1

Crim 7

Research Methods w/ Applied Statistics

As what you must have learned in your Introduction to Criminology
subject, the field of Criminology is dynamic and interdisciplinary. Thus, it is
part of the behavioral sciences. Issues and concerns confront law
enforcement administrators in the Philippines these days.
Being a Criminology student, you play a vital role in solving problems
related to the different aspects of policing. In order to deal with it more
practically and realistically, you need to build your own capacities. And these
skills cannot be learned overnight. Further, you will need the proper
information for developing these skills.
So, how will a Criminology student able to access the needed
information to learn the skills in all aspects of policing? Well, basically, you
need to know things. The old adage “knowledge is power” applies not only to
daily life, but more so in the daily policing grind that Criminology students, not
only law enforcement administrators, have to deal with.

Different Ways of Knowing:

1. Sensory Experience knowledge gathered through our senses
2. Opinion of Others based on what one perceived
3. Expert Opinion From people with extensive/intensive training
4. Logic founded on one’s intellect
5. Scientific Method through tested methods using criteria/standards

The Scientific Method:

- it is way of knowing that uses a systematic process which could be
tested in the public arena.

➢ Processes involved in Scientific Method of Knowing/Solving Problems:

1. There is an existing problem or disturbance that disrupts the
normal or desirable state of affairs.
2. Once the discrepancy or the problem is identified, it has to be
defined as precisely and clearly as possible.
3. Search for the most appropriate solution to the problem.
4. Project the possible consequences of each possible solution
that has been conceived.
5. Test the solutions to see what the consequences really are.
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Research
- etymologically, it is derived from the prefix re which means to repeat
or re-do, and the root word search which means to find or look for; hence,
research literally means to repeat looking for something, which had been in
existence before;
- collection of data in a rigorously controlled situation for the purpose of
prediction or explanation (Quinton, 2006);
- systematic study or investigation of something for the purpose of
answering questions posed by the researcher (Parel, 1973 as cited by
Sanchez, 1998);
- purposive, systematic and scientific process of gathering, analyzing,
classifying, organizing, presenting and interpreting data for the solution of a
problem, for prediction for intention, for the discovery of truth, or for the
expansion or verification of existing knowledge, all for the preservation and
improvement of the quality of human life (Calderon and Gonzales, 1993);
- to search again, to take another more careful look, to find out more
(Selliz et. al., 1976).

Types of Research according to Statistical Content

1. Quantitative Research
- used for the purpose of measuring;
- one where analysis proceeds by using statistics, tables
and
charts;
- assigned numeral value;
- can be measured in the usual sense;
“explaining phenomena by collecting numerical data
that are analyzed using mathematically based methods (in
particular statistics).”
For example:
The height of adult males.
The weights of preschool children.
The ages of patients seen in a dental clinic.
2. Qualitative Research
- used for the purpose of capturing life as participants
Experience;
- one where analysis is done by extracting themes or
generalization from the data in the form of words and images
drawn from the documents, observations and transcript;
- seeks to answer questions about why and how people
behave in the way that they do. It provides in-depth
information about human behavior;
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- Focus Group Discussion (FGD);

For example:
Classification of people into socio-economic groups.

Variables
- concepts that have been operationalized or “concepts that can vary”
or take on different values of a quantitative nature.
- “mortar and bricks” of scientific investigation.
Types of Variables
1. Dependent Variable (DV)
- or an outcome variable, the variable one is
attempting to predict and by convention is
denoted by the letter Y;
- some behavior or attitude that is usually the subjects
of one’s study.
2. Independent Variable (IV)
- or predictor variable, the variable that causes,
determines, precedes in the time the dependent variable and is
usually denoted by the letter X.

✓ CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH
- form of research that inquires into the:
1. etiology of crime, or the causes of criminal pathology;
2. epidemiology of crime, or the control of the spread of criminal
social dysfunction;
3. administration of criminal justice system;
4. therapy, behavior modification and reparation programs;
5. political and governmental systems;
6. social and cultural environment; and
7. social change, trends and progress in all of these areas.

• Importance of Research in Criminology

1. It helps students and even professionals to ascertain or
recognize what works in the areas of law enforcement,
prosecution, legal service, court system, correctional institutions
and community.
2. It provides the basis for formulation of criminal justice policies.
3. It equips students with skills essential for educational and
professional success, notably critical and analytical thinking
skills, and making sense out of the data from multiple sources.
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4. It helps students identify more effective approaches to law
enforcement and administration of justice.
5. It helps students become educated consumers of research by
being able to identify the strengths and weaknesses of studies in
the field of Criminology.

