Research Process and Terminology Paper

Research Process and Terminology Paper

I this paper I will be discussing the research process. The new terminology that I have learned from the reading and how that terminology and knowledge would apply to a career in criminal justice. I also will include how not knowing the proper terminology can affect you as you conduct criminal justice research, and how knowing these terms be an asset to you when evaluate and analyze research studies or data.

The Research Process

The research process starts out with a question or hypothesis, which can be researched. The hypothesis is usually between two variables, a dependent variable and an independent variable. Which is your problem formulation, where you are trying to figure out what you want to research. Which eventually creates a theory, a theory is a based upon a hypothesis and backed by evidence. A theory presents a concept or idea that is testable (Cherry). “Theory in criminal justice represents an attempt to develop plausible explanations of reality”. “They

are usually general or broad statements regarding the relationship between variables.” (Hagan 2010).

After problem formulation you know what your going to research, but how are you going to research it? You figure all that out your research design, how you are going to research your hypothesis. After you figure out how you are going research you hypothesis you collect data. There are many different methods of collecting data such as observation, going back to look at existing data, create questionnaires, and interviews (Hagan 2010).

Once you have researched your hypothesis, and collected sufficient amount of data to support your hypothesis, you analyze all of the data and findings. You analyze your findings by summarizing, reporting, and statistically analyze and presenting findings (Hagan 2010). After looking over what you have researched you will come to a conclusion. Your conclusion will be what you interpreted from the results, which turns into a...