Introduction
Designs are discerned as one of the methods of responding to questions that concern justice and criminality affairs. Research designs have become more and more complex as there is also the addition of federal case laws and regulations that touch on the law agencies. Therefore it is becoming more and more evident that the threats to validity play a major role in the research and experimental designs. These threats can affect the outcome of any research. When talking about experimental designs we have to touch on the importance of validity. We have to first define validity, it has been quoted that validity is the accuracy that can be found when taking down the measurement. We have to conclusively find out whether or not the instrument, supposed to measure is performing its task in measuring the set variables. Problems within criminal justice research have been found in the form of threats to validity (Maxfield & Babbie, 2009). Threats to validity have a way of influencing the results and could be both external and internal.
Internal and External Threats
Internal threats are more concerned with the result of the observational findings. External threats manifest themselves through the production of unique results and it is suitable for group research and is more targeted. When committed to research on criminology one cannot escape from the fact that several threats are included in both internal and external threats to validity. In internal threats, we have to factor threats such as history, the process of maturing of persons to become adults, statistical regression among others.
Threats to external validity are identified and categorized by several leading researchers as effects from testing, selection bias, the consciousness of being studied, and interference from multiple treatments. These threats have been manifested much more when research is done in a more carefully controlled condition. Assessing these threats is better done through the replication of studies that had exploited the same style or methodology. Replication enables researchers to get a more accurate picture or results as outcomes from one study may not be attributed to the external validity threats that we have mentioned above. A famous case of replication was noted through a study conducted in the late eighties where an experiment known as the Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment. This experiment was repeated in several cities all across the country. The outcomes that were derived from the experiments showed that the results could be similar and contradictory when compared from city to city (Maxfield & Babbie, 2009).
All this is to be found in an experimental design. It is a well-known fact that one has to have a thorough knowledge of statutes that are both for the state and also the federal statutes that exist. Therefore the importance of validity and occurrence of threats should be taken to account (Maxfield & Babbie, 2009). Threats to external validity are identified and categorized by several leading researchers as effects from testing, selection bias, the consciousness of being studied, and interference from multiple treatments.
Conclusion
Experimental design in the field of criminal justice is rare because it is difficult to distinguish whether or not it is legal to carry out the process of random selection into control groups as the subjects under research prisoners or other people associated with the defendants such as the agency personnel (Maxfield & Babbie, 2009). It is considered unethical to promote a select group with an experimental action while denying the other group (control group) of the treatment. It is the job of a high-quality impact valuation, to minimize threats to validity hence any researcher needs to identify that each design differs from another in the assumptions that are made and the problems that could undercut these assumptions. There is also the general control the researcher has over the exposure of the program. These are just a few of the points that should be considered to come up with more feasible results from any criminal justice research.
References
Maxfield, M. G., & Babbie, E. R. (2009). Basics Of Research Methods For Criminal Justice And Criminology. 2nd Ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.