Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Size matters: Standard errors in the application of null hypothesis significance testing in criminology and criminal justice

  • Published:
Journal of Experimental Criminology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (NHST) has been a mainstay of the social sciences for empirically examining hypothesized relationships, and the main approach for establishing the importance of empirical results. NHST is the foundation of classical or frequentist statistics. The approach is designed to test the probability of generating the observed data if no relationship exists between the dependent and independent variables of interest, recognizing that the results will vary from sample to sample. This paper is intended to evaluate the state of the criminological and criminal justice literature with respect to the correct application of NHST. We apply a modified version of the instrument used in two reviews of the economics literature by McCloskey and Ziliak to code 82 articles in criminology and criminal justice. We have selected three sources of papers: Criminology, Justice Quarterly, and a recent review of experiments in criminal justice by Farrington and Welsh. We find that most researchers provide the basic information necessary to understand effect sizes and analytical significance in tables which include descriptive statistics and some standardized measure of size (e.g., betas, odds ratios). On the other hand, few of the articles mention statistical power and even fewer discuss the standards by which a finding would be considered large or small. Moreover, less than half of the articles distinguish between analytical significance and statistical significance, and most articles used the term ‘significance’ in ambiguous ways.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References (Asterisk indicates papers in sample.)

  • *Agnew, R. (2002). Experienced, vicarious, and anticipated strain: An exploratory study on physical victimization and delinquency. Justice Quarterly 19, 603–632.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Agnew, R., Brezina, T., Wright, J. P. & Cullen, F. T. (2002). Strain, personality traits, and delinquency: Extending general strain theory. Criminology 40, 43–72.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Alpert, G. P. & MacDonald, J. M. (2001). Police use of force: An analysis of organizational characteristics. Justice Quarterly 18, 393–409.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, D. R., Burnham, K. P. & Thompson, W. L. (2000). Null hypothesis testing: Problems, prevalence, and an alternative. Journal of Wildlife Management 64, 912–923.

    Google Scholar 

  • APA (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association, (5th edition), Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

    Google Scholar 

  • APA Task Force on Statistical Inference (1996, December). Task Force on Statistical Inference initial report. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. Available: http://www.apa.org/science/tfsi.html.

