Assessment Objective Two

Aims and Objectives

Analyse a range of different research methods

How will the assessment take place? Completion of six worksheets. One for each of the following methods of research: 1. Experiments 2. Surveys 3. Case Studies 4. Observations- (participant / non participant) 5. Questionnaires using rating systems e.g. Likert scale 6. Interviews- Formal and informal For each method of research you will comment on: o Overview of the method o Advantages and disadvantages o Examples of when it can be used in public services o Provide evidence of its use.
Grading Pass Candidates identify different types of research methods and provide a simple analysis of each. They demonstrate a limited understanding of the relevant methodology, its key concepts and its usage. Merit Candidates identify different types of research methods and provide a clear analysis of each. They demonstrate a good understanding of the relevant methodology, its key concepts and its usage. Distinction Candidates identify different types of research methods and provide a detailed analysis of each. They demonstrate an excellent understanding of the relevant methodology, its key concepts and its usage

Example
Overview: Find a definition and reference its source (Wikipedia not accepted). Give a general description of the research method. What are the key principles of the method? How would you go about doing this method? How is the data presented?

Advantages: Why might this method be used? What type of data is it good at analysing? How easy is it to collect the data?

Disadvantages: What are its limitations? When would it not be good to use?

Usage: When in the public services would it be good to use this method and why?

Example of use: Find an example of when it has been used. Describe how the method was used. Justify why that particular method was used.

Experiments
Overview:
Method for testing different assumptions (hypotheses) by trial and error under conditions constructed and controlled by the researcher. During the experiment, one or more conditions (called independent variables) are allowed to change in an organized manner and the effects of these changes on associated conditions (called dependent variables) is measured, recorded, validated, and analysed for arriving at a conclusion. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/experiment.html You would use experiments to test a range of ideas etc. to find the right one. Or, people like forensic scientists will use experiments to find out who committed a crime or murder by experimenting on hair, blood etc. There are 3 main principles of experiments; randomisation, replication and local control. If you keep these in mind when doing an experiment, it will be a valid experiment and probably very reliable. To produce a valid experiment, you would start with the set-up of the experiment. There are 3 topics to keep in mind, the first one being the types of variables; experimental variables (the thing you are studying), control variable (the thing that stays the same all throughout the experiment), and responsive variable (the one recorded to see if it was affected by the experimental variable. The second topic being the control setup (Which does not have the experimental variable. Its designed to show us whether or not the experimental variable has any effect). Finally, the third being double-blind tests (In a double-blind test neither the test subject nor researcher know which experimental variable is which to remove bias). Experimental data is presented with a conclusion A conclusion should be written for each experiment. The conclusion should contain summaries of the actual experimental results, preferably in an easy to read format (such as a table). In addition, there should be a general statement drawing the data and the concepts together.

Advantages:
Advantages for this method are that the evidence from the experiments can convict criminals for their crimes. It is also reliable and can be trusted as it is being used by public services to help solve crimes. With experiments, you can get a great deal of information about the crime from it. You can retrieve body fluids, DNA, fibres, fingerprints, firearms & ammunition, footwear, glass & paint, hairs or marks & traces. These can all be used to solve the crimes as they compare these to samples from you and can match yours by up to 99.9%

Disadvantages:
The disadvantages for this method are that it is very costly and expensive. It would also take a lot of time for each experiment which would be costly in the long run and wont help the police catch the criminal any faster. If you wanted to become apart of the FSS and be able to complete an experiment professional and accurate, you will need training and to become an expertise in this area. Usually, the average amount of years training you will need is 5 years, as well as at least another 5/6 years in university taking a bachelors degree which takes around 4 years to complete. Then you may have to take a masters degree which takes an extra 1-2 years. After all this, you will still need continuing education to gain the expertise.

Usage:
Forensic scientists would use experiments to try and solve a crime and convict a criminal. Usually, it would be used to solve a murder by experimenting on the body and hair from the body or dental records. For example, the Colin Pitchfork case. The FSS took semen samples recovered from Dawns body revealed her attacker had the same blood type as Lyndas murderer through an experiment. As well as this, they were the first to demonstrate that DNA could be obtained from crime stains, which proved vital in this case.

Example of use:
Mary Gregson case: The FSS investigated the murder of Mary Gregson who had been killed in 1977 she walked along the towpath of the Leeds-Liverpool canal in Yorkshire. The FSS found a combination of DNA advances and a determined police investigation helped solve one of Britain's older murder enquiries. At the time of the murder, the FSS found semen stains on Marys clothing which were subjected to blood grouping tests. Detectives from West Yorkshire police then undertook an intelligence-led screen of the men involved in the original inquiry, and Lowther provided a sample. This sample matched the profile obtained from Mary's clothing. This was all possible because of experiments accomplished by the FSS.

