Research Design on Criminal Justice Education and Policing

Research Design on Criminal Justice Education and Policing

This study will utilize secondary data collected during a previous research project

— conducted by W. Drew Davis (Approved IRB #13042201) — to assess how

undergraduate college students in a criminal justice academic program perceive police

misconduct. In addition, this study will seek to determine student perceptions toward the

influence of a college education and, specifically, whether the completion of an

undergraduate criminal justice ethics course influences those perceptions. Differing

analyses will be used to assess the survey (see Appendix A) data in an effort to determine

these factors and test the hypotheses of the study.

Research Question 1: Do criminal justice students perceive misconduct as a

growing concern within today’s police department? Mbuba (2010) argues that variations

do exist in such a way that reflects a contrasting view of the police in relation to a non-

student population.

Research Question 2: If criminal justice students do perceive police misconduct

to be a growing concern in law enforcement, to what degree are these perceptions

associated with future implications for policing? Tsoudis (2006) suggests that a college

education in a criminal justice discipline can be an effective means of shaping the future

of the criminal justice system.

Research Question 3: To what extent does a formal ethics course within criminal

the isolation of significant independent variables that most closely influence the

dependent variable.

Dependent Variable

The study’s dependent variable (“Police corruption is increasing among today’s

police officers”) was measured using a five-point Likert scale. The scale ranged from

one (strongly disagree) to five (strongly agree). The dependent variable will allow for

examination of student attitudes toward this ethical dilemma. Wolfe and Piquero (2011)

suggest the issue of misconduct and its associated factors have largely remained on the

organizational level. However, this dependent variable aims to detect the factors that

most closely predict student attitudes toward general misconduct and signal the

While a variety of perception variables in this study aim to determine descriptive

differences among the sample, the respondent’s attitudes toward criminal justice

unethical behavior

ethical conduct

In addition, this project incorporated seven demographic variables about the student:

including forensic science and others. As a result, this will provide additional value to the

study by allowing for the detection of statistical differences across academic majors.

During the 2013-2014 academic year at The University of Southern Mississippi, the

School of Criminal Justice had a total enrollment of 710 undergraduate students. Of these

students, 168 were enrolled during the summer 2013 semester, while 542 were enrolled

in the fall 2013 semester.

Sampling Frame and Subject Selection Procedure

The sampling frame for this study consisted of a compiled list of all

undergraduate criminal justice courses offered during the two semesters of interest to

this study (the summer and fall 2013 terms). This strategy produced a total of 38 courses.

After compiling the list of courses, convenience sampling was utilized to select 10

criminal justice courses. Peterson and Merunka (2013) suggest that the use of

courses were chosen by the researcher in conjunction with the Director of the School of

Criminal Justice. The researcher then requested access to the courses by contacting each

instructor. The selected courses were those typically taken by all student classifications,

including two senior capstone courses. By selecting both lower- and upper-level courses,

this allowed for determining whether descriptive differences exist across the levels of

academic maturation.

Data Collection

The data in this study were collected using the Student Perception Survey (see

Appendix A), which primarily aimed to measure a student’s attitude toward police

misconduct while also gathering demographic information. In order to effectively gather

a representative sample, the researcher distributed the instrument to all students in each

selected undergraduate course. Students were orally instructed regarding how to complete

the survey, and also received an oral explanation regarding its purpose to ensure that

penalty existed for not participating. Additionally, a confidentiality statement was read to

instrument, the researcher collected the surveys and proceeded to the next selected

course.

This study will utilize a variety of statistical techniques, including descriptive

analyses, correlation matrices, and logistical regression models. Regression models will

be constructed to determine the predictor variables which explain the most variance in the

dependent variable. By isolating the variables most closely associated with the

perceptions of criminal justice students, researchers will be able to determine where more

attention should be directed in future studies. Vis (2012) argues that regression analysis

in the social sciences allows for the indication of interaction between multiple variables.

Thus, constructing multiple models allows for the isolation of those variables that share

interaction in order to create a stronger explanation of variance in predicting the

independent variables responsible for explaining the dependent variable. Regression

analysis will also evaluate the previously discussed research questions. The ultimate goal

is to develop a regression model that most closely predicts perceptions of misconduct

among college students entering law enforcement.

demographic categories (e.g., age, student classification, etc.). Thus, utilizing a student’s

in conjunction with one way ANOVA will allow this study to determine if such