Gathering Research Data
James Hankerson
CJA/334
July 11, 2012
Kevin Hewitt
Gathering Research Data
“Research on police officers and the duties associated with being a law enforcement officer has demonstrated that high levels of stress, continually subjected to dangerous working conditions, and behavioral changes occur as a result of this occupation (Ellison & Genz, 1983 pg.60).”
This research data paper will include the following statements, the satisfaction or job hazards. What is the goal or purpose behind the proposed research? What type of interview structure would be asked? Why? What are some questions that would be asked? Why? What are some distinct advantages of a qualitative data gathering strategy, such as participant
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The last possible question that would be asked is, in the line of duty have there ever been a situation that you have had to or almost had to take the life of another person? The reason for the open end structure is for the officer to feel comfortable during the interview. The questions are asked because the job setting may affect me in on my criminal justice career path. The gathering of qualitative research data, which is a longer process that brings a stronger meaning to the research compared to the quantitative approaches, but that is the opinion based on the research and what the researchese is trying to accomplish in their research. Quantitative research concepts are assigned numerical value, whereas in qualitative research, concepts have the ability to provide complex textual descriptions of how people experiences a given research issue. The advantages of qualitative research provide information about the human side of an issue that is the often conflicting behaviors, beliefs, opinion, emotions and relationship of individuals. Another advantage is that use of open-ended questions and probing gives, participants the opportunity to respond freely in their own words, rather than forcing them to choose from fixed response. Some qualitative research methods that a researcher uses is the participant observation, complete participation, and in -depth
According to Yin (2003), there are two types of research approach. This includes quantitative research approach and qualitative research approach. A quantitative research emphasizes on transforming the data to numbers, quantities and statistics to formulate facts and to uncover patterns in a research. It addresses research purposes through empirical analysis that involve numerical measurement, the relationship between variables and analysis approaches (Zikmund et al., 2010). The sample size being investigated is typically large (Anderson, 2006). Quantitative research mainly uses questionnaires, surveys and other equipment to collect numerical or measurable data (Anderson, 2006). On the other hand, a qualitative research typically emphasizes words more than numbers
Qualitative research data is useful to explain to others the outcome of the information whereas quantitative research is difficult to understand at an initial glance. An advantage to quantitative data is that it is easy for you to turn in to quantitative data, which is more aesthetically pleasing for the audience.
7) The need to be in constant emotional control. Law enforcement officers have a job that requires extreme restraint under highly emotional circumstances. They are told when they are extremely excited, they have to act calm. They are told when they are nervous, they have to be in charge. They are taught to be stoic when emotional. They are to interact with the world in a role. The emotional constraint of the role takes tremendous mental energy, much more energy than expressing true emotions. When the energy drain is very strong, it may make the officer more prone to exhaustion outside of work, such as not wanting to participate in social or family life. This energy drain can also create a sense of job and social burnout.
Qualitative research methods have the options of using different methods to gather data on complex subjects, compare to quantitative its provides the options of gathering more detailed information to explain phenomenon and complex issues, and it is cost efficient (Creswell, 2015).
The kind of interview structure that I would choose to use would be one that follows the projected path of my proposed research method. This would include many questions which would be everything from why the officer chose that line of work to how the stresses affected his everyday and personal life. .Below is a list of questions I would ask.
In conclusion, it is evident that research is imperative. Research must be kept within the parameters of the so that the information obtained us justifiable and can be used in a court of law when necessary. Police officer’s dedicate themselves to striving in protecting their communities from harm. Officers put their lives on the line as well as place strain on their family lives so that we don’t have to.
A Police’s job can be very stressful due to the on-the job stressors and strict legal limitations. Researchers have found that the basic stressors involved in policing is associated with some of the responsibilities and legal restrictions involved in policing. . Stress can causes mental or physical tension or strain. In a sense, stress causes a restrictive hold on the body and mind, which causes a person to act in ways that are out of the norm for them. Stress can be described as the force itself, meaning whatever is bringing the force upon a person. Violanti and Aron believe that there are two major categories mentioned by officers. These are organizational practices, and the inherent nature of police work (Spielberger, 1981). Most of the reviewed research shows that police officers change there coping strategies and behaviors overtime when dealing with a personality. Some of these changes actually contribute to the officers reported stress experiences and stress levels in the work place. . The average day work duties include:, police officers are involved in a number of activities that may be very stressful, and constant exposure to these stressful events possibly leads to a number of psychological and physical outcomes. In longer terms, individuals may experience changes in their personalities, which reflect alterations of their typical coping strategies (Skolnick, 1973).
Qualitative research is used to find out and understand the beliefs of individuals. Knowledge attitudes, behavior and interactions. It produces non- numerical data, e.g. How a patient describes pain instead of a measure of pain. In health care, qualitative techniques have been commonly used in health care in documenting the experiences of chronic illness and in studies about how an organization functions. Quantitative research provides statistical
The key distinction between quantitative and qualitative research data in a nutshell is that quantitative research produces measurements and numerical results; quantitative research develops information or numerical data that can be translated into numbers and convey statistical conclusions while qualitative research generates non-numerical data; qualitative generates hypothesis or questions and are normally in the beginning of the research (Murphy, 2007).
Quantitative research is research involving numbers and measuring quantities or amounts of something, an example of quantitative research in a health and social care setting could be measuring the weight and height to calculate an individual’s healthy weight (Mary Whitehouse, 2010).
Once you have collected qualitative data you must then analysis the data and there are things that must be considered. Analyzing the research involves having a aim that you want to uncover, using that uncovered data to explain a phenomenon. Also with qualitative research you can use almost all of the data that you may collect, any responses that you have put together from unstructured qualitative methods. Another aspect that needs to be considered about qualitative research is that it doesn’t have a existing set system to identify and label the data. So a research need to use create their own methods using content analysis. Content analysis is a system for labeling verbal or behavioral data so that the data can be put into classification, summarization and tabulation classes. This allows the research to analysis the data according to it’s specifically class and allow them to know how to approach the data.
Most important, both quantitative and qualitative research methods are fundamental towards fulfillment of voids; or perhaps, gaps of unknown phenomena from a vast existent body of knowledge. For example, “research is a systematic process of collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information (Leedy & Ormrod, 2013, p. 2). For example, research does not consist of merely locating information pertaining to a topic presented within an argumentative stance based entirely on theories derived from various sources without substantiated evidence utilized in accordance with research procedures that prove otherwise.
Quantitative research methods are based on one truth and leave no room for own interpretation, while qualitative research leave room for multiple realities and are open for interpretation (Sale et al., 2002). When doing a qualitative analysis you interpreted your data, oppose to doing a quantitative analysis, which is statistical.
The method of the research is qualitative using semi-structured interviews. Qualitative researchers are interested to see how people make sense of their world and experiences and understanding the meaning they have constructed (Merriam, 2009). The qualitative research deals with texts, images and sounds while quantitative research deals with numeric data.
Qualitative research method is used in attempt to have a better understanding on the subject matter i.e. the way the