Surveys
Overview:
A detailed study of a market or geographical area to gather data on attitudes, impressions, opinions, satisfaction level, etc., by polling a section of the population. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/survey.html A survey is a form with questions used to collect information on certain points, like unemployment, amount of people living in a certain area etc. From filling in these, offices like Office of National Statistics (ONS) can gather the information and complete the survey. A survey usually uses closed questions and can sometimes contain open questions. The key principle of a survey is that if you are looking to collect figures or statistics for a certain event, you will take information from only a certain percentage of that group. This is key because if you collect information from a small percentage of them, it wont be very accurate and if from too many, you are more likely to misread something which will make the survey of statistics less accurate. To make a good and reliable survey, the first thing you would do is write up questions (usually short questions are more reliable than long ones), but make sure all people asked will interpret the questions in the same way. Make sure you use simple English so everyone can understand. Before completing your survey, make sure you have read your questions back to your self, and check for any mistakes. Avoid double negatives etc. After all this, you should present your questions to the area of people chosen and get them to fill it in accurately. Then at the end, collect it all in. To present the data gathered, you can put your findings in a bar/pie chart, filter data, response table, question statistics table etc.

Advantages:
This method would be used to collect information on certain topics, like finding out how much crime is in the UK in a year, how many people in the UK are unemployed etc. This will help the government and everyone in the UK know whats going on in Britain, like if crime is going down, if unemployment is going up etc. so they can change things that arent working. Surveys are good for collecting and analysing statistic data, like if you want to know what foods people like, you would produce a survey and ask people to fill them out. It is very easy to collect data from surveys, because all you have to do is; for all the answers given, make a bar chart and make one bar for each answer and put the value up to how ever many people said that answer.

Disadvantages:
The limitations on a survey are that the only way to get accurate results you will have to ask a large amount of people. If you only asked 10 people about what they think about who is the best footballer for England, you wouldnt get results as accurate as if you asked 100 people as you have more of a variety and the gap between players will be slightly bigger which will be easier to read the results. If you are looking at when someone dies and want to know the cause, a survey wont help you.

Usage:
If you are in a public service, you could use a survey to see how effective that public service is when called out. You would do this because you would want to see what people think of you and to see what improvements could be used. Making these improvements will help make the work rate and success rate of the public services improve drastically.

Example of use:
Every ten years (1991, 2001, 2011..), the government send out a Census to every home in the UK to see how many people are in the UK. In the Census, there were loads of pages with questions like how many live in your house? and questions about employment.

Case Studies
Overview: Documented study of a specific real-life situation or imagined scenario, used as a training tool in business schools and firms. Students or trainees are required to analyse the prescribed cases and present their interpretations or solutions, supported by the line of reasoning employed and assumptions made. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/case-study.html A case study is a review or an analysis of an incident. The key principles of case studies are that you need all the information gathered from the case and put into one place so you can copy it all into one file instead of messing around with it and trying to find pieces all over the place. You would present it by putting it all on one or two pages of written data. Advantages: You can get primary and secondary information from case studies and a lot of information about the case investigated, from suspects and victims, to location or even weapons. They give you an insight into the event studied. Also, all the information gathered from the event is in one file and easier to find than other methods. Disadvantages: The downside to case studies is that it takes a lot of time to collect the information and compile it into a file. It is very team consuming. Also, you have to get the information from a range of different sources to get the precise and correct results. But doing this can also lead to the information being unreliable and contradicting the other results. Usage: The Police force would use case studies for crimes like theft, violent conduct or murders etc. They would put all the information gathered from witnesses, victims, footage etc. and put it all together to form the case study. The Armed forces will also use case studies for incidents and missions etc. Like the police, they will put all information into a file to keep it safe. Example of use: In November 2001, a woman named Hyo Jung Jin was found dead and almost naked in a suitcase by a man walking past. After dental examination, DNA and recovering her fingerprints, they still couldnt determine her identity. So a portfolio of this information was prepared. By chance her details were matched to a southeast Asian website listing missing people. The Korean government holds fingerprints of citizens and these were used to help identify her body. This method was used to document all the findings and conclusions of the murder investigation so they will have all the findings in one file. This was good because they wont have to search in different places for different bits of information.

