Step Eight: Draft of the Research Report (Due 12/7)
Draft a five-page research brief research report that formalizes your CRJ 102 DARE Project research results and experience. Address the following:
- Your research question – what was it and why did you choose it?
- Your hypothesis – what was it and why did you settle on it?
- Your data sources.
- Your data analysis process – describe how you analyzed the data from your research question.
- Present the table and graph. How did you construct each? What are the dimensions/axis and components of each? How does each help you to both answer and present your research question and findings?
- Your written analysis. What does the data reveal? Was your hypothesis correct or incorrect? Why do you think it was/wasn’t so? What do your findings mean? What theory could be helpful in explaining the results?
- Describe your experience using the Google Suite to collect, analyze, and present sociological data. How easy/difficult was that experience? What did you like/dislike about it?
- How would you describe your quantitative reasoning skills (and confidence in those skills) prior to your participation in this course? How would you describe them now?
Share your draft in the OpenLab reflecting on the bullet points above. Offer feedback to at least two of your classmates’ reports.
Grading Rubric
| 18 – 20 | 15 – 17 | 12 – 14 | 9 – 11 | 10 and lower | |
| Thesis | Clearly stated and appropriately focused. | Clearly stated by focus could have been sharper. | Thesis phrasing is too simple lacks complexity, or is not clearly worded. | Thesis lacks a clear objective and/or does not fit the content of the paper. | Thesis is not evident. |
| Tables/Graphs | Tables and graphs are properly formatted and labeled, and are free of quantitative errors. | The tables and graphs are mostly correct, but there are a few errors. | Tables and graphs have several errors. | Tables and graphs have numerous errors. | Tables and graphs are missing or problematic. |
| Data Analysis | Clear and insightful descriptions and interpretations of the data that are statistically and logically correct. | The data are correctly interpreted, but thoughtful insights are absent. | There are mistakes in data interpretations or insights. | The errors in interpretation are numerous. | The data have not been analyzed or interpreted. |
| Organization | The paper has an informative title. It is broken down into coherent sections and subsections with informative titles. | The paper has an informative title. It is broken down into sections. | The paper has an informative title. The paper isn’t not clearly broken down into sections. | The paper does not demonstrate clear organization, the title is missing. | Absence of planned organization. |
| Style and Language | Precise and effective word choice and style. | Generally correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. | Minimal mistakes in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. | Several awkward and/or unclear sentences; problems with word choice. | No apparent control over sentence structure and word choice. |
Completing this assignment will help you achieve the student learning outcomes required in a 100-level criminology class. It will also contribute to developing your capacity for clear, cogent, and well-organized writing, a capacity that is useful to acquire whatever career you’ll end up embarking on. Finally, your participation in the DARE program will contribute to developing your capacity for qualitative reasoning for understanding data and interpreting tables and graphs.
