Research Process and Terminology

Research Process and Terminology
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Research Process and Terminology
A research process is driven by the need to prove a point. Therefore, the central element in the research is a topic and thesis statement that is proven in the research paper. This paper will examine the belief that there are rising crime rates in America to describe the research process.
Select a topic
In writing a research paper, topic selection is the first step (May, 2011). The topic selected has to have some room for further research or clarification. The aim of the study is to clarify, to raise further questions or to dispute an element in the topic. The example selected for this paper, the issue of rising crime rates in the country is open to different interpretations. For example, the rates of crime have reduced since 1992. In this step, the selected topic is ‘to examine the relevance of the belief that crime rates are increasing.'
Literature review
It follows that from a topic, the next step is to review what other researchers have proposed. After the identification of the topic, the researcher needs a deeper understanding of a particular topic. Literature review, particularly review of recent literature, updates the mind of the researcher and highlights important areas of study in the field. After the review, the researcher is well placed to single out a specific area in a broad topic that can be covered in the research. In addition, literature reviews highlights important methodologies and the conclusions drawn from these methodologies. In this way, they help reduce the incidence of skewed studies.
For example, after reading about the situation of crime in the country, one comes to the realization that the crime rates have been dropping. A deeper study reveals that an increase in safety concerns is raised by people's increasingly high standards for security as well as media coverage. According to Frank E. Hagan, people feel insecure because television and other media cover these areas, and politicians use security policies to entice voters.
Clarify the problem
As stated in the point above, the main aim of reviewing literature is to help the researcher clarify the problem. In most cases, the initial problem stated is too wide to cover in one research. After the review process, the researcher is well placed to make a more refined choice of topic within the same field. In this step, the researcher may also formulate a hypothesis and set out to prove the hypothesis. A hypothesis is the mission of a research paper that is often stated as if it were true.
The initial topic selected was too wide. For example, while the general trends indicate a decreasing rate of crime, there are local variations. In addition, the causes of crime vary from area to area, thus making it harder to draw correlations. Therefore, the paper needs to be refined to cover more specific group of people or a given locality. Therefore, the specific topic selected is ‘the impact of mentality and increased media attention on people's perception of crime.'
Clearly define terms and concepts
Different terms can be used in defining the purpose of any study. However, there are different interpretations can be applied for the different terms. For this reason, the researcher needs to choose words and concepts that need to design the purpose statem...