Research Proposal: Time in Prison Causing Recidivism
Statement of Research
In general, criminal justice research has numerous purposes, and explaining dependence and associations between phenomena is one of these purposes, while others include exploration, examination, and application. Describing the scope of the criminal issues is a major purpose of criminal justice studies. A descriptive research refers to an observation and description provided by a researcher. The methods of criminal justice observation and description grounded in the social sciences tend to provide more accurate research (Textbook, 2016). The present research is a descriptive research that ultimately seeks to determine the interrelation, either positive or negative, between the length of time in prison and the level of recidivism.
Methodology
Theory
Theory is defined as a systematic approach applied to explain observed facts related to a specific aspect or field of study. It includes a set of assumptions that suggest the reasons events occur in a particular manner (lecture notes, 2017). Theories determine interrelations that are logically expected among variables. The notion of causation is often involved by this expectation since the attributes of one variable are assumed to encourage or cause a particular change of another variable (Textbook, 2016). The theory suggested by the present research assumes that as the sentences become severer and the length of incarceration increases, the level of recidivism increases as well (Monnery, 2016). The suggested research would examine the rates of recidivism comparing it to the length of the time served in prison, aiming to find out whether longer incarceration causes higher recidivism. The research applies deductive avenue of inquiry because it determines the problem, develops a hypothesis, selects methods of observation and data gathering, and provides an analysis in order to support a hypothesis (lecture notes, 2017). A hypothesis is defined as a specific assumption about the nature things determined by a theory (Textbook, 2016). The hypothesis of this research proposal suggests that the longer time of imprisonment causes higher recidivism.
Research Design
A research design serves as a basic structure of the study, indicating the placement of its components, and outlines the scope of the research (lecture notes, 2017). The present study applies the quasi-experiment design that refers to the comparison of non-equivalent groups. A quasi-experiment is the best choice for the studies where randomization is not possible. This type of research design has many common features with a classical experimental design, although it do not assign subjects randomly, and, for this reason, may suffer from the threats related to internal validity. Due to the lack of random assignment, the other components of experimental design should be used creatively to ensure validity (Textbook, 2016). The current research design includes one independent variable (IV) and one dependent variable (DV). The length of imprisonment and recidivism are the specific examples of independent and dependent variables. In the current research, it is assumed that recidivism is determined or caused by longer time of imprisonment. Since recidivism is assumed to depend on something, it is the …
