Research Portfolio Post #6: Quantitative Data Sources

I am proposing to research human rights law and feminist theory because I want to find out what explains the variation in response to human trafficking between countries. in order to help my reader, understand what the barriers are to progress for women in the international human rights system.

For my preliminary research I found the United Nations Surveys of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems Series, Waves 1-10, 1970-2006. The entire data set focuses on crime counts and different facets of a country’s criminal investigation and court process.[1] There are also recordings of how many crimes are prosecuted and budgets allocated for policing.[2]  Most variables, including the ones mentioned, are measured on an interval scale in this data set.

One major limitation of this data set is that it doesn’t solely focus on human trafficking so there is no difference made between the different types of human trafficking (i.e bonded labor, prostitution, etc). If those differences were made clear it would be much easier to discuss context, cultural factors, and local histories. Not all forms of human trafficking are the same, thus not all forms will appear in every country at the same rates. I also think another limitation of the data set is that it isn’t very recent. I think the time period is large enough, but it would have been nice if there was survey data collected in the recent past. I think this because I would be able to provide some more insight into what the current trends are and how it relates to past years data.

Bibliography:

United Nations Office at Vienna. Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch. United Nations Surveys of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems Series, Waves 1-10, 1970-2006. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2010-07-22. https://doi-org.proxyau.wrlc.org/10.3886/ICPSR26462.v1

 

 

[1] United Nations Office at Vienna. Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch. United Nations Surveys of Crime Trends and Operations of Criminal Justice Systems Series, Waves 1-10, 1970-2006. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2010-07-22. https://doi-org.proxyau.wrlc.org/10.3886/ICPSR26462.v1

 

[2] Ibid

2 thoughts to “Research Portfolio Post #6: Quantitative Data Sources”

  1. Thamara — the dataset that you have found here is clearly relevant to your overall research puzzle. It would be good to think a bit more about your DV and what you are aiming to explain in this methodology. Right now, the question that you pose — “What explains the variation in response to human trafficking between countries?” — indicates that “response” is your DV. How would you operationalize this idea of response? What datasets might contain data for that response variable?

  2. Thamara,

    It seems like you’ve found a very solid source here for collecting crime data. I do wonder, regarding the limitations of the data set, how accurate collecting “crime counts” can be. I’m assuming wondering what sources the UN collects this data through — if they rely on crime counts reported by each nation, you may want to take into consideration the amount of corruption in a specific country or government as a limitation for correct reporting. In that same mindset, naturally there is no perfect way to collect this data, but stating your awareness of this will help cover you and refine your analysis of the given data if you choose this method of research as you continue.

    Best of luck!

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