Five Criteria of Evaluating Theories
Throughout this course you will learn about a variety of criminological theories, all developed to explain deviant behavior (behavior that goes against society's norms and values), delinquency (behavior that if committed by an adult would be considered a crime) and crime (behavior committed by an adult that is in direct violation of a law). These theories have received a great deal of attention, and not always by academic scholars and researchers alone. Public officials have also paid attention to these theories and often developed intervention programs directed at reducing crime in society based on the major propositions and concepts associated with the theories. In order to determine whether a theory is "good" or useful to society, that is to say, to what extent it can predict or explain crime, Akers (1994) developed five criteria for just that purpose.
- Is the theory logical? Does the theory make sense?
- Can the theory be tested? Remember, if we cannot develop a way to observe something, we cannot test it.
Example: Can we observe (another way of saying "measure" the existence of a God? On the other hand, we can observe poverty? - Has the theory received some empirical support? When researchers conduct studies to test the theory, have they found support for it?
Example: Have they found a relationship between poverty and crime? - Is the theory broad in scope, yet parsimonious? The theory needs to be able to explain more than a small subsection of crime and it needs to do so with as few major concepts as possible.
Example: A theory that explains all theft does us more good than one that can explain shoplifting only (broad in scope). And the fewer number of major concepts a theory has, the less trouble it is to try to find a way to measure those concepts (parsimony). - Does the theory have some "real world" use? Can we use the theory to do something about crime in society?
Example: If biological theory finds support in that some "criminal gene" is discovered, what would we do with that information? (This is only one of many ethical questions we will explore later on in this course.)
Example: Is it logical to say that poverty is related to crime?
Understanding these five criteria and applying them to the theories to which you will be introduced in subsequent lessons is critical. Just as you are being asked to be able to think about theory using the theoretical building blocks above, you will be asked (at least periodically) to evaluate individual theories using these five criteria. If you can do that, you will be adding greatly to your knowledge base of theory.