➢ Characteristics of Research:
1. Systematic - follows the interrelated steps/procedures in solving a
problem;
2. Objective - based on empirical data, not on guesswork;
3. Comprehensive - examination and analysis of all aspects/angles
before making a generalization or conclusion;
4. Critical - procedures employed must be able to withstand detailed
scrutiny;
5. Valid - conclusions must be based on actual findings;
6. Verifiable - correctness and validity of the results are based on the
methods and procedures being used;
7. Empirical - generalizations drawn are rooted upon hard evidence
gathered from information collected from real-life
experiences or observations.

➢ Major Types of Research According to Goal:

1. Pure or Theoretical - type of research done for the sake of
knowing. It is mainly concerned with testing theory or establishing
general principles. This type of research is not aimed at solving a
problem for practical purposes, like knowing the causes of youth
delinquency.
2. Applied or Practical Research - type of research done to solve a
problem for practical ends, like providing rehabilitation programs for
youthful delinquents.

➢ Functions of Research:
1. Corrects perceptions as well as expands them.
2. Gathers information on subjects or phenomena that people
lack or have little knowledge about.
3. Develops and evaluates concepts, practices and theories.
4. Obtains knowledge for practical purposes like solving problems
on juvenile delinquency, drug addiction, alcoholism and the
like.
5. Provides hard facts that serve as bases for planning, decision-
making, project or program implementation, monitoring and
evaluation.
* research contributes to expanding knowledge,
and improves the quality of human life.
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CRIMINOLOGICAL RESEARCH/THESIS
(FORMAT @ Quantitative Research)

Areas Proposal Final

Initials:
Title Page Title Page
Table of Contents Approval Sheet
Acknowledgement
Table of Contents
List of Tables/Figures
Dedication
Chapter 1: THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING
Background of the Study Background of the Study
Statement of the Problem Statement of the Problem
Hypothesis Hypothesis
Theoretical/Conceptual Framework Theoretical/Conceptual Framework
Significance of the Study Significance of the Study
Scope and Limitation of the Study Scope & Limitation of the Study
Definition of Terms Definition of Terms
Chapter 2: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Foreign Literature Foreign Literature
Local Literature Local Literature
Chapter 3: METHODOLOGY
Research Design Research Design
Locale of the Study Locale of the Study
Research Instrument Research Instrument
Respondents and Sampling Used Respondents and Sampling Used
Data Gathering Procedure Data Gathering Procedure
Statistical Treatment of Data Statistical Treatment of Data
Ethical Considerations Ethical Considerations
Chapter 4: PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
(Final only)
Chapter 5: SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
(Final only)
References (Proposal & Final)
- Books, Theses & Dissertations (published & unpublished), Journals,
Magazines, Electronic (internet, e-mail), newspapers, etc..
Appendices (Proposal & Final)
- Letter Request, Sample Instrument/Questionnaire, etc..
Curriculum Vitae (Proposal & Final)
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• Background of the Study

- cite the problem in its Global, National and Local situations;
- 1st paragraph is the researcher’s “voice” emphasizing the problem,
which is about 3-5 sentences – i.e., it discusses the problem of the
dependent variable and its importance;
- 2 paragraph is the importance of the independent variable – i.e.,
nd

connect the IV to DV;

rd
- 3 paragraph is the problem of dependent variable in the local setting
where the study will be conducted citing an authority;
- last paragraph is usually a repetition of 1st paragraph, which should be
convincing enough to justify the conduct of study – i.e., it’s the
presentation there of research gap and urgency of the study.

• Statement of the Problem (SOP)

- it is stated in question form, which consists of the main/general SOP &
sub-problems to be answered in the proposed research.

* Criteria of a good research problem/question:

1. It is feasible.
2. It is clear.
3. It is significant.
4. It is ethical.
5. It investigates relationships.

* Other Considerations in Having a Good Research Problem:

1. It is of great interest to the researcher.
2. It is of relevance and useful to a specific group of people.
3. It is novel (newness, freshness, not overstudied).
4. It is well-defined or specified (set the scope or limit the study).
5. It is measurable.
In short, it is SMART:
Simple language
Measurable concepts are used
Attainable
Result-oriented
Time-bounded
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* When is a problem researchable?

