Qualitative on Criminal Behaviors - Research Paper Example

Qualitative Research on Criminal Behaviors Introduction Use of qualitative research is one best method of finding a comprehensive and well planned solution to the problems we face in the society today. It can only be possible when there is proper application of qualitative research methods in our studies. Criminal behaviors and the increasing rate at which they are recorded is one major challenge in our society today. For my research on criminal behaviors, I need to properly define the problem and know its background before selecting the best design model accordingly. It is also crucial to know the expected participants of the study, the protocol in which they will participate and favorable research location to suite the study. A clear knowledge of all these is going to aid in selecting the appropriate methods of data collection. Research issues and limitations should also be well handled so that when the findings of the study shall be validated using the best approach there would be no more critics on the study. My study seeks to use proper application of qualitative research methods to solve the problem of increasing criminal behaviors. Problem More criminal activities are being recorded daily as many people get affected by these criminal activities. Lately, criminal activities are also increasing in the United States with cities such as Oakland and Detroit recording close to two million criminal cases in a year. The high rate of increasing criminal activities and behaviors pose a problem to the society and it needs to be looked into intensively. The issue of increased criminal activities is a major problem to the society and the economy due to some challenges that come along with it. Due to this issue, there are now very many young people getting into criminal activities and this is a threat to the current and future generations. Apart from that, more death cases associated to criminal behaviors are being recorded due to the increased level of criminal activities. It is painful seeing more people lose their lives out of unlawful acts that can be controlled if strict measures were put in place (Burr, 2011). Background After the World War II there were so many criminal activities being reported in the United States and other parts of the world. It is believed that the ill side of the world was revealed by this war and thus the reason behind increased crimes even after the era of war was gone (Carol & Flegal, 2012). Some years down the line and this crime levels reduced with few cases still being recorded. In the 1990s crime rates started to go up in United States with racism taking the front line. Ever since that time the crime rates have been high at same level to late 2012 when the rates have been increasing further. Data released by Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in 2009 shows high number of violent crimes recorded in major cities in the United States with Oakland city in California having the highest record. Death tolls due to these activities have also been increasing as the crime rates increase. The involvement of kids in these unlawful acts is another challenge cropping into the society (Carroll, 2012). Objectives The main objective of this research is to examine the factors that have led to the increasing rates of criminal behaviors in the United States and to find possible ways of controlling the situation. This study has other specific objectives which include the following: To determine the major types of criminal activities in the United States To determine the effects of these criminal behaviors to the society and the extent of the effects. To establish the group that is mostly involved in these criminal behaviors and how they get involved in them. To explore the strategies that the governments and the intelligence bodies have put in place to check on matters pertaining criminal activities. After obtaining the objectives of this study I would combine the data collected and come up with a strategy of how the issue of increased criminal behaviors can be controlled and this is what my study wants to accomplish. Design The design model for my research is the case study design model which entails studying of a particular issue through thorough analysis of a few events relating to the issue under study. Case study design model gives room for detailed study of part of the affected population or factors and then coming up with a general conclusion to be used for the entire population in question (Hoepfl, 2012). Case study design is the appropriate model for this research because it is going bring out a well-detailed analysis of the criminal behavior problem and not just provision of data about the problem. The problem of increased criminal behavior covers a broad area and this research design model is going to help in narrowing down the study. Therefore, conducting the research is going to be easy and effective as all the anticipated areas of study are going to be covered and given ample time (Morse, 2013). Participants The people who are going to participate in this research include those who are going to help in collection of data and those who will provide the particular data needed for the research. A research on criminal behavior has a wide population that can provide required information needed at any point of the study. The data about the rates of criminal activities in the United States for a number of years would be picked from the Federal Bureau of Investigation officers who are going to provide the most accurate information on all the types of criminal behaviors people have in different states and cities. Some residents of Oakland and Detroit are going to be interviewed as these are the cities that record high criminal violence cases. Four teams of interviewers will be enough to help gather information from the society, the FBI and other government bodies involved with security and legal matters. Participant Protocol The chosen participants for this study are going to be treated with a lot of ethical considerations. For instance, they are not going to be forced to produce information that their job specifications does not allow them to provide. The participants are also going to be assured of confidentiality in case they do not want the data they have given to reach the public directly. 