Research Process and Terminology
The research process begins with the subject, statement, or theory in which the researcher is interested in obtaining more knowledge in. Statistics have proven that the speed in which we share information from agency to agency has had a significant impact on the Criminal Justice field. Those statistics were obtained through research. Research, experience, and application have all provided a major contribution in toward today’s successes in crime fighting. The terminology and concepts used to convey the results of the research is as equally important as the research itself, due to the diversity of the agencies included under the Criminal Justice umbrella.
In the weekly reading’s Durkheim used the subject suicide to conduct research on. The role of hypotheses in the model research process is to compare a specific scenario and its relationship to why the scenario exists. “Contrary to popular views of the time, Durkheim proposed that group membership affects suicide. From this he deduced the specific hypothesis that religious denomination, marital status, and the like would affect suicide rates. He operationalized his key variables or indicators of group membership by assuming that married people have greater group ties than singles, or that Judaism and Catholicism required greater group religious orientation than Protestantism, which was more individualistic.” .” (Hagan, 2010,).
Concepts and Terminology
Just like it is challenging to visit another country and not speak the native language, it is equally as challenging to try and read a criminal justice research report without first studying the concepts and terns being used in the report. Research has its own language and if studied and applied should make it much easier to read a report. “Researchese is a valuable international language and a useful tool for negotiating and understanding the latest literature in your field.” (Hagan, 2010,). There are terms commonly used in criminal justice research to express theories, types of research, and concepts.
A concept is defined as an abstract idea or a general notion. “Concepts are abstract tags put on reality and are the beginning point in all scientific endeavors. Not to be confused with reality itself, concepts are symbolic human creations or constructs that attempt to capture the essence of reality.” (Hagan, 2010,). Without understanding the concepts and terminology while conducting criminal justice research it would be difficult to obtain accurate data for translation into a paper or report. Interpreting the concepts for use in any field will be won’t be possible if there isn’t a clear perception of what’s being conveyed.
It would benefit the researcher to know that variables are operationalized concepts, which are the very meat of any scientific investigation. Variables can be values used in statistics like crime rates, offender recidivism rates, or the types of crimes occurring in certain area. Knowing what the variables are during your research and knowing how they will factor in to the concepts being studied, we greatly increase the integrity of your research. There two types of variables, and they should be in the form of: “The dependent (outcome) variable is the variable one is attempting to predict and by convention is denoted by the letter Y. Common outcome variables in criminal justice are concepts such as crime or recidivism. Table 1.1 illustrates that ordinarily the dependent variable is some behavior or attitude that is usually the subject of one’s study. The independent (or predictor) variable is the variable that causes, determines, or precedes in time the dependent variable and is usually denoted by the letter X (or any letter other than Y).” (Hagan, 2010,).
There are many advantages to being familiar with all research terms. Research includes and is not limited to, the gathering of information, data, facts, and statistics for the development