Quantitative Methods
Quantitative Methods
Order Description
a survey data will be uploaded in an excel table but is to be opened in SPSS to be analysed and a report in a journal format be written. Also an example of a journal
used in the same format will be uploaded for guidance.
SECURITY AND CRIME SCIENCE
Please, read the guidance notes which appear on the following pages carefully.
Failure to follow submission instructions may result in penalties.
Assessment Type: Coursework
Length: 2000 words excluding the reference section, abstract, and any
appendices
QRM assignment
Quantitative Research Methods (QRM) Coursework
Students are required to demonstrate their knowledge of quantitative methods
by completing and reporting the analyses for a designated research project.
Students will submit independently written reports in the style of a short journal
article. Students will not be required to design the study, but everyone will be
expected to complete four surveys to help generate the data to be analyzed.
In what follows, section A) provides details of the specific research project. The
text in section B) then provides guidance as to how the reports should be
written. Section B1) provides an overview of what is expected of students, while
section B2) provides a more specific indication of how marks will be allocated.
The numbers in parentheses (in section B2) provide an estimate of the balance
of marks that will be appropriate for each section, although this is notional as
students may discuss some issues that would gain marks in a number of sections
(e.g. the assumptions of statistical tests – or their power -- might be discussed in
the results or discussion sections), so this is a little fluid. Moreover, a student
may write high--quality methods and results sections and then misinterpret
everything in the discussion section thereby suggesting a lack of understanding
that was well concealed in the earlier sections.
A) Research Project
Changes to the banking system and the way in which people can withdraw or
spend their money has created new opportunities for crime. These
opportunities have been exploited by criminals in a variety of ways.
For this assignment, you will conduct a small study to examine public
understanding of crimes of this kind. To examine the impact of question form on
answers produced, using the approach taken by Schuman and Scott (1987), half
of the respondents will be asked open questions, and half will be asked to select
from a set of closed responses.
To collect the data for the study, each of you should survey four people who are
not studying in the department or on a related course. Two people surveyed
should be students, surveyed on or near the UCL campus, while the other two
should be banking employees, surveyed in the city (e.g. around the Liverpool
street or Canary Wharf areas of London). Please survey people on the street, but
do so during the day and with a partner for reasons of safety. Appendix 1
contains an ethics form that respondents should read prior to participating. For
each person surveyed, you should then ask them to complete one of the two
study questionnaires (Appendices 2a and 2b). When you do this you, will need
to ask them the questions from only one of the two questionnaires. Randomly
select which questionnaire the first person at a given location completes, and
then use the second to survey the other participant. Thus, each of you should
survey two people using the first questionnaire (one student and one city
worker) and two using the second (again, one student and one city worker). Do
not survey people at the same time as this may confound the experiment.
I have created a database on Moodle for the purpose of the assignment. When
you have collected your data, please add this to the database. When everyone
has collected their data, you will be in a position to analyse it. Please ensure that
you have added your data by 19 December 2014. You will not be able to add
data after that point in time.
In writing up your report, you will need to draw on relevant literature to
introduce the study and to formulate a testable hypothesis or hypotheses.
B) Report Structure
1. OVERVIEW
Authorship -- Although students may discuss and analyse the data together, they
should write their reports and produce any tables/figures independently. Marks
will be deducted if it is obvious that students have simply cut and pasted
tables/figures produced by another student.
Format -- Pick a journal and follow the formatting guidelines associated with that
journal. Please indicate the journal you select on the front page of your
assignment.
Focus -- As this is a research methods assessment you should devote more
words/space to the methods and results section. The introduction should
introduce the topic but it does not need to be as detailed as a regular journal
article. Make sure you specify your hypotheses and that these are motivated by
the introductory text.
2. MORE SPECIFIC GUIDANCE
TITLE – should be concise
ABSTRACT (5 marks)
• Should be about 100--200 words (max)
• Describes purpose, techniques, results and implications
• Do not provide a detailed description of the methods
• Should be accurate, concise, self explanatory and specific
• Avoid jargon
INTRODUCTION (15 marks)
• Clearly defines the problem or issue.
• Starts general and becomes specific.
• Places the study in the context of previous research (literature review).
Useful to present relations, contradictions, gaps and inconsistencies in the
literature.
• Use subheadings selectively if they help organise the material better.
• Final paragraph clearly and explicitly states why the study was performed
(e.g. the purpose of this study was…). These should be motivated by the
text that they follow.
METHODS (25 marks)
• Must contain enough detail so that the study could be replicated by
someone else.
•
Often the following subheadings are used:
o Participants
o Design
o Materials (e.g. a summary of a questionnaire)
o Procedure
RESULTS (35 marks)
Be explicit about (for example) the sampling design used and indicate why you
randomly allocated participants to conditions. Present things in a simple way
• Start with descriptive statistics (descriptive statistics and/or suitable
figures or tables) so that the reader can start to understand the data
collected
• Tell a story using appropriate inferential statistical tests. Indicate
whether the assumptions of the tests you used were met.
• Do not include raw data
•
Tables/Figures
o Make figures as clear as possible, ensuring that all aspects are
explained either in the legend or the figure itself.
o Make figures as uncluttered and as easy to read as possible.
o Use the style of table specified in the Instructions to authors or
used in papers in the journal.
o Be consistent!
o Output straight from SPSS is bad practice and will be penalised
DISCUSSION (15 marks)
• Summarise aims and central findings
• Evaluate and interpret results.
• How do your findings relate to the literature reviewed in the introduction
and your hypotheses?
• Restrict discussion to the results (i.e. do not go beyond the data).
• Discuss any limitations of the current work or any future research that is
needed.
REFERENCES (5 marks)
• Make sure that you use the style of referencing that the journal requires
(see notes for authors).
• Software such as EndNote, Reference Manager, ProCite, or Zotero makes
this easier.
• Ensure all items cited in the paper are listed and no listed references are
uncited in the text.
Appendix 1 Ethics
Banking crime study
Appendix 2a Questionnaire (CLOSED QUESTION)
Banking crime questionnaire or FEMALE (Please tick)?
1. Are you MALE
2. Please state your age?
3. Please state your occupation?
4. What do you think is the most likely way that your credit card would be stolen
or cloned?
a. Tampered ATM
b. Infected computer
c. By hackers compromising a company database (e.g. Amazon’s servers)
d. Contactless card fraud
e. Other (please specify) _______________________
5. Who do you think is cloning ATM cards?
a. Regular criminals
b. Organised crime groups
6. Where do you believe the majority of cyber criminals operate from?
a. Locally
b. Eastern Europe
c. China
d. USA
e. Other (please specify) ____________________________
Appendix 2b Questionnaire (OPEN QUESTION)
Banking crime questionnaire or FEMALE (Please tick)?
1. Are you MALE
2. Please state your age?
3. Please state your occupation?
4. What do you think is the most likely way that your credit card would be stolen
or cloned?
5. Who do you think is cloning ATM cards?
6. Where do you believe the majority of cyber criminals operate from?
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