Studying organized crime networks: Data sources, boundaries and the limits of structural measures
Network studies of organized crime (OC) normally explore two key relational issues: the internal structure of groups and the interactions among groups. The paper first discusses in depth two data sources that have been used to address these questions -- phone wiretaps and police-generated “events”–...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Journal article |
| Language: | English |
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Elsevier
2020
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| _version_ | 1826309513311944704 |
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| author | Campana, P Varese, F |
| author_facet | Campana, P Varese, F |
| author_sort | Campana, P |
| collection | OXFORD |
| description | Network studies of organized crime (OC) normally explore two key relational issues: the internal structure of groups and the interactions among groups. The paper first discusses in depth two data sources that have been used to address these questions -- phone wiretaps and police-generated “events”– and reviews issues of validity, reliability and sampling. Next, it discusses challenges related to OC network data in general, focusing on the ‘double boundary specification’ problem and the time span of data collection. We conclude by arguing that structural analysis cannot be divorced from a deep contextual (qualitative) knowledge of the cases. The paper refers to concrete research dilemmas and solutions faced by scholars, including ourselves. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:35:20Z |
| format | Journal article |
| id | oxford-uuid:b8205e1b-5ec4-45d5-adc9-e1225e5906fe |
| institution | University of Oxford |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T07:35:20Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | oxford-uuid:b8205e1b-5ec4-45d5-adc9-e1225e5906fe2023-03-02T12:11:56ZStudying organized crime networks: Data sources, boundaries and the limits of structural measuresJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:b8205e1b-5ec4-45d5-adc9-e1225e5906feEnglishSymplectic ElementsElsevier2020Campana, PVarese, FNetwork studies of organized crime (OC) normally explore two key relational issues: the internal structure of groups and the interactions among groups. The paper first discusses in depth two data sources that have been used to address these questions -- phone wiretaps and police-generated “events”– and reviews issues of validity, reliability and sampling. Next, it discusses challenges related to OC network data in general, focusing on the ‘double boundary specification’ problem and the time span of data collection. We conclude by arguing that structural analysis cannot be divorced from a deep contextual (qualitative) knowledge of the cases. The paper refers to concrete research dilemmas and solutions faced by scholars, including ourselves. |
| spellingShingle | Campana, P Varese, F Studying organized crime networks: Data sources, boundaries and the limits of structural measures |
| title | Studying organized crime networks: Data sources, boundaries and the limits of structural measures |
| title_full | Studying organized crime networks: Data sources, boundaries and the limits of structural measures |
| title_fullStr | Studying organized crime networks: Data sources, boundaries and the limits of structural measures |
| title_full_unstemmed | Studying organized crime networks: Data sources, boundaries and the limits of structural measures |
| title_short | Studying organized crime networks: Data sources, boundaries and the limits of structural measures |
| title_sort | studying organized crime networks data sources boundaries and the limits of structural measures |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT campanap studyingorganizedcrimenetworksdatasourcesboundariesandthelimitsofstructuralmeasures AT varesef studyingorganizedcrimenetworksdatasourcesboundariesandthelimitsofstructuralmeasures |