Key Dimensions in Understanding Terrorist Bomb Attacks

Investigator:

Margaret Wilson

Building on forensic psychology methods, (1) new data on the behavioral features of terrorist bomb attacks will be collected to supplement a sample of START’s Global Terrorism Database, to include event-specific data on implied planning, organization, and motivation; and (2) analysis using quantitative statistics and the non-metric multi-dimensional scaling techniques associated with Facet Theory; Multi-dimensional Scalogram Analysis (MSA) and Partial Order Scalogram Analysis (POSA). Both techniques are forms of multi-dimensional scaling suitable for qualitative data, which will use crime scene variables to define and interpret bombing types.

This research was supported by the DHS Science and Technology Directorate’s Human Factors/Behavioral Sciences Division.

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