SCIENTIFIC METHODS OF RESEARCH

Scientific Methods of Research

Scientific Methods of Research

Introduction

The issue of capital punishment divides libertarians just as it does other Americans. Debates among libertarians and others generally fall into two areas: the abstract question of whether the state may ever legitimately puts its citizens to death, and the more specific question of whether capital punishment is just and fitting as it is actually implemented in the American system of criminal justice (Bedau, 1998).

Opponents argue that capital punishment is cruel and unnecessary, that juries in capital cases are almost inevitably unrepresentative of the community and skewed toward vengeance, that the risks of erroneous conviction and execution are unacceptably high, and that the breadth of discretion in charging decisions by prosecutors and sentencing decisions by juries renders capital punishment arbitrary and unfair, if not outright biased (Goertzel, 2004).

Research Design: Exploratory Research Design

Research Hypothesis:

Often times it is believed that those who work within the Criminal Justice field support the use of Capital Punishment, but we believe that an indepth study will show just how untrue this information is. We believe our study will show that as age and education increase, the support in Capital Punishment will decrease.

Capital Punishment and the Criminal Justice Field, Fair or Unjust?

The purpose of our survey was to determine the impact that education has on Capital Punishment in the criminal justice field. Often times it is believed that those who work within the Criminal Justice field support the use of Capital Punishment, but we believe that an in-depth study will show just how untrue this information. For the purpose of this survey, it was imperative that our samples be taken from a population with wide degrees of variance (Creswell 1998).

Our research design was one of exploratory research, in which survey sampling was used to ascertain information about the sample group The survey was divided into nine categories which solicited participant opinion on capital punishment as follows, represented by "yes or no" or multiple choice responses. Questions one through nine were designed to ascertain the beliefs of the law enforcement personnel, while the remaining questions were designed to give detailed information on the background of those same law enforcement personnel. All of the questions worked out perfectly in determining the statistics needed to provide for our graphs and supporting or disproving our hypothesis.

Of the total officers surveyed the demographics are represented as follows:

Federal Bureau of Investigation: ...