  • *Armstrong, T. A. (2003). The effect of moral reconation therapy on the recidivism of youthful offenders: A randomized experiment. Criminal Justice and Behavior 30, 668–687.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arrow, K. J. (1959). Decision theory and the choice of a level of significance for the t-test. In I. Olkin, S. G. Ghurye, W. Hoeffding, W. G. Madow & H. B. Mann (Eds.), Contributions to probability and statistics: Essays in honor of Harold Hotelling (pp. 70–78). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Baller, R. D., Anselin, L., Messner, S. F., Deane, G. & Hawkins, D. F. (2001). Structural covariates of U.S. county homicide rates: Incorporating spatial effects. Criminology 39, 561–590.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Baumer, E. P. (2002). Neighborhood disadvantage and police notification by victims of violence. Criminology 40, 579–616.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Berkson, J. (1938). Some difficulties of interpretation encountered in the application of the chi-square test. Journal of the American Statistical Association 33, 526–536.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Bernburg, J. G. & Thorlindsson, T. (2001). Routine activities in social context: A closer look at the role of opportunity in delinquent behavior. Justice Quarterly 18, 543–568.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Borduin, C. M., Mann, B. J., Cone, L. T., Henggeler, S. W., Fucci, B. R., Blaske, D. M. & Williams, R. A. (1995). Multisystemic treatment of serious juvenile offenders: Long-term prevention of criminality and violence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 63, 569–578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boring, E. G. (1919). Mathematical vs. scientific importance. Psychological Bulletin 16, 335–338.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Braga, A. A., Weisburd, D. L., Waring, E. J., Mazerolle, L. G., Spelman, W. & Gajewski, F. (1999). Problem-oriented policing in violent crime places: A randomized controlled experiment. Criminology 37, 541–580.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brame, R., Paternoster, R., Mazerolle, P. & Piquero, A. (1998). Testing for the equality of maximum-likelihood regression coefficients between two independent equations. Journal of Quantitative Criminology 14, 245–261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Broidy, L. M. (2001). A test of general strain theory. Criminology 39, 9–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Burruss, G. M. Jr., & Kempf-Leonard, K. (2002). The questionable advantage of defense counsel in juvenile court. Justice Quarterly 19, 37–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Campbell, F. A., Ramey, C. T., Pungello, E., Sparling, J. & Miller-Johnson, S. (2002). Early childhood education: Young adult outcomes from the Abercedarian project. Applied Developmental Science 6, 42–57.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Cernkovich, S. A., & Giordano, P. C. (2001). Stability and change in antisocial behavior: The transition from adolescence to early adulthood. Criminology 39, 371–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Chermak, S., McGarrell, E. F. & Weiss, A. (2001). Citizens' perceptions of aggressive traffic enforcement strategies. Justice Quarterly 18, 365–392.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cook, T. D., Gruder, C. L., Hennigan, K. M. & Flay, B. R. (1979). The history of the sleeper effect: Some logical pitfalls in accepting the null hypothesis. Psychological Bulletin 86, 662–679.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Copes, H., Kerley, K. R. Mason, K. A. & Van Wyk, J. (2001). Reporting behavior of fraud victims and Black's theory of law: An empirical assessment. Justice Quarterly 18, 343–364.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cumming, G. & Finch, S. (2001). A primer on the understanding, use and calculation of confidence intervals that are based on central and non-central distributions. Educational and Psychological Measurement 61, 532–575.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Curry, G. D., Decker, S. H. & Egley, A. Jr. (2002). Gang involvement and delinquency in a middle school population. Justice Quarterly 19, 275–292.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Dawson, M. & Dinovitzer, R. (2001). Victim cooperation and the prosecution of domestic violence in a specialize court. Justice Quarterly 18, 593–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *DeJong, C., Mastrofski, S. D. & Parks, R. B. (2001). Patrol officers and problem solving: An application of expectancy theory. Justice Quarterly 18, 31–62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Dugan, J. R. & Everett, R. S. (1998). An experimental test of chemical dependency therapy for jail inmates. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 42, 360–368.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Dunford, F. W. (2000). The San Diego Navy Experiment: An assessment of interventions for men who assault their wives. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 68, 468–476.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elliott, G. & Granger, C. W. J. (2004). Evaluating significance: Comments on “size matters”. The Journal of Socio-Economics 33, 547–550.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Engel, R. S. & Silver, E. (2001). Policing mentally disordered suspects: A reexamination of the criminalization hypothesis. Criminology 39, 225–252.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Engen, R. L. & Gainey, R. R. (2000). Modeling the effects of legally relevant and extralegal factors under sentencing guidelines: The rules have changed. Criminology 38, 1207–1230.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Exum, M. L. (2002). The application and robustness of the rational choice perspective in the study of intoxicated and angry intentions to aggress. Criminology 40, 933–966.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farrington, D. P. & Welsh, B. C. (2005). Randomized experiments in criminology: What have we learned in the last two decades? Journal of Experimental Criminology 1, 9–38.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Feder, L. & Dugan, L. (2002). A test of the efficacy of court-mandated counseling for domestic offenders: The Broward experiment. Justice Quarterly 19, 343–376.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Felson, R. B. & Ackerman, J. (2001). Arrest for domestic and other assaults. Criminology 39, 655–676.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Felson, R. B. & Haynie, D. L. (2002). Pubertal development, social factors, and delinquency among adolescent boys. Criminology 40, 967–988.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Felson, R. B., Messner, S. F., Hoskin, A. W. & Deane, G. (2002). Reasons for reporting and not reporting domestic violence to the police. Criminology 40, 617–648.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fidler, F. (2002). The fifth edition of the APA Publication manual: Why its statistics recommendations are so controversial. Educational and Psychological Measurement 62, 749–770.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Finn, M. A. & Muirhead-Steves, S. (2002). The effectiveness of electronic monitoring with violent male parolees. Justice Quarterly 19, 293–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, R. A. (1935). The design of experiments. Edinburgh, Scotland: Oliver and Boyd.

