CRIJ 5331 Topic 7 Assignment: Research Paper Review

Topic 7 Assignment: Research Paper Review (70 points) CRIJ 5331 Quantitative Methods Criminology

1. Please read the attached articles. Manuscript: Fagan, Abigail A., Wright, Emily M. and Pinchevsky, Gillian M. 204. “The Protective Effects of Neighborhood Collective Efficacy on Adolescent Substance Use and Violence Following Exposure to Violence.” Journal of Young Adolescence, Vol. 43(9): 14981512. It is also available in Lamar Online Journal database.

2. Please make adequate appreciation and critique of the research design presented in the paper.

a. Overall what are the strengths and weaknesses of this study if you judge the study by its ability to examine/answer the research questions (topic). You should demonstrate your understanding of this research and its contributions to our field. 10 points

The general process of evaluating this part could flow as the following: Ideas -> theories -> hypotheses -> results -> conclusion (support/deny the hypotheses)

b. Please describe the RESEARCH DESIGN of this study in details. You should describe their (potential) reasons/justifications of adopting those designs. 10 points

c. With regards to the sampling, what do you think of the sampling methods and samples used in the study? Do you have better ideas? And what kinds of resources you may need to implement your sampling design? Your ideas need to be something workable instead of being ideal but impossible to execute. If you have exactly ten thousand dollars more in budgets than the journal researcher(s) for the job of sampling and/or samples, what would you do to improve your research design? 10 points

d. Do you find the research results trustworthy? Please explain and justify your verdicts. Some of the high level statistical analysis and terms may beyond your current learning scope but the explanation of the results and interpretation of those statistics should not be difficult for you to understand. Therefore, you may pay more attention on those authors’ interpretation but be aware if the results were based on correct research design and analytical strategy. 10 points

3. Now, you are granted by the Institute of Drug Abuse for an extension of the abovementioned study to be conducted in the next year. The IDA is interested in the differences of drug use among men, women, and juveniles living in poor areas that lack of adequate public services. They found that depression and anxiety are often demonstrated by many drug users and are interested if these drug users may have different drug use patterns among these three groups. a. How will you compose your research design to achieve these goals (make sure you are going to achieve each of the new goals) the IDA sets for you? 10 points

b. Should you considerate the generalization issue in your research design? If you do, please tell us how will you do it and justify your choices of the design. If you do not, explain why? 5 points

4. The length of this assignment could range from 3 to 6 pages (double-spaced, 12-point New Roman font, 1 inches in all margins, . Longer research review is NOT necessarily better. a. Overall quality of writing and organization. 15 points