Research Proposal
Research Proposal Assignment
100 points
Here are the guidelines to help you see what a research proposal is and looks like. The journal articles you are reading for some of the Assignments do what you are doing for the research proposal. They may use different headings, but study them very closely and you will notice that the structure of those articles parallels the structure that you will use in creating your research proposal. The headings you will use in your research proposal are different from what you may find in the articles but they are similar. The difference is that the research articles you are reading carry out the research. You won't be executing your research. You will only be setting it up; hence, it is called a proposal. It's like a marriage proposal even though you're not quite married yet.
The length of the research proposal is between 7 and 9 pages, NOT including the title and reference pages. Hence, your proposal will be about 9 to 11 pages in total. It should be noted that your paper must have a cover page that includes the course title, my name, the due date of the paper, the title, and your name.
You’re required to write a research proposal that MUST include each of the following sections: (1) Introduction; (2) Literature Review; (3) Methodology; (4) Implications for Criminal Justice Policy; (5) Limitations; and (6) References.
(1) Introduction (1 page; 15 points)
What is the issue or problem and why is the issue important? Is there any criminal justice policy regarding the issue? What are the purpose and importance of your proposal?
(2) Literature Review (2-3 pages; 30 points)
How have other researchers in criminal justice and criminology approached the issue? What kind of research methods did they use and what did they find? What does the existing literature suggest to you in shaping your question?
(3) Methodology (2 - 3 pages; 30 points)
Based on what you found in the literature, what is your hypothesis? What is your independent and dependent variable? How are they defined conceptually and operationally? (about 1 page; 10 points) What is your population? How will you sample? What is your unit of analysis? If you are conducting research with human subjects what about IRB approval? (about 1 page; 10 points) What method will you use (experiment, survey, field, agency records?) Explain in detail. (1-2 pages; 10 points)
(4) Implications for Criminal Justice Policy (about 1 page; 10 points)
Thinking about your expected results, if criminal justice agencies decided to take your research and implement it, what implications would there be? What might happen to crime, criminals, victims, communities, for example. What economic or legal consequences might occur? Might the program result in something that is less expensive that current policy? Think BIG.
(5) Limitations (1 page; about 10 points)
All social science research - including criminal justice research - has error. What sources of error do you see in your research? Remember, translating you concepts from the conceptual to the operational is a source of error (see Ch 4). Are there issues related to sampling (see Ch. 5)? If your research covers a long time period, is attrition an issue (Ch 6)? Are there issues related to research design? Do you see any ethical issues in your research? The point here is to be critical of oneself before others are of you. If you had the opportunity to do it all over again, what might you do differently?
(6) References (1 page; 5 points)
Here make sure you list at least EIGHT references you use in your paper. At least FIVE of those references must be academically refereed journal articles. Make sure you list them in alphabetical order AND you format them in American Psychological Association (APA) style.
You MUST use Times New Roman, 12 font, 1" margins on all sides, and double space - no exceptions. If you do NOT follow all of these three requirements, it will result in the drop of FIVE points of your paper grade per requirement violation.
You MUST submit your proposal as a Word document (.doc or .docx) or rich text file (.rtf) if you use Word Perfect).
You MUST use at least EIGHT sources including FIVE academically refereed journal articles for your literature review. If you are unsure what constitutes an academically refereed journal article ask a librarian. An academically refereed journal can be succinctly defined in this way: A periodical that only includes articles that have been evaluated by experts in the field. These publications are usually issued two to four times a year; are published by a university or scholarly press; include footnotes, bibliographies, or references; and list author(s) and his/her/their credentials.
Magazines such as Police Chief, Corrections Today, and American Jails are NOT academically refereed journals. Most of the articles in the magazines are written by criminal justice practitioners (police officers, corrections staff who work in jails, prison, probation or parole). The magazines are published by practitioner organizations (International Association of Chiefs of Police, American Correctional Association, and American Jail Association, respectively), not scholarly organizations and associations. Periodicals like TIME, NEWSWEEK,
PEOPLE, etc. are NOT academically refereed journals either. Nor are newspapers. Make sure you know and understand what IS and what IS NOT an academically refereed journal.
Use the Style Manual of the American Psychological Association to format your paper, cite your sources, cite direct quotes, and compose your reference page. Here is the link to APA: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/.
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