Unit VII Scholarly Activity Criminal Justice Managers – Research
Evaluation
Unit VII Scholarly Activity
Criminal Justice Managers – Research and Policy Analysis
Research is conducted in the field of criminal justice on a daily basis. The expectation is that the findings
from research studies will be helpful in developing related policies, practices, and programs in the field
of criminal justice. However, it is not always clear whether research findings are actually used in the
criminal justice field to impact policies, practices, and programs. To further explore this phenomenon,
you are required to complete this scholarly activity that focuses on the evaluation research process and
the use of research findings by criminal justice managers as managerial tools.
To meet the objectives of the scholarly activity, complete the following tasks:
Section 1: Evaluation Research
♦ Provide a brief summary of the steps in evaluation research used in the field of criminal justice.
♦ Provide a brief discussion about the distinctions between the types of evaluation research.
♦ Briefly discuss the type of evaluation research that would be most appropriate for evaluating a
criminal justice program in your community.
Section 2: Managerial Tools
♦ Visit the website of a criminal justice agency in your community (e.g., local police department,
county sheriff’s office) and review the agency’s organizational structure. Familiarize yourself
with the managerial positions at the agency, and read any related job descriptions, if available.
♦ Imagine that you are preparing to conduct an informational interview with an employee that
holds a managerial position in the criminal justice agency you selected. In your informational
interview, you are going to ask questions about his or her awareness and use of evaluation
research by criminal justice personnel serving in management positions in the agency.
❖ using your knowledge of the evaluation research process and the types of evaluation research,
develop a list of at least five questions you would ask at the informational interview.
♦ Be sure to write at least one question that addresses whether the manager uses evaluation
research as a managerial tool; if so, in what capacity are those evaluation research managerial
tools utilized, and if not, why.
♦ Be sure to ask at least one question that addresses the extent to which the manager uses
statistical analyses (which could be used to generate the findings related to evaluate the
research) as a managerial tool.
❖ Using information on the agency’s website, record how you think the employee in a managerial
position at the criminal justice agency would respond to your questions.
❖ Note: You are not required to conduct an actual informational interview, but you are required to
generate questions that could be asked during an informational interview and to think critically
about how an interviewee might respond to the questions you developed.
Section 3: Application and Implications
, ♦ Discuss the extent to which what you learned from the textbook supports and/or refutes what
you learned from developing and responding to your informational interview questions about
the use of evaluation research by criminal justice managers in the agency.
♦ Based with your research on the agency website and your responses to your informational
interview questions, discuss whether you think any changes should be made regarding how the
managers of the criminal justice agency use evaluation research.
♦ Discuss what your findings suggest about the usefulness and future need of evaluation research
in the field of criminal justice.
Each section of the scholarly activity must be clearly labeled using the following section headings:
→ Evaluation Research
→ Managerial Tools
→ Application and Implications
Each section of the scholarly activity listed above should be a minimum of 200 words. Your entire
scholarly activity should be at least three pages.
750 words
Steps in the Evaluation research in the field of criminal justice
➢ Underlying Premise of Assessment and Evaluation.
This is as a result of the need to focus on innovative programs which successfully contribute to
the State strategies on criminal justice system improvement and ensuring it is well recognized.
The research on individual programs helps identify the works and what may be transferable
within the system.
• The system assessments are made to provide policy makers and administrators with an improved
understanding of the specific activities which accomplish the desired results of enhancing the
effectiveness of the criminal justice strategies.
➢ Assessing Program Effectiveness.
This step is designed as an aid for program managers and criminal justice policy makers in
assessing the efficiency of the programs. This attempt is meant to produce a generic document,
which will be applied across the board, to fit the uniqueness and characteristics of the vast types
of criminal justice programs that are being implemented across the states.
➢ Program Effectiveness Criteria.
The criteria which define an effectively managed program is first developed to assess the
efficiency of the criminal justice agenda. The activities are diverse in nature. For the tests to cut
across programs, they should not relate to only particular types of programs.
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