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See Also: An Overview of Methods |
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See Also: An Overview of Examples of Research in the Social Sciences |
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Social Scientists of the Chicago School, circa 1900,
were interested in urbanization & the social problems associated w/ it |
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Through years of research & hundreds of studies they eventually
concluded
that there is a correlation btwn population density & delinquency |
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The Chicago theorists believed that crowding caused delinquency |
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And indeed even today we see that delinquency rates are high in densely populated neighborhoods |
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But as early as the 1930s, some social scientists began to question this result |
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In 1984, Fischer demonstrated that virtually all the correlation btwn
crowding & delinquency
disappears if income is controlled |
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Chicago School found that |
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Hi Crowding :: Hi Delinquency |
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Lo Crowding :: Lo Delinquency |
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Fischer found that |
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Lo Income :: Hi Crowding :: Hi Delinquency |
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Lo Income :: Lo Crowding :: Hi Delinquency |
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Hi Income :: Hi Crowding :: Lo Delinquency |
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Hi Income :: Lo Crowding :: Lo Delinquency |
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Fischer used a research technique called control,
where he held constant all relevant variable except one in order to clearly see its effect |
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Fischer used Income as a Control Variable |
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Holding Income constant at a low level, Fischer found that
delinquency was high in both crowded & uncrowded areas |
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Holding Income constant at a high level, Fischer found that
delinquency was low in both crowded & uncrowded areas |
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The correlation btwn Crowding & Delinquency is Spurious,
that is,
there is an apparent, although false, association btwn two or more variables caused by some other variable |
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