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Summary and review
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This chapter has described the key decision-making stages involved in planning and proposing criminological research for a dissertation, at undergraduate or postgradu- ate level. From the outset, you will need to identify a topic area to research, one that interests you and one that is suitable in terms of ethics and in terms of the resources that you have available to you. Of particular importance is narrowing your topic area and formulating a research question that focuses your ideas and demonstrates specific- ity. This process allows you to capture case, context and time pressures and is also informed by an initial review of the research literature which will continue through the identification of the data to collect and the methods to be used. In some cases, the literature review will form the main element of the dissertation. Having focused your
research ambitions and harnessed your imagination into a researchable question(s), you will then need to plan how you wish to carry out your proposed research, making decisions about the type of approach you will wish to follow. This process of research design will allow you to connect what you want to study with how you will achieve it in the time frame and resources available to you. To help bring your ideas together, it is useful to write a research proposal that structures what it is you wish to study, why, how, with what resources and in what time frame. Having completed all of this, it is now time to do your research. Good luck and enjoy.
STUDY QUESTIONS AND ACTIVITIES FOR STUDENTS
1. Think about a criminological topic that you are interested in undertaking research on. Write down what it is and where the idea came from.
2. Think again about the research you would like to undertake and brainstorm the various areas of interest that relate to this broad topic.
3. Begin to formulate a research question that you would like to study (think of the process – the funnelling of ideas, from large to narrow). Is it interesting, relevant, feasible, ethical, concise, answerable?
4. Identify the core characteristics of qualitative and quantitative research design. Make a list of the key methods relating to quantitative and qualitative research. Against each method, identify the key strengths and key weak- nesses of each method and how these connect to the broader approaches (qualitative/quantitative).
5. Think about how you would go about researching the topic that you have identi- fied. What data collection methods would you choose? Qualitative? Quantitative? Which is the most appropriate in answering your research question?
a. A statistical confidence
b. A rich understanding
6. How do you propose to secure access to the data? Are there key individuals or a gatekeeper that will assist you in accessing the documents, people and places of an organization?
7. Using the template from Box 2. 10:
a. Choose a topic of criminological interest and express it in terms of the title of your research project, your research focus, your research problem or question/hypothesis.
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(Continued)
SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER READING
Two texts will allow you to explore planning and proposing research:
Caulfield, L. and Hill, J. (2014) Criminological Research for Beginners: A Student’s Guide. London: Routledge, especially Part 2: Getting Going with Criminological Research and Chapters 4–7.
Crowther-Dowey, C. and Fussey, P. (2013) Researching Crime: Approaches, Methods and Application. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, especially Part 1: The Principles of Research and Chapters 1–3.
Also of relevance are:
Crowe, I. and Semmens, N. (2008) Researching Criminology. London: McGraw-Hill. Davies, M. D. (2007) Doing a Successful Research Project Using Qualitative and Quantitative
Methods. Basingstoke: Palgrave.
In relation to formulating research questions, read:
Booth, W. C. (2003) Chapter 3, ‘From topic to questions’, in The Craft of Research, 2nd edition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. This includes examples of ways to find the makings of a problem and how to turn it into a problem that guides your research.
De Vaus, D. (2002) Chapter 3, ‘Formulating and clarifying research questions’, in Surveys in Social Research, 5th edition. London: Routledge. The first half of this chapter is espe- cially useful for considering the type of research question that you are formulating and the scope of your research.
O’Leary, Z. (2004) Chapter 3, ‘Developing your research question’, in The Essential Guide to Doing Research. London: Sage, especially the section on moving from ideas to researchable question using insights from personal experience, theory, observations, contemporary issues and engagement with the literature; and also the section on nar- rowing, clarifying and redefining your research question.
Tashakkori, A. and Creswell, J. W. (2007) ‘Exploring the nature of research questions in mixed method research’, Editorial, Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1(3): 207–11.
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