Preliminary Research Proposal Example

Problem or Objective of the Research

I want to study the effects of education on violent crimes. My hypothesis

is If education level increases, then violent crimes will decrease. I predict

that violent crimes will be committed less often and, if committed, will be less

severe by more educated people.

I think this is worth studying because America has the highest crime rate

in the world and violence is increasingly something American children have to

worry about growing up the number of truly safe places for them is

diminishing. I think this study could have an effect on the education system

because if the data supports the hypothesis, more reforms may be made in the

education system so that more people will have the opportunity to increase

their levels of education, and, by doing so, be less likely to commit violent

crimes.

The primary goals of this study are to identify general patterns and

relationships, to test and refine theories, and to advance new theories.

The study will attempt to find a correlation between education level and

violence, thus fitting the goal of identifying patterns and relationships. The

idea that education affects participation in violent behaviors is not a new idea,

but I wish to study more about why this happens and to refine the theories that

exist. I do not wish to propose a theory simply to propose it; the final goal of

my study will be to advance new theories on the relationship of education and

violence that can be used to enact reforms.

Literature Review
 Pamila Fishers A Safe and Secure Learning Environment and Diane

Levins When the World is a Dangerous Place would both be useful pieces of

literature to review if I were actually completing the study. Both articles would

give background information about crime rates and dangers students face.

Neither article would actually have data on the relationship between education

level and participation in violent crimes. Though these do not contain the

specific data I need, they would provide information that could be useful in my

overall understanding of the topic.

Fisher, Pamila J. A Safe and Secure Learning Environment. Community

College Journal 73.4 (2003): 3.

Levin, Diane E. When the World is a Dangerous Place. Education Leadership

60.7 (2003): 72-75.

Subjects and Variables for Study

In order to collect data for the study, I would research violent crimes and

determine the highest level of education attained by the perpetrator. This is a

large task, so I would need to research it in a specified area, like Orange

County. The unit of analysis is individuals.

My theory is a causal relationship. I think that education will cause a

person to be less violent, or, rather, to have less reason to commit violent

crimes and to have more knowledge as to the negative effects crime has. The

dependent variable is the rate of violent crimes and the independent variable is

the level of education attained, as the participation in violent crimes depends

on ones education level.

 Measurement
A key concept in this study is education. Here, the operational definition

of education is the highest degree attained. Though this may not be an all-

inclusive definition, it is the easiest for measurement and data collection

purposes. Some indicators for this concept could be less than a high school

degree, high school degree, and college and beyond. Dimensions of

education could be the action dimension (the degree attained) and the self-

defined dimension (whether or not one considers oneself educated). Another

key concept is violent crime. For the operational definition, violent crime

may be defined as either the physical instigation of combat/battery or the

committing of a crime in which one is prepared to physically harm the victim if

he is present (e.g. robbery). Indicators would be whether or not the person

being studied had ever committed a physical crime or committed another crime

in which he was prepared to do physical harm. Dimensions would be an action

dimension (having physically hurt someone purposefully) and a mental

dimension (being prepared to hurt someone).