Liam Alford

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

Liam Alford

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:

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.

Liam Alford

Experiments
Overview: Definition: A test under controlled conditions that is made to demonstrate a known truth,
examine the validity of a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy of something previously untried. Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/experiment Planning, randomisation and replication.

Advantages:
This method will be used as it can help convict someone of a crime they had committed by 100% as it can be compared to dental records, DNA, intimate samples and fibres etc. There is a wide variety of areas that they can look through to help prove that someone had done something wrong, 20 years ago or so, these methods were very basic as crime committers had got away from being found guilty, but later proved to have done the crime years later due to DNA. Experiments are good at analysing a very wide range of samples to help connect it to a certain person or movement, for example, a person who had attacked someone could have left a fibre off of his/her jacket on the person which was later found and researched into. Obviously that forensics which carries out experiments is a hard job, but the technical port mortems and search of the area can find many different connections to the attack. So it could be easy to find certain parts such as DNA and Fibres but other areas such as what movement was taken would be harder to trace. Experiments which have been conducted by professional Forensic Scientists can be very reliable due the highly qualified personnel and specific testing of blood, fibres, DNA etc. The results can be very precise even with the smallest trace of samples as the samples are treated very safely and can be used multiple times; the results are then compared to suspects, or the suspects family to check for matches.

Disadvantages:
Experiments could be restricted if the body remains or objects are completely destroyed by decomposition, records such as (blood type, dental records etc.) could also not be present, not allowing forensics to look into these records and then comparing them. There is no need to experiment on crime scene areas or on people if there is already a person with a high per cent chance of being convicted already due to CCTV footage, which then means, that fibres will not need to be looked into as this can waste money for the Forensic team. It will also take up valuable time which could be used on other cases. Along with using valuable time, it can also cost a lot of money to carry on such investigations as samples need to be taken from people, equipment is then used (this can cost a lot to conduct a test) and then the samples have to go through results which are the compared to National data. With professionals working on a large case which needs to be completed quickly, money needs to provide to each area for more equipment. A lot of time is put into training Forensic Scientists in how to conduct tests and use samples efficiently allowing them to be used again. A person which is average and learning Forensic Science in University will take around 4 years to complete a Bachelors degree and then a further 2/3 years on a masters degree to apply.

Liam Alford Usage:

This method would be severely required when there has been a rape or a murder, as people cannot be sent to prison based on personal thought and opinions. The information has to be specific and very accurate to convict someone; evidence is required in court to prove someone guilty.

Example of use:
The tidy Burglar, a man named Malcolm Anders had murdered his wife and then set it up to have been a burglary gone wrong, the son then found the body and called Police. Forensics was called into do their job. The Forensic team took first searched for the forced entry signs but had found none meaning that a door must have been open to come through or it was an inside job, marks from shoes were traced throughout the house to look for the correct marking which was found around the murdered woman (Linda), they then searched for fibres and DNA, they found fibres from Malcolms jumper had been found on her clothing which provided enough information to convict him of the crime. Forensic searchers also found letters written by Malcolm which has stated that his wife had an affair which meant he had a motive to kill. This method was used because there wasnt any CCTV footage of what happened within the house, Police had suspicions that Malcolm could have done it as his car was seen just after the time of the incident. He denied all charges but the body was searched by the forensic and DNA, fibres etc. were found.

Liam Alford

Surveys
Overview: Definition: a detailed study or inspection, as by gathering information through observations,
questionnaires, etc. and analysing it.

Source: http://www.yourdictionary.com/survey
A survey consists of questionnaires, observations etc. to ask specific questions, open and closed questions which require facts (ages, Gender, siblings) and opinions (what do you think...). This information is then gathered and then recorded into official records where some information can be released but some may not, these can then be uploaded onto websites which are under Government backed schemes, such as www.officesofnationalstatistics.gov.uk To gather information from a selected area, such as (age groups, school leavers) etc. This will be required from asking a percentage of the population within one of these areas to form a conclusion on the topic, for example, if there was a survey to see what college students want to go onto do in the future after education, all of them could be asked and there could be a few ways they could want to go, work, further education or unemployment. I would form a survey asking current students that are in their last year of college/sixth form, and ask some open question such as, what do you want to do after College?, they could answer with a varied number of answers. I will want to ask a few closed questions as well, as I will then know that the answers would be more accurate and reliable. I would show the information in percentages in a bar chart, starting from 10%-100% with all the different answers which were given and stretch the bar to the percentage of how many chose what. For example, if 75% chose to work, I would draw the bar up to 75% leaving 25% available to the rest, I will also include some opinions made by the students to show their thoughts on the other ways they could go to get a good idea of what they think.

