Description

Statistical Applications in Criminal Justice introduces basic statistical concepts in a "cookbook" approach to guide math-scared students to an understanding of the utility and value of statistical analysis. Using examples drawn entirely from law and criminal justice research, the authors provide a user-friendly text for undergraduate and statistically naive graduate students of criminal justice. Vito and Latessa begin with an introduction to simple mathematical notation and proceed into a discussion of the theoretical bases of statistics--with particular attention paid to probability, sampling, and hypothesis testing. Once the student has developed a firm mastery of these basic tools, the authors present some basic statistical techniques commonly used in criminal justice research--t-tests, correlations, simple regression, ANOVA, and measures of association. Sample problems are provided to assist the student step-by-step through the application of these techniques. Uniquely written for criminal justice students, this book would be an appropriate supplement to accompany a longer research methods or statistics text. In addition, professionals who wish to brush up on their skills would find its self-teaching features useful.