Examining the Criterion Validity of Police Integrity Measures: Assessing the Police Integrity Scale in an Comparative Context

• In Event: Exploring Police Integrity

Abstract

This paper examines the criterion validity of the police integrity data. Using an external criterion—such as another data source—allows researchers to develop a measure with a higher degree of internal validity. The paper tests the validity of the police integrity data developed by Klockars and colleagues (1997) by comparing it with the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) data and International Crime Victimization Survey (ICVS) data. Using various methods, these data sources provide independent estimates of corruption worldwide and then rank countries based on how corrupt their social institutions—including the police—are relative to other countries. Using estimates of integrity from the same countries on all three data sources, we assess the convergent validity of these various measures of police corruption/integrity.

Authors

• Jon Maskaly, University of Texas as Dallas

• Sanja Kutnjak Ivkovich, Michigan State University

• Christopher Donner, Loyola University Chicago

• Michael Meyer, University of North Dakota

• Maria Haberfeld, The Graduate Center, John Jay College / CUNY