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Research Methods Cheat Sheet (DRAFT) by

This cheatsheet is to help with research methods in criminal justice.

This is a draft cheat sheet. It is a work in progress and is not finished yet.

How Do We Know What We Know?

Tradition
Widely held or culturally shared beliefs
Potential Issues: may lead us to accept the status quo and not explore new ideas or question the beliefs
Authority
Inform­ation is believed because of the source (e.g., parents, teachers, media)
Potential Issues: may be misleading or wrong
Personal Experience
Direct experi­enc­e/o­bse­rvation
Potential Issues: can be limited as it is based on our own experi­ences; inform­ation might not be genera­lizable to others
Faith
A type of knowledge that is based on belief with little or no evidence to support it
Potential Issues: can be misleading

Charac­ter­istics of Good Research

• Based on the work of others
• Can be replicated
• Genera­lizable to other settings, persons, times
• Based on some logical rationale and is tied to theory
• Realistic
• Unbiased or objective
• Ethical
• Transp­arent
 

Steps of the Scientific Method

1.) Select Topic
2.) Focus Question
3.) Design Study
4.) Collect Data
5.) Analyze Data
6.) Interpret Data
7.) Inform Others
Theory can assist in developing research questions and hypoth­eses, and interp­reting results.

Principles of the Scientific Method

• Eviden­ce-­based approach
• Following an explicit set of rules and engage in systematic observ­ations (as opposed to specul­ation, intuition, opinions, feelings, etc.)
• Circul­atory
• Replic­ation
• Public­ation - openness
• Object­ivity

Purposes of Research

Explor­atory
learn about something entirely new and unknown
what?
general ideas and research questions
Descri­ptive
provide details on something known
who? when? how?
factual details and descri­ptions
Explan­atory
build a new or test an existing explan­ation
why?
test a theory; compare explan­ations
Evaluation
determine the effect­iveness of a program or policy
does it work?
practical recomm­end­ations
 

Errors in Reasoning

Overge­ner­ali­zation
making broad genera­liz­ations with little evidence
Illogical Reasoning
basing our conclu­sions on invalid assump­tions
Resistance to Change
relcutancy to change our opinio­ns/­beliefs because of things like ego-based commit­ments or an excessive devotion to tradition

Errors in Observ­ation

Inaccurate Observ­ations
sometimes we are just incorrect and don't see everything that is happening
Selective Observ­ation
if we believe something, we tend to pay more attention to things that mat our beliefs

Types of Research Methods

Quanti­tative Methods
collects numerical data and analyzes it using statis­tical methods (e.g., surveys, experi­ments, correl­ational studies)
Qualit­ative Methods
collects non-nu­merical data (e.g., interv­iews, focus groups, field research)
Mixed Methods
combines qualit­ative and quanti­tative to get a complete unders­tanding of what is being studied