Criminal Justice Question

The purpose of this assignment is to guide you through the process of designing a complete and rigorous criminal justice research study. Over the course of the quarter, you will develop a detailed research proposal centered on a topic of interest that addresses either an explanatory or applied research question.

This proposal should be written as if it were a blueprint for an actual study. By reading your final paper, someone with appropriate access and resources should be able to carry out the research exactly as you intend. The emphasis is not on conducting the study (you should not be going out and surveying anyone or doing any interviews!), but on demonstrating your ability to think critically about research design, data, methods, ethics, and limitations.

You are required to include subheadings for each of the sections in the outline below. These serve as a guideline for the length and requirement for each section – you may write more or less in each section depending on your research topic and design. Not all of the sections in the data and methods section are relevant for every research design. If the section is not relevant for your study, it does not need to be included (you can meet with the instructor for feedback if needed).

Outline

Introduction section (~1 page)
- Hook
- Why topic is important or unique
- Thesis (i.e., In this research proposal, I will.)
Literature review section (~4 pages)
- Detailed review of the academic literature on your topic
- You may want to organize this section under subheadings as appropriate
- Question(s) still not answered in the literature
- Focus on past studies research methodology (What was good and not about past studies? Are the past studies generalizable? What outcomes have been examined in past studies)
Data and methods section (~5 pages)
- Research setting
  - Describe the research setting
- Sample
  - Describe your population of interest and the sampling strategy you will use
  - Discuss how you will go about accessing your sample and any permissions you will need to seek
- Data collection
  - Discuss what data you will be using and how you will access it
  - Is this primary or secondary data?
  - Be sure to justify why you are using one or more of these approaches
  - Provide specific details on your approach (e.g., Are your interviews structured or not? Are you recording interviews or just taking notes? Why? Have the questions been used in past interviews or surveys? Are they validated measures?)
  - *The full survey if you are doing a survey or interview questions and informed consent document should be included as Appendixes after your references at the end of the document (e.g., Appendix A: Survey, Appendix B: Interview Questions)
- Research design
  - If you are conducting an evaluation, describe the type of evaluation
  - Whether your study will use a quasi-experimental, experimental, or non-experimental study
  - Whether your study is a longitudinal study or a cross-sectional study
  - Unit of analysis
  - List independent variable and dependent variable(s)

Limitations and ethical considerations section (~1.5 pages)
- Limitations
  - Identify at least two limitations to your current study design and how they may impact your findings.
- Ethical considerations
  - Identify at least two ethical issues related to your project (e.g., coercion, special populations, risk to subjects, risk to researchers, etc.) and how you will attempt to address these issues.

Formatting

10-12-pages (I will not read anything past 13 pages)
12-point font
Times New Roman
1 margins
Double spaced
Include a Title Page and References (which do not count towards the total page count)
Include at least 6 peer-reviewed citations
APA format for references and in-text citations (you must include in-text citations!)

Before submitting, check:

Did you follow all of the formatting guidelines?
Do you have subheadings that follow the outline sections?
Did you include Appendixes with any interview or survey questions or informed consent forms if appropriate?

WRITE MY PAPER

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