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Telescoping

Definition

A memory error in which respondents misplace events in time, typically drawing incidents from outside the reference period into it (forward telescoping), leading to over-counting of recent crime. Forward telescoping is the more common direction.

Related terms

CSEW (Crime Survey for England and Wales)
The principal victimisation survey in England and Wales, conducted by the Office for National Statistics since 1982. Interviews around 35,000 adults annually...
Dark figure of crime
The gap between the actual volume of crime and the amount recorded in official statistics. Crimes go unrecorded when victims do not...
NCVS (National Crime Victimization Survey)
The principal victimisation survey in the United States, administered by the Bureau of Justice Statistics since 1973. Interviews approximately 240,000 individuals in...
Self-report study
A research method in which respondents are asked to disclose offences they have committed, whether or not those offences resulted in arrest...
Victimisation survey
A survey that asks a random population sample about crimes experienced in a reference period, regardless of whether those incidents were reported...

Explained in

  • Victimisation and Self-Report SurveysA memory error in which respondents misplace events in time, typically drawing incidents from outside the reference period into it (forward telescoping), leadi...

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