings in cross-national comparisons.

Einarsdottir, J. (2006). Child survival in affluence and poverty: Ethics and fieldwork experiences from Iceland and Guinea-Bissau. Field Methods, 18(2). 189-204.
In this article, the author discusses ethical approaches in qualitative research with reference to anthropological fieldwork on abnormal birth and child survival in Guinea-Bissau and Iceland. These two countries represent extremes in terms of access to advanced health care services and rates of child mortality. The author focuses on ethical dilemmas encountered in these two field settings as well as considerations related to presentation of findings. Despite differences in the separation between fieldwork and family life and whether the infants’ chances of survival may be dependent on the researcher’s involvement, similarities in fieldwork experience are remarkable.

Encyclopedia Articles

“Spurious Relationship.” Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. (2004): 1063-1064.
A spurious relationship implies that although two or more variables are correlated, these variables are not causally related. Correlation analysis merely establishes covariation, the extent to which two or more phenomena vary together, whereas causation concludes that one phenomenon caused another. Although social scientists are interested in correlation, most would also like to infer causality. For example, although we know that smoking is related to lung cancer, we want to infer the possibility that smoking causes lung cancer. But when seeking inferences of causality, social scientists must beware the possibility of spurious relationships, which falsely imply causation.

“Internal Validity.” Encyclopedia of Social Science Research Methods. (2004): 503-505.
Internal validity refers to the confidence with which researchers can make causal inferences from the results of a particular empirical study. In their influential paper on “Experimental and Quasi-Experimental Designs for Research,” Campbell and Stanley (1963) characterized internal validity as the sine qua non of experimental research. This is because the very purpose of conducting an experiment is to test causal relationships between an INDEPENDENT VARIABLE and a DEPENDENT VARIABLE. Hence, it is appropriate that the primary criterion for evaluating the results of an experiment is whether valid causal conclusions can be drawn from its results. However, the concept of internal validity can also be applied to findings from correlational research anytime that causal inferences about the relationship between two variables are being drawn.