Using Meta-analysis Under Conditions Of Definitional Ambiguity: The Case Of Corporate Crime

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2018

Publication Title

Criminal Justice Studies

Publisher

Routledge

Volume

31

Issue

1

First page number:

38

Last page number:

61

Abstract

Given the reliance on meta-analyses to produce criminal justice policy recommendations, it is important to think critically about how this method is being applied in practice. In this study, we use data from a meta-analysis of corporate crime deterrence to demonstrate that applying meta-analytic methods to conceptually ambiguous research domains is problematic. Although meta-analysis is capable of modeling methodological variations in different research projects examining the same construct, analysts should not assume that meta-analytic methods are always appropriate; methodological differences may reflect underlying conceptual dissimilarities–this violates an assumption of meta-analysis. We also offer a critique of the corporate crime field for failing to clearly define its outcome, a critique that can be extended to other areas of criminological study. © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

Keywords

Corporate crime; deterrence; meta-analysis; regulation; white-collar crime

Language

English

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