Methodological Problems in International Criminal Justice Research

Abstract

Methodological problems are rampant in social science research and are even more problematic in the context of comparative studies in criminal sciences. Common problems faced in cross-cultural research include differential definition of criminal acts, factors affecting crime reporting, methods of keeping criminal records, sampling-related issues, language and value systems, and socio-political ideologies. The author reflects herein on some problems encountered in his own research experience at the cross-national level, illustrating his attempt to cope with them through testing the consistency of responses. It is expected that international research in the fields of crime and correction will continue to suffer from methodological limitations. With every comparative study, however, we learn something new that sharpens our methodological skill. Cross-cultural criminal justice research serves in itself as a significant milieu for testing and/or enhancing the universality of existing methodological techniques. Standardized criteria may eventually be developed to facilitate comparative research in the field and thus add to its reliability and validity.

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