Research Topic, Question/Hypothesis, and Design

In the field of criminal justice, there is always the need for the development of evidence-based strategies, programs, and policies. The evidence that is used to influence changes in the field of criminal justice is extracted from the findings of criminal justice research studies that are conducted by social science researchers, such as yourself. Therefore, there is a continual need to conduct criminal justice research that examines current issues in the field. You are tasked with developing a research study that explores a current issue in the field of criminal justice. You will detail your study in a research report covering the major steps outlined below, and the final report will be submitted at the end of the course.

The research report consists of four parts:

Part 1 Research topic, research questions, and research design
Part 2 Literature review
Part 3 Research methodology
Part 4 Discussion and conclusion
You then have the opportunity to tie all four parts together in a rough draft and make final revisions before presenting your research report for the courses final project.

Part 1A: Research Topic

First, you will need to identify a criminal justice related topic that you want to explore throughout all of the assignments associated with the final research report. Second, provide a brief discussion about why you chose your topic and why researching that topic is important to the field of criminal justice. Third, to assist you in determining the type of research that has already been done on your topic and to give you a head start on Part 2 of your research report, you will need to include a list of five scholarly sources related to your topic.

Note: You are not required to summarize the sources here, but the references must be cited in APA format.

Part 1B: Research Question

Developing a research question is one of the most important parts of the research study. Your research question is what dictates the type of methodology that will be used in the study. There are certain research questions that lend themselves to pure (basic) versus applied research. There are certain research questions that lend themselves to qualitative versus quantitative research. Therefore, it is imperative that you establish the research question prior to conducting a study. This is important as you are formulating your steps to solve the problem in your empirical research. It should also be noted here that if one is asking qualitative type research questions, answers might not result. Instead, additional questions or sub-questions may result, which is an acceptable result.

Note: You are not discouraged from using either type of question. Instead, you are reminded as discussed in the textbook that various types of questions exist and that the type of question you use will impact your methodology. This is why it is imperative that you identify the type of research question you want to ask at the beginning of your study.

For this part of the assignment, you are tasked with developing a research question. Based on your research question, you will need to generate at least one hypothesis or at least one sub-question that is associated with your research question.

Keep in mind that the research question needs to be connected to the topic that you identified in Part 1A of the assignment, and it needs to be a question that you want to explore throughout the other parts of this assignment and subsequent assignments related to the final research report.

Ethical Research in Criminal Justice

Much of what is done in the field of criminal justice, whether knowingly or unknowingly, is impacted by some form of research. Conducting research in the field of criminal justice is important because it can help to inform best practices and serve as a form of checks and balances across various aspects of the criminal justice system. While research can be beneficial to the field of criminal justice, if the proper research methodologies and guidelines are not followed research can be harmful to participants and to the operational components in the field of criminal justice. In order to ensure the production of the least amount of harm associated with a research study, ethical guidelines have been established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). Many agencies, including criminal justice related agencies such as the U.S. Department of Justice, use the DHHS model policy on human research subjects to create their own human subjects policies.

For this assignment, complete the following:

explore empirical research in the field of criminal justice,
evaluate the importance of empirical research to the field justice, and
identify ethical considerations associated with conducting empirical research in the field of criminal justice.
To accomplish this task, imagine yourself as one of the following:

superior court judge
commander of the patrol division of a police department
chief juvenile probation officer, or
deputy warden of treatment in a prison.
Also, imagine that you live and work in Normal City. This city has all the amenities that one could desire in a large city and all of the peace and quiet that one could desire in a small town. The beach, countryside, and local attractions are all within a reasonable driving distance. All the schools range in various levels of specialization, accreditation, and extracurricular activities. Housing and property values fall within the average range of any city anywhere else. Crime rates are comparable to those found in any other city that would have similar amenities, attractions, and opportunities.

Using the role that you have chosen and the background information about Normal City, complete the following tasks in each section:

Section 1: Conducting Empirical Research in Criminal Justice

Identify the role you have chosen.
Identify a topic that empirical research could be used to explore in your chosen role.
Based on the topic you selected, develop a research question and/or hypothesis you want to empirically explore.
Identify whether your research focus will be pure research or applied research.
Identify whether your research design will be qualitative research or quantitative research.
Section 2: Importance of Empirical Research in Criminal Justice

Discuss why conducting empirical research on the research question you developed is important to the field of criminal justice.
Section 3: Ethics& Empirical Research

For the topic that you selected, explore the related ethical issues by addressing the following questions:
What procedures need to be avoided to reduce the amount of harm (i.e., conducting unethical research) experienced by respondents during this research? How would you honor the commitments made to respondents and respect reciprocity?
What steps would you need to take to ensure that you were objective and professional in conducting the research and reporting research results?
What measures would you need to take to ensure that the respondents confidentiality and privacy were protected?
Further explore ethical considerations related to conducting empirical research in the field of criminal justice by responding to the following tasks:
Discuss how a research study related to your chosen topic could involve the collaboration of a local college or university and/or a local community organization.
Discuss the role of the institutional review board regarding evaluating whether or not your study protects human subjects.
Section 4: Conclusion

Based on your discussions about empirical research in the field of criminal justice, the importance of empirical research to the field of criminal justice, and ethical considerations related to conducting empirical research in the field of criminal justice, what guidance would you give your agency to ensure that the research study was ethically conducted from start to finish?
The assignment will need to be a minimum of three double-spaced typed pages, not counting the title page. Be sure to use the first three subject headings identified above and to address each bullet point under the subject headings, and then your conclusion. Under each subject heading, your responses may be in paragraph form or provided as bullet points. Ensure you have a title page.

Be sure to cite, in APA format, any source used to influence your response. Therefore, your reference list should at least include a citation from the textbook as you are required to apply the concepts discussed in the textbook to the assignment.

Coronavirus and Courts Paper

Write about how this virus is affecting the judicial/court process. It is not as simple as saying courts are closed. You need to talk about specific parts of the system, how different courts are handling the crisis. Use resources like Mass.gov or whatever other resources for Massachusetts. Also, look at the federal level. Remember to talk about the correlation with the virus and the “players” within the judicial process – defendants, lawyers, judges, jurors, victims, etc.