In criminology, examining why individuals commit certain crimes is very vital in the current debate of how crime should be prevented or handled. Several theories have been formulated over the years, and they continue to be explored, independently and in combination, as criminologists look for the best solutions in eventually reducing types and levels of crime. Before an individual considers developing a theory, he or she must have a question that he tries to prove if some the observations made can prove the hypothesis created to be right or void. According to Miner (2006), The person formulating the theory should make predictions of his theory based on the hypothesis formulated. Finally, the individual should perform extensive experiments to test those predictions.
The hypothesis in this theory is ‘Are the reasons someone commits a burglary the same as the reasons someone commits murder?’ According to Einstadter and Henry (2006), there are several forms of crime. In this case, it involves crime against a fellow human being. For one to commit a burglary, another person’s property is involved. To study this behavior, we will have to determine our variables first. A variable can be defined as an attribute or characteristic of an organization or individual that can be measured. In this case, we want to determine the relationship between the two variables burglary and murder. These variables are temporal order- a variable in which one attribute affects the other variable- and thus measurement of these variables in a cause effect presentation.
The type of research design that should be employed in this case is the correlation research design. In order to prove that there is a relationship between burglaries and murder, the two variables must be correlated. In this research design, it is of utmost importance that both variables are in the same group (crime). Increase in the number of burglaries that results in increased murders will prove that there is a positive relationship between burglaries and murders.
References
Miner, J. B. (2006). Organizational Behavior 3: Historical Origins, Theoretical Foundations, and the Future. London: M.E. Sharpe.
Einstadter, W. J., & Henry, S. (2006). Criminological theory: An analysis of its underlying assumptions. Lanham, Md: Rowman & Littlefield.
