Monday, October 5, 2009

Looking for Survey Data

Question

I have, unsuccessfully to this point, been looking for survey data that examines the relationship between citizen’s and the police. Specifically I am looking for data that examines the relationship between the public’s perception of the legitimacy of the police and their perceptions of personal and “vicarious” experiences with police use of coercive force. So far my personal research has led to several private surveys that have addressed this issue but nothing that has been publicly published. Based on this, I would also be interested in looking at any other data that addresses the  procedural model of regulation as proposed by Tyler and Huo (2002) and immediate compliance with the Criminal Justice System.


Answer

Some General Social Survey (GSS) cycles have variables on experiences with and perceptions of police.  Some of these may also be applicable to research on the process-based model of regulation the student mentions. Here are a few examples of the types of variables found in GSS cycles. You can see the full variable descriptions through Nesstar or the survey's documentation on our web and FTP sites.

Dataset: General Social Survey, Cycle 18, [Canada] 2004: Victimization,  Incident File

Variable CIR_Q560 : How satisfied were you with the actions that the police took (Literal Question How satisfied were you with the actions that the police took? Were you:)

Variable CIR_MAIN_REASONC : Main reason for NOT reporting to the police collapsed. (Literal Question What was the main reason?)

Dataset: General Social Survey, Cycle 18, [Canada] 2004: Victimization, Main File

Variable PHR_Q210 : Do you think your local police force does a good job, an ave (Literal Question Do you think your local police force does a good job, an average job or a poor job:  ... of enforcing the laws)

Variable DIS_POLC : In what types of situations have you experienced discriminat (Literal Question: In what types of situations have you experienced discrimination (in the past 5 years)? Was it: when dealing with the police or courts?)

Dataset: General Social Survey, Cycle 3, 1988 [Canada]: Personal Risk

Variable A7B : Local police: responding to calls (Literal Question Do you think that your local police force does a good job, an average job, or a poor job of promptly responding to calls?)

Variable A7C : Local police: being approachable (Literal Question Do you think that your local police force does a good job, an average job, or a poor job of being approachable and easy to talk to?)

Dataset: General Social Survey, Cycle 13, 1999 [Canada]: Victimization Incident File

Variable V58E : No contact police..didnt want get involved (Literal Question easons why some people choose not to contact the police. Was it ... Because you did not want to get involved with police?)

Variable V58V59 : Main reason victim didn't contact police

These publications, based on GSS data, touch on perceptions of police and may also be of interest to the student:

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