Critical Analysis of Research Report on Shoplifting - Assignment Example

 Security and Risk Management Introduction In the given scenario, a security manager employed at a large store is concerned at the extent of shoplifting in the store and has undertaken a piece of research which examines the problem. I am being asked to write a critical review of this research which focuses particularly on the methodology of the study. Writing a Good Research Paper: Start with the Basics A professional or scholarly research article as quoted in a peer reviewed journal generally comprises the following parts: 1. Introduction, Purpose and Scope of the Research 2. Literature Review 3. Methodology 4. Discussion and Analysis of Findings 5. Conclusion and Recommendations 6. References and Bibliography It is also important to note that some parts of the research project can be broken up into separate sections as well. For example abstract, table of contents and limitations of the research study are all part of the introduction section and will rightly be included in a long form research report. However for the purpose of this assignment I am restricting myself to the above six parts which are sufficient. Developing a Research Plan A good and well thought out research project should follow a definite plan taking into account the following steps: (Denscombe, 2010: 321) 1. Define the research question or what the objective of the research is. 2. Look up relevant and current sources of information from print and online sources like books, magazines, blog and forum comments and social media. 3. Determine and specify what the research will and will not cover i.e. boundaries of the project. 4. Reevaluate the research question based on the nature and extent of information you have gathered and the boundaries of the research project. 5. Select the most appropriate investigative methods and research tools depending on the type of research. 6. Plan how you will go about the entire research project. 7. Begin to get the relevant information from libraries, interviews, surveys etc using the variety of methods at your disposal. 8. Refine the search strategy if needed. 9. Keep writing and organizing data and notes critical and useful to writing out the research report. This also helps to keep track of all sources. 10. Evaluate the sources using appropriate criteria. 11. Synthesize, analyze and integrate information sources and prior knowledge about the subject area before writing the research report. 12. Revise the hypothesis if needed. 13. Begin working on the report using the gathered information effectively so that it meets the specific objectives that the report was needed for. 14. Keep in mind the rights to ownership of information, cost to collect the information and avoid plagiarism. 15. We have a duty to cite properly all the sources we have used, so that intellectual copyright is maintained and due credit is given for the sources of ideas. A Critical Review and Analysis of the Report on Shoplifting Presented by the Security Manager Working at the Large Departmental Store We will now review the research report on the issue of shoplifting prepared by the Security Manager of the large departmental store. Statement of the Problem: As noted, the first part of the research report, namely the Introduction, should clearly state the purpose and scope of the research, the research objectives or what the researcher is trying to prove or disprove regarding a particular topic. Though the topic of the research is stated, i.e. shoplifting, the security manager seeks to limit the purpose of the report by stating that it is only concerned with why the problem of shoplifting is occurring in the department store where he has been hired. He is not concerned with the general reasons for shoplifting, or what previous studies or reviews have found about this problem. By restricting its purpose and scope, it is only likely to be useful to the present management of the store, if at all. Secondly, since it appears to him that customers are the likely culprits more often while compared to store staff, he has decided to focus on shoplifting by customers only. Although there may be sufficient research to suggest that shoplifting by store staff has also been found in many stores, by making such a sweeping and erroneous premise he has neglected the possibility of shoplifting by staff altogether as being minuscule or insignificant in comparison and therefore not worth researching and reporting on. This erroneous premise is a serious error of judgment and is often committed by non-professional researchers who should know better or at least read up on how good and professional research work is done before embarking on a research project. Purpose of the Research: Another important point is that the purpose of the research should always be made clear at the very outset, so that the intending readers can make a quick judgment as to whether it would be worthwhile reading the report or not. Again though the purpose of the research has been clearly stated by the security manager, the usefulness is limited because the report has been constructed using the very limited premise of finding out the reasons behind shoplifting at the particular store where the security manager is himself working. He is not concerned about the general or psychological or social reasons why shoplifting occurs. He has completely localized the scope of the report and therefore limited its usefulness. Choice