500 participants are going to be involved in this study. The number is considerable given that the population of Detroit, where many interviews are to be conducted, is 707,000. The participant are going to be picked according to age factor as 50% of them are going to be the youth and the remaining will be shared equally among the young children below thirteen years and the elderly. Participants will be solicited through campaigns to advocate for reduced criminal activities in our country and involvement of the public in this movement (Golafshani, 2011). Research Location The confidentiality of the location where data is sourced from will be maintained depending on cases where the participants request for anonymity. The details of the interview room will include questions on criminal behavior factors and illustrations that are related to the theme. Observations are also going to be made about how lives have been influenced by the criminal behaviors (Winerman, 2012). The observation details will include choosing an appropriate factor to observe and picking the best participant and location for studying this factor. In this study on criminal behavior, a good observation location is where many cases of criminal activities are always recorded (Walsh, 2012). The legal organs such as the judicial courts and the security organs like Homeland Security and FBI can be observed as they provide details needed by the research. Consent must be sought from relevant authorities and persons for any of these observation locations to be picked. Researcher Issues Any researcher is usually faced with some issues when conducting his/her study and problems might come up in the research process causing reduced accuracy of the research’s results. Biasness is one of the common problems faced by most researchers. Someone can be bias based on some factors such as race, gender or financial class. I would minimize the cases of biasness in this research by making sure that the five hundred participants cover all the genders equally and all the races living in the selected areas of study are picked according to their percentage population in the areas. For the participants who will not wish to corporate with me during the research work maybe due to my gender or racial differences, it will be made clear to them that the objectives of this study is to offer solution to every American and every person in this world who needs peace and security (Stake, 2012). Instrumentation This entails the tools needed for the research and how they are going to be used for this research on criminal behaviors. Being the researcher, I am the first important requirement for the study and I should coordinate the other tools needed. Questions for the interviews are the most crucial instrument for this research. The questions to be asked include what is the average number of criminal violence experienced per week, the average age at which most people are introduced to these behaviors, and the effects of these criminal activities to the people’s social and economic life. These questions are going to be asked systematically according to the possibility of the participant to know the answers for them. For instance, questions of average number of crimes recorded can only be answered by authorities in charge of that. Clarification questions will be provided to the participants who need further illustrations. Pilot Study The participants include residents of the areas affected so much by the criminal behaviors and relevant officers from the FBI who are going to provide information on the crime records. The people from the community are going to be asked to elaborate how the criminal behaviors come into their society and how they are affected. On the other hand, the authorities will be asked to provide relevant data to prove the increasing criminal activities. The participants from the community will be given similar questions but the FBI and other authorities will be asked slightly different questions. Statistical analysis will be required to prove some results from the research. The information that the residents give about these criminal behaviors may need to be validated by statistics to ensure they are reliable to make conclusions. Most of the statistics for this research are going to be from legal and security bodies (Patton, 2011). Data Collection The research requires between two to three months for the data to be collected efficiently. The duration covers time to be spent moving from city to city conducting case studies, and the time needed to get data from the relevant authorities. The participants will be informed of the increasing rate in which younger people get involved in criminal behaviors and how it is a threat to future generations. It will be let known to them that the study seeks to find a solution to this problem. Informed consent will be necessary to ensure no participant comes to question why some information he/she provided is published. Data to be collected is information on the extent of criminal behaviors in our society and what makes them more extreme today (Burr, 2011). The data is going to be collected by asking the affected parties the things that they think have come up recently making the issue extreme. Limitations The case study design majors on collecting data from a portion of the affected people and making a general conclusion. People may argue that the results are not accurate since not all the population was involved. The use of interviews to collect data may also be faced with challenges as some interviewees may fail to respond to questions with fear of their security. The location for the research may also become a limitation to the study as some places may have people living far from each other thus requiring a lot of travelling. Funds needed for the study may be hard for me to get and this may limit the extent of the research. Validation Validation is important to prove that the results of this research are true and reliable. The findings of this research are going to be validated using the triangulation approach. Here, the question of increased criminal behaviors is going to be analyzed from very many perspectives that include the reasons for it, the effects it has brought about and how the society is reacting to it. Triangulation of data is going to be done by using a variety of information sources like getting information from other researchers. The internal validity of this study is expected to be high since we expect changes in employment opportunity ( independent variable) to be the reason for increased crime rates ( dependant variable). The external validity is also going to be of high degree since criminal behavior is a major problem in the society today. This would give room for better connection of my study to other conditions in the world (University of Southern California, 2014). Conclusion A good knowledge of the problem that my research seeks to solve and proper handling of the limitations and issues that may arise during the study is important to ensure the study is successful. Increasing cases of criminal behaviors is a big challenge in our society even though many people tend to avoid talking about them. My study is going to ensure proper application of the research methods to see that the issue of increasing criminal behavior is sorted. References Golafshani, N. (2011). Understanding reliability and validity in qualitative research. The Qualitative Report 8(4) , 597-607. Huesmann, R. (2013). Evidence of Spontaneous Judgment of Hostility. Agressive Behavior , 12 -34. Lazarus, R. S., & Folkman, S. (2014). Stress, appraisal and coping. New York: Springer. McDonald, D., & Guion, L. A. (2011). Triangulation: Establishing the Validity of Qualitative Studies. University of Florida IFAS Extension , 12-18. Merriam, S. B. (. (2009). :). Qualitative Research: A Guide to Design and Implementation. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons. Morse, J. (2013). Qualitative Health Research. Salt Lake City: University of Utah. Owen, D. (2012). 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