Required Textbook:    

Maxfield, M. G. & Barbie, E. R. Basics of Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology.  (2016). 4th Edition. Cengage Learning. ISBN: 978-1305261105

1

Criminal Justice & Scientific Inquiry

Our reading and discussion this week centers on Chapter one of your text. 

Discussion: Discuss the purposes of doing research. 

Students are required to write at least 250 words. You are also required to respond to at least two other students’ discussion posts. You may also share anything that relates to the discussion.

2

Ethics and Criminal Justice Research

Our reading and discussion this week centers on Chapter two of your text. 

Discussion: Researchers strive to do no harm to their subjects. Identify what type of harm may occur to subjects and use specific examples from the text to illustrate the potential harm. Include in your answer whether harm is ever appropriate when completing research in criminal justice.

Students are required to write at least 250 words. You are also required to respond to at least two other students’ discussion posts. You may also share anything that relates to the discussion.

3

General Issues in Research Design

Our reading and discussion this week centers on Chapter Three of your text. 

Discussion: Discuss the differences among cohort, panel and cross-sectional study. Give an example of each.

Students are required to write at least 250 words. You are also required to respond to at least two other students’ discussion posts. You may also share anything that relates to the discussion.

4

Concepts, Operationalization and Measurement

Our reading and discussion this week centers on Chapter Four of your text. 

Discussion:  Compare and contrast UCR and NCVS with respect to the type of crime data they collect and how they collect it. Identify the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Students are required to write at least 250 words. You are also required to respond to at least two other students’ discussion posts. You may also share anything that relates to the discussion.

5

Experimental and Quasi Experimental Design

Our reading and discussion this week centers on Chapter Five of your text. 

Discussion: 

Explain the classical experiment in terms of the following:

Independent and dependent variables

Pre-testing and Post-testing

Experimental and Control groups

Students are required to write at least 250 words. You are also required to respond to at least two other students’ discussion posts. You may also share anything that relates to the discussion.

6

on Samplng

Our reading and discussion this week centers on Chapter Six of your text. 

Discussion:  Discuss three probability sampling techniques and explain why each is an example of probability. 

Students are required to write at least 250 words. You are also required to respond to at least two other students’ discussion posts. You may also share anything that relates to the discussion.

Assignment/Activity #2 (Experimental Design)

Experimental Designs

You are required to conduct a scientific experiment:

• State your hypothesis for the experiment
• State and Design the type of experiment you want to conduct
• Discuss the step by step process in conducting the experiment

Note: All discussions must be based on class lectures and discussions on Experimental designs, which was covered this week.