Observations
Overview: An act or instance of regarding attentively or watching. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/observation An observation is when you look at things to try and determine what has happened or whats happening. An observation is carried out by first deciding what you are observing. After, you will either look at surroundings or the people to see what is happening. At the end, you will have a sheet filled out on the observation and your findings. Advantages: There are many advantages for observations as it is a primary source of information. It is very reliable as you see it with your own eyes, and it also gives you a good overview of the crime scene. If you are stuck at a crime scene and need some evidence, you would observe the crime scene to try and find any evidence or clues of who has been there. This is one of the main reasons criminals are found, because of evidence left by them, like hairs, saliva, DNA, footprints or fingerprints etc. Disadvantages: There are some disadvantages to using observations, like the fact that it is very time consuming and can take hours or days to complete. It is also very expensive to set up and complete and you may require some back-up evidence if it doesnt prove anything. Usage: There are many public services that will use observations in their jobs. One example is the Army. They will observe surroundings using drones to check for any hostile movement. This is the same for MI5 when searching for terrorists or looking at for any. The police will also use observations when searching crime scenes and trying to find evidence towards the criminal. Example of use: Police aircrafts are used in many operations like observation or traffic control with features like night vision, FLIR, infrared, surveillance cameras, radar, special radio systems and engines, loudspeaker systems, searchlights and flashing light beacons. The pilot, just flies around the skies observing traffic, people, transport etc. to find any crime. Its a good method to use because from up in the sky, you can see a lot more of the roads and streets than from on the ground. They use it because they can achieve more from the sky than from the floor as the vision is a lot better and there is more equipment in the helicopters than in police cars.

Questionnaires
Overview:
List of a research or survey questions asked to respondents, and designed to extract specific information. It serves four basic purposes: to (1) collect the appropriate data, (2) make data comparable and amenable to analysis, (3) minimize bias in formulating and asking question, and (4) to make questions engaging and varied. http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/questionnaire.html A questionnaire is used to gather information about certain subjects. There are 4 key principles for a questionnaire. The first one is the planning, the second is how to write to write it, the third is the types of questions and the last one is the format of the questionnaire. To create a questionnaire, you would first plan your questions you are going to use. Then, you will decide how you are going to write them and rewrite them at least 10 times if you want them to be perfect and professional. The next step is deciding the types of questions you want to use (open or closed, yes or no etc.). Finally, when you have your questions you will have to choose a format for your questions (you can choose multiple choice or open-ended questions). When you have generated all your reports and statistics, you can make a Questionnaire Report. Think carefully about what the statistic or graph are telling you and then write your interpretation and explanation. You will need to make a number of recommendations based on the findings of your survey.

Advantages:
This method would be used to find out information about subjects from people answering the questions. You get to ask the questions you want, and when answering, the questions are simple and easy to understand. You can use any amount of questions you want from 5 to 20 if you wanted to or maybe even more. You can obtain opinions and facts from questionnaires about the subject chosen and anyone can write one or answer one.

Disadvantages:
There are some disadvantages to questionnaires, like the fact that you cannot ask personal questions as you might offend someone, and you cant use confusing questions, otherwise people wont be able to understand the question and wont answer it.

Usage:
All public services would use questionnaires to find out how effect that public service is to the public. Answers could be used to find improvements they could make to make them more effective. Like surveys, the improvements suggested can help make the public services improve on success rate. Also, suspects and witness may be given questionnaires so they can answer questions about the crime.

Example of use:
UK military personnel in Iraq will have to fill in a health questionnaire to make sure they are in good health. Personnel will complete a questionnaire about their deployment experiences and health status. Primary outcomes will be about psychological distress, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and self-rating of overall health. They are using this to make sure that the soldiers fighting for us are in good health and fit to continue to help them do their job as effective as possible.

Interviews
Overview: A formal meeting in person, especially one arranged for the assessment of the qualifications of an applicant. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/interview An interview is a verbal questionnaire usually in a 1 to1. Sometimes it can be done in a group. It is like an interrogation, where you collect information from the people you are interviewing. You can ask specific questions and follow up questions, unlike in questionnaires. There are many key principles involved in making an effective interview, for example, understanding the subject matter of the interview and creating questions based on it, pay attention to detail and accuracy, keep control of it, review your questions before ending the interview etc. To complete an interview, first you will have to think up some questions to ask, and then when you have them ask the person you are interviewing, write down the answers and maybe ask some follow up questions to get more information and detail out of his/her subject knowledge. Advantages: This method would be used to interrogate people or to interview people for jobs. By using this method, you could find out what happened at an incident by asking witnesses and convict people when interrogating suspects. It is quite easy to collect data from them, if you write them down. Disadvantages: If someone answers no comment, you have to move on and wont get an answer for that question in an interrogation. It wouldnt be good to use when trying to find evidence as you would be looking instead of asking. Usage: In the public services, you can use it for two reasons. The first one being an interview for a job in the public service, and the second being an interrogation when with a suspect or a witness. If someone has committed a crime, they will be taken into the interview room and interrogated. Example of use: Philip Smith was interrogated in 2000 for the attempted murders of three women; Jodie Hyde, Rosemary Corcoran and Carol Jordan. A team of forensic scientists from different specialities pulled together every strand of forensic evidence to create a kind of 'spider's web' and in the centre of it all linked to each one of the murdered women - was Philip Smith. They used this method to try and find out if he committed the murders and to try and get a confession out of him.