Towards the Police

Research Methodology on Attitudes of HBCU Students Towards the Police

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Introduction

In this study various methods will be used to isolate and collect data through action research to make a determination on the attitudes towards the police among Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Students. The population will consist of African American students attending HBCUs. The research is being conducted in order to find if African American students from HBCUs historically have a difference in attitude towards the police than other African American citizens. A secondary purpose for this research is to determine if there are any variations across states in attitudes towards the police. The data will be collected through a survey, action research and focus group meetings where the students were asked open-ended questions about their opinions on how police officers treat African Americans.

The hypotheses of this study are that compared to other races, including Whites, Black people do not view police officers favorably but since most police officers are White there are no repercussions for minorities when they do not like whites. This hypothesis and study could be useful to HBCU’s since they can use their research to make changes in how police interact with students on campus. This study will be beneficial for other colleges who have similar populations and circumstances as HBCUs.

Research Design

The main Research Design used in this study is the ethnographic action research. In this technique the researcher is part of the social-cultural population and works within as an insider to collect data on attitudes. The purpose of using this design was to make sure that the study is kept in a diary style so when the researchers are collecting information, they can use first person accounts instead of depending on what other people heard around campus or assuming that students would tell them the truth about their opinions. There will be three parts to conducting this study: the survey, focus group meeting, and personal interviews with students who will take part in confidential surveys. A survey was used to gather data from a random selection of students at two HBCU’s which included qualitative questions regarding their attitudes towards police officers.

Sampling/Participants

The participant of this study will be African American students attending HBCU’s. This study will limit the sample size to 50 participants since there are not many African Americans attending these universities who are willing to participate in this study. The data was collected through surveys and focus group meetings. During these sessions the participants were asked open-ended questions which provided a basis for conclusions to be drawn from the analysis of each question and its responses. In order to make sure that they were asking unbiased questions researchers used alternative wording in their questions making sure they did not ask leading questions which would suggest what their real opinions are on police officers.

Instruments/Materials

For the quantitative and qualitative design of this study, the instruments used will be surveys and focus group meetings. Surveys were used to gather data on attitudes towards police officers at two HBCU’s, this is because it is not fair to make assumptions that the students who attended both universities would have the same opinion about law enforcement officers. The focus group meetings which included open-ended questions for the quantitative design of this study are being held twice with a variety of students from different backgrounds and created equal amounts of diversity in terms of race and socio-economic status.

Procedures

As was alluded to earlier in the discussion of instrumentation, the focus group meeting is the method used to gather data in this study. This is because the subjects are students and they have different opinions on the topic at hand. Therefore, it would be less bias to have them make their own decisions through just talking with one another. The focus group meetings were scheduled in two different environments during two different days so that the participants could share their opinions with minimal distractions from other people trying to make them change their views.

The steps that were taken during a focus group meeting are as follows: First, introduce yourself and make sure everyone (the researcher and subjects) is comfortable before proceeding since everyone will be there for a while.

Data Collection

Under the quantitative design of the study, the researcher will be collecting data using surveys at two HBCU’s. These surveys will have a variety of questions regarding the students’ attitudes towards police officers and they will be different questions because there are too many variables that go into answering a question like this, if the same question was asked again, it would not produce similar results. The survey will be posted on a web site where anyone can view it without having to go to specific places in order to take the survey and with no identifying information about every participant. The survey should also have an anonymous link in order for students to answer anonymously if they want.

Data Analysis

Under the quantitative design of the study, the researcher will be using SPSS to analyze the data. The questions are asked in such a way that they should not bring up biases but still get accurate answers. The researcher will be looking at different demographics during this section of analysis in order to see if there are any differences between them and if there is any correlations with their responses. The qualitative design of this study relies on focus group meetings where students talk about their opinions and explain why they feel that way about police officers. There will be six focus groups which include different demographics be it race, gender or socio-economic status.

Limitations

Several issues present themselves as limitations to the research, most of which are self-imposed. While the researcher has chosen to focus this study on two HBCU’s and a fairly large population in terms of college students, the results may not be relevant outside of this population as was discussed earlier. Likewise, the sample size is not very large and therefore may not give a comprehensive view of students’ opinions on the topic at hand. One way to mitigate this problem is by looking for trends that are common across the groups, rather than an overall result for all 50 participants. Another possible limitation is that fact that researchers have chosen to limit their study to only one university per state, which could affect samples from different states and thereby limit their applicability to all HBCU’s.

Conclusion

The Research methodology on Attitudes of HBCU Students Towards the Police is sound and the researchers have tried their best to eliminate any biases that may appear in the survey or focus group meetings by not asking leading questions, ensuring diversity among students and keeping the sessions comfortable with minimal distractions. The conclusion drawn from the data collected will most likely effect law enforcement agencies since they will be presented with a better understanding of the relationship between African American students at HBCU’s and law enforcement officers. Having a better relationship with these students is essential to law enforcement agencies because it can help reduce crime in high-risk areas like college and campuses.