1. There is no known answer or solution to it that a gap in
knowledge exists.
2. There are possible solutions, the effectivity of which is untested
or unknown yet.
3. There are answers or solutions the possible result of which
may seem or may be factually contradictory.
4. There are possible and plausible explanations for the
undesirable condition.
5. The existence of a phenomenon requires an explanation.

• Hypothesis
- a statement about an expected relationship between two or more
variables that permits empirical testing (variables are conditions or
characteristics that the researcher manipulates, controls, or observes
– i.e., Independent Variable, Dependent Variable, Moderator Variable;
- in more simpler term, this is an “educated/wise guess”, which is a
possible answer to the research problem;
- can be stated in a Null form (argued that no relationship exists
between two variables) or in an Alternative form (non-directional and
directional).

• Theoretical Framework
- structure that can hold or support the theory of a research work;
- presents the theory which explains why the problem under study
exists;
- a TF is like a map, which guide the researcher in making analysis and
interpretation of the data to be collected for the final research report;
- it is important because this leads to the selection of appropriate
research methodology.

• Conceptual Framework
- shows the direction of the study, and shows the relationships of the
different constructs (any clearly defined concepts) to be investigated;
- could also be a proposed concept for interpreting data to be
collected;
- amplified with schematic diagram to be used in the analysis and
interpretation of data.
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• Significance of the Study

- contains the justification of the study;
- researcher should express in this section in clear and unequivocal
terms why his/her research problem needs to be studied;
- he/she demonstrates his/her possible contribution to his/her field of
specialization.

• Scope and Limitation of the Study

- describes the coverage of the study;
- defines the boundaries of what the study does & does not include.

• Definition of Terms
- requires the definition of terms or major variables under study;
- either Conceptual/Constitutive or Operational/Functional.
- In defining the variables, use their indicators.

• Review of Related Literature (RRL)

- explains & clarifies the theoretical rationale of the problem;
- tell readers what researches have & have not been done on problem;
- researcher must show that his research hasn’t been studied before;
- Foreign Literature & Local Literature;
- two parts of RRL are IV and DV:
* first paragraph should start with the opening statement stating
the parts of the RRL;
* all references should be within the last 5 years of publication and
old references are acceptable as long as one of the references
is within the last 5 years of publication;
* reference citations should follow the Author-Year system;
* websites should be located in list of references after Chapter 5;
* in case the sources don’t have authors, cite the title or the first
three words of title if the title is long otherwise cite the title;
* last paragraph should be the synthesis of the RRL.
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Example of a Synthesis:
The foregoing presentation and discussion of various literatures had helped
bring into the focus the competence of signature verifiers and rate of forgeries in
banks. The literature presented had also helped the researcher realized that the
competence of signature verifiers is influential on the rate of forgeries in banks.
The present study is related to the research conducted by Reeves (2015) in
that is emphasizes on the……………………………. Also, the study on Questioned
Documents Issues (Ramon, 2018) is closely akin to this present study since it espouses
on……………………………………

• Research Design
- details the methods & procedures the researcher will use to solve
his/her research problem;
- a guide or a ‘blueprint’ for a study;
- tells the reader how the researcher will proceed with data gathering;
- could be Historical, Descriptive, Experimental, etc..
- Quantitative non-experimental research design using correlational
techniques

• Locale of the Study

- researcher points-out the specific place/location where he/she
conducts his/her study.

• Research Instrument
- describes and/or itemizes the particular instrument/questionnaire to
be used in gathering the needed data and in accordance with its
contents, and whether self-made or adopted;
- to be validated by experts whether or not it is substantial to the
specific problem being studied;
- researcher has to explain why certain instrument/questionnaire is
preferred over the others.

• Respondents and Sampling Used

- researcher describes accurately and clearly the subjects/participants
of the study and how they would be chosen (sampling procedure);
- if target population to be studied is quite large and unmanageable,
the researcher should use sampling procedure;
- if so, he/she should be able to describe how the sample is arrived at
and the justification for the preference of one procedure over
another.
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• Data Gathering Procedure

- researcher describes in detail the specific techniques that he/she had
used for gathering data for his/her research;
- includes what specific steps the researcher took in using the
particular technique in data gathering, which might include the
difficulties encountered during the process of gathering data.

• Statistical Treatment of Data

- researcher presents what statistical tool/s for analysis he/she had used;
- depends on the nature of research problem and the data to collect to
answer the research problem.

