Question

Describe the various ways data is organized and presented in criminal justice research? List your reference please. We are using this book for the class, ELEMENTARY STATISTICS IN CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESEARCH Fourth Edition.

Answer 1

The methods employed in criminological and criminal justice research are identical to those in the behavioral and social sciences in general. A critical assumption underlying the use of these procedures involves the belief in an objective reality, or a world that different people perceive in similar fashion. Related to this assumption is that such a reality can be studied objectively. The perspective that individual and social processes can be studied dispassionately or scientifically is referred to as positivism.

he pieces of information that are gathered and examined during the course of research are referred to as data, which may be either qualitative or quantitative in form. Both forms of information may be gathered through observations of the phenomena under study, and quantitative information may also be compiled through survey research or a review of archival data. Qualitative observations are recorded by researchers as verbal statements that describe particular processes and outcomes, whereas quantitative observations consist of pieces of information recorded in numerical form. Both qualitative and quantitative methods are useful for theory development and testing, although a heavier emphasis in criminology and criminal justice appears to be placed on qualitative research for theory development versus quantitative research for theory/hypothesis testing and program evaluation. Many investigators use both approaches in a single study, however, because findings from each serve as a check on the other.

These methods typically involve exploratory research questions, inductive reasoning, an orientation to social context and human subjectivity, and the meanings attached by participants to events and to their lives. There are a number of distinctive research designs under this paradigm: (1) participant observation - At its most basic level, participant observation involves a variety of strategies in data gathering in which the researcher observes a group by participating, to varying degrees, in the activities of the group

(2) intensive interviewing- tensive interviewing consists of open-ended, relatively unstructured questioning in which the interviewer seeks in-depth information on the interviewee's feelings, experiences, or perceptions

(3) focus groups-Focus groups are groups of unrelated individuals that are formed by a researcher and then led in group discussions of a topic

(4) case studies and life histories- In general, case studies and life histories are in-depth, qualitative studies of one or a few illustrative cases. Several criminological examples using this approach exist, and a few in particular have produced some of the most important, baseline information in the discipline today. The classic example is Sutherland's The Professional Thief (1937)