Validity is a highly important concept in research, especially in its experiment-based kind. The term ‘validity’ denotes the extent to which a given study is logical and lucid, as far as its factual and causal claims are concerned (Maxfield & Babbie, 2014, p. 127). When one evaluates the merits of a research study, they frequently discuss its internal and external validity: while both types are equally important, they do, nevertheless, frequently present a trade-off in experimental research.
Internal validity refers to the study’s own consistency, logic, and soundness. Thus, a researcher that produces an internally valid study ensures that the logic that they apply to the research subjects is consistent and clear. Typically, internal validity is maximized when the researcher has greater control over the experiment and can claim with greater certainty that the conclusions of their study are, in fact, reliable. For instance, a researcher claims that victimization is the leading predictor of future engagement in violent crime. If they can isolate other variables that may affect this link in their study sample – for instance, the socioeconomic status of the respondents – then they produce a more internally valid study.
However, the more control the researcher exercises over the study, the more it undermines its external validity as the experiment’s conditions become somewhat artificial. External validity refers to the extent to which the study’s findings are generalizable in respect to the general population, and not just to the study’s sample. A researcher attempting to maximize the study’s external validity will try to conduct an experiment in more natural conditions – however, the less control a researcher has over the study, the less internally valid its findings tend to be.
Research Topic
The research problem selected for this proposal refers to the discourse and public opinion regarding people with mental illness. Given the increased number of mass shootings and other high-profile criminal events, any major discussion of such crimes involves an examination of the perpetrator’s mental health history. Regardless of whether the perpetrator has such a record, the media and the public tend to speculate about the potential mental health issues that the perpetrator must have had.
However, medical and evidence-based research indicates that there is, indeed, no direct link between an individual’s mental health status and future criminal behavior (Peterson, Skeem, Kennealy, Bray & Zvonkovic, 2014). Moreover, national statistics indicate that adults with several mental illnesses are, on average, eleven times more likely to become crime victims compared to the rest of the population (Teplin, McClelland, Abram & Weiner, 2005). Thus, people with mental illness are significantly misrepresented in the public view.
The aim of the proposed research is thus to explore this phenomenon. It appears that the public opinion toward the mentally ill constitutes a classic example of moral panic. This term refers to the societal phenomenon whereby a significant number of the society or community members believe that another group of people threatens the well-being of their group (Goode & Ben-Yehuda, 2009). Moral panics are characterized by such features as hostility, disproportionality, and volatility. However, they can produce dangerous consequences such as stigmatization, increased rates of violence against the group that is perceived to be a threat, and the formulation of policies based on inaccurate information. The intended proposal is a mixed-method study that compares the public and media discourse around the mentally ill people and the actual crime and victim statistics on this group.
References
Goode, E., & Ben-Yehuda, N. (2009). Moral panics: The social construction of deviance (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishing.
Maxfield, M., & Babbie, E. (2014). Research methods for criminal justice and criminology (2nd ed.). Stamford, CT: Cengage Learning.
Peterson, J.K., Skeem, J., Kennealy, P., Bray, B., & Zvonkovic, A. (2014). How often and how consistently do symptoms directly precede criminal behavior among offenders with mental illness? Law and Human Behavior, 38(5), 439–449.
Teplin, L. A., McClelland, G. M., Abram, K. M., & Weiner, D. A. (2005). Crime victimization in adults with severe mental illness: Comparison with the National Crime Victimization Survey. Archives of General Psychiatry, 62(8), 911–921.