CRIMINAL JUSTICE RESEARCH METHODS
UNIT 1 INDIVIDUAL PROJECT
HEAVAN SETLER
AMERICAN INTERCONTINENTAL UNIVERSITY
FEBRUARY 11, 2012

DEAR COMISSIONER: Please find below the theories that are used in my approach to research. These theories are ones that are being consistently tested.
INTRODUCTION:
Research is done on an everyday basis. Big name companies research who to market their product to, clothing lines research who buys their clothes, and somewhere a college student is trying to find the right research for his first project in his new class. All of these scenarios have one thing in common: finding the right answer to a question or problem. The way one gets to that answer is all dependant on what type of research that …show more content…
As long as all the data is correct and the hypothesis is confirmed or denied, validity is essentially out of the question. Some researchers are set in their ways of collecting data; therefore one cannot confirm or deny if one way is more efficient or better than another. (Cherry 2010)

THEORY V HYPOTHESIS: Theory and hypothesis are often confused to be the same thing. However, they are not. A hypothesis is “a tentative explanation or idea about how things work”, (Blaber 1998). A hypothesis is a stepping stone in gathering data. It is a guess in how things or processes act. While theory is similar to hypothesis the key difference is information. A theory has data that support the hypothesis or idea. Without the support, the idea or guess is not a theory. (Blaber 1998) If there is a piece of the data that does not prove the theory, the theory is discarded.
VARIABLES:
Variables are any sort of factor or value that changes the outcome of the research. Some types of variables in research include: weather, type of object being researched, color, age, etc. There are two different types of variables: dependant and independent. Dependant variables are the outcomes of the experiment. Independent variables are in essence the heart of the experiment. They are manipulated by the researcher. Without variables, the process of research would die at the hypothesis. (Berg, Ireland, Mutchnick 2010) Variables are needed to conduct any research method. They