    Google Scholar 

  • Freedman, D. A. (1983). A note on screening regression equations. The American Statistician 37, 152–155.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Garner, J. H., Maxwell, C. D. & Heraux, C. G. (2002). Characteristics associated with the prevalence and severity of force used by the police. Justice Quarterly 19, 705–746.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gigerenzer, G. (1987). Probabilistic thinking and the fight against subjectivity. In L. Kruger, G. Gigerenzer & M. S. Morgan (Eds.), The probabilistic revolution. Vol. II: Ideas in the Sciences (pp. 11–33). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Golub, A., Johnson, B. D., Taylor, A. & Liberty, H. J. (2002). The Validity of arrestees' self-reports: Variations across questions and persons. Justice Quarterly 19, 477–502.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Gottfredson, D. C., Najaka, S. S. & Kearly, B. (2003). Effectiveness of drug treatment courts: Evidence from a randomized trial. Criminology and Public Policy 2, 171–196.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Greenberg, D. F. & West, V. (2001). State prison populations and their growth, 1971–1991. Criminology 39, 615–654.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greene, W. H. (2003). Econometric analysis, (5th edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harlow, L. L., Mulaik, S. A. & Steiger, J. H. (Eds.), 1997. What if there were no significance tests? Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Harmon, T. R. (2001). Predictors of miscarriages of justice in capital cases. Justice Quarterly 18, 949–968.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Hay, C. (2001). Parenting, self-control, and delinquency: A test of self-control theory. Criminology 39, 707–736.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Henggeler, S. W., Melton, G. B., Brondino, M. J., Scherer, D. G. & Hanley, J. H. (1997). Multisystemic theory with violent and chronic juvenile offenders and their families: The role of treatment fidelity in successful dissemination. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 65, 821–833.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Hennigan, K. M., Maxson, C. L., Sloane, D. & Ranney, M. (2002). Community views on crime and policing: Survey mode effects on bias in community surveys. Justice Quarterly 19, 565–587.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hoenig, J. M. & Heisey, D. M. (2001). The abuse of power: The pervasive fallacy of power calculations for data analysis. The American Statistician 55, 19–24.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Inciardi, J. A., Martin, S. S., Butzin, C. A., Hopper, R. M. & Harrizon, L. D. (1997). An effective model of prison-based treatment for drug-involved offenders. Journal of Drug Issues 27, 261–278.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Ireland, T. O., Smith, C. A. & Thornberry, T. P. (2002). Developmental issues in the impact of child maltreatment on later delinquency and drug use. Criminology 40, 359–400.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnson, D. H. (1999). The insignificance of statistical significance testing. Journal of Wildlife Management 63, 763–772.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Kaminski, R. J. & Marvell, T. B. (2002). A comparison of changes in police and general homicides: 1930–1998. Criminology 40, 171–190.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Kautt, P. & Spohn, C. (2002). Cracking down on black drug offenders? Testing for interactions among offenders' race, drug type, and sentencing strategy in federal drug sentences. Justice Quarterly 19, 1–36.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Kempf-Leonard, K., Tracy, P. E. & Howell, J. C. (2001). Serious, violent, and chronic juvenile offenders: The relationship of delinquency career types to adult criminality. Justice Quarterly 18, 449–478.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Killias, M., Aebi, M. & Ribeaud, D. (2000). Does community service rehabilitate better than short-term imprisonment? Results of a controlled experiment. Howard Journal 39, 40–57.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Kingsnorth, R. F., MacIntosh, R. C. & Sutherland, S. (2002). Criminal charge or probation violation? Prosecutorial discretion and implications for research in criminal court processing. Criminology 40, 553–578.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Kleck, G. & Chiricos, T. (2002). Unemployment and property crime: A target-specific assessment of opportunity and motivation as mediating factors. Criminology 40, 649–679.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Koons-Witt, B. A. (2002). The effect of gender on the decision to incarcerate before and after the introduction of sentencing guidelines. Criminology 40, 297–328.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Kramer, J. H. & Ulmer, J. T. (2002). Downward departures for serious violent offenders: Local court “corrections” to Pennsylvania sentencing guidelines. Criminology 40, 897–932.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leamer, E. E. (2004). Are the roads red? Comments on “size matters.” The Journal of Socio-Economics 33, 555–557.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipsey, M. W. (1990). Design sensitivity: Statistical power for experimental research. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lipsey, M. W., Crosse, S., Dunkle, J., Pollard, J. & Stobart, G. (1985). Evaluation: The state of the art and the sorry state of the science. In D. S. Cordray (Ed.), Utilizing prior research in evaluation planning (New Directions for Program Evaluation, No. 27, pp. 7–28). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lunt, P. (2004). The significance of the significance test controversy: comments on ‘size matters.’ The Journal of Socio-Economics 33, 559–564.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Maguire, E. R. & Katz, C. M. (2002). Community policing, loose coupling, and sensemaking in American police agencies. Justice Quarterly 19, 503–536.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maltz, M. D. (1994). Deviating from the mean: The declining significance of significance. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency 31, 434–463.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marks, H. M. (1997). The progress of experiment: Science and therapeutic reform in the United States 1900–1990. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Marlowe, D. B., Festinger, D. S., Lee, P. A., Schepise, M. M., Hazzard, J. E. R., Merrill, J. C., Mulvaney, F. D. & McLellan, A. T. (2003). Are judicial status hearings a key component of drug court? During-treatment data from a randomized trial. Criminal Justice and Behavior 30, 141–162.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Marquart, J. W., Barnhill, M. B. & Balshaw-Biddle, K. (2001). Fata attraction: An analysis of employee boundary violations in a southern prison system, 1995–1998. Justice Quarterly 18, 877–910.