Fear of Crime: Conceptual Development, Field Testing and Empirical Confirmation

Ditton, J. and Bannister, J. (1996) Fear of Crime: Conceptual Development, Field Testing and Empirical Confirmation. Project Report. Economic and Social Research Council.

Abstract

The fear of crime has grown enormously in research and policy terms in the last decade. A large number of surveys yearly include questions on it, although the phenomenon has never been adequately developed conceptually. This research project intends conceptually to develop and refine peoples feeling about crime by reinterviewing and holding discussion groups with respondents who took part in a recent Scottish crime survey; operationalise a series of survey-type questions fitting these requirements; test these questions in a major pilot study of 1600 respondents; follow up that test up with extensive back checking; and confirm the validity of the refined approach. A model crime and fear of crime survey will be produced. The research will develop a policy- crucial but analytically poorly understood and weakly conceptualised field. The fear of crime is projected to grow in political importance, and this major revision of the key instrumentation will be of great assistance in the coming years.

• Item Type: Research Reports or Papers (Project Report)
• Status: Published
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Bannister, Mr Jonathan and Ditton, Dr Jason
• Authors: Ditton, J., and Bannister, J.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Sociology Anthropology and Applied Social Sciences; College of Social Sciences > School of Social and Political Sciences > Urban Studies
• Publisher: Economic and Social Research Council