CHAPTER 3

Chapter 3: Research Methods and Theory Development

Writing the Research Report
After research has been completed, and data have been analyzed, findings are typically presented in the form of a report or paper in which suggestions for further study may be made. Policy issues, or strategies for addressing the problems identified by the researcher, are frequently discussed as well. Charts, graphs, and tables may be included in the body of a research report. Most reports are professional looking documents which are word-processed, grammar- and spell-checked, and laser or ink-jet printed. Some are eventually published in professional journals and a few become staples of the field—frequently cited works that serve to illustrate fundamental criminological or methodological principles.

Most research reports follow a traditional format which has developed over the years as a generally acceptable way of presenting research results. The component features of professional reports are

Title page: The title page contains information about the report's authors, their institutional or professional affiliations, the date of the report and, of course, its title. Many report titles consist of a main title and a subtitle. Subtitles generally give more information about the report's subject matter. While some report titles seem all inclusive, such as

"The Impact of Family Structure and Quality on Delinquency: A Comparative Assessment of Structural and Functional Factors"(1)

others are relatively straightforward and to the point, such as

"Comparing Criminal Career Models"(2)

Acknowledgments: Often the author wishes to express appreciation to individuals and/or organizations that facilitated the study or without whose help the study would not have been possible. Sources of grant support, including funding agencies and foundations, individuals and organizations who either participated in the study or were themselves studied, and personnel who facilitated various aspects of the study or production of the report are all frequently acknowledged.

Table of contents: Reports of any length (say, beyond ten or twelve pages) often contain a table of contents. Tables of contents help readers quickly find the material they are looking for, and provide structure to the report itself. Any good table of contents will reflect section headings within the body of the report.

Preface (if desired): The purpose of a preface is to allow the author to make observations, often of a personal nature, which might not be appropriate within the body of the report. Reasons for choosing the subject of study, observations about the promise held by the field of study, and wide-ranging statements about the future of criminological research are all frequent topics of prefaces found in research reports.

Abstract: An abstract is a brief (usually one paragraph) summation of the report's findings, allowing readers to gauge, without reading the entire report, whether the subject matter will be of interest to them. In this day of modern electronic information retrieval, abstracts serve the additional function of providing a quick synopsis that can readily be made available to those searching large databases containing many research articles. Reproduced here is a concise and well-written abstract from John M. Hagedorn's study entitled "Homeboys, Dope Fiends, Legits, and New Jacks" that appeared in the May 1994 issue of the journal Criminology.(3) Note that this abstract concludes with a one-sentence policy observation:

Milwaukee research finds that most young male adult gang members cannot be described accurately as "committed long-term participants" in the drug economy. Rather, most adult gang members are involved sporadically with drug sales, moving in and out of conventional labor markets at irregular intervals. Four types of male adult gang members are described; only one type has rejected conventional values. Despite relatively high average earnings from drug sales, most gang members would accept full-time jobs with modest wages. This suggests that severe and mandatory penalties for cocaine use and sales should be ended.

Introduction: Most authors write an introductory section as part of their research report. The introduction describes the aim and purpose of the study and provides a general statement of the problem studied. It also furnishes a general conceptual framework for the remainder of the report. The introduction may outline issues related to the problem under study and which could benefit from further investigation.

Review of existing literature: Most research builds upon existing knowledge and makes use of previous findings. To cite a few proverbial observations, while it is not true that "there is nothing new under the sun," when conducting research, it is also "not necessary to reinvent the wheel." In other words, the relevant works of other researchers should be discussed in any report, and the bearing previous studies have upon the present one should be explained. Sometimes researchers who are engaged in literature reviews discover that the questions they wish to study have already been answered, or that someone else has found a more concise way of stating their concerns. Hence, concept development that is merely repetitive, and even data gathering that has already been undertaken can be avoided by new investigators.

Description of existing situation: Sometimes a description of the existing situation is combined with a report's introduction. If not, then it is appropriate to elaborate upon the problem under study by providing details which describe the conditions existing at the time the study was begun.

Statement of the hypotheses: Research etiquette in criminology frequently requires the statement of a hypothesis to be tested. Most researchers have an idea of what they expect to find. Often they have set out to test a theory, or a proposition derived from a theory. Researchers may, for example, wish to test whether the Brady law, which limits handgun sales, has effectively met its goal of reduced deaths by firearms. Any hypothesis should be a clear and concise statement of what the study purports to test. As mentioned previously, hypotheses useful in guiding research are always operationalized, or expressed in terms that are in some way measurable. Descriptive studies, on the other hand, are not designed to prove or disprove assumptions (although they may not be free of them), and such studies might not contain hypotheses.

Description of the research plan: The research design, data-gathering strategies, and plans for statistical analysis should all be described here. This section, while it may be elaborate and lengthy, simply provides an overview of the methodology employed by the researcher, and explains how the problem was investigated and why particular research strategies were chosen.

