Evaluating Purpose Statements

If your program is not listed, your Instructor will post an announcement with your assigned journal articles.

You will focus on one article in each of these weeks for your Main Question Post; however, you are expected to read and familiarize yourself with all of the articles listed to effectively participate in the discussion. Consult the particular week’s Discussion area for instructions on completing the assignment.

For quick access, press CTRL + left-click on your program’s link below.

Criminal Justice

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

Week 4

(Riddick is my last name)

If your last name starts with M through Z, use Article A.

Article A:

Forster, M., Grigsby, T. J., Unger, J. B., & Sussman, S. (2015). Associations between gun violence exposure, gang associations, and youth aggression: Implications for prevention and intervention programs. Journal of Criminology, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/963750

Required Readings

Babbie, E. (2017). Basics of social research (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning.

· Chapter 4, “Research Design”

Burkholder, G. J., Cox, K. A., Crawford, L. M., & Hitchcock, J. H.  (Eds.). (2020). Research designs and methods: An applied guide for the scholar-practitioner. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

· Chapter 20, “Writing the Research Proposal”

Purpose Statement Checklist

Use the following criteria to evaluate an author’s purpose statement.

Look for indications of the following:

• Does the statement begin with signaling words?

• Does the statement identify the research approach (quantitative,

qualitative, or mixed)?

• Does the statement clearly state the intent of the study?

• Does the statement mention the participants?

• Does the statement mention the research site?

• Is the statement framed in a way that is consistent with the identified

problem?

If the study is qualitative, does the purpose statement do as follows?

• Focus on a single phenomenon

• Use an action verb to convey how learning will take place

• Use neutral, nondirectional language

• Provide a general definition of the central phenomenon

If the study is quantitative, does the purpose statement do as follows?

• Identify the variables under study

• Provide a general definition of each key variable

• Use words that connect the variables

• Identify a theory

If the study is mixed methods, does the purpose statement do as follows?

• Discuss the reason(s) for mixing both quantitative and qualitative data

• Include the characteristics of a good qualitative purpose statement (as

listed above)

• Include the characteristics of a good quantitative purpose statement (as listed above)

• Indicate the specific method of collecting both quantitative and qualitative data