Note
Authors affiliated with:
School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University.
"TSAS is supported as a national strategic initiative funded by SSHRC and Public Safety Canada, along with the following departments of the federal government: Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS), Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)".
Summary
"While Canadian authorities have made significant strides in combatting terrorism, there remains much that is unknown about the phenomenon. One of the most basic questions for which there is scant empirical data relates to numbers. Specifically, at present we lack any solid estimates of the number of violent extremists in Canada. The reasons for the paucity of information are clear. The very nature of terrorism, a socially stigmatized and illegal activity, necessitates secrecy. Consequently, terrorists go to great lengths to avoid detection.
The objective of this report is to examine how the numbers of terrorists might be determined or estimated in a more systematic, or at least more methodologically compelling, way.
This study explores the range of "hidden population" techniques, and attempts to determine which, if any, might assist in better estimating the number of terrorists in Canada."--Includes text from Introduction.
Contents
Introduction -- 1. Hidden populations -- 2. Link-tracing designs -- 2.1. How it works -- 2.2. Snowball sampling -- 2.3. Network sampling -- 2.4. Respondant-driven sampling -- 2.5. Adaptive sampling -- 2.6. Populations studied using link-tracing designs -- 2.7. Advantages of link-tracing designs -- 2.8. Disadvantages of link-tracing designs -- 3. Targeted sampling -- 3.1. How it works -- 3.2. Populations studied using targeted sampling -- 3.3. Advantages and disadvantages of targeted sampling -- 4. Time-location sampling (TLS) -- 4.1. How it works -- 4.2. Populations studied using time-located sampling -- 4.3. Advantages of time-located sampling -- 4.4. Disadvantages of time-located sampling -- 5. Capture-recapture method -- 5.1. How it works -- 5.2. Populations studied using capture-recapture -- 5.3. Advantages of capture-recapture -- 5.4. Disadvantages of capture-recapture H2 -- 6. Fieldwork method -- 6.1. How it works -- 6.2. Populations studied using the fieldwork method -- 6.3. Advantages and disadvantages of the fieldwork method -- 7. Multiplier method -- 7.1. How it works -- 7.2. Populations studied using the multiplier method -- 7.3. Advantages and disadvantages of the multiplier method -- 8. General issues -- 9. Applications to extremist populations -- 10. Application in the Canadian context -- References.