Lesson 1: The Purpose of Statistics in Criminology and Criminal Justice

Lesson Overview

The opening lesson of this course outlines basic purposes and principles of using quantitative techniques to analyze data produced by scientific methods. The rationales for utilizing statistics are discussed as are paradigmatic schemes for viewing quantification within the overall process of social scientific research.

Lesson Objectives

By the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

Explain why statistical analysis is utilized in social scientific research;
Recognize the principles for using social statistics;
Understand statistics as a 'language' for explaining social phenomena.