Use of the Comparative Method for Generating Theory in Police Administration Studies an Assessment
| Author | John C. Meyer |
| Published date | 01 June 1971 |
| Date | 01 June 1971 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/000486587100400202 |
72
Use
for
AUST. &N.Z. JO'URNAL OF CRIMINOLOGY (June, 1971): 4, 2
AN
ASSESSMENT
JOHN
C. MEYER JR. *
IF
one wished to make avalue-free
judgement
of
the
total
impact
that
comparative police
administration
studies
have
had
on
the
discipline of
police science, one would immediately realise
that
there
is a complete lack
of
any
formal criteria
with
which to judge
the
contributions to
the
literature. Authors who have added to
the
burgeoning
quantity
of police
studies
have
often
proceeded
in
ahelter-skelter fashion,
with
either
total
disregard for
the
useful contributions of earlier writers or a
total
reliance upon them.
In
either
case
the
total
Impact of
the
majority
of
those studies
has
been obviated by
the
poor
standard
of scholarly research,
attention
to detail
and
exposition.Pecadillos
as
these
may have been
excusable
in
the
early developmental stages of
the
now established social
sciences,
but
are
inexcusable
today
in light of
vast
accumulations of
knowledge
in
those
other
related
disciplmes
during'
the
past
two decades.
The poor quality of
many
of
the
studies in police science
cannot
be
attri-
buted to a
lack
of methodology or theoretical constructs, for
there
is no
reason why
the
police scientist
cannot
profit from those being employed
by
the
other
social sciences.
In
recognition of
the
lack of
any
formal effort being
undertaken
by
the
majority
of police scientists to concern themselves
with
the
genera-
tion of useful theory
that
would advance
the
discipline to
the
level of
other
social sciences,
this
paper
presents
the
author's
views as to
the
immediate
need
in police studies
that
would
aid
in
the
academic
maturation
of
the
field.
It
also presents one
method
by which available comparative
studies
can
be assessed and, hopefully, will provide
future
writers
with
aguideline needed to generate theory.
Although
the
use of
the
comparative method
has
been applauded by
other
social scientists -Durkhelm!
and
Radcliffe-Brown2
are
two of
the
*B.A. PhD.
student
at
School of Criminal Justice,
State
University of
New
York, Albany.
1. See Emile Durkheim, The Rules of Sociological Method (New York: The
Free
Press, 1938),
wherein
he
notes
that
"the
comparative
method
is
the
only one
suited
to sociology" (p. 125).
2. See A. R. Radc.liffe-Brown,
"On
Social
Structure,"
The
Journal
of
the
Roval Anthropological
Institute
of
Great
Britain and Ireland, Vol. 70 (1940) pp. 1-12.
"The
use of comparison is
indispensible. The
study
of a single
society
may provide
materials
for comparative study,
or it
may
afford occasion for hypotheses, which
then
need to be
tested
by reference to
other
societies: it [the
study
of a single society]
cannot
give
demonstrated
results
(p, 5)."
Use
of
the Comparative Method
for Generating Theory in
Police
Administration Studies
AN
ASSESSMENT
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