Impact of Situational Factors on Survey Measured Fear of Crime

Abstract

This article examines the influence of dynamic situational factors on responses to fear of crime questions in a street survey carried out in the city of Malaga, Spain. Pedestrians in two popular and well‐defined commercial centres were asked about their assessments of crime rates and their fear of victimisation during the day within the two geographical areas. Multi‐variate analysis suggests that the time of day, the physical character of the street in which the interview took place, and perhaps also the flow of people, each had effects on at least one of the two fear of crime measures. The research reinforces the view that survey measurement of attitudes, including fear of crime, has important sources of instability. It also draws attention to a neglected class of variables potentially important in structuring survey measured attitudes.