Fear of Crime Quantitative Measurement Instability Revisited and Qualitative Consistency Added: Results from a Three Wave Trinidadian Longitudinal Study 1

Abstract

A previous article (reporting the first two waves of the three reported here) generated from this longitudinal Trinidadian data base indicated that, for each question on general feelings of safety or on specific worry about crime, some individuals changed their response when asked the same question 12 months later, and some did not. Data in this paper indicate that some of those who had not changed their minds the first two times they were asked, had changed it by the third time, and some still had not. Some who had changed their minds by wave 2, had changed it back again by wave 3, and some stayed with their wave 2 answer. However, when some triple wave respondents were interviewed qualitatively, many had good reasons for changing their minds, for not changing their minds and even for changing it back again. This suggests that there may be two dimensions of change at work. First, some confirmed instability of response at the quantitative level; but second, and cross-cutting the first, there is some consistency with reported experience when considered qualitatively.