Advantages:
This method would be used as it will collect accurate and reliable answers which could then form an information sheet consisting of specific and opinionated answers which could then determine what percentages are certain about their answers and what their personal perception of the specific area chosen is. This survey will be good at analysing percentages with answers given by the population of the people that answered, so if 100 people were asked what they wanted to do, and 75 people said they wanted to work, 75% is accurate and this is then shown clearly by the bar on the graph, this can then show that some people could go into further education, some of these students could apply an opinion into other areas, they could say things such as, going into work right away is not ambitious enough whilst further education is. It could be easy to collect all of the information from the students if they are willing to provide their facts and opinions, it could sometimes be difficult to ask everyone as some people may be busy during their time in college, not allowing them to answer questions. The person who created the survey can ask who they want to ask, so if they did not want to ask some people down to personal matters or they just dont want to ask people that they dont know, they dont have to and can just give the Survey to people in their group of people and possibly friends of friends.

Liam Alford Disadvantages:

To get accurate results, you would need a large sample of people to take the survey to gain adequate results which would be more reliable than asking only a small group of the population, if you wanted to know what the countries favourite food is, a large proportion of the countries population will be asked as there are over 70 million people of all ages and gender. Surveys wouldnt be great to use if there is only a small population of people to ask, this is where questionnaires come into play, surveys are for large information gathering questions. Surveys are usually given out to a large percentage of people, so this will be hard to get the survey out to everyone unless there is a big group who had created it, for example; the government created the Census and due to the large amount of funding the Government have, they have people dispatched around the country posting the census to the people. Meanwhile if a survey was created by 2 or 3 people it will be hard to get it out to the majority of the people they want to ask.

Usage:
This method would be good for public services to use as this can extract information from employees to gather information about what they will want to do after leaving the forces, knowing this information would allow the force to know if the person is ambitious, this will let the chief of police know if there is a position for the officer in the future.

Example of use:
The census is a survey, this is a survey which requires all people in the United Kingdom to fill out forms to let the Government how many people are living in each house, area or city, they also need to know how old people are, all the information is close questions to ensure that [people answer with the correct (factual) answers. The census was handed out to every house in each city around the country, each street and house number would have been marked as delivered to ensure no forms have been missed. This method was used because it required specific information, so there was no need to ask what the populations opinion on something was as they could be of a large variety of answers, they do not need to know this!

Liam Alford

Case Studies
Overview: Definition: A research strategy that focuses on exploration of a complex phenomenon and
related context Source: http://www.beckyfiedler.com/edf6481/litreview/casestudies.pdf A case study is a collection of statistics and factual information released by the government or other reliable sources into a specific individual, event etc.

Advantages:
When case studies are created, a lot of the information is provided by people who were there or turned up just after it had happened but could provide a detailed analysis into what had happened. Case studies mainly show an insight into a specific event , which can either be killings, crashes, major disasters etc. There is a very wide range of incidents which have case studies for them. When a Case study has been completed, all the information will be in one place, instead hundreds of different websites showing different stories and sources they have produced, there us plenty of information about one subject on the internet, but which ones can be seen as true are the government backed websites showing their side of what had happened. If someone looks into a case study, and reads through and understand what was going on, why it happened etc. this could prevent them from wanting to grow up and think in the incorrect manner.

Disadvantages:
To create a case study, a lot of time is used to find information, type it up which is possible to understand it clearly, and then compiled it all into a presentation or a booklet. Due to the wide variety of sources and information compiled in a presentation or booklet, some of the information could be unreliable as they could be other peoples opinions which may be incorrect but are trusted as it is seen as an official document.