of Research Methods: Another very important part of the research process is determining the choice of research methods. This decision would depend to a very large extent on whether the type of research is qualitative or quantitative. For qualitative research we would use research instruments like rating scales and interviews. For quantitative research we would use research instruments like opinion surveys and questionnaires. It all depends on the nature and purpose of the research. Data Reliability and Validity: Another point that should be obvious is that the value of a research report is only as good as the accuracy and reliability of the facts collected and presented. The research writer must not only know how to properly collect and organize the facts and data, but also how to analyze and present the results of the findings so that the assertions he is making are proved without a doubt. Data reliability and validity is strengthened when it can be proved that two different researchers using the same methods of data collection and analysis are likely to arrive at the same or very similar results (Bell, 2007). The function of the data is that it should corroborate the research findings or results. Are the Conclusions Logical and Follow the Methods Used? In other words, do the statements made by the researcher follow logically from the methods that were used? A look at the shoplifting report in question certainly does show several glaring errors. First of all the objectives of the report are stated in a haphazard manner. The report should aim at first finding out the reasons behind shoplifting, then comment on the use of CCTV and how this measure has reduced the instances of shoplifting at the store. The second issue is that the security manager does not know that qualitative and quantitative research methods are largely mutually exclusive. He has used both types of research methods here. If we look at the research question about the reasons why people shoplift, it is quite evidently a Qualitative Research question and therefore should focus on reasons or qualitative aspects of study. Quantitative aspects of the study should have been excluded. If the researcher wanted to focus on the impact that installing CCTV at the store has had on reducing events of shoplifting, this could have been the subject of a separate study. Here it would have been useful and pertinent to use quantitative information, like the number of shoplifting instances before and after installation of CCTV. By including both aspects in one report, the purpose of the report is not clear. There seem to be two separate purposes and this should correctly have been addressed in two separate research reports. Ethical Problems Raised By the Research: The methods of data collection are thoroughly scanty and unprofessional. The first one regarding the quantum of shoplifting at the store simply compares inventory in with inventory accounted for and assumes that inventory not accounted for is all being shoplifted. It would have to be a pretty big department store in my opinion to have an average of 7000 to 9000 items being shoplifted nearly every month. There is no accounting detail to establish inventory sold. The correct picture will clearly be given if the following is implemented for every store item based on a computerized item code: Opening Balance for the Day + Inventory Added –Defective Items + Returns- Sales Made –Closing Balance for the Day = Items Shoplifted We could add up the number of items shoplifted and multiply them by the unit prices to get the value of items being shoplifted per day. In the given data there is also no mention of the dates on which the data had been collected, which makes it all the more implausible. The researcher continues to make error after error as he bases his conclusions on an unscientific inventory data and further proceeds to complicate matters by combining facts with opinions. It is entirely unprofessional to conduct an informal semi-structured interview with Jason Smith, the line manager when the process consists of an ‘informal chat’ conducted during ten minutes in the backroom during a lunch break. No self respecting researcher would ever want to mention this in his report. Further the security manager himself is guilty of biasing the line manager’s opinion by first showing him the official report with the shoplifting figures and then asking him whether or not he thinks that shoplifting in on the increase. This is ethically and professionally wrong. The security manager is leading the line manager on and in the circumstances, only one answer is possible which is probably what the security manager wants to hear, that instances of shoplifting are definitely on the increase. Once again in discussing the problem of shoplifting and the usefulness of CCTV as a deterrent, the security manager makes use of the same unscientific data. Further, it appears that he is content on measuring results only after one month of installing the CCTVs and since the data shows that Inventory Unaccounted For has dropped by half, he radically reaches the conclusion that instances of shoplifting have decreased by as much as 50 percent. He also fails to take into account that the number of guards physically posted at the store has increased as well, which may well have acted as a far better deterrent to prevent instances of shoplifting than just the implementation of CCTVs. Then again in interviewing his new female line manager