Measurement Issues

Abstract

Throughout this book we identify a number of measurement issues, particularly in the chapters that describe the cohort studies. These comprise two general sets of concerns. First, we must be sure to identify the most appropriate, relevant, and useful concepts for a theoretical perspective on human development and crime covering the first quarter century of life. This issue is perhaps the most critical one to the success of the scientific goals of the proposed research. On the one hand, we need to be eclectic in drawing on existing theories and research. Most important, however, we must continually remind ourselves that technical acuity of measurement is worthless if we measure the wrong concepts. The second set of issues relates to measurement processes and procedures. At a minimum, measures have to be reliable and valid, and data should be collected comprehensively yet efficiently. The statistical aspects of measurement should not be given abbreviated attention, since accurate measures are necessary for testing hypotheses and building inductive theories.