Disclaimers and limitations: Any research is subject to limitations. Shortages of money, time, personnel, and other resources impose limitations on research undertakings, as do shortcomings in statistical techniques and restrictions on the availability of data. Limitations should be honestly appraised and presented in the research report so that readers will be able to assess their impact on the results that are reported.

Findings or results: Along with an overview of the research as it was actually conducted, the "findings" section provides a statement of research results. Many regard it as the heart of the report. The manner in which results are presented can be crucial for ease of understanding. Some researchers choose to employ tables containing raw numbers, when pictorial forms of representation such as charts and graphs may better facilitate comprehension. Bar charts and pie charts are probably the most commonly employed types of diagrams, although the type of data collected will determine the appropriate format for its presentation.

Analysis and discussion: Once findings have been presented, they should be discussed and analyzed. Not all analysis need be of a quantitative sort. However, much of today's criminological literature is replete with statistical analyses, some of it quite sophisticated. Unfortunately, however, poorly conceptualized research cannot be helped by later analysis, no matter how sophisticated it may be. It is therefore of crucial importance to the success of any research endeavor that early planning—including conceptual development, strategies for data collection, and research designs—be undertaken with an eye toward producing data that will lend themselves to meaningful analysis after data gathering has been completed. The analysis section should also focus on whether or not the data, as analyzed, support the study's guiding hypotheses.

Summary and conclusions: The summation section encapsulates the study's purpose and findings in a few paragraphs. It may also contain discussion of suggested improvements or recommended solutions to the problem studied based upon the evidence produced by the report. Policy implications are also discussed (if at all) in the conclusion of the report, since they are simply broad-based solutions to problems which have been identified.

Appendices: Not all reports contain appendices. Those that do may place sample questionnaires, accompanying cover letters, concise exhibits from literature reviews, detailed statistical tables, copies of letters of support, detailed interview information, and the like near the end of the document. Appendices should only be used if they serve the purpose of further explicating the report's purpose, methods, or findings. Otherwise appendices may appear to "pad" the report and can discredit the researcher's efforts in the eyes of readers.

List of references: No report is complete without a bibliography or other list of references used in planning the study and in document preparation. While all items listed in the bibliography may not be referenced within the body of the report, source material should still be listed if it was reviewed and served some purpose in study development. Literature which was examined, for example, may have guided the researcher to other material or may have provide insights useful during the study's overall conceptual formation.

Endnotes: Either endnotes or footnotes may be used to reference quoted sources or to refer readers to supporting documents. Sometimes a combination of footnotes and endnotes is employed. Endnotes, as their name implies, appear at the conclusion of a report (often after the summary but before the appendices), while footnotes are found at the bottom of the pages containing the referenced material.

Summary
Criminology—like its sister disciplines of sociology, psychology, geography, and political science—is a social science which endeavors to apply the techniques of data collection and hypothesis testing through observation and experimentation. Successful hypothesis testing can lead to theory building, and to a more complete understanding of the nature of crime and crime causation. Although the scientific framework and its techniques have largely been inherited from the physical sciences—such as chemistry, astronomy, and physics—in which they have been well established for centuries, criminology has been accepted into the scientific tradition by all but the most hard-nosed purists. Even so, criminologists are still game to study aspects of the field which are "in need of study" even where adequate resources (funding) or techniques (for example, the complete mapping of all human chromosomes) are not yet available.

Another component of scientific criminology, the detailed description of crime and related phenomena even where meaningful hypotheses are lacking, is also very much with us. In one descriptive area alone, that of crime statistics (discussed in the Chapter 2), so much data have already been gathered that it is unlikely they will ever be effectively analyzed.
Discussion Questions
Note: you may be requested by your instructor to e-mail the answers to these questions to his or her office. If so, be sure to add your name (or other identifying information) to your answers, since your e-mail address may not tell your instructor who you are.

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What is a hypothesis? What does it mean to operationalize a hypothesis? Why is operationalization necessary?

What is a theory? Why is the task of criminological theory construction so demanding? How do we know if a theory is any good?

Explain experimental research. How might a good research design be diagrammed? What kinds of threats to the validity of research designs can you identify? How can such threats be controlled or eliminated?

List and describe the various types of data-gathering strategies discussed in this chapter. Is any one technique "better" than another? Why or why not? Under what kinds of conditions might certain types of data-gathering strategies be most appropriate?

What is the difference between qualitative and quantitative research? What are the advantages and disadvantages of each?

Notes
(1) Patricia Van Voorhis, Francis T. Cullin, Richard A. Mathers, and Connie Chenoweth Garner, "The Impact of Family Structure and Quality on Delinquency: A Comparative Assessment of Structural and Functional Factors" Criminology, Vol. 26, no. 2 (May 1988), pp. 235-261.

(2) David F. Greenberg, "Comparing Criminal Career Models," Criminology, Vol. 30, no. 1 (February 1992), pp. 133-140.

(3) John M. Hagedorn, "Homeboys, Dope Fiends, Legits, and New Jacks," Criminology, Vol. 32, no. 2 (May 1994), p. 197.

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