Perceptions

Research today is often charged with providing evidence to underpin decision-making that influences policy development, healthcare practice or simply furthering our understanding of society. As researchers, we are thus called to focus our efforts on exploring the different social contexts experienced by individuals, communities and organisations. This requires us to perfect our understanding of issues by considering a variety of opinions, viewpoints or perspectives in specific contexts. It means moving research away from a 'simulated environment' and venturing into the 'real world' where life experiences and expectations are played out.

to examine and develop their understanding of people's experiences and expectations in the situations where they take place. It tries to make sense of the world, not only by presenting the findings from the viewpoint of the individuals involved, but also by embedding the social context of that experience in the research process. The context in which experiences occur are a key strength of the value of ethnography in enabling service providers, healthcare professionals and policy makers to use the results of research in initiating, developing or evaluating healthcare and social care practice.

The authors in this issue highlight the challenges and opportunities in using various forms of ethnographic methods and approaches in their research practice. Their accounts are enlightening and thought-provoking. The commentary accompanying the themed papers is written to provide a critical and useful introduction to ethnography and its application to our work as researchers.

Finally, I will end by highlighting an amendment from the previous issue. In Professor Elizabeth Anionwu's 'Making my Mark' article, a typographical error crept in, identifying her as a professor of 'pursing'. It should, of course, have read professor of nursing. Apologies to Elizabeth -- happy retirement.

This research used descriptive, written scenarios to test the perceptions of crime, fear of crime, and defensible space of residents in three Fort Worth, Texas, neighborhood associations. The survey instrument included two different measures of fear of crime: 1) fear of crime in hypothetical scenarios, and 2) fear of crime in resident's own neighborhoods to examine whether residents who were fearful in their own neighborhood also reported high levels of fear in hypothetical neighborhoods. The instrument also tested whether residents perceived certain neighborhoods as defensible and if residents recognized what crime prevention scholars defined as "safe" environments. The multiple regression models controlled for actual crime by asking about personal crime victimization and acquaintance crime victimization. Numerous demographic characteristics were also regressed on fear of crime in hypothetical neighborhoods, and perceptions of defensible space in hypothetical neighborhoods. The results suggested that the presence of adequate maintenance, presence of signs of community investment, and gender were the most significant variables in explaining fear of crime in hypothetical scenarios. In terms of defensibility of the space, the most significant predictors were maintenance, signs, marital status, and education. Policy implications were discussed as well as suggestions for future research.

News reports and television programs like "Law & Order" and "CSI" might lead us to believe crime's up in our backyards, even though the number of us who say we've actually been victims remains virtually unchanged from four years ago, a survey released Monday suggests.

The survey by the Sociology Research Lab at Indiana State University showed that 17 percent of respondents said they were victims of a property crime in the past year and 3.5 percent said they had suffered a violent personal crime, percentages nearly identical to those in a similar survey in 2003.

Yet, 40 percent of respondents said they believed crime in their neighborhoods had grown over the past 12 months, compared with 31 percent in the earlier survey.

That's because other factors including widely publicized crimes such as child abductions, major trials and television programming also affect our perceptions of crime, said Bob Huckabee, an associate professor of criminology at ISU, located in Terre Haute.

"Those types of things shape perceptions as much as people's own experiences," Huckabee said.

The lab conducted the survey of 747 adults from all 92 Indiana counties between May 14 and June 7. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.6 percentage points.

The 2003 survey also said 17 percent of respondents reported having been the victim of a property crime during the previous year, and 3.7 percent said they were victims of violent crimes.

"A lot of it is perception," agreed Doug Gosser, executive director of the Indiana Sheriffs' Association. "A lot of it can be based on the shows out there on TV and the way people view local law enforcement."

The survey also suggested that fewer people are reporting crimes compared with four years ago. It showed 66 percent of property crimes and 77 percent of violent crimes were reported to police, compared with 83 percent of property crimes and 93 percent of violent crimes in 2003.

Like perceptions of crime, whether a victim reports an offense also is influenced by a variety of factors, including one's attitude toward police and how serious the problem was, Huckabee said.

"When it's more harmful, it's more likely to be reported to police," he said.

Local law enforcement generally gets good marks. Asked to grade their local police and sheriff's departments, 65 percent of respondents in the latest survey gave them an A or B, a slight drop from 68.5 percent four years ago.

Fewer than half of respondents gave high marks to prosecutors (47 percent) and judges (49 percent).

Gosser said fewer people might be reporting crimes because budget constraints have cut funding for community policing, school resource offices and other programs that raise the visibility of sheriff's deputies and police.

"I hate to see that happening in Indiana or anywhere in the nation. Those folks are our eyes and ears," Gosser said.

The survey also included these findings:

-- Seventeen percent of respondents said they know someone who has been charged with a crime related to methamphetamine use, compared with 15 percent four years