About the Research Project It is said in the syllabus that you are required

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About the Research
Project
It
is said in the syllabus that you are required to present a 8 to 10 page double
space (Font 12) research project. The
project is worth 15 points and represents 15% of your overall grade. It is an important project. The project will be written in a journal
article format and will report the results of a survey research consistent with
the knowledge gained in this course or based on other related knowledge. Pick up any journal article written according
to the APA style, and see the format that is used, that is, the different
sections of the journal, the font, the space between lines, the reference
system, etc. (The
Journal Article Summary you did earlier was in preparation for this Research
Project)
The project should
follow the following structure, that is, every paper should contain the
following 11 items:
(1) a cover page which contains the title of the project
and the names of the authors as specified at the end of these instructions.
Each paper needs to have a title. In this case, the title could be one of the
following, depending upon which one you choose:
“Examining the issue of disproportionate representation of
minorities in the justice system in the State of Texas, myth and/or reality”.
“Examining the use of excessive force by law enforcement
personnel during encounters with minority populations in the state of Texas,
myth and/or reality.”
(Write only on one of the two topics suggested here; Do not write on
any other topic of your choice)
(2)
a table of
content
(3) an abstract. An abstract is a succinct description of the
whole research project. It includes the
purpose of the study, the methodology used (describing the procedure, the
population, the sampling, the data source -in this case, it probably will be
secondary data or data from Agencies- the analysis), the key findings and the
implications or recommendations. All
this should be said in less than 150 words (about a third to a half page).
(4) a clearly stated research question
(what the researcher wants to investigate), the importance and relevance of the
topic. In chapter 3 of the textbook we
discussed this issue. In this case your
research question should be related to the title.
(5) a complete literature review: you
should put together a review of the literature related to the topic to be investigated. It means that you have to go to the library
or go to the internet and read articles or books that have dealt with the topic
you are investigating. The literature review helps you learn about what has
been said by previous researchers on this topic, what were their findings, what
were their successes or shortcomings (limitations), what new orientation they
propose, so that you, as a junior researcher, can see what stone was left
unturned, and you can fill that gap in your present or future study. Once you get a good idea or finding or
discussion from those previous studies, you can include them in your study as
an argument or counterargument in what you are doing. If you quote somebody or paraphrase someone
else, you need to give a proper reference, that is, you have to give the credit
where it belongs. Generally, every
scholarly paper you read always starts with the literature review before going
into the methodology and data analysis; this is a good model you must follow as
you write your paper. We do this to
avoid to re-invent the wheels: your work should lean on the work of others who
have done similar research before you. Remember
that a good literature review takes the shape of a reversed pyramid. That is,
you start with a broad area, and you narrow it down to the point you like to
focus your study on. What you would like
to do here is to find the gaps or some of the good ideas that you can explore
in your study to make it stand out. The
gaps could be in the methodology, the sample, the sampling technique, the
analysis or an aspect that the previous researcher completely overlooked. It is
advisable to start with the most recent articles and to go backward in order to
capture the most recent findings.
For example, start with the
articles written in 2022 (because
they capture the latest news or the most recent findings), and move back to
those of 2021, then 2020, then 2019, then 2018, then 2017, etc. You may easily have three or four pages here,
as this is one of the most critical parts of this research project, and one
that will take you more time to complete.
(6) hypotheses: after you have reviewed the
literature you should state your hypotheses in relation with your research
question. This is nothing else than what
you would like to test (evaluate) with the data that you use. This is a statement of a relationship between
two or more variables to be tested. The
data will allow you to reject or retain the hypothesis. You may have one, two, three or more
hypotheses, depending upon your interest and your data. Having one or two may be more manageable for
this kind of time sensitive exercise.
For example: There are more minority population in the Justice system
in Texas than the white majority. Or, law enforcement personnel use more excessive force on
minority populations than on white majority, etc…
Normally,
after you examine the data you have collected, you should be able to see
through the data whether or not there is good reason to believe these
hypotheses.
(7) a method section explaining the
population under investigation, the sampling method and procedure of data
collection, the source of data used.