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Mastrofski, S. D., Reisig, M. D. & McClusky, J. D. (2002). Police disrespect toward the public: An encounter-based analysis. Criminology 40, 519–552.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *McCarthy, B., Hagan, J. & Martin, M. J. (2002). In and out of harm's way: Violent victimization and the social capital of fictive street families. Criminology 40, 831–865.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McCloskey, D. N. & Ziliak, S. T. (1996). The standard error of regressions. Journal of Economic Literature 34, 97–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • *McNulty, T. L. (2001). Assessing the race–violence relationship at the macro level: The assumption of racial invariance and the problem of restricted distributions. Criminology 39, 467–490.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Meehan, A. J. & Ponder, M. C. (2002). Race & place: The ecology of racial profiling African American motorists. Justice Quarterly 19, 399–430.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Menard, S., Mihalic, S. & Huizinga, D. (2001). Drugs and crime revisited. Justice Quarterly 18, 269–300.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Mills, P. E., Cole, K. N., Jenkins, J. R. & Dale, P. S. (2002). Early exposure to direct instruction and subsequent juvenile delinquency: A prospective examination. Exceptional Children 69, 85–96.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Ortmann, R. (2000). The effectiveness of social therapy in prison: A randomized experiment. Crime and Delinquency 46, 214–232.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Peterson, D., Miller, J. & Esbensen, F.-A. (2001). The impact of sex composition on gangs and gang member delinquency. Criminology 39, 411–440.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Petrosino, A. (2005). From Martinson to meta-analysis: Research reviews and the US offender treatment debate. Evidence & Policy: A Journal of Research, Debate and Practice 1, 149–172.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Piquero, A. R. & Brezina, T. (2001). Testing Moffitt's account of adolescent-limited delinquency. Criminology 39, 353–370.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Pogarsky, G. (2002). Identifying “deterrable” offenders: Implications for research on deterrence. Justice Quarterly 19, 431–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Rebellon, C. J. (2002). Reconsidering the broken homes/delinquency relationship and exploring its mediating mechanism(s). Criminology 40, 103–136.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Rhodes, W. & Gross, M. (1997). Case management reduces drug use and criminality among drug-involved arrestees: An experimental study of an HIV prevention intervention. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Richards, H. J., Casey, J. O. & Lucente, S. W. (2003). Psychopathy and treatment response in incarcerated female substance abusers. Criminal Justice and Behavior 30, 251–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rosenthal, R. & Rubin, D. B. (1994). The counternull value of an effect size: A new statistic. Psychological Science 5, 329–334.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rozeboom, W. W. (1960). The fallacy of the null hypothesis significance test. Psychological Bulletin 5, 416–428.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rozeboom, W. W. (1997). Good science is abductive, not hypothetico-deductive. In L. L. Harlow, S. A. Mulaik & J. H. Steiger (Eds.), What if there were no significance tests? (pp. 335–392). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Scheider, M. C. (2001). Deterrence and the base rate fallacy: An examination of perceived certainty. Justice Quarterly 18, 63–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Schnebly, S. M. (2002). An examination of the impact of victim, offenders, and situational attributes on the deterrent effect of defensive gun use: A research note. Justice Quarterly 19, 377–398.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Schwartz, M. D., DeKeseredy, W. S., Tait, D., & Avi, S. (2001). Male peer support and a feminist routine activities theory: Understanding sexual assault on the college campus. Justice Quarterly 18, 623–650.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sherman, L. W., Gottfredson, D., MacKenzie, D., Eck, J., Reuter, P. & Bushway, S. (1997). Preventing crime: What works, what doesn't, what's promising: A report to the United States Congress. Washington, DC: National Institute of Justice.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Silver, E. (2002). Mental disorder and violent victimization: The mediating role of involvement in conflicted relationships. Criminology 40, 191–212.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Simons, R. L., Stewart, E., Gordon, L. C., Conger, R. D. & Elder, G., Jr. 2002. A test of life-course explanations for stability and change in antisocial behavior from adolescence to young adulthood. Criminology 40, 401–434.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Spohn, C. & Holleran, D. (2001). Prosecuting sexual assault: A comparison of charging decisions in sexual assault cases involving strangers, acquaintances, and intimate partners. Justice Quarterly 18, 651–688.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Spohn, C. & Holleran, D. (2002). The effect of imprisonment on recidivism rates of felony offenders: A focus on drug offenders. Criminology 40, 329–358.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Steffensmeier, D. & Demuth, S. (2001). Ethnicity and judges' sentencing decisions: Hispanic–Black–White comparisons. Criminology 39, 145–178.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Stewart, E. A., Simons, R. L. & Conger, R. D. (2002). Assessing neighborhood and social psychological influences on childhood influences on childhood violencce in an African-American sample. Criminology 40, 801–829.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Swanson, J. W., Borum, R., Swartz, M. S., Hiday, V. A., Wagner, H. R. & Burns, B. J. (2001). Can involuntary outpatient commitment reduce arrests among persons with severe mental illness? Criminal Justice and Behavior 28, 156–189.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Taylor, B. G., Davis, R. C. & Maxwell, C. D. (2001). The effects of a group batterer treatment program: A randomized experiment in Brooklyn. Justice Quarterly 18, 171–201.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Terrill, W. & Mastrofski, S. D. (2002). Situational and officer-based determinants of police coercion. Justice Quarterly 19, 215–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thompson, B. (2004). The “significance” crisis in psychology and education. The Journal of Socio-Economics 33, 607–613.

