Method of Inquiry

Method of Inquiry

Method of Inquiry

To address the above research questions, we conducted a scoping review (SR). A SR is an exploratory form of knowledge synthesis that allows researchers to understand better what work has been undertaken in a given field (Arksey and O’Malley 2005). SRs are similar to other review methodologies, such as systematic reviews, in that they require a replicable, systematic, and structured search for and the inclusion of literature materials. Though, they differ by allowing the search criteria to be changed post-hoc as one becomes more familiar with the literature, and they do not involve an assessment of the literature quality (ibid.). Given that it was expected that there would be a limited number of studies, and to have the ability to include grey literature, this method was thought more suitable for the purposes of this study. In the pages that follow, we explore the types of topics previous researchers have undertaken, the data sources and methodologies employed, as well as the years and scholarly fields in which studies were produced. Using this technique will help to provide an assessment of not only what is currently available to inform public policy and practice but also, and perhaps more importantly, where we should be focusing future research efforts.

Search Strategy

To construct our search strategy, we had to make several decisions as to what types of material we would be searching for and where we would be looking. We expected that the overall volume of Canadian studies published in peer-reviewed journals in this area would be low, thus early on, the decision was made to include both peer-reviewed published research and studies found within the ‘grey literature’ – that is, government and non-governmental reports, Masters theses and doctoral dissertations. We also anticipated that, given the estimated low volume of available material, we would have to search as widely as possible. To that end, we decided to begin by searching academic databases using a university search engine with access to PsycINFO, Criminal Justice Abstracts, PubMed, Web of Science, Scholars Portal, and Sociological Abstracts, among others. Once we had exhausted our ability to find useful material through this method, we turned to the Google search engine to look for government and NGO reports before focusing our efforts on Google Scholar.

All searches were conducted using keywords, and the date range was set to 2001 to 2021. Keywords used included iterations and combinations of ‘Canada,’ ‘Canadian,’ ‘police,’ ‘policing,’ ‘cyber,’ ‘Internet,’ ‘online,’ ‘research,’ and ‘study.’ We typically stopped reading search results at the 100th result, as at that point, most results were no longer relevant. To arrive at our final sample, the abstracts of returned results were first read in full, and an initial decision was made as to whether to include or exclude as a result. If it was not clear after reading the abstract whether a paper met the inclusion criteria as noted below, it was downloaded and read to assess its applicability to our topic. After each of the downloaded articles was reviewed against the inclusion criteria, we arrived at a final sample of a collection of 18 studies.

Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

As the goal of the larger project within which this scoping review falls is to begin the process of assessing the evidence base for public policy or practice related to cybercrime, the decision was made to focus solely on studies in which research had been conducted. We define ‘research’ in this context as an empirically grounded, systematic study to identify, explain, predict and/or determine the causes of a given phenomenon. For full details, Figure 1 below offers a visual presentation of our complete exclusion and inclusion criteria.

Figure 1. Visual Presentation of the Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

Coding and Analysis

To answer the first and second research questions, we employed a simple inductive coding scheme using the following categories: title, first author, year of publication, topic, approach (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed methods), methods (data collection and analysis techniques), and data source. Answering the third research question required a novel approach. We had to construct a list of topics that were potentially missing from the Canadian literature. To do this, we relied upon the published annual meeting program guides of the American Society of Criminology (ASC) annual conferences. As the ASC hosts one of the largest international criminology conferences, it can be deduced that the program agendas would reflect some of the major concerns and interests in the field of cybercrime generally and cyberpolicing more specifically. To develop our list, we searched each of the program guides available (2005 to 2021) for paper titles and abstracts and then coded relevant abstracts. The results are located in Appendix III. Finally, to achieve a measure of reliability in the coded data, all coding was independently verified.