Usage:
There can be case studies for many incidents, for example; The Police will have to fill papers and send letters to the Government providing details of an incident they were called to and experienced, the presentation they form will need to include letters, information from people (primary info), personal experiences and what happened, with this information, a case study is formed. Armed Forces also provide the same information in a presentation about certain operation they have experienced, only operations which were publicised are allowed to be released due to data protection policies. This prevents the Public from knowing what happened in undercover missions.

Example of use: In 2004, a major flood ripped its way through Boscastle, all emergency services were called,
The Police (Took charge), Fire service, Royal Navy, Armed forces, RAF etc. The helicopters were used to winch people to safety from cars and roofs of buildings, most of the teams radios had lost signal and could not connect to others which made it difficult, but the Police forces radio connection helped keep everyone informed. All this information was taken from the emergency services personnel point of views and a lot of the facts provided by local weather companies and government research. There is a link below which shows the case study I have used. http://www.langleyschool.co.uk/assets/uploads/resources/case_study_boscastle.pdf

Liam Alford

Observations
Overview: Definition: To be or become aware of, especially through careful and directed attention;
notice.

Source: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/observe
Watching events/incidents to see what is happening or happened. Observations solely rely on eye witnesses or CCTV which show footage from peoples movements and the way they act during the day or night. During investigations, observation/surveillance is used a lot which enables the Police to gain information on someone or a group of people and then move in to prevent any other incidents happening such as drug dealings, smuggling etc.

Advantages:
Observations are a Primary source, as they are seen from the persons eyes while it is happening, this can give accurate and reliable results to look into and create and overview to provide evidence against someone who committed crime.

Disadvantages:
With these observations being carried out, they can be very time consuming which will cost a lot of money in time to keep the surveillance on people going, things such as petrol/diesel, drink, food etc. will be needed to keep the officer ready and alert for when something does occur. With under cover Police officers, they may sometimes require back-up if they feel threatened or if something has happened which requires, immediate action such as violence or a serious accident etc. Whilst being used on surveillance, officers may see people travelling to someone multiple places a day delivering products which could be things such as groceries, but they could be mistaken as drugs, explosive materials or plans for peoples next move.

Usage:
A prime example of a public service observing is the Armed forces as they use technology such as; Predator drones, satellites etc. to find information on what the enemies movement is like, where the main threats are, this information can then be passed up the chain to the people who will organise a plan to move in with to destroy any potential dangers or to capture someone to prevent current/future conflicts. The Police will also come under this as they will sometimes use Helicopters to help find the people or cars which have been used in a crime, specialist Units also conduct investigations into certain dealings from people which could involve, terrorist threat plans, drug dealings etc. The Police will track all the movement and then organise a plan to move in to deal with the problem.

Example of use:
On January 22nd 2008, the was police investigation into the disappearance of Emmy awardwinning make-up artist Diane Chenery-Wickens, Police had to undergo extensive research into her husbands story of how he was not involved with the killing, the police had later searched the homes, cars and clothing that both David and Diane had owned, which included cottages and the home they currently lived in, they also found out that David had lied about the items his wife was not wearing but while in actual fact she did because there were blood stains on them. In time they had to test hundreds of items, In time David Chenery-Wickens was convicted of murder and was set a life time in jail with a minimum 18 year term.

Liam Alford

Questionnaires
Overview: Definition: List of a research or survey questions asked to respondents, and designed to
extract specific information

Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/questionnaire.html
Planning, Style and Format I would plan some questions to ask which are specific to the area I am researching, for example, if I was asking about football teams, I could ask Who is the most successful team in the World of Football? I could also ask a number of people to answer the questions to give me a good insight into what people think, if I wanted to know what school pupils thought about a specific subject, such as do you think that school should add more P.E lessons to the curriculum?, I would ensure that I ask at least of the schools pupils, the reason for this is to get different peoples opinions and work out how many would want more P.E lessons.

