Juvenile Delinquency & Theories of Crime

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Please see response attached, as well as presented below. I hope this helps and take care.

RESPONSE:

Let's take a closer look through discussion and example, which you can then draw on for your final copy.

A. Analyzing Statistical Surveys and their results?

Do you have a specific survey that you were supposed to analyze, or is this a general question? Since you did not attach a survey, this response is general, which you can use for a guide if you need to analyze a survey.

1.Who is conducting the survey?

The researchers need to be fully trained.

2. Where is the sample population coming from, do they represent the rest of the population?

This ties into validity. If the sample is representative, it means that it can be applied to the rest of the population and the study has external validity. It can be generalized to the rest of the population. For example, if you used a sample from only one community, the results might not be generalizable to other communities. If you wanted a representative sample to generalize to all communities, then instead you would choose a random sample of all the communities in United States.

3.What environment were the questions asked?

The environment must be free from biases, things that can impact the scores e.g., hot, noisy, etc. and thus challenge the internal validity of the survey. Perhaps, for example, it was the hot room or the researcher who influences the respondent to answer the way she or he did. This challenges the validity of the scores on the survey, and thus the results are not valid.

4. Who asked them?

The questions need to be asked by the same researcher and in the same way for all participants to standardize the procedure. Then one can say that the method of administration did not impact the scores. This is a validity issue and the results may not be valid.

5. How were they asked (personally, paper, computer)?

This seems like you are supposed to analyze a specific survey, and if that is the case, you will need to look in the method section of the article or if you performed the study yourself, then explain your method of administration of the survey. Did you interview the person face-to-face (personally) or did the respondents answered the questions themselves or used the computer? The method must be the same for all the participants. This information is in the method and/or procedure sections of articles.

6.What were the specific questions?

Standardized questions are considered an objective test or survey (quantitative research), whereas interviews without specific questions are qualitative research. If you did a study, which one was it? If you are analyzing a specific survey, are there specific questions or not? This is found in the procedure or methods section of an article.

7. Were the people being tested paid?

Again, this information is located in the methods or participants section. Sometimes, participants are paid to participate.

8. Who is sponsoring the survey?

This is often listed in the introduction of an article, or it you did you own study, report who sponsored your survey, ...