Theoretical and Methodological Issues in Racial Profiling Research

Abstract

Racial profiling has generated a significant amount of social concern in American society. Yet little is known about the etiology of this phenomenon, in part because its defining characteristics have yet to be identified and conceptualized. In this article, the authors summarize and organize the existing racial profiling literature and establish a strong conceptual foundation for future racial profiling research. Four issues that must be explicitly addressed in the conceptualization process of research on racial profiling are identified and described: realm of activity, level of aggregation and unit of analysis, population of interest, and characteristics of the incident. These factors have methodological implications in terms of data collection, control variables, and methods of analysis.