The new introduction to this edition describes the setting in which the book was written, noting that it expresses optimism that well-conducted research and analysis will lead to important advances in the field. Part I contains two chapters on the nature of methodological criticism. A chapter on "Approaching Methodology" considers methodological criteria and the roles of the methodologist and the investigator. A chapter on "Critiques of Delinquency Research" contains sections on critiques by opponents of quantitative research and critiques by other students of delinquency. Part II focuses on "Causal Analysis." Six chapters discuss principles of causal analysis, causal order, genuine and spurious relations, links in the causal chain, interaction of variables, and false criteria of causality. Part III consists of two chapters on multivariate analysis. The chapters address some problems of multivariate statistical analysis and the shortcomings of tabular analysis. Five chapters on "Conceptualization and Inference" compose Part IV. They discuss concepts, indicators, and indices; reliability and scaling; statistical inference; description and prediction; and individual and group variables. Chapter notes and a subject index