Criminal Justice Research Methodology - Term Paper Example

1. The major advantage of field research is that it could be used in carrying out qualitative data analysis as they could be used in carrying out observations that are not limited to only numbers and this makes it to have an appreciable amount of validity (Maxfield & Babbie, 2008). Field research can be used to carry out both quantitative and qualitative research and the fact that it can be used to carry out quantitative research is the major advantage it has over survey research that is limited to only quantitative research. A field researcher in carrying out an investigation on phone thefts would not only carry out a quantitative research on the population of people that steal phones, but would also carry out a qualitative research on the type of phones that theses thieves steal. The foregone is the major advantage that field research would have over other forms of research as the survey researcher for example would only be interested in carrying out a quantitative analysis on the population of people that steal phones and would not be bothered about carrying out any qualitative analysis. Through qualitative analysis, field research could be used to predict outcomes that would not be easily predicted ordinarily and field researchers base their findings on results gotten from observations that were obtained in the field of research through the inductive process. Field research in criminal justice do not only involve testing hypothesis or evaluating policy innovations on a criminal or criminals or in a crime situation but go a step further in carrying out a substantive and qualitative analysis on the nature of the crime and aids in proffering solutions to these problems (Maxfield & Babbie, 2008). Due to the effectiveness of the qualitative and quantitative research in the area of field research, it gives the researcher a comprehensive view of the situation at hand and it substantiates the results of the research which is very vital to the success of the research (Maxfield & Babbie, 2008). Field research helps researchers to fully understand a criminal situation better and this is the edge it has over other forms of research. The field researcher recognizes the subtle differences that exist between people’s attitude, behavior and the circumstances that surround these events and this is something that eludes researchers making use of other methods. 2. Two approaches or paradigms that are used in field research are: Observation and the Intensive Interview approach (Maxfield & Babbie, 2008). The Observation method is done by carrying out an extensive examination of a particular situation or setting, for instance a case crime could be reported to the criminal justice team and they step into the situation by observing the scene that the crime took place to see whether they could extract some salient facts from there. A field observation is very important in the area of field research as it helps to establish facts or truth about a particular situation. In the event that the prospects of crime differ by physical setting, then the field observation of the physical characteristics of the setting would be done in order to establish facts that could be used to prevent a crime from taking place (Maxfield & Babbie, 2008). Observation is a very good field research method for determining physical settings and behavior. Field Observation as a field research method is the most preferred method for the measurement of the changes in behavior and attitudes (Maxfield & Babbie, 2008). The role of a field observer varies from full participation to fully detached observation. It is not compulsory that field observers fully participate in the situation they are studying or assessing, though it is pertinent that they observe it closely at the point where the action is taking place. Field researchers that observe active criminals would be comfortable when handling criminal situations. Field observation is the best data collection method for acquiring information on physical or social settings and it is also the best method for obtaining information on events and behavior. The intensive interview approach is used as a supplement to the observation method and it is done by asking key witnesses to a crime event a set of questions that would help in finding relevant information about the criminal activity (Maxfield & Babbie, 2008). In this approach, the field researchers usually go the scene that the action takes place in order to carry out their investigation through the interview of people around that area (Maxfield & Babbie, 2008). They do not only watch, but also listen to the comments of people that witnessed the events and the field researchers must be very attentive in this approach. Serious inquiries are made to establish the truth about a particular situation and people are asked a set of questions in order to get the necessary facts that would be required in getting to the root of the matter at hand. The responses of people that are interviewed are recorded as these responses would be later analyzed. The interviews in a field research must be structured, but they are usually not as structured as the interviews in a survey research. In the interview approach of the field research, the interviewer could ask few questions from the respondent and further questions that would be asked would depend on the answers given by the respondent, so it is not like there is a rule that says that it is a particular set of question that must be asked in a particular crime situation. In this approach, it is usually the respondent that does most of the talking as the interviewer usually puts down the things that have been said by the respondent and develop topics and formulate other questions that would be asked from the interviewee. Reference Maxfield, M. G., & Babbie, E. (2008). Research Methods for Criminal Justice and Criminology (5th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Read More