Research Questions, Theory, and Method

This study is quantitative research because it is an investigation of a phenomenon using computation and statistical techniques as seen the discussion. This study can be said to be deductive since it is testing a theory and also, the hypotheses are more than two. However, the author appears not to have included the research questions guiding the study. The word conceptualized from the research is juvenile which refers to an offender below eighteen years. The study’s unit of assessment was the youth referred to juvenile court in Florida in 2008 which was a sample size of 71,388 people, which consisted of 27,035 formally processed youth and 44,353 informally handled youth (Mears et al., 2014).  From the article, the samples were chosen depending on the availability of data which would help in the creation of a measure to capture all the five dispositions. The study did not involve any indexes and scales.

Research Design

There were two dependent variables. First, the measure of informal processing versus the estimate of formal processing and secondly, dispositions specific to each mode of processing. Dispositions included diversion, probation, informal processing and dismissal. This data was collected from the sample size which ranged between the ages of ten and seventeen as per the definition of the word juvenile. The information for this research was gotten from the files and official records of the minors as received from the juvenile court in Florida(Mears et al., 2014). Therefore, the data was accurate considering the large sample size used for this research. The authors have, however, not outlined the limitations involved during the collection of data and the whole study in general. However, they have recommended that future researches should consider evaluating more detail about the issue of heterogeneity in juvenile dispositions and whether more detailed measures of sanctioning could be used to detect more age differencing in sanctioning of juveniles.

Data Analysis and Report Writing

The research was quantitative; therefore, there were no qualitative procedures use to complement the data. As a result, the question about ethical issues about the methods of data collection cannot be adequately answered. The report, however, is well-written regarding language, organization, and clarity(Mears et al., 2014). The manuscript could be improved by including more graphs. Not only do graphs make it easy to understand but also break the monotony of a long piece of writing.

Conclusion

In short, numerous studies have been done over the years concerning different issues in society and science. However, one cannot appreciate the effort and the knowledge from the finding if they are unable to read, understand and interpret the research article. This activity was crucial in understanding this article as it highlighted the areas which require most attention but often go unnoticed when reading a research paper (Mears et al., 2014). For instance, it is essential that a reader identifies the research questions from the beginning to have a better understanding of the goals and objectives of the researchers. Reviewing is a significant step towards the interpretation of a study and should not be skipped. It is through reading and understanding that readers can realize the abstract principles that are the foundation of findings in a study. As a result, there is an establishment of concepts which create new avenues for more knowledge.

Reference

Mears, D.P., J.C. Cochran, B.J. Stults, S.J. Greenman, A.S. Bhati, and M.A. Greenwald. (2014). The “True” Juvenile Offender: Age Effects and Juvenile Court Sanctioning. Criminology 52: 169-194.

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