Assessing asymmetry: the life course of a research project

This article describes the evolution of a project examining the impact of encounters on public confidence in the police. It reviews the background of the research, the central puzzle that drove the project, and the events that led to its discovery. I was surprised by my initial inability to confirm...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Policing & society 2012-09, Vol.22 (3), p.270-279
Main Author: Skogan, Wesley G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Asymmetry
contact
Impact analysis
Opinion
Police
Police Community Relations
Public opinion
Public Support
Research projects
Satisfaction
Scientific research
Trust
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article describes the evolution of a project examining the impact of encounters on public confidence in the police. It reviews the background of the research, the central puzzle that drove the project, and the events that led to its discovery. I was surprised by my initial inability to confirm the expected relationship between encounters and confidence. Rather than encouraging confidence, encounters that people themselves rated positively did not seem to increase satisfaction with police, and for many actually made things worse. Here I discuss how I confronted this puzzle, what I concluded, and what other researchers have since done with the findings. I conclude with some notes on the research agenda implied by all of this research, and how the entire process accords with the ways in which scientific research proceeds.
ISSN:1043-9463
1477-2728
DOI:10.1080/10439463.2012.704035