Advantages:
The advantage of questionnaires is that you get to ask the questions which are specific to a certain area of something you want to know about, for example if the question is, do you think that Manchester City are a big club, due to 1 cup win?, they will answer something about that topic. You can also ask as many or few questions as you will want, but obviously it would be better having it as short as possible for people to finish quickly in free time. Asking simple questions will prevent people from becoming bored with the questionnaire and then stop answering it. With the questionnaires, you can ask for facts, opinions and get people to fill Likert scales out, this being 1 the strongly disagree stage and 5 being strongly agree stage, there could also be a box underneath to explain their answers from the scale. The positive thing about creating your own questionnaire is that you can ask specific questions for specific answers to ensure you extract the information that you need for your data collection, you could also add follow up questions, so if there is a question asking how much sport do you do per week? and someone replies 5, the follow up question can be something like Does this include high demand sports such as; Football, Rugby etc.

Disadvantages:
Asking personal questions could offend the person which is answering the questions as they could have a personal meaning to someone, questions such as what is your sexuality could offend someone as they dont want you to know. In some surveys or questionnaires, some questions may be confusing or worded a way that some people do not understand these results in a confused answer which may not provide the questioner with the information which is required.

Usage:
A questionnaire can be used in all Public services, as everyone can fill out a form which consists of factual and opinionated questions, if the questionnaire is short, which most are, they will not be hard to fill out within a break or lunch period the employees may have.

Example of use:
When the Armed Forces personnel come home from war on a deployment which involved a little or a lot of violence, they have to undergo a questionnaire which can involves questions such as how would you deal with daily issues, these can help determine how the person is feeling and whether they could be seen as a threat to people on the streets, due to the intense pressure and feelings towards people after war.

Liam Alford

Interviews

Overview: Definition: To have an interview with; to question or converse with, especially for the
purpose of obtaining information for publication.

Source:
http://www.brainyquote.com/words/in/interview180085.html#ixzz1fMgSYDWC An interview is used when questioning someone to extract information from them to about a certain incident, job etc. Interviews are like interrogations, they provide pressure, and interviews can be performed 1 to 1 or even in groups. It is used well to put people under pressure, to see how they react to the questioning, for example, for job interviews, the possible employee will come under questioning about his/her CV to see whether the person over exaggerated or lied about certain information on their CV, this could determine whether they are fit for the job. To provide an effective interview, you would have to put across the question clearly and possibly explain what you need to know, but do not give away any answers such as giving optional answers or say things like were you at home when the incident occurred as the person being interviewed doesnt have to think and could just agree, making the interview unreliable. With the information which is required, it will be written down as the answers will need to be recorded, and made official records. Without these records, evidence could be unreliable as the person asking the questions may not remember what that person said, resulting in incorrect information, which could prevent a follow up question asking for more specific answers.

Advantages:
This method could be used to ask for specific information from the person being interviewed about themselves or something regarding to the area they are being quizzed on, this could range from incidents such as; car crashes, fires, attacks etc. to job interviews. Being interviewed in groups can be very beneficial as it can force people into speaking out for themselves and speak with confidence. Information can be easy to collect, depending on the person and the conditions you are asking, if someone has come in for a job interview, it will be easy to get the information you require because most of the questions are closed questions, asking how old they are, do they have any criminal convictions etc.

Disadvantages:
Interviews can be used at all times as its not to force information out of people, an interrogation is different, interrogations are used to get information out of people about things which need to be used to move on in an investigation, some people may say no comment which will prevent the interrogator from asking follow-on questions which could possibly give an insight into something. In reference to the is it easy to collect information in the advantages, it can also be very hardtop collect information from people who are involved in an investigation, unless they are not involved. If someone is involved with an incident, they may not give any information or leads into the research.

Usage:
Interviews/Interrogations can be used in two different ways within the Public Service sector, these can either be an interview for the job vacancies or interrogating someone who is a suspect for an incident or attack etc.

Example of use:
Liu Anjun is an agitator for the petitioners rights was taken from his Family on 18 February 2011 and bundled into the back of a van and then locked inside a hotel room for 6 days of interrogation, the Police were hinting for information regarding the web of conspiracy for bringing together domestic and foreign foes. Photos were shown by the Police and Liu was asked whether he knew them or knew anything about them which could have been important to the case.