Explanatory Research Design

How might a good research design be diagrammed? What kinds of threats to the validity of research designs can you identify? How can such threats be controlled or eliminated?

A research design can be understood as the planning of any scientific research from the first to the last step. In this sense it is a program to guide the researcher in collecting, analyzing, and interpreting facts (Bless and Higson-Smith, 1995:63).

Clarify what is causing what by discussing if the effect would have occurred without the cause and if something else

Have you ever wondered about the world beyond its original state? How we know that electricity produces a light bulb to light up or causes the sort of energy necessary to produce heat? But in the first place, what is electricity? Nor have we seen it and not we encountered it; however, we know what it can do, hence its effects. To help us better understand the notion of cause and effect, David Hume, an empiricist and skepticist philosopher, proposed the that there is no such thing as causation. In his theory, he explained the deliberate relationship between the cause and effect, and how the two factors are not interrelated. Think of it this way: sometimes we end up failing to light a match even though it was struck. The previous day, it lit up, but today it did not. Why? Hume’s theory regarding causation helps us comprehend matters of cause and effect, and how we encounter the effects in our daily lives, without the cause being necessary. According to Hume, since we never experience the cause of something, we cannot use inductive reasoning to conclude that one event causes another. In other words, causal necessity (the cause and effect being related in some way or another) seems to be subjective, as if it solely exists in our minds and not in the object itself.

Many of the research methods for which the research we have reviewed is classified as either exploratory or constructive. Rape culture, victim blaming, and rape myths encompass more gray areas (uncertainties) than mere black (wrong) and white (right) understandings. As few of the studies specifically sought to gain insight in what is considered consent, therefore they exploratory research wanting to purely define and identify the miscommunication and mixed opinions of interpretations of consent, as they consider this to be a root to the problem of rape (16p.907)(8p.470)(19p.518). A couple other studies we found went a different route and chose to test theories they had relating to rape and then went on to propose solutions

Unit of analysis is the group of the key entities that are examined in the study. Examples from the unit of analysis in the High School Longitudinal database are socio-economic status composite, parent’s highest education level and parent’s employment status.

Descriptive research, this will not answer questions like how, when, why it has happened. It describes the characteristics of a citizens or circumstance being studied. Instead it tells us the “what” question what are the traits of the citizens or situation being studied? Although this research is highly accurate, it does not gather the causes behind a situation. So if we did a study on say “How many gangs are in Los Angeles?” This will give us an answer of how many of something, like a situation that is being studied. (Babbie, 2008)

- What is a risk factor and how does it or does not affect causality?

Causation: An essential element of an injury claim that connects the defendant’s conduct with a resulting effect, typically an injury.

Research designs are procedures used for collecting, analyzing, interpreting, and reporting data in research studies. There are many different models with separate procedures for each of them. Research designs help guide which methods a researcher will use during their studies. When a researcher identifies an issue used for research mixed methods they choose a specific research design that best fits the problem and research questions in the study. The four basic mixed methods designs are the convergent parallel design, the explanatory sequential design, the exploratory sequential design, and the embedded design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2006).

Criminal investigative analysis is a process of reviewing crimes from both a behavioral and investigative perspective. It involves reviewing and assessing the facts of a criminal act, interpreting offender behavior, and interaction with the victim, as exhibited during the commission of the crime, or as displayed in the crime scene. BAU staff conduct detailed analyses of crimes for the purpose of providing two or more of the following services: crime analysis, investigative suggestions, profiles of unknown offenders, threat analysis, critical incident analysis, interview strategies, major case management, search warrant assistance, prosecutive and trial strategies, and expert testimony.[7] In addition to the above services, the BAU staff produced the Child Abduction Response Plan to assist investigators faced with these investigations. Recently, the BAU released "The School Shooter: A Threat Assessment Perspective" report to guide school administrators, teachers, parents, and law enforcement in identifying and evaluating threats in schools.

“We have always thought of causation as a logical, almost mathematical business. To intrude policy into causation is like saying that two plus two does not equal to four because, for policy reasons, it should not.” (Charles Foster NLJ 5/11/2004 page 1644).

An example of a cause and effect claim would be because factories put of fumes and fumes pollute our ozone layer, factories are to blame for the damage to our ozone layers.

* Causal chain / Domino effect - is a chain formed of a cause producing a situation and

The above objective is fulfilled by initiating an exact design required for performing the research process. The research design illustrates the basic understanding about the research (NLP) and various features.