    Google Scholar 

  • *van Voorhis, P., Spruance, L. M., Ritchey, P. N., Listwan, S. J. & Seabrook, R. (2004). The Georgia cognitive skills experiment: A replication of Reasoning and Rehabilitation. Criminal Justice and Behavior 31, 282–305.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Velez, M. B. (2001). The role of public social control in urban neighborhoods: A multi-level analysis of victimization risk. Criminology 39, 837–864.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Vogel, B. L. & Meeker, J. W. (2001). Perceptions of crime seriousness in eight African-American communities: The influence of individual, environmental, and crime-based factors. Justice Quarterly 18, 301–321.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weisburd, D., Lum, C. M. & Yang, S.-M., 2003. When can we conclude that treatments or programs “don't work”? The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 574, 31–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Weitzer, R. & Tuch, S. A. (2002). Perceptions of racial profiling: Race, class, and personal experience. Criminology 40, 435–456.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wellford, C., 1989. Towards an integrated theory of criminal behavior. In S. Messner, M. M. Krohn, and A. Liska (Eds.), Theoretical integration in the study of deviance and crime: Problems and prospects (pp. 119–128). Albany, NY: State University of New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Wells, L. E. & Weisheit, R. A. (2001). Gang problems in nonmetropolitan areas: A longitudinal assessment. Justice Quarterly 18, 791–824.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Welsh, W. N. (2001). Effects of student and school factors on five measures of school disorder. Justice Quarterly 18, 911–948.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • *Wexler, H. K., Melnick, G., Lowe, L. & Peters, J. (1999). Three-year reincarceration outcomes for Amity in-prison therapeutic community and aftercare in California. Prison Journal 79, 321–336.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, D. B. (2001). Meta-analytic methods for criminology. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 578, 71–89.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wooldridge, J. M. (2004). Statistical significance is okay, too: Comment on “size matters.” The Journal of Socio-Economics 33, 577–579.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Wright, B. R. E., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E. & Silva, P. A. (2001). The effects of social ties on crime vary by criminal propensity: A life-course model of interdependence. Criminology 39, 321–352.

    Google Scholar 

  • *Wright, J. P., Cullen, F. T., Agnew, R. S. & Brezina, T. (2001). “The root of all evil”? An exploratory study of money and delinquent involvement. Justice Quarterly 18, 239–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zellner, A. (2004). To test or not to test and if so, how? Comments on “size matters?” The Journal of Socio-Economics 33, 581–586.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ziliak, S. T. & McCloskey, D. N. (2004). Size matters: The standard error of regressions in the American Economic Review. The Journal of Socio-Economics 33, 527–546.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Maryland, 2220 LeFrak Hall, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Shawn D. Bushway & Gary Sweeten

  2. Administration of Justice Program, George Mason University, Manassas, VA, USA

    David B. Wilson

Authors
  1. Shawn D. Bushway
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Gary Sweeten
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David B. Wilson
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Shawn D. Bushway.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bushway, S.D., Sweeten, G. & Wilson, D.B. Size matters: Standard errors in the application of null hypothesis significance testing in criminology and criminal justice. J Exp Criminol 2, 1–22 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-005-5129-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-005-5129-7

Key words

Search

Navigation