Issue in research design

Steps in research

Idea Review of the literature

Use of journal articles

Using the internet

Data bases: psychinfo, proquest (scholarly journals), NCJRS, Lexus-Nexis

Steps

Re-evaluation of the original idea Conceptualization, specification of terms

Gun control

Recidivism

Violence in prisons

Operationalization—how will concepts be measured? Examples

Steps

Population and sample Research method(s) Experiments, surveys, observation,

record analysis, evaluation Data processing Statistical analysis, descriptive and

inferential

Steps

Discussion, theoretical and practical applications

APA style

Research proposals & grants

Granting agencies i.e., MO Department of Public Safety,

National Institute of Justice (NIJ), National Institute of Corrections (NIC), Office of Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)

Open grants Requests for Proposals (RFPs)

Components of a proposal

Abstract or Executive Summary Introduction: problem, literature review Method: subjects section, instruments

section, procedure (data collection) Schedule Budget Bibliography and appendices

Research article

Abstract, Introduction, Method section with 3 possible subsections (subjects, instruments, procedure), Results, Discussion, Bibliography, Appendices

Research article in the past tense, includes results and discussion

Proposal in the future tense, no results and discussion, but has schedule & budget

Conceptualization

Specify what is meant by a particular term

Dimension: specifiable aspect of a concept

Liberal vs. conservative What are some aspects of this concept? Gun control

Operational definition

How a concept will be measured Prison violence—how will we “count” it? Incidents Perceptions Morale in an agency Citizen satisfaction/dissatisfaction of

police Trait of aggression

Characteristics of measurement

1. Levels of measurement Nominal Ordinal Interval/ratio Must be constructed Statistical analyses dependent on level

of measument

Characteristics of measurement

2. Reliability: test-retest, inter-rater reliability, split-half

3. Validity: face, content, criterion-related, construct

Convergent and discriminant validity

Some forms of measurement

Scales and indices Use of multiple questions, added

together to create measurement MMPI—your responses compared to

that of known psychiatric groups. Responses for a particular scale are added together

Forms of measurement

Typologies Criminal behavior systems.

Measuring crime

UCR Victimization surveys, NCVS, National

Crime Victimization Survey Self-report

UCR

Major problems Unreported crime—misinterpretation of

crime rates Dark Figure Citizens do not report, and sometimes

police do not (can be political, use of discretion)

Hierarchy rule

Incident based measures

Supplementary homicide reports (SHR) Collects information about victims,

offenders age gender and race, relationship between victim & offender, weapon, location, circumstances

National incident-based reporting system (NIBRS): broader in terms of offenses, information about offenders and victims

NIBRS

Also includes victimless crimes, attempted and completed, drug related offenses, computer crimes

Requires more time, police may selectively report

Voluntary

NCVS

Conducted by Census Bureau since 1972

Interview survey technique, face-face Tends to miss business crimes,

victimless crimes, status offenses Does not include murder Recall errors-can’t remember,

telescoping, acquaintance crimes

Other surveys

Community surveys Monitoring the future: annual surveys of

high school seniors Self report studies Use in combination with arrests as a

measure of criminal behavior

Other CJ records

Arrests Convictions Recidivism All are affect by discretion and by

changes in policies Juvenile statistics are particularly

vulnerable to these problems