You’re required to write a research proposal that MUST include each of the following sections: (1) Introduction; (2) Literature Review; (3) Methodology; (4) Expected Results; (5) Implications for Criminal Justice Policy; (6) Limitations; and (7) References. An example is as follows:
(1) Introduction (1 page; 15 points)
What is the issue or problem and why is the issue important? Is there any criminal justice policy regarding the issue? What is the purpose and importance of your proposal?
(2) Literature Review (2-3 pages; 20 points)
How have other researchers in criminal justice and criminology approached the issue? What kind of research methods did they use and what did they find?
What does the existing literature suggest to you in shaping your question?
(3) Methodology (3 – 4 pages; 30 points)
Based on what you found in the literature, what is your hypothesis? What is your independent and dependent variable? How are they defined conceptually and operationally? (about 1 page; 10 points)
What is your population? How will you sample? What is your unit of analysis? If you are conducting research with human subjects what about IRB approval? (about 1 page; 10 points)
What method will you use (experiment, survey, field, agency records?) Explain in detail.
(1-2 pages; 10 points)
(4) Expected Results (about 1 page; 10 points)
What do you think you will find and why?
You won’t be executing your research. You will only be setting it up; hence, it is called a proposal. It’s like a marriage proposal even though you’re not quite married yet.
(5) Implications for Criminal Justice Policy (about 1 page; 10 points)
Thinking about your expected results, if criminal justice agencies decided to take your research and implement it, what implications would there be? What might happen to crime,
criminals, victims, communities, for example. What economic or legal consequences might occur? Might the program result in something that is less expensive that current policy? Think BIG.
(6) Limitations (1 page; about 10 points)
Remember, all social science research is probabilistic. All social science research – including criminal justice research – has error. What sources of error do you see in your research? Remember, translating you concepts from the conceptual to the operational is a source of error. If your research covers a long time period, is attrition an issue? Do you see any ethical issues in your research? The point here is to be critical of oneself before others are of you. If you had the opportunity to do it all over again, what might you do differently?
(7) References (1 page; 5 points)
Here make sure you list at least EIGHT references you use in your paper. At least FIVE of those references must be academically refereed journal articles. Make sure you list them in alphabetical order AND you format them in American Psychological Association (APA) style.
You MUST use Times New Roman, 12 font, 1″ margins on all sides, and double space – no exceptions. If you do NOT follow all of these three requirements, it will result in the drop of FIVE points of your paper grade per requirement violation.
You MUST submit your proposal as a Word document or rtf (rich text file if you use Word Perfect).
You MUST use at least EIGHT sources including FIVE academically refereed journal articles for your literature review.
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