To be a qualified researcher, they must know different terminologies and the process to become one. There are many of terminologies that a researcher must know to do his/her job. Some of them are the steps in research, the Lucifer effect, informed consent, and shield laws. Knowing the proper terminologies and how they apply to the criminal justice field can help their research in the criminal justice field. Not knowing the proper terms can make their research invalid and produce incorrect information. It is best for researchers to take the proper steps when they conduct their study.
The steps in research are problem formulation, research design, data collection methods, analysis and presentations of findings and conclusions. The problem formulation is the particular area that is going to be investigated. The research design is a type of experiment or studies of the group over a period. The data collections methods are the choice of methods that are going to used. The analysis is the summarizing and reporting of the findings. The last step is what the researcher believes the study has to say (Hagen, 2010).
The steps in research already apply to the criminal justice field. For example, California wants to know what type of offender goes in and out of prison the most. They would study this over the next five to ten years and come up with robbery offenders tend to come in and out of prison. Not knowing the proper terminology can not only affect the results time wasted on researching the subject matter and taking the incorrect way of doing things. Understanding these terms will assist in analyzing research or data will help out a lot because I would know what each step the researchers did and how they came to his or her conclusion. I would not be lost in translation on what this means or even get confused on why they believe their study has to say.
According to the book is a term coined by Zimbardo that refers to the
References: Hagen, F. (2010). Research Methods in Criminal Justice and Criminology (8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Zimbardo, P. (2006, January 1). The Lucifer Effect. Retrieved August 21, 2014. Montaldo, C. (n.d.). Ted Bundy: Profile of a Serial Killer. Retrieved August 21, 2014.