CASE STUDY REPORT (ASSESSMENT 003)

The case study report is the third component of assessment for Researching Crime and Deviance (SC4003) and counts as 50% of your overall grade for this module.

For this assessment you are required to provide a written 2000 word report of your full critical evaluation of ONE of the above research papers.
You will need to write this in a research report (not essay) format under the following headings:
Heading/ Title

The heading /title of your report should reflect which article you have reviewed. This should including who wrote the article, the year it was published and its title, for example:

Review of Smith’s (2000) article ‘Understanding street crime in London’

1. Introduction and Literature review (purpose, aim, and references)

• You should introduce the study briefly setting out the aims of the research commenting on the appropriateness and comprehensiveness of their references to related literature.
• Consider and comment on how the researchers have conceptualized their subject area. Describe which concept(s) are being investigated and try and evaluate any definitions which are being operationalised.
2. Methods (approach, sampling, access, ethics and analysis)

Approach:

• Describe the methodology:
• What approach have they adopted?
• Why have they used this approach?
Sampling:

• Describe the sampling procedure/strategy:
o What was the sampling population?
o What was the sampling frame?
o What type of sample was used?

• Evaluate (with reference to the methods literature) whether this sampling procedure/strategy was appropriate given the aim and nature of the research.
• Explain how the sampling procedure/strategy and/or sample may have affected the validity and/or reliability of the findings.
Access and ethics:

• Describe what ethical concerns, if any, were considered during the course of the research.
• Comment on any respects in which these were in accordance with, or contrary to, ethical guidelines.
• If the report does not contain a commentary on ethical considerations, then explain what issues might have arisen during the research.
• Remember to explain why such considerations are important.
3. Findings/Results (robust, valid and reliable)

• Provide a descriptive summary of the key findings.
• Try and consider whether or not a different research design or alternative research decisions would have produced different results.
• Comment on how valid and/or reliable you consider these findings to be, given the methods(s) used to generate them.
4. Discussion and Conclusion (relevant to other literature)

• Provide a descriptive summary of the key conclusions (how the findings/results have been interpreted) to the research.
• Try to consider whether, particularly in relation to other literature on the topic, the conclusion makes sense and is useful.
• Comment on whether the researchers have considered alternative interpretations to their own.
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Referencing Requirements:
• You MUST provide a complete bibliography which MUST include the full reference for the article which you are reviewing.
• In order to evaluate you chosen research article you will also have to have made reference to other literature about research methods and the subject area tacked by your chosen research article.
• Comments you make regarding Research Methods/Findings should be substantiated with reference to the research methods literature.
• Comments you make regarding the Introduction/Discussion and Conclusion should be substantiated with reference to other material on the subject area tacked by your chosen research article.