A User‐Friendly Introduction to Panel Data Modeling

Abstract

This paper offers a brief user‐friendly introduction to panel data modeling in criminal justice and criminology. The author assumes that the reader is familiar with ordinary least squares regression. Topics covered include the problems of pooling data over time and space, model selection, and estimation issues in a fixed‐effects context. The paper concludes with a look at some extensions that help researchers model and/or account for simultaneity, heterogeneous year effects, unit‐specific effects, and events.