• Ethical Considerations
- concerns the responsibility of researchers to be honest and
respectful to individuals who are affected by their research
studies;
- provide rules that specify appropriate and inappropriate behavior in
the conduct of research;
- Voluntary Participation, Privacy & Confidentiality, Informed Consent
Process, Recruitment, Risks & Benefits.
..oOo..

STATISTICS
- a branch of mathematics that deals with the collection, organization,
analysis, and interpretation of numerical data;
- useful in drawing general conclusions about a set of data from a
sample of the data.

✓ Main Areas/Branches of Statistics:

1. Descriptive Statistics - summarizes, organizes, and describes
data, providing an organized visual presentation of the data
collected; examples are measures of central tendencies (mean,
median, mode) and measures of variability (range, inter-quartile
range, variance, semi-quartile range, and standard deviation).
2. Inferential Statistics - statistical techniques used to estimate or
predict a population parameter from a sample statistic; typical
example is probability.
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In applying statistics to a scientific, industrial, or social problem, it is

conventional to begin with a statistical population or a statistical
model process to be studied. Populations can be diverse topics such as "all
people living in a country" or "every atom composing a crystal." Statistics
deals with all aspects of data including the planning of data collection in terms
of the design of surveys and experiments.
Sampling refers to the method of choosing subjects in a particular study.
The two basic approaches to sampling are:
1. Probability (simple random, stratified random, cluster, systematic);
2. Non-probability (convenience, quota, purposive, snow-ball).

✓ Levels of Measurement:
- a process that employs rules to assign numbers to phenomena,
these include:
1. Nominal - observations are categorized or sorted based on defined
properties; each category is distinct, mutually exclusive, and
exhaustive; examples are gender, religious affiliation, college major,
hair color, birthplace, nationality, tribe, and the like;
2. Ordinal - scores or observations are ranked in order without distance
between individuals; examples are age group when ranked, socio-
economic status, level of conflict, and the like;
3. Interval - with equal intervals between numbers where there is no
absolute absence of the attribute because zero is assigned and
represents an arbitrary point; examples are temperature, IQ score, etc;
4. Ratio - this is in contrast to interval where there exist an absolute
absence of the attribute or rational zero; examples are age, height,
weight, length of time, and the like.

✓ Descriptive Statistics in Data Presentation:

1. Frequency Count (the number of times a certain observation/category
occurs) and Percentage (relative frequency);
2. Ranking - determining the relative position of measures/values based
on magnitude, worth, quality or importance;
3. Measures of Central Tendency - provide a single summary figure that
best describes the central location of an entire distribution of
observation (median, mode and the most common is mean or
arithmetic average).
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✓ Correlation:
- relationship between two or more paired factors or two or more sets of
test scores; its degree of relationship is usually measured and
represented by a correlation coefficient (Greek letter rho or r); r can be
interpreted as follows:
Correlation Coefficient (r) Degree of Relationship
.00 - .20 Negligible
.21 - .40 Low
.41 - .60 Moderate
.61 - .80 Substantial
.81 – 1.00 High to Very High
1. Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation (Pearson’s r) - used when
factors to be correlated are both metric data (measurements which can be
subjected to the four fundamental operations);
2. Spearman’s Rho - used when test scores are ordinal or rank-ordered;
3. Chi-square Test (of Independence) - non-parametric test, used when
data are either nominal or categorical, presented in contingency or cross-
break tables.

✓ Test of Difference:
1. Critical Ratio or z-Test (for Independent Proportions) - used when a
researcher is comparing whether two proportions from two different
groups of samples vary significantly on a variable under study (samples
are selected randomly and independently, both samples are large
enough so that the populations of proportions are normally distributed,
data are expressed in proportions or percentages);
2. t-Test (for Independent Samples) - used to determine whether or not
the means from two groups of different samples differ significantly
beyond what would be expected (two separate or independent groups
are to be compared on a particular variable, samples come from a
normally distributed population, variances are homogenous, data to be
compared are mean values/scores, hypothesis can either be one-tailed,
when a stated direction of difference is specified such as higher or lower,
faster or slower, or two-tailed, when no direction of difference is stated);
3. t-Test (for Dependent Samples or Paired t-Test) - used when testing
the difference between the means of two paired/matched groups for
statistical significance (one group of subjects is involved, this group will
be measured on variable of interest at two different times, null
hypothesis is one-tailed, degrees of freedom is DF=N-1);
4. f-Test or One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) - used when three
or more means are compared on one variable (samples come from a
normally distributed population, variances are homogenous, data to be
compared are means values/scores).
* * *