The Role of Theory in Scientific Research

Criminal victimization and low self-control: An extension and test of a general theory of crime

“…According to a similar logic, the concept of self-control also may have useful consequences for the routine activity and lifestyle approaches, which are presently the leading theories of victimization. Sobel (1981) notes that lifestyle measures suffer from lack of agreement among researchers about definitions and indicators; such a problem can encourage ex post facto explanations of observed correlations (also see Bernard and Ritti 1990;Garofalo 1987). This lack of agreement may be responsible for the modest success or failure of many routine activities/lifestyles studies in accounting for demographic differences in victimization (e.g., Corrado et al 1981;Miethe et al 1987).…”

Theory and racial profiling: Shortcomings and future directions in research

“…Bernard and Engel argued that all criminal justice research takes place against the backdrop of prescriptive ideals, but that it is important to make these prescriptive ideals explicit, rather than to leave them as implicit value orientations contained in the research. As Bernard and Ritti (1990) noted, research that operates under implicit theory is problematic for a number of reasons. Specifically, theories that are not explicitly stated often lead to "sloppy" investigations, misleading and/or meaningless conclusions, the failure to include crucial variables, and a limited understanding of the phenomenon being studied.…”

“…Problems with the interpretation of empirical data are due partially to data collection efforts that have not addressed why officers might engage in decision making based on citizens' race. Bernard and Ritti (1990) argued that activities in social science must involve an explicit theory to be considered scientific research.…”

Social ecology and police discretion: The influence of district crime, cynicism, and workload on the vigor of police response

“…Much of the research had presumed officers made decisions based on some neighborhood characteristic without identifying the causal mechanisms for the relationship or offering any explicit mention of the nature and direction of the expected association. Theory guiding the research was, for the most part, implicit (Bernard & Engel, 2001;Bernard & Ritti, 1990). Klinger's theory attempted to address this matter by illuminating the link between district crime, officer perception, and behavior.…”