Crime and Media Crime Research

You have been hired as a research assistant on a project exploring the relationship between actual crime rates in neighborhoods and residents’ fear of crime. You are asked to draft several survey questions that attempt to measure fear of crime. Draft a brief survey with at least two close-ended questions and at least two open-ended questions that measure fear of crime. Your survey should be no longer than five questions, and should only include measures that relate to fear of crime, not demographics, etc. Once you’ve drafted your survey with input from your classmates in the threaded discussion, you should pre-test it on two of your acquaintances (friends, family members, roommates, co-workers, for instance). You can choose the method of administration — pencil and paper, interview, electronic, etc.

You should write up a one-page report to submit along with your survey draft critiquing your measures. After the pre-test, which of your questions appeared to be the most valid measure of fear of crime? Why? Which question(s) were less effective? Which questions raise concerns about reliability – that is, were any of the measures likely to evoke unstable responses, perhaps because of how they were worded? How might you revise some or all of your questions?