Reference no: EM133828855

Assignment:

Imagine that you are a researcher interested in studying the effects of social disorganization on crime. In a nutshell, social disorganization theory predicts that poverty, and unstable populations (people often moving in and out of the neighborhood) lead to a decrease in social control at a neighborhood level as people become more insular. In other words, due to these factors people don't know or trust their neighbors very well, which makes it hard for the community to come together and prevent crime.

Imagine that as a researcher you are aware of a certain neighborhood (let's call it Mayberry) in a city that has high levels of poverty and an unstable population. However, the crime rate in that neighborhood is very low compared to similar neighborhoods in the city. You want to determine why this might be because your findings could potentially impact the theory as well as policy to reduce crime. So, you decide to conduct a qualitative study because you want to obtain rich and detailed data.

Your assignment is as follows:

Discuss two qualitative methodologies that could be used to determine why crime is low in Mayberry despite the high level of poverty and unstable population. As part of your answer consider the following:

1. First, answer why it might be desirable to use qualitative methods to study the neighborhood.
2. Second, identify the two methods you chose, and discuss why each of the two qualitative methods you choose would be appropriate for this study. What type of information would you expect to gain?
3. Also, briefly describe how you would conduct each method. (This only needs to be 2-3 sentences for each method. Just enough to let me know that you know what you are talking about.)