Explain The Four Purposes Of Research In Criminal Justice

1. Identify and describe the four purposes of research in criminal justice.

In criminal justice there are four purposes in research which include, exploration, description, explanation and application.

Exploration – Exploratory research is normally on a topic in which little is known and to learn about the basic nature of a research problem or serve as a baseline for later comparisons (Maxfield, & Babbie, 2016).

Description – Descriptive research systematically describes the scope of a problem or policy response making more accurate and formal observations (Maxfield, & Babbie, 2016).

Explanation – Explanation research seeks to explain why things happen (Maxfield, & Babbie, 2016). Furthermore, explanation involves the determination of how

Provide a basic criminal justice example for each of the 4 purposes of research identified in question 1 above (it may be easier to provide a separate example for each purpose).

A basic criminal justice example for explorative research would be: What are some effects drugs or alcohol have on domestic disturbances? Explorative is the research purpose for this inquiry because you are looking for “some effects” (Maxfield, & Babbie, 2016).

A basic criminal justice example for descriptive research would be: How many men are victims of domestic violence? Descriptive is the type of research you would most likely use to discuss this type of research because you are counting “how many” (Maxfield, & Babbie, 2016).

A basic criminal justice example for explanative research would be: What causes parolees to reoffend? Explanatory is the research purpose for this inquiry because you are attempting to explain the causation or the why (Maxfield, & Babbie, 2016).

A basic criminal justice example for applied research would be: How effective are rehabilitation programs in helping reduce recidivism? Applied is the research purpose for this inquiry because you are attempting to evaluate the effectiveness of something (Maxfield, & Babbie,

Research should always be high in quality in order to produce information that is pertinent outside of the research setting. In the criminal justice setting research explains the connections between things such as police patrol and crime levels; while other associations include exploration, description, and application (Maxfield, & Babbie, 2016).

All of the four purposes seek to ensure that the work carried out by law enforcement not only serves the intended purpose but also uses as little resources as possible. Law enforcement proprietors attempt to practice evidenced-based policing to prevent and respond to crime. Thus making it useful to examine the four purposes separately because each has a different effect on how to structure our research (Maxfield, & Babbie, 2016). The four purposes of research may be independent to some extent but they correlate to make law enforcement effective while reducing the necessary resources to attain the