Discussion Three: Social Science Methods

 

 

 

 

 

 

Discussion Three: Social Science Methods

Name:

Institution Affiliation:

Course:

Date:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Research Topic

The research topic identified in my study proposal is about the minorities’ perceptions regarding the use of excessive force by law enforcement officers in the US. The topic revolves around minority groups, including whites in black neighborhoods, Latin, Hispanics, African-Americans, and others. Discrimination and biased treatment from law enforcement officers are crucial issues that affect Americans, leading to racial discrimination and violence against them. Their rights are violated; they feel threatened and fear interacting with law enforcement officers who are supposed to provide security and maintain law and order. The topic is significant in investigating the way law enforcement agencies interact with the communities they serve, how they perform their work, and other outcomes of their actions while maintaining law and order.

Secondary Data Used

The research topic contains multiple secondary data sources linked to it. For instance, the secondary data source linked to my research topic is indicated below; it is an experiment conducted by Bradley Buckmeier (2010), titled “Police misconduct, media coverage, and public perceptions of racial profiling: An experiment.” It is a journal article about how police misconducts are covered in the media and the way the public perceives racial profiling in the state of Chicago. The experimental study uses a video clip to deliberately determine whether residents have varying beliefs concerning racial discrimination in law enforcement. The sample included 306 respondents that qualified for the practical, and six dependent variables used in the study. It is secondary data because the author presents the survey’s key findings, how they carried out the experiment, the methods used in the experiment, and can be easily found online. Hence, a secondary source of data.

The sources I provided are made secondary data because I did not experiment but accessed the data from internet sites. I used peer-reviewed sources to allow me to choose the most relevant source linked to the primary research topic I was exploring.  The data was conducted in the field by Bradley Buckmeier (2010), the initial researcher on how media airs police misconduct and the perception of profiling in the state. I was not present during the experiment; therefore, I am a secondary user of the already done experiment. I am using the data as part of my research, which confirms to the manager that I appreciate other people’s surveys, and experiments were done previously. Primary data involves going to the field, planning the experiment myself, and identifying the participants to use as subjects in the experiment. Experimenting in the field is quite expensive, time-consuming, and could have required me to travel to the experiment site, which I never did. I used an internet-enabled device to access online data about the topic and develop that unique source.