Measuring Terrorism

Abstract

This study investigates the extent of reporting and nature of biases in open-source (OS) terrorism databases. We compare OS accounts with official accounts on terrorism events in Turkey (1996-2012). Results indicate (a) substantial systematic discrepancy between OS and official accounts, which we attribute primarily to underreporting in OS accounts; (b) the discrepancy is not random—incident characteristics (victim/target, offender, and incident types, temporal and spatial factors) and rational factors (especially newsworthiness) matter; and (c) severity is the strongest predictor of the probability of OS coverage.

A comparison of global suicide terrorism by region before and after 9/11 terrorist attacks

“…First, the lack of a comparison group such as in randomized controlled trials did not allow for a before and after design to produce strong evidence in terms of causality because there might be counterfactual effects of other factors (Sherman et al, 1998). Finally, the reliability and validity of the GTD database is problematic due to its dependence on open-source outlets (Cubukcu and Forst, 2018;Perry et al, 2017).…”

The Theorizing of Terrorism within Criminology

“…While publishing in top journals -such as these -within one's discipline is often critical for decisions relating to hiring, retention, tenure, and promotion in academia, criminologists who study terrorism often publish in other outlets as well. Criminology theory has made important contributions to the field that are published in many of the discipline's other journals (e.g., Akyuz and Armstrong 2011;Carson and Suppenback 2018;Cubukcu and Forst 2018;Freilich et al 2019;Hsu et al 2020) and in edited volumes (e.g., Haner and Sloan 2021;Dugan and Yang 2012;Fisher 2021;LaFree and Dugan 2015;Lynch 2011). Further, criminology theory is prominently featured in terrorism-studies journals and journals from other disciplines (e.g., Dugan and Chenoweth 2012;Dugan et al 2008;Hodwitz 2019;LaFree and Miller 2008;Miller 2016).…”

Students’ Knowledge And Awareness Of Western News Reporting On Islam And Muslims

“…According to Creswell and Creswell (2017) survey is suitable to provide quantitative or numerical explanations of population trends, attitudes or opinions by studying samples from that population. Based on the literature review discussed, a survey questionnaire was developed which consists of three sections including seven items on demographic, 16 items measuring the level of knowledge (Altheide, 2007;Cubukcu & Forst, 2017;Haner et al, 2019;Slone, 2014) and a number of 26 items measuring the level of awareness (Hoffman & Jengelly, 2020;Nellis & Savage, 2012;Saiya & Scime, 2014). A total of 101 respondents were randomly selected from Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) to be involved in this study.…”