Crime Rate Survey Analysis

In this post, I wanted to present a survey that produced intriguing results. I feel that general crime statistics do not tell the full story of the effects crime has on people. This survey "Perceptions of Violent Crime in the U.S." was conducted by Gallup Politics in 2013 and it shows how people interpret local and national crime rate trends.

The survey found that most people generally say that violent crime had increased in the past year in the United States during the 16 year period this study focused on. However, when asked about crime in their locality fewer people said violent crime in their areas had gone up.

People who elected to participate in this survey did so by telephone. In all, 1,028 people were surveyed from all 50 states. Each person surveyed was at least 18 years old. The survey occurred from October 3rd to the October 6th 2013 and the survey matched national demographic factors such as gender, age, and race.

This survey likely reflects the opinions of the population it represents. In this case, the answers to the questions answers were simple and direct and the people administering the survey made an effort to people living in different areas that have different backgrounds to eliminate bias.


A couple questions asked in the survey were "Is there more crime in a U.S. than year ago or less" and "Is there more crime in your area than a year ago or less." The subjects could have responded by either saying there was more or less crime in the past year to either of these questions.

The results generated from this survey seem to be pretty useful. The responses to the questions agree with the purpose of the survey. The questions were understandable and painless for participants. Yet, a question that asked what influenced the decisions people made the most could have been helpful.

For the most part, the survey is credible. The surveyors were keen to reach out to different people of different backgrounds to obtain unprejudiced data. Nonetheless, there were not any questions that justified the responses as to why people thought crime rate had increased or decreased.