discussion questions

· Chapter 15: Reading and Writing Research Paper

My research topic is:

Crime and Mental Illness. What can be learned about how mental illness influences whether or not someone is likely to commit crimes? Are certain mental illnesses more prone to criminal behavior?

M8D1: Evaluating Materials

You will apply Babbie’s seven criteria to a website you locate.

1. As the Internet is frequently utilized to gather information about a particular topic, locate one website related to your research topic and apply the seven (7) criteria for evaluating the quality of internet material presented by Babbie to evaluate the quality of the information on that website.  To do so, present, in APA format, the reference for the site, followed by the answer to each of the seven criteria.

(7) criteria for evaluating the quality of internet material presented by Babbie

1. Who or what is the author of the website? The two biggest risks you face in getting information from the web are (1) bias and (2) sloppiness. The democratic beauty of the web is its accessibility to such a large proportion of the population and the lack of censorship. These pluses also present dangers, in that just about anyone can put just about anything on the web. The first thing you should note, therefore, is who the author of the website is: either an organiza- tion or an individual.

2. Is the site advocating a particular point of view? Many of the sites on the World Wide Web have been created to support a particular political, religious, nationalistic, social, or other point of view. This fact does not necessarily mean that the data they present are false, though that’s sometimes the case. Beyond outright lying, however, you can be relatively sure that the website will present only data supporting its particular point of view. You can usually tell whether a website is reasonably objective or has an ax to grind, and you should be wary of those that go overboard to convince you of something.

3.Does the website give accurate and complete references? When data are presented, can you tell where they came from—how they were created? If the website is reporting data collected by someone else, are you given sufficient guidance to locate the original researchers? Or, if the data were compiled by the website authors, do they provide you with sufficiently detailed descriptions of their research methods? If data are presented without such clarifications, you should move on.

4. Are the data up to date? Another common problem on the web is that materials may be posted and forgotten. Hence, you may find data reporting crime rates, chronicles of peace negotiations, and so forth that are out-of-date. Be sure that the data you obtain are timely for your purposes.

5. Are the data official? It’s often a good idea to find data at official government research sites, such as the Bureau of the Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Center for Health Statistics, and others. FedStats is a good launching point for finding data among some 100 federal research agencies. As we saw in Chapter 11, data presented by official agencies are not necessarily “The Truth,” but they are grounded in a commitment to objectivity and have checks and balances to support them in achieving that goal.

6.Is it a university research site? Like government research agencies, university research centers and institutes are usually safe resources, committed to conducting professional research and having checks and balances (such as peer review) to support their achieving that. Throughout this book, I’ve mentioned the General Social Survey, conducted regularly by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago. You could use data presented here with confidence: confidence in the legitimacy of the data and confidence that your instructor will not question your use of that resource.

7. Do the data seem consistent with data from other sites? Verify (cross-check) data wherever possible. We’ve already seen that a web search is likely to turn up more than one possible source of data. Take the time to compare what they present. If several websites present essentially the same data, you can use any of those sources with confidence.

A good response to the question should be about 3-4 paragraphs, and address all of the issues that are raised. (Introduction, body and conclusion.) Thank you

M8D2: Peer Reviewed

You will locate a peer-reviewed research journal that is most appropriate in which to publish your research project

2. Select a peer-reviewed research journal that you think would be the most appropriate choice for publishing your research project.  Why do you think this journal is the most appropriate for your project?  If your research project was implemented, describe the process that would result in your report being published in this journal? 

My research topic is:

Crime and Mental Illness. What can be learned about how mental illness influences whether or not someone is likely to commit crimes? Are certain mental illnesses more prone to criminal behavior?