Stella Johnson, he conducts the semi-structured interview while they were at the tills. This is again highly unprofessional. An interview about such a serious matter as shoplifting should never be conducted in an informal manner. Another important point is that when he mentions that CCTVs have been instrumental in reducing shoplifting, she does not agree until he shows here the ‘inventory evidence’ he has collected. Once again he is trying to get her opinion biased in his favor. Even in collecting the data via questionnaire he gets a response of only 10 out of 30 respondents. The questionnaire has not been prepared thoughtfully as well. Even among the 10 responses that he has got, many have not replied to one or the other of the five total questions. A proper questionnaire should have a set of at least 10 questions. A questionnaire of five disjointed, ill conceived questions that have little or no correlation amongst them is definitely the work of this unprofessional researcher. It defeats the whole purpose of the research and makes it thoroughly flawed and not worthy of a read at all. One can well imagine that through the erroneous conclusion reached, this again based on the responses of only two of the questions, females will have a hard time shopping at the store. Punishing females severely will reduce not only the female population and give the store a bad name, but also reduce instances of family buying or couple buying when word of the store’s attitude gets out. No doubt to the security manager, these results and answers he got from the solitary instance of his apprehending a female shoplifter will reinforce his thinking that females are to be watched and dealt with severely, and educated when possible since they shoplifted for the thrill of it. To top it off, the report does not even take into account the possibility of theft by male staff who, as pointed out by his female line manager, are mulling around near the stores section most of the time. This is the most serious defect of all in the research work, in that it does not even include this possibility in its scope of study. Ways in Which the Research Method Might be Improved From the above discussion and analysis of the data as well as the conclusions and results of this research report, we can see that it is a good example of exactly how NOT to conduct a research investigation or enquiry. Right from the beginning of the process, it has been flawed in its approach and presentation. The only remedy is to conduct the whole exercise again from start to finish, this time with a professional researcher. 1. The purpose of the research must be clear. One must decide what the purpose is: to find out the reasons behind shoplifting (qualitative) or to measure the impact of CCTVs on reducing instances of shoplifting (quantitative). Two different purposes would justify two different reports. 2. Restricting the purpose to finding out the reasons or the impact of CCTVs in one store limits the usefulness of the research in general, though it might be useful to the security manager and the management of that particular store. 3. The scope of the research project needs to be widened. We need to consider all possibilities behind shoplifting instances and all possible perpetrators, male and female, staff and customers, without exception. 4. The method of data collection needs to be improved. Getting all items under a computerized code, using the formula given above and then comparing physical inventory with computerized count at the end of the day will give the correct picture of the degree of shoplifting that is occurring at the store. 5. The method to estimate the usefulness of CCTV and other alternatives such as increasing physical presence of guards and staff as a deterrent can be computed. CCTVs can be placed in hard to see or monitor areas, where physical deterrents are difficult to place. Staff should be placed and patrolled liberally where high value items are placed. 6. There should be every attempt to prepare a professional questionnaire that has sufficient number of questions and has a logical sequence. Relevant and well considered questions should be included that correlate with the purpose and scope of the research (Blaxter et al., 2010: 237). How the Changes Might Strengthen the Research Method It will be abundantly clear that when a professional approach is followed from beginning to end in the entire process from the initial preparation for the research, formulating the research questions, determining the objectives and scope of the study, selection of proper research design, tools and methods, and conducting the whole process of data collection, analysis and interpretation of results in a professional and organized manner before writing out the report will aid immensely in its value and worth to the readers. Conclusion In this assignment we have looked at the process of researching and steps in writing out a professional research report. We have also identified the numerous flaws in the report at every stage and also proceeded to make recommendations for their correction and proper presentation. References Blaxter, L; Hughes, C & Tight, M. (2010). How to Research, 4th ed, Open University Press. Bell, J. (2007). Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First Time Researchers in Education and Social Science, 3rd Ed. Denscombe, M (2010). The Good Research Guide: for small scale social research projects, 4th ed. Open University Press. Read More