This remarkable guide to delinquency studies was co-winner of the 1968 C. Wright Mills Award for the best book in the field of social problems. The work is in effect three books in one: a forthright account of how to analyze survey data, a penetrating critique of delinquency research, and a set of original essays on methodology. It is a landmark work that continues to serve as an essential tool for those who both study and want to learn about deviance.

In the new introduction, Travis Hirschi describes the setting in which Delinquency Research was written, noting that it exudes a confident optimism that well-conducted research and analysis will quickly lead to important advances in the field. Hirschi maintains that twenty-eight years after Delinquency Research was first published the validity of its optimistic view has been confirmed by the fact that the field of criminology is among the leading producers of high quality research. As a result, we know more about crime and delinquency than ever before. Delinquency Research forms the basis for present and future studies of criminology and is a necessary addition to the libraries of sociologists, criminologists, scholars in the area of delinquency, and students interested in research methods.