Concern with how research results are used is one of the
hallmarks of ethical researchers, but deciding what form that concern should
take is often difficult. You learned in this chapter about the controversy that
occurred after Sherman and Berk (1984) encouraged police departments to adopt
an arrest policy in domestic abuse cases, based on findings from their
Minneapolis study. Do you agree with the researchers’ decision to suggest
policy changes to police departments based on their study, in an effort to
minimize domestic abuse? Several replication studies failed to confirm the
Minneapolis findings. Does this influence your evaluation of what the
researchers should have done after the Minneapolis study was completed? What
about Larry Sherman’s argument that failure to publicize the Omaha study
finding of the effectiveness of arrest warrants resulted in some cases of abuse
that could have been prevented? In one paragraph, propose a policy that
researchers should follow about how much publicity is warranted and at what
point in the research it should occur.
SPSS or Excel Exercises
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