Research With Online Government Databases and Summary Reports: Law Enforcement Fatalities, Accidents, and Citizen Contacts, a Multi-Year Review

Abstract

This case study examines two research projects to illustrate the possibilities and practicalities of exploring existing data and turning it into worthwhile scientific inquiries. Our projects utilized open access governmental information also known as secondary data that is available through online datasets or summary reports. For our projects, we identified the topics we were interested in and the available governmental resources, accessed the material, collected the data, aggregated the information, and presented the results at the Society for Police and Criminal Psychology conferences in 2018 and 2021. Using open access data involves some challenges because datasets and reports will have changed over time. Therefore, combining the data requires some adjustments. Researchers must make decisions concerning these differences and fully explain the decisions regarding what is included or not included and the justifications. We offer suggestions for conducting research with online governmental datasets and summary reports. We provide links to resources within the United States and internationally. We discuss access and options to statistical data throughout the world. This type of research project makes use of a tremendous amount of existing work, such as survey development and implementation. We provide practical considerations to enhance the value and utilization of data that has already been collected. Using existing datasets and summary reports, researchers can save a tremendous amount of time and money while providing a great service to the research community and the world at large with aggregated data that is relevant and may be applied to provide current insight and future directions.

locked icon

Sign in to access this content

Get a 30 day FREE TRIAL

  • Watch videos from a variety of sources bringing classroom topics to life
  • Read modern, diverse business cases
  • Explore hundreds of books and reference titles