Premium
Methodological considerations of determining dominance in multidimensional analyses of crime scene behaviours and offender characteristics
Author(s) -
Trojan Carrie,
Salfati C. Gabrielle
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of investigative psychology and offender profiling
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.479
H-Index - 22
eISSN - 1544-4767
pISSN - 1544-4759
DOI - 10.1002/jip.88
Subject(s) - psychology , offender profiling , homicide , dominance (genetics) , multidimensional scaling , criminology , thematic analysis , social psychology , context (archaeology) , poison control , human factors and ergonomics , sociology , qualitative research , computer science , data mining , statistics , social science , geography , mathematics , medicine , biochemistry , chemistry , environmental health , archaeology , gene , visualization
Aimed at critically examining how offenders and offences are conceptualised, Investigative Psychology has seen a substantial increase in studies of crime scene behaviours and offender characteristics using multidimensional scaling (MDS) analyses that build thematic models of crime scene behaviours based on the co‐occurrence variables and then testing the frameworks by determining if cases are dominant in a single thematic region. Although methods have been developed, issues that arise from using different methods and the effect on the results obtained have never been thoroughly discussed. Framed in the context of the evolution of how people have been classified in offender profiling research and elsewhere, this paper examines the established procedures used in MDS studies to determine dominance. Two methods—proportional versus the quantity of variables present—are compared across four levels of stringency within a framework of homicide offenders' criminal convictions. Results support the most common criterion used in prior studies of homicide and demonstrate that the subject of the framework or type of variables may dictate which method is more appropriate. The results strengthen the argument that a standard protocol for determining dominance should be adopted to increase consistency across studies to add to the development of Investigative Psychology. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.