Option one or two

Module 5: Critical Thinking Step 2
Critical Thinking Assignment (90 Points)
Important! Read First
Choose one of the following two assignments to complete this week. Do not do both assignments. Identify your assignment choice in the title of your submission.
Option #1: Qualitative Research
As a researcher, it’s in your interest to develop an in-depth perspective of the daily living of inmates in prisons. To execute this investigation, you need to conduct qualitative interviews of inmates.
What could be the disadvantages & advantages of phone or in-person interviews?
Would a non-structured or structured interview be most favorable?
Is this study viable?
What would be the main limitations?
What are the ethical issues involved?
Would you be able to establish empathy with the inmates to reach quality data?
Write a paper, describing your plan for qualitative research, along with your responses to the above questions.
Your paper must be concise, well written, and should meet the following:
Length: 2-3 pages (not counting cover and references pages).
To support your statements, cite a minimum of 2 scholarly journal sources that are not provided or linked in this course. The Campus Library (Links to an external site.) database is very useful to find this type of scholarly sources.
Formatted in compliance with the APA Style Guide Requirements (Links to an external site.).
Option #2: Qualitative Research
Create a PowerPoint presentation with a proposal to evaluate the quantity of illegal drug use on your university’s campus. To examine this, utilize one of the following three methods: focus groups, interviews, or participant observation.
Evaluate and describe how would you design a field research project to obtain the most accurate results.
What would be the main limitations of this study?
What ethical issues would arise?
Are there any issues in terms of validity?
How could you raise reliability in your field research in respect to the illegal drug’s use on your campus?
Your PowerPoint presentation needs to be 8-10 slides in length (not counting the cover and references slides) and comply with the APA Style Guide Requirements (Links to an external site.).
Applied Research for Criminal Justice Professionals
Module 5: Qualitative Research
Unlike quantitative research, qualitative research generally does not involve measurements or statistics. For this reason, some people mistakenly regard it as less scientific and thus less important to science. In this and the next modules, you will discover that both approaches have benefits and drawbacks. Instead of discounting either of them for their weaknesses, researchers should choose methods based on their strengths and effectiveness in achieving the goals of specific inquiries.
The use of numbers alone cannot provide a complete understanding of every aspect of human behavior or the reasons for all social events. Quantitative and qualitative methods are perhaps best viewed as complimentary approaches, each at least partially compensating for the shortcomings of the other (DiCristina, 1997). In psycho-geographical profiling of complex serial crime, for example, quantitative methods/data provide general patterns of the crimes in aggregates, while qualitative methods/data help connect the known facets of the crimes to the actual landscape (Godwin, 2001).
The differences between quantitative and qualitative research techniques are not usually explicit. Qualitative research requires a methodology of investigating and thinking differently from survey and experimental research. Qualitative research is influencing and idiographic. Therefore, surveys and experiments usually are administrated in a logical, quantitative framework. Qualitative research can help social scientists to better understand some aspects of the social world that cannot be properly measure with quantitative techniques.
You will examine the goals, benefits, and major methods of qualitative research in scientific inquiries. Participating in the discussion forum will help you appreciate the tasks of data collection and the instruments designed for that process. The Critical Thinking Assignments asks you to explore qualitative methods through two possible research projects.
Learning Outcomes
Describe the fundamentals of qualitative methods.
Apply methods of qualitative research.
Apply qualitative data and analysis.
Evaluate ethics issues in qualitative data collection.
For Your Success & Readings
The following recommendations and reminders will adjust your expectations and help you be successful in this module and the course:
Post on time in the discussion.
Feedback will be essential in the Discussion Board, because we will be expanding on the discussion each week. Each response to a colleague is worth 5 points (up to 25 points).
You have 2 Critical Thinking Assignments options this week. You are to choose one option to complete.
There will be a one hour live chat this week.
Required
Chapter 9 in The Practice of Research in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Davis, M., PhD., Sheidow, A. J., PhD., & Mccart, M. R., PhD. (2015). Reducing recidivism and symptoms in emerging adults with serious mental health conditions and justice system involvement. Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research, 42(2), 172-190.
Perry, G., Jonathan-Zamir, T., & Weisburd, D. (2017). The effect of paramilitary protest policing on protestors’ trust in the police: The case of the “Occupy Israel” movement. Law & Society Review, 51(3), 602-634.
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References
Bachman, R., & Schutt, R. K. (2017). The practice of research in criminology and criminal justice (6th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publication, Inc.
Baumer, T. L., & Rosenbaum, D. P. (1984). Combating retail theft: Program and strategies. Boston, MA: Butterworth.
DiCristina, B. (1997). The quantitative emphasis in criminal justice education. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 8(2), 181-199.
Godwin, G. M. (2001). Criminal psychology and forensic technology: A collective approach to profiling. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press LLC.
Kvale, S. (1996). Interviews: An introduction to qualitative research interviewing. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publication, Inc.
Lamont, M., & White, P. (2005). Workshop on interdisciplinary standards for systematic qualitative research [Report]. Retrieved from http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/ses/soc/ISSQR_workshop_rpt.pdf
Maxfield, M. G., & Babbie, E. (2006). Basics of research methods for criminal justice and criminology. Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth.
Miller, J. (n.d.). Standards of rigor in criminology and the place of qualitative scholarship. Retrieved from http://www.wjh.harvard.edu/nsfqual/Miller%20Paper.pdf
Reasons, C., Francis, T., & Kim, D. (2010). The ideology of homicide detectives: A cross-national study. Homicide Studies, 14(4) 436-452.
Ryan, G., & Bernard, H. (2000). Data management and analysis methods. In N. Denzin, & Y. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publication, Inc.
Seidel, J. V. (1998). Qualitative data analysis. Retrieved from http://www.qualisresearch.com/DownLoads/qda.pdf
Shank, G. (2002). Qualitative research. A personal skills approach. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill Prentice Hall.
Strauss, A. L., & Corbin, J. M. (1990). Basics of qualitative research: Grounded theory procedures and techniques. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publication, Inc.