This is an area where the researcher is the more creative. Are you going to use experimental designs or
other types of data gathering strategies (survey, interview, participant
observation…). For the purpose of this
project, it is required that you use secondary data or data from Agency records
(see Chapter 10 in the book).
N.B.: It is a type of
academic dishonesty to use a paper or a research that was previously done for
another class, or school (and for which a credit was claimed), as a research
project for this class; or to use a paper written by others. What I want to see
is how you apply the knowledge gained in this course to start something
original.
Choose
a sample wisely, that is, a sample that is appropriate for the types of data
you want. Next is the question of how
the sample is selected. Statisticians
would recommend a random sample. If you use one like this, explain what
sampling procedure you used (the book gives you different sampling techniques);
if you did not, justify why the departure from randomness and how it will
affect the generalizability of your findings.
This is often one of the concerns reported in the limitations of the study. What you do here is to provide the reader
with enough information for him or her to replicate whatever you have done;
that is why, in writing this section, you should provide enough details.
(8) a statement of compliance with the
regulation on the protection of human subjects.
In chapter 2 we learned about how human subjects have been abused in
research, and the precautions that are to be taken when one is engaged in a
research involving human subjects. If
you think that your investigation will cause some harm or embarrassment,
discomfort to the respondent, then you need to seek the consent for their
voluntary participation, and you have to submit a protocol to the Institutional
Review Board (IRB). In the present case
we do not have enough time to go through this IRB process and we are likely to
use secondary data with no people’s names, so we mention that as a reason for
not going through the IRB.
(9) data analysis procedure: Describe how
your data will be input (it goes even to describe what software you will use
–SPSS, SAS or Excel or others) and analyzed: what statistical procedure will be
used. Normally, in this section, you tell the reader what procedure you will
use (frequency, percentages, t-test, regression, correlation, ANOVA, etc), and
why it is the appropriate procedure.
Since most of you are not yet fluent in statistical analysis, you will
be fine if you perform the basic descriptive statistics, such as frequency
tables, means comparisons, contingency tables, or the likes whatever you can
afford thru Excel or SPSS.
(10) a results section: you report the
results of your analysis as they appear in your computer printout. They can be in narrative or tabular form
followed with a narrative explaining the table.
(11) discussion, implications, limitations and
recommendations. Here is where you
explain the result you obtained, whether or not they are significant in
relation with your hypotheses – whether or not you have enough confidence to retain
or reject your hypotheses. The analogy
is that of a spin doctor, who tries to give his or her interpretation of the
findings. You also will show here if
your findings confirm or not (are consistent with) the findings by others that
you reviewed in the literature. You can use sources from your literature review
section or some additional sources to support your arguments.
Talk
about the implications of your findings, and the limitations of your study –
these could be due to your sampling, your data source or your analysis. Finally, what do you recommend that society
should do or future researchers should do in the light of your findings? This can be increasing the sample size,
diversifying the sample, trying the study with a different population, using
different data analysis technique, changing the existing policies or proposing
new policies, etc.
Just
remember that the American Psychological Association (APA) style is required
for writing all papers in the area of criminal justice and criminology. It is important for you to review the manual
to see how the other sections of the research paper are presented. Remember, too, that if your research is well
conducted and well presented it could be sent to a journal for
publication. You could obtain a copy of
the Publication Manual for the American
Psychological Association, (the 6th edition) or review its
content as needed in the Library.
Practical
Concerns and General Remarks about the Paper Submission.
1. Have a cover page which includes:
Title of the Assignment: Research Project
Topic: Title of the Project
Submitted by: Your name
To: Name of your Instructor
Course Name and Number: Research Methods (AJ 301-S1)
Term: Summer 2022
TSU
2. Check the spelling, punctuation and grammar. All that is part of this exercise. Do not neglect it; I grade your paper on all of that. A good research presented in a poorly written style is not appealing.
Very Important Reminder:
The research project will be written in Microsoft Word format, and will be submitted as an attachment under the “Assignments” tab in Blackboard, no later than Tuesday July 05th by 11:50PM. After that the link will disappear and you will not be able to submit your paper. No late submission will be accepted. If you do not follow these instructions closely, you will lose points unnecessarily.

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