ppt_maxfieldbabbie_ch01

7/25/2019 PPT_MaxfieldBabbie_Ch01

1/19

1

Crime, Criminal Justice,

and Scientific Inquiry


2/19

Criminal Justice professionals are bothconsumers and producers of research

It is important for Criminal Justiceprofessionals to be informed consumersof research

Need to understand findings and how toapply those findings to his or herdepartment

2


3/19

!periential reality " #he things we $nowfrom direct e!perience %e&g& learning that aburner is hot by touching a sto'e(

)greement reality " #hings we considerreal because we ha'e been told they arereal, and e'eryone agrees %e&g&, sun sets inthe *est(

+ansas City re'enti'e atrol !perimentre'ealed the agreement reality that simplyincreasing patrols decreased crime was

misleading

-


4/19

mpirical research . +nowledge producedbased on e!perience or obser'ation

Scientists ha'e certain criteria to be metwhen accepting e!periential andagreement realities

)n assertion must ha'e both logical andempirical support

/ethodology . #he science of finding out

0


5/19

uture circumstances are caused orconditioned by present ones

*e use causal and probabilistic reasoning

#he goal is to understand why certain thingsare related, why patterns occur, to enable usto ma$e more accurate predictions


6/19

#radition " #hings that 3e'erybody $nows4

!5 6ri'ing on the left side of the road in the7S is dangerous

)uthority " #rusting the 8udgment of someonewith special e!pertise

!5 9ou are more li$ely to belie'e a 8udge

regarding your dri'er:s license suspension thanyour parents

;oth pro'ide us with a starting point for our

own inquiry

ation " ='ercome by replicatingthe study to see if you get the same results

Selecti'e =bser'ation " Specify in ad'ance

the number and types of obser'ations

?


8/19

Illogical @easoning " 7se systems of logic,

consciously and e!plicitly

Ideology and olitics " Auard against its

influence

#o rr is Buman " #a$e precautions to a'oiderror


9/19

!amine an issue or policy about which little is$nown

/ight also collect data on some measure toser'e as a baseline for later comparisons

)ppropriate when some type of policy change

is being considered

/ay be simple or comple! and can use a'ariety of methods


10/19

=bser'e and describe the scope of a problemor policy response

/a$e more accurate and formal obser'ations

=ften concerned with counting or documentingobser'ationsD e!ploratory studies focus more onde'eloping a preliminary understanding

!ample5 7S Census, 7C@

ollowing e!ploration, we want to $now theproblem:s frequencyEpre'alenceEdegreeEscope

1F


11/19

!plain things " answers 3whyG4

*hy ha'e we seen a certain change in scopeG

*hy does a certain problem e!istG

!5 *hy do some people write computer

'irusesG, *hy do some people assault theirspousesG

11


12/19

)pplied research is often used to e'aluate theeffects of specific criminal 8ustice programs

#wo ma8or types of applied research5

'aluation research " Comparing program goalsto results

olicy analysis " rospecti'e " )nticipate futureconsequences of alternati'e actions

12


13/19

=ne of the most difficult parts of the researchprocess is framing your interest into a researchquestion&

@esearchers often ha'e to rewor$ or clarifyresearch problems as they learn more about a topic

@esearchers should begin with their owne!periences and obser'ations and then learn moreabout the e!isting research

1-


14/19

#ells you what is $now and what is un$nown

+eep notes of articles as you re'iew them

;egin with a boo$ or article on your topic

#his is your source document

ind sources that are cited in the source documentand find other sources that ha'e cited your sourcedocument

10


15/19

@eading an article

Start with the abstract . It will tell you if the

article is rele'ant to your study

Ne!t, read the summary and conclusions

S$im the article paying attention to headings,

tables and graphs

Carefully read the entire article

)s$ for help if you do not understand the article

1


16/19

@eading a boo$.length report

Start with the preface H It will tell you if the

article is rele'ant to your study

S$im the boo$ paying attention to theorgani>ation, headings, tables, graphs, andma8or findings

@ead it closely while ta$ing notes

If you decide to read the boo$, repeat theprocess with each chapter

1ed

@eferences H ist of materials consulted and citedin the proposal

Schedule H ) timeline for the 'arious stages ofthe proposal

;udget H Specifies where money to support theresearch will be spent

1

ppt_maxfieldbabbie_ch01

Documents