The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice, Sixth Edition continues to demonstrate the vital role research plays by integrating in-depth, real-world case studies with a comprehensive discussion of research methods. By pairing research techniques with practical examples from the field, Ronet D. Bachman and Russell K. Schutt equip students to evaluate and conduct research. Covering research findings from critical areas in criminal justice, such as police use of force, cybercrime, and race, this text helps students understand the importance of research, not just the process.  
 
The Sixth Edition of this best-selling text retains the strengths of previous editions while breaking ground with emergent research methods, enhanced tools for learning in the text and online, and contemporary, fascinating research findings. Students engage with the wide realm of new research methods available to them, delve deeper into topics relevant to their field of study, and benefit from the wide variety of new exercises to help them practice as they learn.

Review
 
"This is my primary text and because the book is both comprehensive and accessible I plan to continue to use it."
-- Mark G. Harmon
"The clear and concise writing of the material facilitates understanding. Reading this text is not an overwhelming task for my students."
-- Margaret Pate
"Ample examples of criminal justice research studies"
-- Eileen M. Ahlin
"Most comprehensive research methods textbook in criminal justice and criminology"
-- S. Hakan Can
"Making research accessible to students (increasing their confidence)"
-- Sanjay Marwah
"…It is more extensive than the previous books I used…I anticipate that students will find this text easy to understand."
-- Raymund E.Narag
"Thorough coverage of the topics…extensive use of learning and teaching aids (highlights, exercises and key term descriptions)"
-- Charles E. Wilson
 
About the Author

Ronet Bachman, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware. She is coauthor of Statistical Methods for Crime and Criminal Justice, coauthor of The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice, co-editor of Explaining Crime and Criminology: Essays in Contemporary Criminal Theory. In addition, she is author of Death and Violence on the Reservation; coauthor of Stress, Culture, and Aggression in the United States; and coauthor of Murder American Style as well as numerous articles and papers that examine the epidemiology and etiology of violence, with a particular emphasis on women, the elderly, and minority populations. Her most recent federally funded research examines the desistance trajectories of drug-involved offenders 10 years after release from prison using a mixed-method design.
 
 
Russell K. Schutt, PhD, is Professor of Sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston; Clinical Research Scientist I at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; and Lecturer (part-time) in the Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. He completed his BA, MA, and PhD degrees at the University of Illinois at Chicago and his postdoctoral fellowship in the Sociology of Social Control Training Program at Yale University. In addition to Investigating the Social World: The Process and Practice of Research and adaptations of that text―Understanding the Social World: Research Methods for the 21st Century, Making Sense of the Social World (with Dan Chambliss), Research Methods in Psychology (with Paul G. Nestor), The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice and Fundamentals of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice (with Ronet Bachman), The Practice of Research in Social Work and Fundamentals of Social Work Research (with Ray Engel), and Research Methods in Education (with Joseph Check)―he is the author of Homelessness, Housing, and Mental Illness and Organization in a Changing Environment, coeditor of Social Neuroscience: Brain, Mind, and Society and of The Organizational Response to Social Problems, and coauthor of Responding to the Homeless: Policy and Practice. He has authored and coauthored more than 65 peer-reviewed journal articles as well as many book chapters and research reports on homelessness, mental health, service preferences and satisfaction, organizations, and the sociology of law. His current and most recent research includes a $200,000 National Science Foundation-funded study of the social impact of the pandemic in Boston, with collaborators at the Center for Survey Research (UMass Boston) and Northeastern University, a $3.8 million randomized comparative effectiveness trial of two socially-oriented interventions to improve community functioning among persons diagnosed with serious mental illness, funded by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center with collaborators at the Harvard Medical School, and a $1 million Veterans Health Administration-funded study of peer support with colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Medical School  .