Design and Methods
The research is a qualitative research, which aims to get non-numerical results. The hypothesis is that specific changes in the educational system can discourage young people from choosing the path of law breaking. Using the design of control group, the research is going to find out the value of the other factor by comparing the reactions of two groups. The confounding variable is special changes within the educational process.
The methods are the individual case study and quasi-experimental design. The first method is important as it will determine the data of the both groups and by comparing them while the experiment the research will find out the validity of the integral social factors, connected to the topic (Oldham, 1994). During the research, two groups will be asked to enter two different educational testers. Then, using a questionnaire and the computer simulation, the participants will reveal their attitude towards the idea of making money. This is going to support the hypothesis that education has a major influence over the possibility of crimes.
The Participants
Two control groups ought to consist of the people of mainly the same age and gender. For example, both of the groups consist of three boys and three girls of the age 13-14 years old. The number of one-group participants is six because it is more convenient for the observers to familiarize with one’s results of the computer simulation. Besides, the targeted age is 13-14 because under this age most of the children decide on their future destiny and still give a chance to the education to change their point of view. One more important point is the origins of the participants. All of them need to represent the dysfunctional families from the poor districts, where the criminal rate is totally high. the children with the high-income levels are excluded from the testing because they are not likely to turn to criminal acts in order to get money (Gagnon, Barber, Loan, & Leone, 2009).
Design
The most integral parts of the research are the educational systems, applied to both of the groups, and the computer simulator used to find out the final data. In order to confirm or negate the hypothesis, group A will study in accordance with the ordinary system, existing in most of the schools. Group B will study following the special system, which centers the economic benefits and financial income. This means that group B will have more lessons of economic and law studies, and get the extra hours of business practice. In order to keep the same number of classes, as the group A, group B will get the reduced number of other subjects, for example, arts or history.
The questionnaire will test how many of the proposed material the participants understood and learned, which will show the effectiveness of both of the systems. However, the hypothesis is going to be confirmed by the results of the computer simulation. The research will offer the children some kind of a computer game, which will have the feature of the Grand Three Auto and The Sims games. The main aim will be to get as much income as possible, using any possible way in the game. During the three hours of the game, the psychiatrists will observe the way both of the groups find ways to get money. The presumable result is that group B will find more legal ways to get money by establishing their business or simply buying and selling things, while group A will ignore all the laws. The opposite results can negate the hypothesis.
Budget and Timeline
The timeline of the research includes two parts. The first one takes a month of educating both of the groups in accordance with their educational systems. The second one is an hour for the questionnaire and three hours for the computer simulation. The money, necessary for the research, only includes the pay for the psychiatrists, who will observe the computer simulations because all of the teachers will be volunteers.
References
Oldham, J. (1994). Experimental and quasi -experimental research designs. Nurse Researcher, 1(4), 26-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.7748/nr.1.4.26.s4
Gagnon, J. C., Barber, B. R., Loan, C. V., & Leone, P. E. (2009). Juvenile Correctional Schools: Characteristics and Approaches to Curriculum. Education & Treatment of Children, 32(4), 673-688.
