Assignment: Research Designs

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THIS PAPER IS JUST FOR YOUR GUIDE ONLY BECAUSE YOU HAVE TO REFER BACK TO WHAT YOU WROTE IN WEEK, I PLEASE REFERENCE THE WORK AND NO PLARIZM………THANKS

Assignment: Research designs

This week, I will be looking at two possible research designs for my criminal justice issue, K-12

shootings, and the strengths and limitations of each. Selecting the correct design is a crucial part of the

research process itself because the main goal is typically to identify the cause and effect in each social

science issue. Because these explanations are not always easily obtainable, it is important to establish a

core question, or questions, that will help identify exactly what we are hoping to accomplish through this

research. In this particular case, I wish to look at why the number of school shootings has dramatically

increased over the last 50 years, as well as is there any correlation between these K-12 shootings and

bullying.

The first type of research design I would consider is a fixed-sample panel research design. With

this type of study, I would be able to select a sample of the population and collect data at that point in

time from the samples. At a second point in time, I would return to those samples and collect the data

again. The strength of this type of study is that it will allow me to gain meaningful, explanatory data

because I will be able to look at variables (bullying) and how it impacts the individuals over time.

However, because this type of study will require me to keep track of those individuals for a period of

time, tracking them can be rather expensive and difficult, making this a major downfall of this type of

study.

The second type of research design I would consider is a repeat cross-sectional research design,

or a trend study. In this type of study, data is collected from a sample of the population at one time and as

time progresses, some people leave or enter the population. At a second point in time, a different sample

is collected from the new population. This type of study is typically used to determine whether or not the

population has changed over a period of time. A trend study’s strength lies in the ability to allow the

researcher to accurately and properly compare the data at two or more points in time. On the other hand, a

disadvantage to this type of research design is that we are not able to glean any information about the

individuals of that population.

For my research problem, I would first use a repeat cross-sectional design to identify the increase

or decrease in bullying for students in grades K-12. I would also use a trend study to keep tracking data

on the number of shootings happening during the same time period. Using this method, I would take data

from multiple points in time to identify a trend and gain a base of research. I would use a fixed sample

panel research design to look at individual students that have been the victims of bullying and several

other factors. These other factors would include social behavior, aggressive behavior, mental health, and

number of friends. Taking these variables into consideration with this study will hopefully give a clear

picture of the victim’s mental health and allow us to determine if there is, in fact, any relationship between

being bullied and being an active shooter.

References:

CHDS. (n.d.). Retrieved January 6, 2020, from https://www.chds.us/ssdb/.

Bachman, R.D., & Schutt, R.K., (2019). The practice of research in criminology and criminal justice (7th

ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications.